Rag 'N' Bone Man, Wolverhampton Civic Hall - review and pictures

It was a charm offensive right from the start. That voice, that song, the offer of free food…

Rag 'N' Bone Man, aka singing sensation Rory Graham, has had a meteoric rise.

From being expelled at school to scooping Brit Awards - with mega hit track ‘Human’ to boot.

And Wolverhampton Civic Hall was packed last night with an electric atmosphere ready for the man of the moment.

Striding out on stage, Mr Rag, so-named over his early love of Steptoe and Son, seems an unlikely soulman.

This huge bloke appears like someone you’d expect to see lining up at the Superbowl or Twickenham - but then comes the voice.

Those gravelly undertones crunch through initially before sliding smoothly into velvet notes.

That falsetto too. It comes into its own during a rendition of The Bitter End and draws frenzied screams of delight from his devoted crowd.

His hit debut album, also called Human, is a songbook of melancholy fusing hip-hop, blues with the modern pop sound so in vogue through artists like Sam Smith and Adele.

He tells the crowd ‘It’s well documented that I write miserable songs’ but with a smirk adds ‘But I do have a couple that are less miserable’.

It was soon time for him to throw his baseball cap into the crowd and get down to business.

Your Way or the Rope and The Fire are early highlights of the set along with the intense Lay My Body Down.

It wasn’t the most polished of performances.

He openly admitted to catching his band out by singing the wrong song in the setlist, he disappeared off stage mid-set for a few minutes and later claimed to have had a cold before affirming, to the I’m sure a grateful crowd, that he never liked to cancel a show.

Not that you’d have realised. Rory certainly has a huge set of pipes. The guy has a gift.

But where his songs often sound so well produced as to enhance this instrument, you do get the feeling they don’t showcase his depth as an artist.

Sure they have meaningful lyrics but with a gift that great you’d love to hear something which grabs you and talks more of some of society’s big issues.

But it was the crowd that helped galvanise Rag 'N' Bone Man’s performance through the beautiful Skin to the crescendo of a slightly more up-tempo version of Human before he arrived back on stage for a rousing encore finishing on Hell Yeah.

Support acts Josh Barry and Rationale also helped perfectly complement the show.

Rag 'N' Bone Man is captivating and enthralling and hopefully a regular in Wolverhampton in the years to come.