NxEW - Live Show Review

London's own Allison Brown opened the evening, fresh off winning the Contemporary Singer/Songwriter category in last night's Jack Richardson Awards in London. Her voice filled the hall and showcased not only the wonderful acoustics, but also why Brown is such a well-loved fixture of the London musical community.

Sadly London is losing her, but undoubtedly wherever she lands will be better for it as we have been in London. Her set was short and sweet, and made plenty of new fans out in the lobby looking for copies of her CD.

Juno awarded Old Man Luedecke followed up with his one-man show. While diminutive in how much space he needed on the stage, was anything but in the musical roustabout he stirred up with a banjo and a stomping foot. Rolling out of the gates with The Rear Guard the first track in rotation off his album My Hands are on Fire and other Love Songs which was released just last week.

He quickly won the audience over with his melodies and saccharine-soaked falsetto highs, but also with his incredibly funny and endearing between-song revelations. There's something so engaging about Luedecke's polite, and self mocking way. I am certain the "Old" in his name lays reference to the manner he carries himself and the words he chooses… Not many people I know are this polite, respectful and use the word "remiss" without the slightest bit of irony, and in complete sincerity.

He introduced us to the lines he knew of a French version of Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall", which he learned from a Nana Mouskouri version – his favourite yard sale find ever. Turned out he only knew a few lines, but he wasn't least bit ashamed of that – just completely proud to share that love for as much as he could reference. And that in essence is what makes fans reserve a little space in their hearts for Luedecke.

He continued through the set with both songs off the new album as well as old favourites – even switching up the set order to accommodate the requests for Proof of Love. Not one to leave the fans wanting more, his encore was 3, if not 4, songs deep. And then, he proceeded out to the lobby to meet with everyone there waiting to get a copy of his CD signed.

Truly a gem of a show to start out the week with!