Review: Nick Mulvey @ Electric

By Eliza Bruce-Jones, Third Year, English Literature

His guitar, a series of pedals on the floor and some sheets of colour covering the spotlights surrounding the stage is all Nick Mulvey needs to captivate his audience.

His sold-out show at Electric Bristol is part of his Dark Harvest World Tour, supporting his 2025 albums, Dark Harvest Pt. 1 and Pt. 2. The songs within were written and recorded at the same time but distinguished by their differing forms; Part 1 describes the challenges in Mulvey’s life and the ‘things coming apart’, whereas Part 2 describes his life coming back together. In an interview with Noise11 (Nick Mulvey On Dark Harvest And His Australian Return | Noise11 - Noise11 Music News), Mulvey admits that sometimes he finds it difficult when singing the songs in the Dark Harvest project because it transports him back to those heavy moments in his life. On stage, his emotion singing the songs are palpable, but his smile remained strong and his performance was truly electric in Electric.

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Where he gave, the audience gave back. At this concert, there was no one else. There was him, and there was us, together in the moment. His stripped back staging and lone guitar embodied his gentle, sitting-around-a-campfire vibe and it felt like being in a room with an old friend (although perhaps that is more down to finally witnessing one of my Spotify top artists).

Where you may think that the lack of drums or additional instruments beyond the guitar would redact from his songs – particularly those in his Dark Harvest albums which feature a lot of instrumental layering – it didn’t. He retained the magic of his songs, proving his musical talent. I didn’t find myself disappointed or wishing for something more.

His lack of performativity and costume eroded any celebrity aura as he stood alone on stage in a baggy t-shirt. He paused several times during the set to speak to us, but this did trigger a gentle increase in the buzz of chatter (I heard someone talk about a stag do – not the most Mulveysian topic) at the back. While this background noise did not fully subside throughout his performance unless the favourites were being sung, the power of his voice cut cleanly through for those of us stuck between the two. My friend turned to me and said, ‘Holy ****,’ – no, not ‘Days’ – ‘his voice is just incredible.’

Nick Mulvey @ Electric | Epigram / Eliza Bruce-Jones

His down-to-earth nature shone through when he reflected on his admiration for Underworld’s, ‘Born Slippy’. He recalled previously wanting to sing an acoustic version of their 1995 hit, but laughed that he quickly realised ‘Lager, Lager, Lager’ perhaps isn’t the best refrain for a stripped-down song. As he began playing the opening chords of ‘Unconditional’, however, he said that he instead borrowed several of those for his own lager-less (but no less loved) song.

Mulvey knows the hold he has over his audience. He opened his lesser-known songs, such as ‘Holy Days’ from Dark Harvest Pt. 1, with prompts in advance to aid the audience – ‘sing it with me: …’ – so that those less familiar with the lyrics could sing along too. His setlist oscillated between his newer songs and those that no doubt most of the audience were there to see, with ‘Begin Again’ second, and ‘Meet Me There’ towards the latter end of the set.

Following ‘Mountain to Move’ and ‘Cucurucu’ (I was transported back to discovering Mulvey for the first time when studying D. H. Lawrence’s ‘Piano’ during my GCSE English days – thankfully they are good memories, or I might have had to leave the crowd for the song), Mulvey announced that there was one song left. When the closing notes of ‘Mona’ finished playing, he left the stage but no one moved. Without the lights rising, we knew he wasn’t finished just yet. Everyone knew there was one song missing that wouldn’t – couldn’t – be missed.