The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Phildel at Bush Hall

Phildel at Bush Hall | Live review
18 May 2013
Geoff Maguire
Avatar
Geoff Maguire
18 May 2013

Phildel, a London singer-songwriter of Chinese and Irish extraction, played the ornate yet cosy Bush Hall in West London to promote her recently released album The Disappearance of the Girl. She’ll soon be entertaining in less intimate (though undoubtedly less attractive) venues. That is, until she gets booked at the Royal Albert Hall. And on the evidence of tonight’s performance, I wouldn’t bet against that happening.

She has recently been of great interest to the media, in particular her religious upbringing with a fundamentalist stepfather who prevented her from listening to music until the age of 17 when she ran away from home. This lost youth informs the name of the new work, the title track of which is the second played tonight and the one whose beauty silences the chattering audience. Over the past six years, the licensing of her music for worldwide TV advertising campaigns has also been much commented upon by the press, especially the piano piece The Kiss, which was a curious omission this evening.

On stage she has an endearing gawkiness and shyness, which lessens when she moves to the grand piano on the floor of the hall and disappears utterly when her vocals kick in. Her voice has shades of Joanna Newsom and the undulations of Tori Amos, but is also quite uniquely and brilliantly her own. It’s shown off to greatest effect in Beside You, Switchblade and Mistakes, but the accomplished band behind her also deserve great credit, in particular her keyboardist and violinist.

The set is short at 55 minutes long, with the audience clamouring for much more after the encore of Holes in Your Coffin. You know it’s been a decent gig when the foremost complaint is the brevity of the performance. Her career thus far has been a slow burner and though it may continue only gradually, it is clear to all present tonight that the trajectory is onwards and upwards. 

★★★★★

Geoff Maguire
Photos: Marika Parizzi

For further information and future events visit Phildel’s website here.

Watch the video for The Disappearance of the Girl here:

Related Itemslive musicreview

More in Live music

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Andrea Bocelli at Teatro Regio di Parma Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Foy Vance: Hope in the Highlands

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Liam Gallagher: Down by the River Thames

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Blossoms at Brixton Academy

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • The Capote Tapes
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Dig
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Swimming Home: An immersive online experience
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Lupin
    ★★★★★
    Culture
  • Win a DVD bundle of House of Sand and Fog, Away From Her and Young Adam
    Competitions
  • Crobar: Music When the Lights Go Out
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Six books perfect for beating the winter blues
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Travelling Band at Rattlesnake of Angel | Live review
London Photo Festival at The Crypt | Exhibition review