Andreya Triana at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. November 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are perhaps fewer things in life, especially within the artistic range, more daunting than opening up for a woman who it is agreed almost universally to be a star of unrivalled quality. Nobody would ever blame a support act for feeling the slight unhinging trepidation which passes as they walk across the stage with a couple of thousand eyes baring down before them, nobody would truly bat an eye lid if the sound of their heart was audibly so loud that it drowned out the polite applause that greeted the performer. Yet as Andreya Triana made her way past the boards that have held a million feet, there was arguably no sense of the nerves showing at all, only wonderfully composed respect for the audience’s time.

It is that mark of respect that typifies Ms. Triana as a complete artist and one whose own style of musical interpretation was verging somewhere between stunning and beautifully compelling, it hovered like a Kingfisher buzzing for all its worth over a lake or a running stream, taking its time to truly make its mark with each dive, choosing the right note in which to give the audience its natural and well deserved bounty.

The bounty may have been short and sweet, it may have been deemed as fun sized, of endorsing the spectacular to come but as the resonance of Ms. Triana’s voice, her natural timbre, limber, resolute and assured, played over the speakers in the Philharmonic Hall and the sound was filled with innocent desire and knowing fulfilment.

The six song strong set, The Changing Shapes of Love, Giants, Everything You Never Had, That’s Alright With Me, Lost Where I Belong and Gold were perfectly received by the Philharmonic crowd and the edge of respect began to flow with earnest and true appreciation.

Opening for a modern legend in the making is quite daunting, how you go about dispelling the nerves of the crowd anticipating a great night, how you put them at their ease is a position of relentless anxiety, yet in the sweeping assuredness displayed by Ms. Triana, the Liverpool night found a new songwriter and vocalist of immense charm; a delightful addition to the Philharmonic Hall tradition.

Ian D. Hall