Adwaith, Paige Kennedy – The Grace, Highbury

The weather has been miserable but at least it’s gig night tonight, since it’s been over a week since I saw anyone live.

Tonight it was Adwaith at the Grace, formerly Upstairs at the Garage next to Highbury and Islington station – a venue I haven’t been to before, although I’ve been to the Garage quite a few times over the last three decades.

Still planning on moving away from Essex next year, but I’m going to miss going here for gigs as it’s taking under an hour from Shenfield station, changing at Stratford to get the Overground.

This was a first for me – seeing a gig from a band who sing exclusively in Welsh. I’ve been playing Adwaith’s album Bato Mato a lot this year, particularly all through the summer, and I have to confess I know a lot of the words to sing along to, even if I’m not quite sure what they mean.

The album is quite polished and wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work live. It worked really well – it was a lot more raw and rocking than I expected, which wasn’t a prerequisite for me at all, but was still fantastic to hear. Roll on album no 3.