"So, who's seeing Nizlopi for the first time tonight? Go on, don't be shy, raise your hands" urges Gary Dunne, tonight's support act for the Leamington Spa duo (Luke Concannon and John Parker) who are currently still riding high on the strange publicity wave driven by December's surprise number 1 hit 'the JCB song'. A flood of hands are nervously raised, including my own. Of course, I say loudly enough for anyone to hear, that I've had the debut album (Half of these songs are about you) for over a year, and was meant to be going to the Bedford to see them in November before this whole JCB-related mainstream hype was ignited, it's just that, well, you know my sister-in-law had just gone into labour that evening, and I had an early start the next day, and…… (excuses, excuses)

Of course, I don't really need to apologise so pathetically for being a Johnny-come-lately. It's obvious that the overwhelming majority of the crowd packing a sold-out Shepherd's Bush Empire are Nizlopi 'virgins' just as I am. And the question isn't asked to embarrass the newbies – “Don't worry, I promise you you'll leave here tonight a happier person. You're in for a real treat” Garry assures us.

Seasoned Nizlopi-followers were sceptical when I told them I was off to one of London's larger venues to break my Nizlopi duck. Would they be bare-footed, and jumping up and down like Haribo-fuelled kids on Christmas morning? Would Luke make one of his customary ventures into the audience? Would they manage to lure any willing audience members on stage to jam? Would such a large setting destroy the essentially inclusive atmosphere of a Nizlopi gig?

The first question was emphatically answered as Luke and John bounded onto the stage, obviously delighted to be playing 'the biggest gig of their lives'. Off went the shoes and socks, and the duo ripped straight into their opening number with their infectious enthusiasm immediately lifting the slightly soporific Sunday-night crowd.

The album had been something of a 'grower' for me. I'd been given it a year ago, from a dedicated Nizlopi fan who, having seen the guys at close quarters in much smaller venues, had raved about their live performances. Lyrically, Luke delights in heart-felt sentiments of frustrated unrequited love, earnest sentiment against bigotry, selfishness, and Blair/Bush war-mongering, and Lennon-esque clever-clever world-play (“If you rub yourself for long enough, you'll get down to that coat of emotion” – or is that emulsion I'm meant to hear?). The voice matches, with a comfortable range, and a rich tone all delivered with Luke's idiosyncratic phrasing. However, the instrumentation on the album never really feels 'settled' with songs ranging from a single guitar accompaniment, to brash sections with complete horn sections.

Live, however, it all instantly makes sense, and this is predominantly due to the virtuoso tour-de-force of John Parker's performance. With the ever-present pork-pie hat spinning on top of the double bass, Parker performs the musical equivalent of rubbing his stomach whilst patting his head – intricate bass plucking is interspersed with percussive taps to the bass's shoulder, fretboard slaps, and a tireless human beat-box into the adjacent microphone, in between lightening-fast bow-grabs mid-phrase. If it weren't for Luke's ebullient, human-dynamo performance alongside demanding your full concentration (you never know when a stray arm movement will require your singing participation after all), I'm sure I would have spent the evening trying to work out how a single fretboard could be covered so effortlessly. The playing is, for the most-part, extremely tight, and there are very few bum notes even in the most demanding upper reaches of the fretboard. Luke's own guitar-work is also sure-footed (or should that be sure-fingered), although there appears to be a constant battle with the sound engineer to get the levels right. In a couple of numbers, Luke discards the guitar altogether and opts for a jazz-brush on an Irish bodhran (hand held drum), but the versatile playing of Parker and the constant vocal embellishments leave the overall sound remaining rich.

Impressively, Nizlopi don't take the obvious approach of loading the ballads up front, then ripping through the crowd-pleasers to climax with “JCB”. Instead, JCB makes a much-earlier-than-expected appearance mid-way through the substantial 1hr 45m set, to the obvious delight of the crowd (after all, returns were available through E-bay under the heading “JCB song – live tickets”). Despite being urged to join-in throughout the set, this is the first time the Empire really comes to life, with familiarity obviously making some of us newbies feeling more comfortable. It's easy to see why this song caught the public's imagination, with its combination of heartfelt nostalgia and child-like imagery. Not a novelty song in any way, it is a tribute to Nizlopi that they maintain the sincerity of the sentiment, where lesser acts would probably stumble into trite clichés.

However, for my own part, I'm much more excited at the opening bars of the following song – 'Girls', which for me is the highlight of their debut album. Disappointingly, the near flawless performance levels consistently delivered through the rest of the set seem to dip slightly throughout this song (or perhaps my higher expectations at a favourite song were leading to my critical instincts being raised?). Luke obviously has a cold, as the occasional between-song 'blows' attest (although he doesn't make any excuse because of it – unlike every single Pop Idol try-out of the past five years), and after the exuberance of JCB, some of the longer phrases in 'Girls' seem to unsettle him a little bit. For once, John's bowing also hits a couple of 'funnies' and the song suffers from some unexpected dissonant moments. However, in my mind it is still the high point of the duo's song-writing to date.

After 'Girls', we're back into foot-tapping mode (or stomping/dancing/banshee mode for Luke), and the duo are obviously enjoying themselves immensely. To answer the unanswered questions at the top of this review, yes Luke does make occasional forays into the audience, although the lighting limitations are obviously more restrictive than the venues the guys are used to playing, and yes, Luke does convince a couple of more-than-willing fans on stage to 'jam', although I suspect the pair will enjoy some more musically profound collaborations in the future (Jamie Cullum, they reveal, has promised to cover a Nizlopi song on his next album). To their great credit, Nizlopi display a genuine desire to keep on entertaining, and have to be practically hauled off the stage by the Empire's management team obviously conscious of the venue license after a marathon set at 11pm.

However, the answer to whether the larger venue adds, or detracts, from the experience is unfortunately not so positive. As much as Luke cajoles, pleads, and at one stage begs the audience to lose themselves, the sing-along participation is at best half-hearted where I am up the gods in our comfy theatre seats at any rate (and I'm as guilty as anyone). This is to take nothing whatsoever away from the performance which is still a towering display, but having outgrown the usual circuit of smokey back-rooms of pubs and clubs, Nizlopi have a different armoury to unleash on this particular Sunday night crowd. JCB has ironically both released them as a creative force into the front of the nation's cultural conscious, but also threatens to bind them into a strange 'Richard and Judy' performing world, moving from a devoted cult following, to a more indifferent mainstream. The cult is still there (references to their hometown are met with ecstatic shrieks of recognition in the mosh-pit… At one point, after Luke has been recalling the early days of practicing in the school music rooms, one excitable girl bizarrely shrieks “The school library” for no obvious reason), but having worked so hard to get to the wider audience, Nizlopi now face new, different challenges. Not that, as the last song they deliver implores us, worrying will make the difference.

As Garry Dunne promised, we all went away a lot happier, and it reconfirmed in my eyes that Nizlopi are combining performance, interaction, and good song-writing in the freshest way currently in the UK roots music scene. There was just one small nagging regret in my mind in that I'd found an easy excuse to miss the Bedford gig, when I really could have experienced these cult masters first-hand in the type of venue that they were born to light up."

Steve Catling
Steve@thedandylions.com
www.thedandylions.com

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Nizlopi - Shepherd's Bush Empire - 22/01/2006 - ©2006 Steve Catling & Virtually Acoustic
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