The Old Market is one of the city’s gems. The venue’s superb acoustics were apparent as soon the Venezuelan-American singer songwriter, Devendra Banhart, took to the stage. Tonight, as with most gigs here, the focus is entirely on the musician – to the extent that you could have heard a penny drop due to the hush.

For the first two songs Banhart played alone with no band behind him, but his distinctive delivery and charisma engaged the crowd nonetheless. He started the evening with a few older songs such as ‘The Body Breaks’ and ‘Little Yellow Spider’ both from 2004. The band didn’t take the stage until ‘Golden Girls’ started to play – an atmospheric opening track off Banhart’s new album ‘Mala’. The show was now in full swing, with added reverb and ambience.

Banhart played with great expression, adding an energetic flair to the show. His manic arm-channelling, which appeared during the performance of some of his songs, seemed to occur most when he didn’t have a guitar to take care of. Although this paints a bizarre picture, it was Banhart’s awkward eccentricities along with his great variety of musical styles that made the show so interesting. His wide vocal range even allowed him to use his voice as a warbling FX pedal.

One of the best things about Banhart’s lyrics is their playful humour. A good example of this is in ‘Your Fine Petting Duck’ – a track off ‘Mala’ in which Banhart and his girlfriend Ana Kraš trade flirtatious insults. Tonight however, the male rhythm guitarist adopted a falsetto voice to sing Ana’s part of the song, making it all the more hilarious.

Other highlights included the flamenco sway of ‘Mi Negrita’ and the sweet lullaby of ‘Daniel’. Although the new tracks were well-received, it was older tracks such as the sparkling ‘Baby’ and the melodic ‘Carmensita’ which proved to be fan favourites.

Old Market, Friday 28th June 2013
Words by Jack Dutton