05 Aug: Duffy Live@Boston

UPDATE 10/10/08: sweetjulz67 has kindly made a playlist of their videos from this gig! Watch all the videos at this youtube playlist below:



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Today, before her main concert event, Duffy performed live on rooftop of the Colonnade Hotel in Boston as a special event for Mix 98.5 listeners. Whether this website will put Duffy's set up in their "Mix Lounge" archive is anyone's guess. Perhaps we should email them to show our interest.

Anyway if if you have the audio please let me know. I know the set included "Stepping Stone" and "Mercy" and probably that was the entire set, but I can't be sure.

EDIT: Colonnade Hotel have confirmed that Duffy also played "Warwick Avenue". Also Mix 98.5 have now put up photos from this event here.


Later today Duffy performed at the Wilbur Theatre, Boston.

If you have the setlist/pics/vids then please leave a comment.


There are various reviews out there.

The review below is from the Boston Herald here:

Duffy’s Wilbur performance a ‘Stepping Stone’ to success

By Lauren Carter

Her name might make you think of Hilary Duff (so might her picture), and her musical style might draw comparisons to Amy Winehouse. She looks a little bit like a mini-Jessica Simpson, and she’s also been likened to Dusty Springfield.

But Duffy - Welsh singer-songwriter Aimee Duffy doesn’t really warrant comparisons to anyone else; musically, she’s about as distinctive as they come. On her first trip to Boston last night, she played to a moderately packed house at the Wilbur Theatre for its inauguration as a rock venue and made a host of new friends in the process; it’s always a good sign when you announce that you’re about to delve into your last song of the night and fans let out desperate cries of “No!”

But if the crowd was charmed by the petite 24-year-old, there was good reason.

Duffy opened with “Syrup & Honey,” backed by a single guitar, encapsulating what was in store for the next hour: liberal use of vibrato, unique pronunciation techniques, and vocals that range from cute to sultry.

Her music is as distinctive as her voice, ranging from soul to rock, and her lush, layered melodies would suit everyone from Anita Baker and Sade to The Supremes.

She performed several grooveworthy songs off her major label debut, “Rockferry,” including “Hanging On Too Long,” and “Serious.”

She also included “Breaking My Own Heart,” which doesn’t appear on her album, and the b-side “Tomorrow,” which brought some disco flavor into the mix.

Along with a number of songs that sound like they came from the ’60s, she worked in one that actually did - Solomon Burke’s “Cry To Me” (remember it from the “Dirty Dancing” seduction scene?).

After a perfect “Stepping Stone,” Duffy said, “Enough with the melodrama,” and moved onto lighter fare, but melodrama is something she - like most soul singers - is quite good at.

With her blond updo, belted, polka-dot short suit and small repertoire of dance moves, Duffy is hardly the picture of a typical soul singer. But while some people want to bring color into the equation, the truth is that soul belongs to anyone who has it.

With strong opening support from local soul man Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves, it was a winning inauguration for the Wilbur as a concert spot. The venue’s only seats are located in the balcony section, and the multiple, standing-room only sections downstairs form ready-made mosh pits, offering more intimacy than the typical Hub venue and a hip kind of vibe. Plus, the easy access to the bar doesn’t hurt.

The below review is from the Boston Globe (their photo is from the earlier rooftop event on the same day):

Wales, by way of Motown: Duffy belts out soulful refrains

With significant poise and an even more impressive set of pipes, Welsh soul singer Duffy delighted a sold-out crowd in her first Boston gig last night.

Already a hot commodity at home, where her debut "Rockferry" has reaped critical plaudits and passed the million sales mark, Duffy has proven to be a standout among the recent wave of female R&B singers from across the pond.

Fronting a six-piece band at the Wilbur Theatre, Duffy sang her Motown and Stax-flavored throwbacks with a power that belied her petite frame, dressed up in an adorable polka-dot jumper.

While a bit strident in her highest belt, the 24-year-old had great command, lending a tender ache in the high registers and a stirring vibrato in the low.

Whether playing victimized - the wounded "Hanging On Too Long" - or saucy - the Al Green-evoking "Delayed Devotion" - or both - "Stepping Stone" - she relished working the shades and contours of the melodies.

The Amy Winehouse comparison that dogs her is less a matter of sound than style. Duffy's more girlish voice hews closer to the Lulu-Ronnie Spector school with an emotionally controlled delivery, and her stage presence - complete with elegant Supremes-cum-spokesmodel arm gestures - more mannered.

A cover of Solomon Burke's "Cry to Me" may not have retained much of the rawness of the original but it was a nice nod to history, and "Rockferry" soared with equal parts romantic melancholy and girl group melodrama.

With just one album and a few B-sides to draw from, Duffy brought the night to a close at the hour mark with thedramatic crescendos of "Distant Dreamer."

The songs weren't always up to the quality of her voice but as Duffy matures, the songwriter will perhaps catch up to the singer.

Local R&B outfit Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves were a thematically sensible fit for the gig as the barking Reed and his hot band work from a similar vintage soul baseline.

In its first major test-run as a temporary nightclub substitute during the Avalon-to-House of Blues transition, the grand little theater offered great sightlines with graded general admission areas and reserved seating in the mezzanine and balcony.

The mix was a little bass heavy and the volume perhaps a few notches too loud for the space. Depending on the show, the promoters might want to reconsider the decision to remove the floor seats. Many of those who waited the entire 50 minutes for Duffy to take the stage last night looked as if they might have been grateful for a place to sit.