Gig review: Jack Peñate

Published on Wednesday 21 October 2009 18:59

JACK PEÑATE **** ARCHES, GLASGOW

THE musical volte-face performed by Kate Nash and Lily Allen's contemporary Jack Peate with his second album Everything Is New – from bandy-legged peddler of identikit scratchy guitar indie to beatific dance pop auteur – has been one of 2009's biggest surprises.

Critical acclaim for the record has flowed, but alas, it would seem to have come at a price: rather than playing a sold-out Barrowlands– as Peate might have done if he'd carried on plodding down the middle of the road – the tousle-haired Londoner instead performed for a not-quite-full Arches. He looked to be having a great time never the less, losing himself in ravey dance moves, which felt charmingly awkward coming for the sort of politely spoken pop star you could happily take home to meet your mum.

The show began with a feel more akin to a club night than a concert. Peate hasn't written off the stuff of his debut album, Matinee – the set list in fact oscillated quite evenly between old and new material. The likes of Spit at Stars and Torn On the Platform sounded smarter and sturdier live than might have been expected, but the best moments were derived from Peate's latest record – the beatific synth-brass charged Be the One, and the deft afrobeat guitars and trippy Balearic rhythms of Tonight's Today.

It's refreshing to see a young artist summoning the guts to satisfy himself first and worry about his A&R man later.