Heather Nova + Universal Love Train (supporting act) - The Waterfront, Norwich, Norfolk, England - 02.02.99

Okay some people might say that only a stupid person would pay for something which they could have got for nothing - being a card carrying Student Union member, I could have seen Heather without purchasing a ticket as students were let in for free, on a first come first served basis. However I didn't want to leave anything to chance as this concert was to my knowledge Heather's first time in Norwich and if I didn't get to see her, the opportunity might not arise again. You see it was imperative that I obtained an answer to the question "does Heather's voice sound as good live?"

Before Heather came on Universal Love Train entertained us with their quirky rock numbers, one of which was called "Happy" and was suitably jovial. If I have to make a comparison, I would say that the singer's voice was not unlike Neil Finn's and the band's style generally was similar to Crowded House. The band stepped in at the last minute to provide support, as for some unexplained reason Naomi, who was/were billed to support, couldn't make it. My feet could not fight off an uncontrollable urge to tap. The audience was warmed up.

Rating: ****

Heather made her entrance. The spectators (myself excluded) didn't quite know what to expect as I would venture to say that the vast majority of the audience was made up of students who were taking advantage of the free night out and had not previously had the good fortune of hearing any of Heather's material. However it wasn't long before everyone was under Heather's spell and I found out that her voice sounds even better live.

Heather kicked off with the energetic "I'm the Girl". Her voice was really tested when she did an acoustic set, including a version of "Truth and Bone" - Heather passed the test with flying colours. The tempo was picked up again (and so were the electrically charged instruments) with "Walk This World". The main set consisted primarily of songs from Heather's latest album, "Siren", which has in fact been out for some time. At the end of the evening Heather did a rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" during which it would have been possible to have heard a pin drop. The one word which springs to mind to sum up the evening is … magical.

Rating: *****

Date of Review: 12.03.99

For photos of the gig, click here

Click here to get the set list for this gig.