Shura dazzles at sold out Soup Kitchen, Manchester
Shura fans are in a rush to grab the free vinyl given out on entry to her sold out show at Manchester Soup Kitchen. It’s the Warpaint STEEZ remix of 2shy.
Shura attracts a cool, diverse crowd. It’s liberating to see the odd person has shown up alone. You can do that at Soup Kitchen. We’re all here for the music. And apparently, the alcohol. It’s 7.30 PM on a Wednesday night and the dull dirty bar is full of hope.
Shura is real late on stage, and it’s an agonising wait. Eventually the singer appears opening with brand new songs Figure Stuff Out and Kids n Stuff. Every so often Shura locks eyes with her audience before returning to dream state: Nothing makes sense, but I keep tripping over myself, trying to figure stuff out. Both songs resonate with broken hearts on the dance-floor of an 80’s school disco.
Indecision translates well on Soup Kitchen’s stage. The pulsating beat of drum-pads layered with funky bass and disco-noir synths has us feeling the groove. Shura announces that she did puberty in Manchester. What she’s trying to say is that she spent an important chapter of her life here, and she’s happy to be back.
Have you ever been lost? We should get lost. Four tunes in and Shura has the crowd under her beautiful dark and seductive spell. Delivered with meaning, fifth track and latest single 2shy gets the reaction it deserves. Next, Shura braves and conquers a re-imagining of She Drives Me Crazy by 80’s new wavers Fine Young Cannibals. Add the Teenage Dirtbag mash-up and we’re onto a winner.
Next is the song responsible for bringing Shura to the world’s attention. Touch could have played on a loop all night and no one would complain.
The final track of the evening is brand new single White Light. So brand new it was featured on Annie Mac’s Radio 1 show for the first time tonight – moments before Shura stepped out on stage. White Light is with an eerie deep instrumental that sends you into a dream state. We experience an electric storm in Soup Kitchen’s underground. There’s a thrilling intense pro-longed moment where the whole room becomes captivated by sound.
White Light is unfortunately the last song – because, well, Shura admits she hasn’t written any more. It’s early days for Shura but with festival season around the corner, we hope to see and hear more from her in the future.
