It’s hard not to be an bit envious of Patrick Wolf, as he drops one instrument and picks up another and seems equally adept at all. On the night he played guitar, keyboard, violin and harp as well singing. Nothing seems to phase the 29 year old, and his ability as a musician is beyond dispute. In truth, he’s a natural performer and born for the stage!

This tour is unusual for him, as he’s moved away from his usual electric guitar and electronics and has focused on a more natural sound. His new album ‘Sundark and Riverlight‘ has reworked many of his older tracks and allows you to hear them with an acoustic sound. One of my problems with his earlier work is that the vocals are often buried within the mix, but his voice is at the centre of the new album, and it’s all the better for it.

On last Saturday night, he performed with two other musicians, a violinist and accordion player. This combined with the variety of instruments he played himself allow for a multitude of different sounds, and no track sounded like the previous one. The band arrived on stage at an usually early hour, just before 9 PM, and caught many of the crowd by surprise, as they were still arriving for the first half hour of the set (a warning would have been appreciated!). They played until just about half ten, so a long set, for those that caught the early portion of it!

The set list (below) wandered through his career, and he took a number of requests from the floor. Patrick has a lot of Irish relations (I’m sure he’d qualify for the Irish football team, with more than an Irish Grandmother!) and a lot of the banter between songs was directed to his sister, who was to the right of the stage. The acoustic set worked well, and allowed him to show off his ability as a musician more fully. It was easily the best time I’d seen him perform, and hopefully he’ll consider leaving the electric guitar at home next time also!

Patrick Wolf – Sugar Club, Dublin

Setlist:

The Shadowsea

Bluebells

House

The Libertine

Pigeon Song

Wind In The Wires

Hard Times

Time Of My Life

The Sun Is Often Out

Bermondsey Street

Armistice

Damaris

The Falcons

Encore:

The City

The Magic Posit