Porter’s is an amazing venue for intimate gigs, and the warm lighting and cosy stage setup was perfect for a chill, acoustic show by an all-Welsh line-up of Mari Mathias, and support acts Katielou and GRACIE. For my first gig of 2022, this was certainly an amazing way to start.
GRACIE kicked off the gig, opening with an original song, ‘birds’, captivating the audience with her relaxing vocals and guitar. She performed a combination of both original material and a few covers, including a cover of The Foundations ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’, which was bound to put a smile on everyone’s faces. A particular favourite of mine was her cover of Lilly Allen’s ‘LDN’, as she completely made it her own. Her performance was a stunning way to start the evening.
Katie Lou was next to perform, also accompanied by her guitar. She performed a set of original songs, including some brand-new material, which was really enjoyable. My personal favourites were ‘In My Blood’ and ‘Limit’, and Katielou’s vocals were beautiful, along with her lyrics.
Her energy and the way she interacted with the audience made her set even better, and there was a sense of closeness between us and her as she performed. Both Katielou and GRACIE’s sets were the best build-ups to the headline act of the evening, Mari Mathias.
Mari Mathias, accompanied by her band, were the perfect headliners to a really lovely evening of acoustic music.
Her set of traditional Welsh folk music with her own unique twist really got the crowd going, in the centre of the floor, a group of girls were laughing and dancing along, with their arms linked, encouraging everyone else to join in.
She played originals, like ‘Ceffyl Bach’, and a few unreleased songs on an album coming out in March, alongside her own twist on some traditional Welsh folk songs “remastered in a contemporary fashion”. The famous quote is true, music definitely has no language, as all of her songs were sung in Welsh, and being English speaking meant I didn’t understand the lyrics. However, this didn’t mean I enjoyed the set any less, I could feel the passion and how happy Mari and her band were to be performing; the joy on their faces was infectious.
Chloe Mullis