Kate Nash - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth - 25/03/11

In this sold out venue full of a surprisingly unconventional audience, I thought I was going to have to get ready for a swingers party. Full of middle aged couples, I was trying to look for the kids they had brought but there wasn’t any. For the first time for a while I was one of the youngest people there.

Kate Nash was certainly down for business, coming out with her band of just women, she would certainly give Spice Girls a run for their money for being the face of girl power tonight. Having seen her a couple of times before, I thought this was going to be pretty similar, run through the set of hits and act quite quiet and shy. How I was wrong, this performance will certainly stay in the mind for a while.

The way in which Kate dropped the piano for a guitar and almost rushed through her set showed that she had a new ‘wild side’. Kicking off with the song from her newest album ‘I just love you more’ certainly kicked off the style of what the show was going to be. Seeming like she has changed the feel to all of her songs, making them more upbeat and almost a bit more punk, suggests that she wants to get as far away from the mainstream as possible. On top of this, she spent the majority of the night shouting down the microphone, this was definitely not a show for the fans of the ‘hits’.

With a set filled with mostly songs from her new album such as ‘Kiss That Grrrl’, ‘Take Me To a Higher Plane’ and ‘I’ve Got a Secret’, these all fit the new style very well and the band and Kate did their best to try and win the somewhat confused crowd over. It is then later in the set where it changed quicker then Charlie Sheen’s mood and Nash brought out the sing-a-longs of the night. Getting back on the piano and busting out the hits from her first album like ‘Mariella’, ‘Merry Happy’ and ‘Foundations’ which, judging by the smile on her face when the cheers come from the first note, she still enjoys playing.

Often a woman that says what she thinks, this tour seemed no exception with tonight’s appearance. Setting on fixing the music industry for woman every date on the tour she is going into schools and starting up schemes for girls to get writing music, (she even started to make a change in America). Claiming PRS only have 14% of females getting royalties, she insists that we go out tomorrow and start writing songs with our friends. It makes a change to see someone trying to make a difference to the lives of people less fortunate, there is too much these days of ‘celebrities’ and bands saying they will do all of this stuff but you never actually see it happen. The girls which Kate helped earlier in the day were seen screaming in the crowd and just showed that she is doing something about it, big thumbs up Kate!

However, with the mildly disappointed crowd pouring out of the venue it seemed like the change didn’t go down too well. I for one liked it and I thought her new attitude and sound kind of fit to the alternative of today‘s mainstream. I just hope it’s not another trend of phase that will overcrowd our radio and music television. Adding to this DIY phase she has started a label which has released her own new vinyl.

One thing that did make me laugh though, she said you do not have to be beautiful to be a musician, it did help you though Kate…