Review: Amy Macdonald living the life as Mrs Rock and Roll

Amy Macdonald ****
Queens Hall

IT'S a curious thing, seeing a 20-year-old lass from Bishopbriggs make middle-aged women swoon and grown men giddy like schoolgirls. But that's the impact Amy Macdonald had as she opened her biggest UK tour yet at the Queen's Hall last night.

Often bracketed with the likes of Sandi Thom, KT Tunstall and Katie Melua, she's in danger of joining them in becoming one of those artists parents find cool to like, while the younger generation cringe.

Yet last night, she proved much more than that, playing a set filled with enough drive, catchy numbers, fierce vocals and promising new material to suggest her appeal can cross over to her own age.

Early birds in attendance were treated to a warm-up from breaking act Jack McManus, a 23-year-old balladeer from Kent in the mould of Elton John and Billy Joel. The latest graduate from London's Brit School Of Performing Arts (he was in the same year as Amy Winehouse), his soaring vocals and big piano-driven ballads suggested one to watch. Next up, Brooklyn-based Julian Velard also got feet starting to tap with piano laden schmooze and velvet vocals.

Stealing the show straight away though was Macdonald, entering in patriotic fashion to a piper's lament, guitar threatening to engulf her and waving enthusiastically to her fans.

She may have a number one album, a clutch of hit singles, have sold nearly a million records and just come back from a successful trip to America, but nothing seems to have affected the singer-songwriter as she stormed through her set with enthusiasm and verve, only matched by her humility between songs.

Unassuming and mild- mannered when addressing the audience, mostly made up of people twice her age, she was in a relaxed mood. This perhaps surprising after watching her beloved Glasgow Rangers defeated just minutes before walking on.

"Doin' Scotland proud," she smiled, pointing to her team's scarf she'd proudly displayed on the mic stand. "I thought I'd be safe here, because you're all Hearts and Hibbees," she joked, to approval.

It was a brave decision to play her most well known tracks early on, opening with the impossibly catchy, This is the Life with fellow crowd pleaser, Mr Rock & Roll following soon after. Macdonald and her band seemed to be relaxed and enjoying themselves onstage, the singer's focused expression breaking down with a regular cheeky grins to the crowd.

While some songs from her album often threaten to sound a bit samey with lyrics verging on clichéd, the new material holds more promise for Macdonald, with a stripped-down sound and slower pace giving her more freedom to use her distinctive singing to more emphatic effect. The anthemic Troubled Soul stood out in particular.

Possessing a voice that makes a mockery of her youth, she produced show-stopping covers of Caledonia and Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark to cap off a very decent night's work. Perhaps if more of her own age see her live, it won't just be the adults going mad for Macdonald.