Four stars
Transition to the arena stage? Involve the audience from the off. In what was a brilliantly staged concert, the video mix maestro was one of the stars. From the opening bars of Scream (Funk My Life Up), the crowd were projected onto the backdrop transforming the Hydro show into an in-the-round experience and creating the city's biggest selfie at the same time. If the sporadic renditions of Happy Birthday To You never quite achieved coherence, the man himself had the best, darkly-comic line about making his city arena debut on his anniversary: "I made it past 27! What were the odds?"
Fairly high, you'd have to attest. Nutini may have been characterised as a bit of a soul-boy space cadet, but there is a consummate professional at the heart of this show, which is all about Paolo,with his Vipers, a ruthlessly efficient backing combo, in a plainly supportive role. The message is there in that opening song, where the breakdown now contains an electric piano solo from the main man. Later he straps on a Stratocaster to add his guitar voice to longtime sidemen Donnie and Dave, particularly on version of early favourite Jenny, Don't Be Hasty. Its dub wig out intro, which gave way to a baggy Manchester re-arrangement, is indicative of the way that Nutini (and his colleagues) have fun with his back catalogue.
It doesn't always come off - the set dips in the middle with Better Man and a singalong These Streets - and Diana, fail to swing as they should. But Iron Sky, which closes the set proper, is magnificent, with that video input in top gear again. The encores (Tricks of the Trade, MGMT's Time to Pretend, Candy, and Last Request) were the icing on the cake.
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