When the headline act is seen hobbling around the venue on crutches during the support set its easy to wonder if it'll impact on the performance. Yet when petite Missouri-born Krystle Warren hops onto the stage she explains that when she broke her ankle running for a train in her now native Paris, her reaction was to say "fuck you ankle, I'm going on tour." This steely disregard for injury means that her trademark smouldering delivery remains intact.
Admittedly, she can only stand for a few songs before reaching for a chair. Yet even sitting, there's a fluidity about the way she sings and swoops around the microphone, caressing subtle passages from her acoustic guitar. Billed as part of London Jazz festival, she straddles genres and is something of a female Rufus Wainwright. No wonder their duet at the recent Kate McGarrigle benefit was reportedly something special.
A solo performance can easily lag over a 75 minute set when audiences are not yet familiar with an artist's material, yet songs such as Year End Issue and The Means To Be easily surpass their full band versions found on debut album Circles. Whilst Warren's ad libs, surprising cover versions, audience participation and bonhomie make the time fly. Openly gay, she effortlessly charms admiring onlookers, both male and female. When she tells us her response to an Irishman at her previous show asking what she'd say if she met a nice man was to say "where d'you get those trousers" it generates a big laugh.
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More fun comes when she invites Gwyneth Herbert to join her for a rendition of Something Stupid and divides the audience into three part harmonies for a startling and raw Eleanor Rigby. An intense performer, yet with an airy ease about everything she does, watching her is a little like drinking in the fine whisky she requests a glass of towards the close of the evening.
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