Supporting is Better Joy, led by rising indie-pop star Bria Keely, who plays an eight-track set filled with guitar hooks and dreamy vocals, including ‘carnival’ and ‘plugged in’. Her sweet, confident presence warms the stage and primes the audience for Macdonald before finishing with ‘dead plants’, a track with a contagiously singable chorus buildup of “I love you, but you make it hard to like you / I love you, but I’m killing it with kindness”.
Opening with her new release’s title track, ‘Is This What You’ve Been Waiting For?’, which this tour supports, Macdonald and the band begin strong with the glittery folk-pop ‘Dream On’ and ‘The Hudson’ from her 2020 and 2017 albums, respectively. After the fantastic trio, the singer reveals she was in fact trying not to burst out laughing, for a second, leaving us in the audience wondering if she was giggling at our awful singing. But, moments before the entrance, her drummer (Adam Falkner) had forgotten his inner-ear piece, causing him to sprint back to the dressing room. Unnoticeable without her mentioning, but as honest as her music, she’s compelled to admit the mishap.
Instead of being defined by “eras” attached to albums, Macdonald’s music feels more of an unfaltering, etched-out story with tracks written for certain walks of life, which play out seamlessly tonight. ‘Spark’ is for resilience, ‘Fire’s indie-Americana fuels hopeful optimism, and the self-explanatory ‘Pride’ was written about the joy which followed her singing the national anthem at a Scotland vs Spain match in 2010.
In every live rendition, her unshakenly powerful vocals match the guts and vigour solidified within the studio versions as she soars atop of the band to bring her stories to life. It’s not just her tracks that tell stories; in true folk fashion, she regularly has a natter to lay context and share her thoughts.
Macdonald reveals that Newcastle City Hall wasn’t the only place she could’ve spent this Monday night.“Number 10 Downing Street… or Newcastle?”, she explains her not-so-tough decision. A trick as old as the Tyne: rile Northerners (and Scots) up by pitting them against Southerners; that’s a way to get the passion burning as she moves right into 2012’s ‘Slow It Down’ and asks for a little audience participation with some nice, easy backing vocals (“Down, down down, down down-down, down”) which is now a fun staple whenever she performs the track.
Despite knowing her beloved hits are going to be played tonight, this show reminds us that her notable, snappy songwriting has now been poured into six albums, a talent easily appreciated on new tracks like ‘I’m Done (Games That You Play)’ which has an infectious baseline and catchy verses, “And you said I’ll never ever leave you / And you said I’m always gonna need you”.
When the time does come for the renowned numbers from her debut ‘This Is The Life’, ’Mr Rock & Roll’, and ‘Poison Prince’, it’s the sense of nostalgia in the room that is most moving, as everyone sings them word-for-word.
Macdonald’s music is gritty, infused with her powerful Scottish spirit, and made for community. True to the identity-baring, oral traditions of folk-rock, she shares the very best of her ethos.
Kai Palmer
Image: Olivia Rose
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