Lizzy McAlpine at Hammersmith Apollo

Lizzy McAlpine has brought the Older Tour to the Apollo, treating Londoners to a night of easy music, calm and without too much fanfare. McAlpine has been vocal before about how her struggles with touring – back-to-back performances, moving about the stage – culminated in her cancelling her last tour. This show is the result of figuring out how to play without losing a part of herself.

Tweeting birds echo around the dark room, guitars and live synths building as she walks into a staggering round of applause. The Elevator isn’t your usual opener, it’s mellow and it’s short, but its extended ending is a beautiful rise, making it perfect. Instead of an upbeat first song, McAlpine chooses to welcome her fans softly. 

In jeans and a jumper, she sits herself down, choosing headphones rather than in-ears. Living-room lamps cast orange light over McAlpine and the six others who join her, giving the setup a relaxed feeling. It feels real, like we’re in the studio with her. Before she sings All Falls Down, she explains her choice in staging, referencing her issues with conventional touring. As she sings this song, written when experiencing such problems, she seems fresher, happier, able to look back and see she made the right decision. The lyric “25 at a sold-out show” receives a deserved roar from the crowd.

She moves through the setlist gracefully, showing off beautiful runs in Staying, melodic guitar in I Guess, and a rocky breakdown in Broken Glass that eclipses its recorded counterpart. Doomsday is huge; she sings it with a suspense that fits its themes and its bridge is loud enough to shake the floor. Each night she sings a different cover at the piano, and tonight it’s Celebrate Me Home by Kenny Loggins. Her vocals have been lovely – smooth, clear, raw – but her range and tone truly transcend here, earning whoops and cheers for every scale she goes up.

There’s no lull, each song special and captivating in its own right. Spring Into Summer is wonderfully bouncy, folky guitar with harmonic synths surrounding it, ending with every single arm in the air, swaying back and forth. The final song (before the encore) is Vortex, and its cascading finish is spectacular. With booming drums and high piano plucks, it’s the kind of music that speaks without words.

The Older Tour is McAlpine’s most authentic yet. It feels like one of those live sessions that is a highlight of an artist’s career, and McAlpine is offering it as a whole tour. This is exactly where she should be, and what she should be doing.   

Talitha Stowell
Photos: Deanie Chen

For further information and future events visit Lizzy McAlpine’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Pushing It Down and Praying here: