Laura Marling in partnership with the venue Union Chapel and event ticketing/streaming platform Dice proposed a live concert - Laura playing solo live at Union Chapel filmed in HD via multiple cameras and streamed live on the evening of 6 June 2020.
Laura Marling live at Union Chapel
It was with some anticipation and trepidation I joined the live stream. Expectation was high. I've seen Laura Marling play live many times and she never disappoints always seeming to effortlessly outdo the previous performance with ease.
As she opened this gig she was filmed, a singer with guitar and mic gazing at a stage set up for a concert. Was this the longing for the live concert denied her fans and a longing from the performer to mount that stage and perform for the assembled crowd. There was no crowd, no audience, just the beautiful empty space of Union Chapel and Laura singing and playing. After the opening song she did mount that stage and unseen by her the crowd gathered in homes across the country in ones and twos, maybe more to watch and listen to this most captivating of performers.
She sang her songs from this space, this room with precision and warmth never missing a beat and, perhaps in the absence of an audience, she did not speak between songs. An acknowledgement of the distance between her and the unseen audience who knows. Let the songs speak. And they did. Stripped of all but voice and acoustic guitar the songs she played from across her canon displayed her artistry beautifully.
The set was formed mainly from her new album 'Songs for our Daughter' (released early in digital format as a thank you to fans who'd bought tickets for her cancelled tour) and songs from 'Once I was an Eagle' it also included 'Tap at my window' from her first album and personal favourites of mine 'Goodbye England (covered in snow)' and 'Rambling Man'. There was a song I didn't recognise 'Daisy'. She finished the set with 'Once'. And that was that. Laura Marling does not do encores. Thank you and goodnight.
Before the stream closed I was able to 'rewind' and re-watch some of the show. It was perfect and that's not just me reacting to not being at a gig for months and this being closer to a gig that the intimate bedroom live streams I've watched since lockdown. The sound, the setting, that feeling of being in a room with a performer, the performance all were perfect. There wasn't the sense of audience. Though when I went onto twitter and Instagram I found others watching and enthusing. Plus point I didn't have to put up with folk around me talking through the songs about their holidays what they were going to next (to talk through). I clapped quietly between the songs alone.
If this is the way most of us will be able to experience a 'live' performance then Laura Marling and Union Chapel have set the bar high. A satisfying night.
FIN
