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Published: 25 November, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB
KIM McCAUL, EMILY JUPP, ALAN STAFFORD, SORAYA GAD, KIM VAN NIEKERK

TOM Jones brought the grannies to the altar, The Kooks took their parents along and Hurts were decimated by a cartoon musical injury.

This year’s Mencap Little Noise Sessions were as eventful as ever – and our reviewers loved every minute (well, almost).

Here’s a round-up of some of the most intense, joyful and cheeky happenings at Islington’s Union Chape.

MONDAY: Tom Jones, Lauren Pritchard, The Ting Tings 

The chapel buzzed from the early evening – Tom Jones was in the house and the supports were going to have to do something special to keep the attention.

Radio One DJ Jo Whiley twinkled in her sequinned dress brimming with passion for the musicians giving their time to a cause close to her heart.

Opening at only his second ever gig, a quietly confident James Blake sang at keyboards with help from various weird and wonderful electronic gizmos. The crowd weren’t quite sure what to make of it at first but warmed to him by the end.

Lauren Pritchard looked sweet, sexy and spirited. She told of her 70-year-old gran screaming with excitement on learning young Lauren would share a stage with Tom Jones.

From being Wasted in Jackson to being truly passionate and bold, we shared her journey. The girl can sing.

We’re familiar with The Ting Tings’ usual noisy, animated performances, with Jules on drums and Katie banging cow bells and strutting her stuff. But this was different.

After a false start, where Jules accidentally hit the wrong pedal and an uptempo beat interrupted a gentle acoustic intro, the duo were off.

Both seated, Jules on guitar cut a tiny figure in skinny trousers and boots bulked up by his jacket while Katie (another tiny figure) must have been superglued to her chair as it became increasingly difficult for her not to jump up – especially to That’s Not My Name.

The Union Chapel was an inspired setting for Tom Jones’ new blues and gospel sound under the shadow of the historic pulpit.

Tom was a powerhouse as he belted out songs from album Praise and Blame, supported by an earthy band.

The crowd, some of whom queued in icy climes all day for front-row seats, were up on their toes, swaying to the Welsh giant’s irresistible tones.

Jo Whiley later confessed her own mother rushed the stage – an altar – just to be close to Mr Jones.

TUESDAY: Paolo Nutini, Rumer, Jessie J

Paolo Nutini growls over the mic. He is bent forward, his unruly black mane glued with sweat to his face. His eyes are closed, arms lifted, palms outstretched, he resembles a wolf baying at the moon, or maybe an old, blind man, praying.

His performance is absorbing. Is the passion genuine? Hard to say, but it’s thrilling to watch. You only see his eyes when he glances up between numbers, a torturous expression instantly erased as he acknowledges the audience with a dopey grin.

The artist’s first album, These Streets, was accused of lacking gravitas so has he deliberately swung in the opposite direction with this gravelly, aged performance?

Most of the night’s songs are from Sunny Side Up – a mishmash of styles, but with unifying motifs of regret, rebellion and romance. From the Bob Marley-style ska number 10/10, to jaunty Jenny Don’t Be Hasty, and the dark, jazzy, No Other Way, he demonstrates an extraordinary depth and range.

In Pencil Full of Lead, Nutini’s ebullient manner and the ragtime beat got the audience jiving. He slurred through the folky Worried Man with echoes of Johnny Cash. His thick Scottish accent verges on the incomprehensible at times, but no one minds, the sounds are sometimes more emotive than words.

Nutini is mesmerising as he tries different genres of music and attitudes, seeing which fit best. As he morphs convincingly from reggae singer to crooner to a world-weary, blues-singing cynic, his adaptive voice suits each style. It doesn’t matter that he hasn’t found one definitive voice, the selection he uses now is deeply compelling.

Supporting, newcomer Jessie J’s stuttering human beatboxing in Do It Like A Dude got the crowd on their feet and the sunshine-infused Price Tag got them dancing. Despite Rumer’s occasional sparks of soulful beauty she often lacks the vocal power to match her bold lyrics. Thankful was unmoving, the lyrics trite – but Aretha sparkled. You get the sense Rumer has experienced some of the pain in her songs, giving her an authenticity that manufactured artists lack.

WEDNESDAY: Hurts

It WAS a case of “the show must go on” for synth-pop duo Hurts when one half of the band injured himself shortly before their set.

Keyboardist Adam Anderson tweaked his back moving a piano in what bandmate Theo Hutchcraft described as a “Tom and Jerry-style accident”. 

But they didn’t cancel, saying Mencap was too important, and coped admirably with the late line-up change.

The hushed Gothic chapel, haunting strings and sparse percussion brought out the melancholy streak in the band’s music.

A mysterious, beautiful young woman – later revealed as Tali, Annie Lennox’s daughter – silently plucked petals from a bunch of white roses onstage.

Hurts bring their own streak of melodrama and emotion to a classic, quite mainstream, pop sound.  

At times – as on Blood, Tears & Gold, hit Wonderful Life, and the imploring Evelyn – it worked brilliantly.

At others, the pop half of their personality seemed to take over and they sounded a bit, well, boy band.

But judging from the singalong to closer Stay there were plenty happy with what they were hearing.

THURSDAY: Example, The Kooks, We Are Scientists, John Bramwell

Example comes onstage donning a beanie claiming a bad hair day. More used to crazy club raves, he asks for patience while he acclimatises. It doesn’t take long.

He’s charismatic in a couldn’t-care-less way and puts the crowd at ease, like he’s in his kitchen and we’re just bystanders.

Within minutes, Example has pockets of the crowd on their feet and makes empty threats should they dare sit down.

In no time, the whole chapel is one big rave and the atmosphere is electric.

Between songs, he tells how four years ago, when he’d come to LNS to see The Kooks, he drunkenly told Whiley that one day he’d be up on that stage.

She confirms remembering that “gobby” lad and is happy that his prophecy came true.

He tells the audience not to buy his new single but to give the money to Mencap.

This is Example at his best: stripped down, clear and sharp. And his effortless charm is loved by all.

Sadly, opener I Am Kloot frontman John Bramwell failed to connect with the space and everyone in it.

His deep, dark, moody and tormented sound required banter to match but his attempts at comedy seemed to sink and lose the crowd further. One awesome song about “love with no disaster” may just have pulled things back.

Cheeky We Are Scientists entertained with foot-tapping songs, and by sneaking one of Jo Whiley’s flamboyant fur coats onstage, only for Chris Cain to produce it triumphantly and wear it throughout the set. Great fun and it picked up the energy.

The Kooks played to an excited audience including their parents. There was something especially electric about frontman Luke Pritchard’s performance.

Old classics like Shine On and She Moves In Her Own Way won as great a reception as newer tracks with the audience flooding the aisles between the pews. The boys loved the venue and the audience couldn’t have been happier – on their feet for the duration. Only the penultimate song was off balance with the string quartet sounding out of sync with the rest of the band. But after a superb set, we forgave.

SATURDAY: Stornoway/Ellie Goulding

The acoustic Sessions take many bands out of their comfort zones. Stornoway seemed right at home.

Their folk-rock revolved around a whirlwind of instruments from guitars to strings, trumpets, and even a Turkish kanun (a type of zither).

The sound was a perfect foil to Brian Briggs’ somehow very English, slightly eccentric songs that find unexpected emotion and meaning in such unlikely subjects as extreme sports (Zorbing), driving (Fuel Up) or drunken phone calls (Long-Distance Lullaby).

Folk-rock is all too often nauseatingly twee but Stornoway were anything but, with impassioned vocals and songs like On The Rocks rolling and falling like the tide on the Thames that inspired it.

Last song The End of the Movie was performed with no amplification at all, even for vocals – except for the most unusual instrument – an old black-and-white TV flickering between stations as the music faded out.

Inspired, the only disappointment was that the six-song set wasn’t twice as long.

Hype is a two-edged weapon as Ellie Goulding well knows.

Tipped as “the one to watch in 2010”, the pop songstress has since faced a minor critical backlash and lukewarm reviews of album, Lights.

Here, with strings instead of synths, was a chance to show what she can do.

She isn’t Bjork or Kate Bush but has a powerful and versatile voice. She filled the vast space with her sweeping version of The Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition, but scaled right back on others.

She has some good songs – The Writer and Starry Eyed among the best.

Currently, Ellie’s best-known song is her take on Elton John’s Your Song, on Christmas ads for John Lewis. She sang it beautifully, with piano accompaniment from guest, Mumford and Son Ben Lovett.

Lovely though it was, the song is exactly what her critics don’t like about her – a nice middle-class girl singing a nice version of a pop classic to help sell nice sofas. This is safe music for Radio 2, they snarl.

She probably isn’t for those who think music should be in a constant state of revolution.

But on the strength of this show, those looking for an interesting voice and some new pop could do worse.