Robbie Boyd at the Jazz Café

Robbie Boyd hasn’t had a bad year – he supported McFly and The Feeling at the Olympic Park back in July and has been slowly embedding his brand of Mumford-ish folk-pop in the charts. Now on a tour of the UK, Boyd hit the Jazz Café with his band of merry men (and women) and a set packed with feel-good tunes.

The seven-piece folk-pop band make a great start with the catchy I Won’t Let You Go; the crowd are singing and there’s a fair amount of jigging going on. But as Boyd and his band strum, foot-tap and jump, it’s clear that their repertoire is a little samey and their radio-friendly joviality and hearty sing-alongs come with a whole heap of cliché and some pretty strong cheese.

Despite this, they are an incredibly talented group of musicians and entertain the crowd at every moment. Boyd is clearly not aiming for experimentation or deep and meaningful intricacy – this is inoffensive, radio-friendly pop. It’s all good, clean fun and great for having a little dance to.

Boyd is a likeable guy. He is a born entertainer and charms the audience with banter and a few jokes that have them tittering with glee. The diehard fans among them (apparently some have trekked all the way from Germany to watch the performance) go crazy for new single Under My Skin – but Boyd really shows his musical ability with his acoustic tracks. The stripped back Sleeping in the Ruins, a song from Robbie’s busking days, is a welcome break to the barn-dance extravaganza of the rest of the set and shows a vulnerable side to his otherwise over-polished performance.

With Boyd and his band almost sweating happiness into the audience, it’s difficult not to enjoy the performance. He’s not wasting time reinventing the wheel – he knows what he’s good at and he does it well.

Sarah Edmonds
Photos: Adnan Mohamedy

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

Watch the video for Under My Skin here: