Meadowlark please long-term fans and win over newcomers at The Shed in Leicester

The Bristol-duo Meadowlark is made up of singer Kate McGill, who won attention for her YouTube covers, and the video-director and rock band member, Dan Broadley. The live gig allowed fans to see how harmoniously the pair work together on stage with McGill on vocals and keys and Broadley with his guitar and synths. We also gained the opportunity to understand how the two have created a cohesive album behind the scenes in spite of the varying ages of their material and their different life experiences.

Following the album’s release, Meadowlark have toured the UK. Indeed, their previous touring experience was evident at their gig at The Shed in Leicester. They confidently opened with ‘Paraffin’ to showcase McGill’s vocal dexterity, dealing with slight tech issues with minimal fuss. Instead the audience was swept up into the drama of the song with its hypnotic and rousing chorus. They then smoothly transitioned into ‘Pink Heart’ and captivated the audience with their heady avant-pop sound. McGill’s slightly breathy vocals on this track complemented the intimacy of the venue and the mirrored set-up of both artists and their instruments close to the audience. Between this, her gentle tapping of keys beautifully accompanied Broadley’s efficient transitions between instruments and the mournful tone of his guitar.

The bulbs’ positions on stands of slightly varying heights and synchronised flashing lent a more ethereal quality to McGill’s singing

This built up into more powerful tracks such as ‘Body Lose’, ’One’ and ‘Sunlight’. Here, they took full advantage of the clever stage design. Exposed bulbs formed a semicircle
behind the two and captured the full emotional feeling of the album. The bulbs’ positions on stands of slightly varying heights and synchronised flashing lent a more ethereal quality to McGill’s singing. Alternatively in ‘Sunlight’, the decrease in light wonderfully mirrored the softening of McGill imploring “this will only get harder, if we slow down”, before the duo kick into up the instrumentals and then the chorus again.

However, the band’s personal touch was far from absent. Thanks to Broadley’s energetic dancing and McGill’s warm and chatty comments to the audience, the heavy emotional impact of the songs was crucially broken up and mellowed. The likeable duo were perfect in pleasing long-term fans and winning over newcomers. In fact, McGill told a funny, if slightly worrying anecdote about the band seeing a knife wielding man running from the police while they unloaded the van. Oh Leicester, so very welcoming as usual.

The likeable duo were perfect in pleasing long-term fans and winning over newcomers

McGill maintained this engagement in her introduction of ‘That’s Life’ as a song about the “contrast between childhood and adulthood” and one of the band’s favourites. This softer song offered a moment to appreciate their evocative songwriting skills as well as a message that many students surely can relate to. This continued in the wistful ‘Postcards’ before they launched into the crowdpleaser, ‘Eyes Wide’ to lift the crowd with its memorable chorus. But before, you can’t help but sing along with the sweet sadness in McGill’s lamentation that “it hurts to love you”.The audience also had the treat of a cover from the band – ‘May I Have This Dance’ from Francis and the Lights proved to be a worthy choice. While a surprising number of audience members claimed to know the tune, it’s certain that everyone went home to find the original after Meadowlark’s unique and memorable cover.

The final part of this gig started with the slightly darker tune of ‘Undercover’, which began the tread to creating a strong ending to the gig. The two then cleverly followed this by raising the audience’s energy and mood. McGill encouraged the audience to sing along to ‘Fly’ with it’s melodic “ohs” before the bouncy introductory of ‘Headlights’ set the audience alight with excitement and created an electric and powerful conclusion to an extremely enjoyable night.