Hunched over while grabbing his side and bellowing out songs with a powerful raspy voice, Scottish-born Paolo Nutini delivered a performance that reminisces of a time when such music was banned for its sinful appeal.  Nutini has revived a sound that captures different genres in music history and gives it an undertone that reaches out to the modern day music listener.

I couldn’t help but feel myself consumed by the music and needing to get up to the front of the theater to be part of the vibes and energy exuding from the stage onto the floor.  There was no way for me to stay still because the music demanded movement and participation. After listening to the opening act of Anya Marina showcasing her new album Slow and Steady Seduction: Phase II I anticipated that the night would be uplifting, but I didn’t imagine being awestruck.

There was dancing, singing, toe-tapping and head-bopping by the people sharing in the night with Paolo Nutini and his band at the Rialto Theater on September 8, 2009. His band is a composition of musicians that were ready to take a risk in playing songs that may not have had the commercial appeal found on television or top 40 radio stations today. However, the universal themes, and the feel good beats will appeal to any person that appreciates music that is felt more than sung.

I think that Nutini broke down the idea that we can’t return to a time when music was a message and an emotional outlet.  Apparently there was room for Nutini in the commercial market as his song “New Shoes” became the song associate with a shoe advertisement in the summer of 2008.  Other songs have found their way into television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, and One Tree Hill.

His band lends the sounds of big band, ragtime, blues, soul, and everything in between.  Accompanying Nutini and his guitar are Donny Little on guitar/vocals, Seamus Simon on drums, Michael McDaid on bass and keys, Dave Nelson on guitar, vocals, keys, and percussion, and Gavin Fitzjohn on saxophone, trumpet and keys.  Each member contributed their own unique sound, but kept cohesion throughout each song.

Paolo Nutini shares a story with excruciating emotion to each song. But when you look at him up close there is a sense of humor.  Nutini would throw in some jokes interjected between songs, but with his heavy Scottish accent, I wasn’t able to understand what he said.  I’m just glad most of the show-goers knew what he was saying because they definitely seemed amused.

I left the theater raving that the show was amazing and that I had a new appreciation for the music that beforehand I was only able to hear in recordings.  Thinking that I was listening to the scatting genius of Louis Armstrong, or the music compilations of old time jazz fused with soulfulness of Ray Charles and even the jump and jive of the Big Bopper I was transformed.  Nutini performs hunched over grabbing the microphone, frankly looking and sounding like an older man with a soul full of pain, but with a beat that is so lifting and satisfying it must be a sin to enjoy.

www.myspace.com/paolonutini

www.paolonutini.com

www.myspace.com/anyamarina