Nerina Pallot’s 2005 Fires album is one of my favourite albums of all time! When Pallot announced that she was doing a one night special at The London Palladium where she would play the album in its entirety, I couldn’t have prayed more to get a ticket.

It’s beautiful to celebrate an album with other fans – I never knew this album was a favourite amongst so many but it was wonderful to know I would be in an audience who adored this masterpiece of an album as much as I do.

The Palladium was decorated externally with images of The Fires album and the date of the concert. Eager fans were filled outside waiting to get into the venue despite all having allocated seating. Upon entry, the merchandise desk had a queue longer than I had ever seen at a show!

Third row and centre, I was sat amongst an excited audience and I of course, was one of them.

No support act, Nerina arrived on stage promptly at 8pm wearing a beautiful red gown, after all, The Palladium is a place to dress up. A full band which included a strings section, we knew already that there would never be another Nerina Pallot show quite like this, how lucky we all were.

Starting with of course, Everybody’s Gone To War, Pallot looked slightly nervous to start but eased half way through the song when she quite clearly realised the audience had her, we were there for every minute of it. For us, that first note of that song was everything!!!

Playing the Fires album in track listing order, Nerina made a joke about how she worried that the set list would be predictable.

Every track off of Fires meant something to everyone in that audience and each audience member had particular songs that meant even more! Halfway Home was beautifully delivered Damascas was spectacular and by the time she played Idaho, I was almost crying like a baby.

The band were sensational! Experts in their field you couldn’t have faulted them. The strings were breathtaking throughout although at times they were slightly hard to hear but that could have differed depending on where you were sat!

An unpopular opinion comes from the fact that I am not really a fan of Learning to Breathe (sorry). Nerina says it’s a song she hears about most of how it helps people. It was great live, don’t get me wrong but has always been my least favourite from Fires.

It was Mr King though that was the stand out moment for me – that was money well spent just for that one song. Practically perfect in every way, with the strings on stage it was one of the most spectacular and enchanting performances I had ever seen. Every note that was played and sung had the audience in awe.

Geek Love came with a funny story about how Nerina’s manager used to worry about her talking between songs and that interviewers used to be shocked she was nothing like the Fires album cover portrayed. Witty, sweet and humble throughout, Nerina treated the audience as if we were old friends, I guess in a way we were. As she said herself, she may have written these songs but she feels she can’t claim them (unless where royalties are concerned of course) because these songs are for all of us, they may be her experiences but they are ours too and that’s the beauty of music! Geek Love was great live, it shows a deeper and less delicate side of her music. Her vocals are of such a wide range that the mix of songs she plays makes for a superb show!

Sophia was heavenly!! With the help of Nerina on the piano and performing solo for the most part, Pallot showcased just how much of a phenomenal singer she really is. The passion and emotion in her vocals could be felt by us all. The song was haunting and elegant. Pallot’s music is so well crafted and each song is exquisite in its melody.

All Good People brought the energy up a notch with the audience singing along more which is something we didn’t dare nor wanted to do for most songs as wished to only hear Nerina. Pallot mentioned that she doesn’t perform Heart Attack often which is a shame as live, that song takes on a new life with its electrifying, rockier sounds. Nerina closed the first half of her set with the last track off of Fires Nickindia. Atmospheric and hypnotic in a live setting, words can’t quite describe just how powerful it was.

Returning to the stage after a 20 minute interval, Pallot had changed into a blue dress equally as lovely as her red one! Performing a cover of Kylie Minogue’s Confide In Me, Pallot delivered an even more impressive version of the original which saw the song reaching a very Bond esque vibe with help form the strings and band in general. The song suits Nerina Pallot perfectly.

From Stay Lucky album, she performed The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Introducing her band, she then comedically explained the next song doesn’t involve the band and went on to sing a solo piano version of Joy Divison’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. A song she told us was for her son yet contained a swear word, she sung a divine version of There’s a River followed by Real Late Starter. Telling us how she kept taking this song on and off the set list but decided to leave it on for the audience (and not for her), Pallot played Patience. A clear favourite among the fans but perhaps not for Nerina, you would never have known given how bright and enjoyable it was. “That’s how much I love you” she said at the end.

Thanking the audience and genuinely so, Pallot was saying how she really didn’t want to do this show as thought that nobody would buy tickets! Further explaining that even her mum said something along the lines of “how will you sell the tickets?” she explained that her mum couldn’t be there tonight. As soon as she said that there were noises from the crowd at the front! Distracted by it, she looks over and sees people pointing “my mum isn’t here is she?” She asks in a confused yet hopeful state! And the crowd say yes as her mum stands up. Emotional, Nerina couldn’t quite believe it and asked if her husband knew about it! Still quite emotional and overwhelmed, Nerina thanks everyone who made this show possible and that she is glad she did it. It still amazes her that these songs of hers mean anything to anyone! Closing the set with the upbeat and now even more meaningful Put Your Hands Up, the audience participation was strong.

Of course, that wasn’t really the end! Nerina and the band returned to the stage where they performed a moving live version of Blessed in which Nerina dedicated to someone who inspired her to write it! The final close came from My Last Tango!

I can’t remember it all, I wish that I did as she gave us so many comedic moments as well as some lovely stories. I wished I could have recorded all of those moments forever. But this was a show that people like me wanted to capture in our minds, not on camera and it was nice to see that the majority of people didn’t spend the show behind their cameras for once. Everything and everyone were on top form and I loved the on stage relationship between the band and Nerina, there were so many smiley faces which proved how happy each and every member were to be there. The drummer even travelling from the US as resides there now! Part of her band included singer/songwriter Holly Henderson of whom we highly recommend you check out here.

The show was nostalgic and a truly magical experience that we in the audience were very fortunate to have been a part of. A masterful performance from all on stage, this show is one that many of us will never forget! This was a celebration of a beautifully crafted album from a fantastically unique artist that creates some of the most detailed and extraordinarily delicate and charming melodies. Yes I am biased as am a huge fan but I attended as a fan and not as a critic. We all felt it, the humour, the way she engaged with the audience and of course the music. Oh we’re geeks but we know this is love!

You can buy merchandise from the Night at The Palladium here as well as other merchandise including the remastered version of Fires on Vinyl and CD.

Where did we stay? Hotels were booked up around The Palladium or too expensive so we stayed at The Intercontinental London O2. To get there we caught the tube at Oxford Circus, took one stop to Bond Street and then from Bond Street to North Greenwich. The journey was approximately 20 minutes. The walk from North Greenwich to The Intercontinental – London the O2 is safe and easy. You can either walk from the station past the taxi rank or through the O2 itself. Check out our review here. We find it worth it as is such a lovely hotel and can be very reasonable if not staying during a major event held at the O2.