Reviews

The venue was crammed to the rafters with a mix of mods, Manchester's music aficionados and a fair few people who'd ventured away from their usual Friday night routine of a glass of wine and a take away to witness the 23 year old Welsh songbird in action.

Kicking off proceedings with the big radio favourite from late last year, 'Rockferry', I've got to admit that vocally she didn't disappoint. It’s just a shame that vocally is all most of those present experienced of her, as the majority only got to see her from the eyebrows up, thanks to the low stage and huge pillars.

As a result, there was a constant commotion as most of the crowd spent half the night repositioning themselves for a glimpse of her, with some resorting to using the view finder on their cameras as a mini tele, held aloft.

Thankfully, the evening was rescued by the fact that the girl can actually deliver the goods live - anything less and the bandwagon jumping members of the audience would've been straight on their internet forums knocking down the young starlet they've helped to build up so much, with a satisfied grin.

Indeed, such was the attitude of some of the crowd that midway through, as the tunes were flowing nicely, there was a sense that some were actually rushing her along to get to the big moment they'd all been waiting for, the inevitable finale of Mercy, which had everyone in the room - even some of the the bar staff - miming along and attempting to have a dance in the four inches of elbow room allocated to each person.

With the release of her album and some very satisfied punters, Duffy will be returning to the Ritz in May, a venue which will really compliment her retro style and please the Northern Soul-ers amongst tonight’s crowd. After all, when she plays there, there’ll not only be room to dance but a chance to actually see her too.