REVIEW: Gabrielle Aplin at Rock City


REVIEW: Gabrielle Aplin at Rock City 


Rock City was packed full of fourteen year old girls squirming their iPhones above heads to try and video Gabrielle's opening song 'Keep On Walking.' You could tell it was the majority of the crowd's first gig as they were strategically filming and zooming on Aplin's set, as though they were given the task of being David Attenborough's film crew. Whilst stood on the balcony of Rock City, I noticed I was in a minority. I was squished in a sea of middle aged Dads, chaperoning their daughters and   importantly tapping away on smartphones. As the lights dimmed, the entire venue looked like a twinkling meteor shower of technology.

Gabrielle Aplin bounced on to the stage beaming at the accumulating crowd. She looked genuinely surprised to have such a large audience. Understandably, her following seems to have suddenly surged due to her cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'The Power Of Love' featured on the notorious John Lewis Christmas ad last year. She sweetly sang the opening of 'Keep On Walking' to the pleasure of the audience, who echoed her every line. This charade continued throughout her set. She sang, angelically and the teenage girls joined in. She sometimes alternated between her guitar to an acoustic version or a ballad on piano. There appeared to be a common denominator to whatever instrument she picked up however, it was lacking something. Although she filled Rock City with an infectious warmth as she chatted between songs, her music seemed cold. There was little feeling behind most songs, probably because of her inexperience. She was singing beautifully emotive lyrics like in the song 'Please Don't Say You Love Me.' Yet her pixie, childlike charm made it quite unnerving as though she was too young to have been in a grown up relationship.

Her set could only be described as sweet. Unarguably, Gabrielle Aplin does have talent but her lack of experience and nervousness was very much present. On the daunting stage of Rock City she appeared a little out her depth. Aplin's gig did give me a feeling of hope. The remainder of the fourteen girls not scribbling 'I heart Harry Styles' on their pencil cases and obsessing over Conor Maynard were here, squeezed into one room. The next generation of uni goers may have some sort of musical interest outside of One Direction.


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