Henry Grace comes full circle with intimate church show
The Londoner returns to St Pancras Old Church for a dimly lit performance.
Photo: Kamala Adams
The last time I’d been at a performance in a church was most likely my own, when I played violin in the school orchestra and took the silver medal some sixteen or so years ago, and the following year I’d go on to be demoted to bronze. It’s not every day you can go to a show and manage to read a book during the break between the support and the main act, or sit down the entire time without the risk of the person in front of you standing up.
When you listen to Henry’s second album, Things Are Moving All Around Me, it makes sense to hear it in a church. Soft, gentle, yet packed with a punch, the album delivers everything and more, but, as Henry explained on the night, “feels like an ending”. It’s only right, then, that this performance might feel like the closing of a chapter, or the ending of a rather long book.
Seven years ago, when the London-born singer returned to the UK after moving to America, his first show was at this very church, a fifteen-minute walk from Euston station. It feels fitting that, after performing a full band show at Bush Hall back in January, the musician would bring only three band members — Toby on drums, Thomas on the electric bass and Brian on guitar — and take it down a notch or two to the full crowd sat before him.
Switching the setlist up from that performance, Henry began the set with album track This Is The Place, with the audience the quietest I’ve ever heard as his voice bounced off the church’s walls and began a magical night. Everyone was mesmerised, and rightly so.
The harmonica came out for Tennessee Dust from his debut album, Alive In America, and guitarist Brian switched out his guitar for a ukulele during the simple, gentle Things, creating a calm environment within those stone walls.
With tracks like Medicine and California Rain enchanting the London crowd, it proves that, despite Henry’s tens of thousands of monthly listeners, it feels very much like he might be London’s best-kept secret. Forget trendy new bands taking to the stage at the likes of MOTH Club or The Windmill because there’s something magical brewing right here, waiting to be discovered.
His Americana-folk style is one you can’t miss out on, and ending tracks Rust, Passing Through and Days Like This are expansive and sound huge in this small venue, with no need for bells and whistles or hullabaloo. While at first my favourite was the obvious lead single, Say Something Mean, like clockwork it’s changed with every listen; sometimes it’s Rust or Passing Through, and sometimes it’s Moving On or Leaving Song.
Hearing these album tracks live has cemented that, when I first reviewed Henry’s second album back in January, I clearly just needed to hear it live to take it from four stars to five. Once you hear any of these songs in person, you’ll see why they can’t be confined to such a rating. This is a five-star album and a five-star performance.
Things Are Moving All Around Me is out now via At Last.
