Gemma Cockrell saw Maisie Peters bring humour and a much-needed light to Nottingham...
“Sorry, I need to drink some water so badly,” Maisie Peters laughs as she momentarily pauses the second song of the set, Love Him I Don’t. “That’s what’s so good about these things, I can just start it again!”
Peters thrived in this more relaxed and intimate setting, where she was able to talk and connect with her fans. Throughout the show, she went through the eras of her musical career thus far, starting with her debut album You Signed Up For This, which she wrote between the ages of sixteen and twenty.
She disclosed her fear about not liking her second album as much as her first – “I guess that’s how parents feel when they have children,” she joked – but luckily she went on to prove that The Good Witch is just as strong as her first album ahead of its release.
She used the evening as an opportunity to perform songs from You Signed Up For This that she didn’t on her previous tour, including Talking To Strangers. “I have a lot to say about men, I just don’t stop,” she said, “But once in a blue moon, I do have some good things to say.”
She then dipped back to 2019 to perform Personal Best, a song about her sister coming to university in Nottingham, recalling memories of going to Ocean, Rock City and Pom Pom (for those who remember, this used to be where Unit 13 now is) while visiting her.
The pace then picked up when Maisie performed Cate’s Brother, a standalone single that she released after her debut album. “I don’t live a cool romantic life; I just make it up. Some people call it lying but I call it inventing,” she said as she introduced the song, which is about a fictional romance with her friend Cate’s brother. “He had a girlfriend at the time, and she wasn’t fond. But when I met him there was no sexual chemistry!” she laughed afterwards.
The Good Witch is about a shorter period of Maisie’s life, spanning from November 2021 to November 2022. She introduced a new track from the album, Wendy, before performing Two Weeks Ago, which was already released ahead of the album as a single. She took to the piano while singing, which isn’t something she does often, but she wanted to honour the way in which the song originally came together.
Maisie then took a break from singing to have a Q&A session with the crowd. From the most chaotic memory recording this album and how it feels to write songs that people see themselves in, to which song she would show to younger Maisie, she disclosed behind-the-scenes insight to her fans in the crowd as if they were her close friends.
“I usually have a no-BeReal policy at shows,” Maisie admitted, but when someone asked her to take theirs to make their ex jealous, she couldn’t resist complying. One fan who was wearing a witch hat in honour of the album’s title passed a matching one up to the stage, which Maisie wore during the final portion of the set, where she performed Architecture, Favourite Ex, and John Hughes Movie.
“I know it’s been a hard time for you these past few days Nottingham,” she acknowledged as she thanked fans for coming to the show before she sang her final song Lost The Breakup. It’s true that Nottingham has experienced some tragic events recently, but Maisie’s performance brought some light to the city in these dark times, bringing people together through the art of music.
Maisie Peters performed at Metronome on June 14 2023.
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