Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There are certain musicians that when they leave the stage after a gig they leave a gaping hole so large that it never seems possible to ever fill it again. The gig may have been tremendous but that lingering presence is enough to just fill the evening with the slight tinge of regret. Imagine then the wake of rippling, surging emotions for a city who had taken a musician of sterling quality under their wing and adopted, as it is that city’s right to do so, to find that she was going to finally go back home to her native Norway. That hole for many looked deep, bleak and never ending.
The pull of Liverpool for Ragnhild Nordset, or simply Ragz, however thankfully was too great and after much time away she has returned and whilst she has already given back the city a reason to be cheerful, to see her perform inside the magnificently austere Court Room in St. George’s Hall and make her abundant fan base smile uncontrollably was for many the perfect gift this winter.
There are many whose voice can fill a room, the projection of the lyrics going high into the ceiling and their charm carrying it off even further. However, to hear this Norwegian songstress’s voice carry would have seemed to the ghosts of the past that still haunt the Court chamber as if an angel had found its way into the court and was giving hope to the guilty in their hour of desperation or soothing the fears of the innocent and wrongly accused that given time, the truth of their long fight against maliciousness and wrong doing would be recognised.
Opening her set against the polished wood setting and the judges power of office emanating from behind her, Ragz opened up her, quite frankly enticing set with Mama Pray and the superb End To Ends before performing such tracks as No Fairy Tale and a brand new song called Through the Night before wrapping up her session with the beautifully sung Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker, a traditional Norwegian hymn which translates as My Heart Will Always Rest. As Ms. Nordset stepped back from the microphone, the sight that greeted her must have been gratifying and in one moment, even to the untrained eye, each audience member must have realised that this particular adopted daughter of Liverpool knew she was glad to be back.
No matter the venue, Ragz Nordset manages to encapsulate the spirit of home country but with that extra wonderful gift of having allowed the banks of the Mersey to get under her skin and become her nature, just simply divine.
Ian D. Hall