
‘Don’t Beat The Girl Out of My boy,’ meanwhile is another emotive number. Anna’s vocals are at their most powerful. She drops to her knees towards the end of the song abandoning guitar duties with microphone in hand. She makes wailing sounds but somehow they feel controlled and tuneful enough to contribute to the song positively.
The lighting, which has been predominantly red for the evening turns to white on ‘Swimming Pool’. It’s a brief moment of calm in the middle of the storm. Calvi’s strumming mimics the rippling of water in gentle, unpredictable patterns.
In spite of the serenity of the instrumentals, Calvi manages to bring an eeriness to the track with her hypnotic vocals.
After this slower offering, the singer songwriter takes the audience back out into the wild on ‘Wish’ and ‘Desire’, which bled into one another.
Calvi swiped her guitar strings and contorted her body. The percussion and guitar seemed to wrestle with one another, grasping for the power.
The crowd respond to these songs as they have been for every number: with rapturous applause. Apart from these moments, everyone is in awed silence, taking in the performance.
Although Anna and her band must have used so much energy, they had maintained enough for an encore. Much to everyone’s delight.
Her setlist choices were a little unexpected but the payoff was great. Percussively driven ‘Suzanne and I,’ smouldered. It sounded like a supercharged James Bond theme, only more chilling.
The final final track of the night was a cover of Suicide’s synth punk track ‘Ghost Rider.’ It was the most disorderly song from the whole night and just incredible to watch. Anna must have felt absolutely kick ass walking off the stage. She left the audience still wanting more. They are also left wondering why she isn’t one of the biggest artists in the world.
WORDS: TESSA BURY
PHOTOS: VICTORIA WAI