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Thank God for Remi Nicole. As Kate Nash proves to be 2007’s most overrated; Lily Allen turns into 2006’s most hated, and; Amy Winehouse, well, gets married – at least we’ve still got our Remi. Small in stature but big in voice, Nicole is single handedly trying to put the rock back in soul and the pop back into pop-u-lar.
While to date the singer has become known more for the cool, acoustic vibes of her debut EP, ‘Fed Up,’ tonight at Water Rats in London, Nicole is wrapping up her first UK tour with a full band behind her. Sure, ‘Fed Up,’ gets played – after all it’s the song that so many of the crowd tonight know her for – but now it’s decked like a musical Christmas tree in bass, electric guitar and drums. It’s still Nicole, but it’s just got better. Much. Better.
Tonight her twenty five minute set begins without an acoustic guitar in sight. Instead, strapped round her neck is a giant electric guitar (at least in relation to her tiny frame, anyway) that she kicks into action with the vibrant, catchy jolly that is, ‘Tabloid Queen.’ Flicking her wrist at the strings like she’s trying to discard a ring off her finger, a new rocked up version of, ‘New Old Days,’ soon follows. Harking back to the time when Woof, Pat Sharp and Sean McGuire – you know, the spotty one off Grange Hill – were every youngsters post school TV fodder, it epitomises the witty ambition of Nicole.
As if she wasn’t providing the audience with enough musical entertainment, Nicole’s humorous personality subconsciously leaks into her in-between song banter as well. Middlesbrough? “Shit,” she says. Dundee’s Fat Sam’s venue? Well, her explanation of that place is in the club’s title. It’s frank, yes, but it’s all said with a playful grin– even the bit when she ponders whether there is a “Skinny Sam’s” down the road.
After she gets done joking about the quality of her recent tour stops, the acoustic guitar appears for that new, glossed up version of ‘Fed Up.’ Firmly attached, it stays for ‘Go With The Flow,’ which documents the singer’s prolific elevation since her first gig last October, and then, for forthcoming single, ‘Go Mr Sunshine,’ which is so selfishly a summer song, you could almost call it ‘Smile.’
As Nicole exits following a rendition of ‘Rock N’ Roll,’ – her personal tale of overcoming the urban stereotype – the pink t-shirt that she’s wearing with Kate Nash’s, ‘LDN Is A Victim,’ graffiti on it, simply suggests one thing. Nash is the victim, Nicole is the victor. Thank God.
