When, halfway through his spellbinding set, Nick Mulvey crooned “Just when the evidence seems clearer than day / Could it be that Providence is leading us astray?”, there was a hint of irony to those conscientiously constructed words. The orgy of evidence visible to those witnesses gathered at the altar suggested that providence had most certainly led us into the arms of something special.

This fact was immediately realised during the performance of the support, All We Are, with he three-piece exploiting the celestiality of their surroundings to create a sound that only a church can bring. With the crowd sufficiently energised, and with the shards of artificial light that unfurled their lazy way through the stained-glass and towards the swirling clouds of sweat and dry-ice, the stage was set for Father Mulvey to step forward from the ether and deliver his world-spanning sermon.

This was like Matthew, Luke and John rolled into one big ball of forbidden fruit, with a garnishing of gospel for good measure- and even then, you’re falling well short of the inexpressible majesty of what Nick and his band produced. In this sacred space, the audience clung to Nick, who tantalised young and old alike with his borderline implausible guitar picking and oh so delicately eloquent voice. So inherent was the music’s beauty, that the set was just as captivating during more upbeat selections like ‘Remembering’ and ‘Fever To The Form’, as it was during the more emotionally raw, stripped-back performances – in particular: Nick’s incomparably beautiful rendition of ‘The Trellis’.

This was the 7th day of Mulvey’s tour. And it was on this 7th day that Nick Mulvey created an all-too-temporary heaven – right in the centre of Leeds.

Robert Cairns

Feature Image: The Independent