Georgia, Poté, Alex Teleko: Jacaranda Phase One, Liverpool

Georgia

Georgia brought her exquisite pop sensibilities to Phase One Getintothis’ Steven Doherty was suitably enraptured.

Georgia has already made one of the early contenders for the title of pure pop album of the year, in the shape of her sophomore effort Seeking Thrills, which came five long years after her self-titled debut.

This is the first of a handful of dates before she’s back in the country in the summer to take the festivals by storm.

It’s a remarkable electro-odyssey of a record, encompassing mellow overtones and straight-out bangers, which we are hoping sounds as euphoric in a live environment.

The first noticeable thing on entry, spending our days as we do usually reviewing four piece indie chancers, it’s weird and somewhat exhilarating to have a stage not set up in the usual “band” manner.

First up is Alex Teleko, a scowling young man who is “a spaceman in your nightmares”, according to his opening number.

Just him, his keyboard and a laptop at his feet, simple yet very effective.

At points, the sound is a one-man New Order.

A fifteen minute set leaves no time for any audience interaction, and his sorrowful closer makes us feel like we are just scratching the excellent surface.

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The dynamic differs after the changeover and as the lights dip we can see a bank of keyboards and electronic drums, the stage is now set for Poté.

He’s a St Lucian born, London bred and living in France, he’s also five years in the game from when his debut EP dropped, since then he’s gone on to have a number 1 on the Radio 1 Dance Chart.

It’s his first time in Liverpool and he wants to have a good time.

And hopefully that’s what he gets.

A master musician flitting seamlessly between instruments, he constructs bleepy yet soulful landscapes interspersed with the harder dance tunes.

He keeps the expanding crowd onside by regularly checking if they are still with him, and the tunes seem to get bigger with each passing track, the show builds.

Everything about him screams that he is a star in the making, it’s all so impressive from just one man.

During the intermission we ponder at the merchandise stall, which contains the worst selection of artist T-shirt’s we’ve ever seen.

Back at the front, the stage set-up hasn’t changed much, there’s now just more keyboards than drums.

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And as 9.45 rolls around, it’s Georgia time.

After the two-pronged opening ball of energy blast of 24 Hours and Never Let You Go, it then mellows into the MIA tinged Ray Guns.

Feel It is an early crowd pleaser, with it’s almost nu-metal sparseness, it gets the roof lifted.

The only slight downside, and we thought this also during Poté’s set, is that at some point further down the line, to make the big step up, a full band may be needed, enabling the big player at the front to make it more of a show.

But for now, it’s the quality of song that shines through.

An anthemic Honey Dripping Sky brings the goosebumps before the bangers start to stand out.

The place goes absolutely mad for the grammatically nonsensical album highlight About Work The Dancefloor, a song so catchily strong that Taylor Swift would give her back teeth for it.

The extended drum solo that follows reminds us very much of a Sheila E for the Tik Tok generation.

Started Out is next up, with its irresistibly catchy refrain of “we are wicked young fools who behave now, back in the arms of somebody who saved us, we are wicked, we are bold” (it’s far catchier than it sounds) and turns into a Balearic anthem of sorts.

There’s a bit of a wait for an encore, but we then get the wonky synth-led beauty of Ultimate Sailor.

The last song is the only slight mis-step of the night, an unnecessary cover of that Kate Bush dirge, Running Up That Hill.

But not even that can spoil this evening.

It’s a show set for much bigger stages than this, but we can always boast we saw it first, this being her debut headline UK show.

Sensational.

Images by Getintothis’ Warren Millar