Lucy Spraggan has had a fairly enjoyable career since she entered the public eye during her X Factor audition in 2012. During the five years between then and now, she has accumulated a loyal fanbase, enamoured with her slice-of-life acoustic songs. With the fourth album to her name, ‘I Hope You Don’t Mind Me Writing’ released earlier this year, her acoustic tour arrives at the Brudenell Social Club tonight.
The first support act comes in the form of Isaac Taylor, who performs a brief set comprised of his bittersweet acoustic pop. Next up is Lauren Ray, who also plays a brand of pop music, on a keyboard. Ray engages the crowd with a lot of talk in between songs, with a very cheery demeanour, and perfectly sets the stage for the main act.
Spraggan and her keyboardist Richard take to the stage to rapturous applause, and run through a career spanning set. Her mood is positive and cheery, and she frequently delivers banter in between her songs, which evokes laughter from the crowd. She includes an “interactive part” of her set, where she names two tracks and leaves it up to the crowd to decide which song should be included in tonight’s setlist, by giving her the loudest cheer for the song when it’s named. The song to make it through is ‘Loaded Guns’, which is preceded by an anecdote from Spraggan about how after a performance in Amsterdam, a lady went up to her and told her that she loved the song “Lonely Goats.” She also cheekily scolds the crowd for joining in with the vocal warmup of the song, saying “that’s my bit!”
Elsewhere, highlights include ‘If I Had The Money’, which is preceded by Spraggan saying that the song was written about no one in particular, but feels that she could have travelled back in time to write it, as the lyrics suit her relationship with her wife. The poignant ‘Dear You’ off her latest release is also one of the highlights of the set. She also plays a new song, called ‘The Sunday Song’, a lounge-esque number with just the keyboard playing, and no guitar. She introduces ‘Home Wasn’t Built In A Day’ by telling the crowd that the song is about the tendency that couples have to argue when they’re moving house.
The main set is closed with ‘Unsinkable’, and then Spraggan returns to the stage once more for her one song encore, which sees ‘Wait For Me’ bring the night to a close in the form of a loud singalong. The entire room full of devoted fans has had a fun night, and chants of “we love you Lucy, we do” are aired, to which Lucy responds “I love you too Leeds.”
(Main image courtesy copyright Graham Finney)
