It’s official: Laura Veirs has arrived. Yes, the touts were out in Oxford Street, begging to buy or sell tickets. In the cellar, the atmosphere was horizontal as the cross-legged audience appreciated the wonderfully quirky opening act, Your Heart Breaks (actually Seattle’s Clyde Petersen dressed as a unicorn, with Saltbreakers Karl Blau and Steve Moore).
The latter two, plus producer/ drummer Tucker Martine, changed into smart new embroidered beige suits to accompany Laura Veirs on a bold run-through of the whole of her new Saltbreakers album. It’s a courageous and cheerfully nervous move on this first date of a twomonth European and US tour. Not that anybody minded, as the fans are used to being challenged by this uniquely different artist, who sings more often of geological phenomena than of conventional love (although there’s plenty of love in there too). The UK has clasped Veirs to its bosom and the affair looks set to continue.
