Gemma Hayes' recent nomination for the Mercury Music Prize may have helped to sell out this concert but no one present could have been left in any doubt she deserves it.
This was billed as the "acoustic" tour but after one solo song, Hayes' band - Karl Odlum on guitar and ex-Therapy? member Graham Hopkins on drums - came on stage and proceeded to rock pretty hard, particularly on the current single Let A Good Thing Go.
Most of the songs came from her debut album Night On My Side, which much of the audience seemed to know well. Some were very different to the album versions, notably Hanging Around, which had metamorphosed from full-blown rock to a laid-back, jazzy feel.
Hayes also threw in a beautiful John Martyn cover version and a new song called The Killing, on which she played harmonica.
She said: "I can't play it, I just think it looks cool."
A very human performer - breaking a guitar string on Lucky One and sometimes forgetting the words - Hayes held the crowd's attention throughout and was brought back for an encore on piano for Pieces Of Glass and future single Back Of My Hand.
Brighton-based Irishman Fionn Regan deserves a mention for a fine support set, although he probably couldn't see how well he was received through his impressive fringe.
Mercury Music Prize or not, it's unlikely Gemma Hayes will play such an intimate gig in Brighton, or anywhere else, again.
Review by Peter Simmons, features@theargus.co.uk
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