Gabrielle Aplin undoubtedly proved that she continues to improve and can deliver a beautifully intimate performance every time with her most recent visit to Norwich’s LCR, at the University of East Anglia.
With the nights standards already set high by the remarkable Hannah Grace and Lewis Watson, the already pleased crowd rose to further excitement when Gabrielle Aplin took to the stage with her guitar and simple backlighting showing just her as a silhouette. The show opened with Gabrielle Aplin performing ‘Coming Home’, showing off her beautiful, effortless vocals that she is renowned for. A touching moment of the whole concert for me was when the cover of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ was executed flawlessly.
The biggest crowd pleaser of the night had to be when Gabrielle Aplin performed one of her most popular singles from her debut album ‘Please Don’t Say You Love Me’, she then went silent to leave the crowd singing the chorus word for word, which sent shivers down my spine. Fans were definitely shown the contrast between her usual folk acoustic sound that her first album demonstrates, when songs from her latest album ‘Light up the Dark’ were performed, showing a more rocky edge to her songs, giving the whole show a bit more of an up-tempo feel to it also.
After a roaring chant from the crowd for Gabrielle Aplin to come back and perform an encore, she appeared back on stage under dimmed light to perform two more songs from her debut album ‘Heavy Rain’ starting off with ‘Salvation’ leading into the final piece of the night, ‘Home’, which left the entire crowd lighting up the whole place with torches that left an eerie yet satisfying end to the concert.
This gig proved to the audience that Aplin is not a one-trick pony. She can effortlessly execute her powerful ballads, but she can also perform up-tempo tracks effortlessly. I would recommend seeing Gabrielle Aplin on tour after she exceeded mine and many others’ already high expectations.
Words – Connor Hawkins
Photography – Kayleigh Warren
