James Blake
Plan B, London
14/01/2011

With a queue to get in longer than the list of superlatives thrown his way, James Blake‘s debut headline show is most definitely the first buzz gig of 2011. Hyped up as the man to soundtrack your year, Blake’s fragile vocal tracks see him reference the likes of Sam Cooke and Bon Iver as influences, a long way from the dark dancefloors he first made his name in as a dubstep DJ and producer. With that in mind it is perhaps unusual for tonight’s show to take place at Plan B, a venue more associated with Blake’s past than his present. As the unassuming man in question takes to the stage, however, setting soon seems irrelevant.

Often taking his frail and delicate vocals and distorting them with a series of loops and auto-tune, Blake’s live show is akin to a one-man confessional from a heartbroken robot. The level of sparsity on tracks such as tonight’s opener, ‘Unluck’ as well as ‘Lindisfarne’ create an almost awkward level of quiet within the audience, many members of whom fail to show the same level of restraint as the man in the spotlight and chatter away throughout. When Blake hits his stride, however, things become majestic. More confident seeming live than on record, Blake takes the pencil sketches of his studio recordings and makes them 3-D. Sub-bass literally shakes the walls, leaving shirt-sleeves shaking and feet tapping as ‘I Never Learned To Share’ reaches its crushing finale.

‘Limit To Your Love’ again sees the structure of the room take a blow as the Feist cover swirls and soars through the chests of those gathered. Punctuated sweetly by Blake’s piano punches it‘s the jewel in the crown tonight, and ending with a cover of Digital Mystikz ‘Anti War Dub’, Blake switches the introspection and solace for a higher BPM. A unique show from a truly engaging performer.

David Renshaw