Paolo Nutini started his Friday night set at the Roundhouse with New Shoes, an appropriate choice for a man now walking to a very different beat.

Ditching the ballads for something altogether more interesting on his recent album, Sunny Side Up, Nutini is now wrestling free of comparisons with Messrs Morrison and Blunt.

Backed by a band that included harmonica, saxophone and ukulele, the 22-year-old covered sun‑dappled reggae (High Hopes), blues standards (Mellow Down Easy) and Celtic folk (Growing Up Beside You). Elsewhere, Simple Things sounded like The Kinks covering The Bare Necessities.

His voice was the focus throughout. As gravelly as Rod Stewart gargling battery acid, Nutini has a serrated rasp that, when allowed to let rip as on the riotous Pencil Full Of Lead, was genuinely thrilling to hear.

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He now has some lyrics worth singing, too. Coming Up Easy built to a rousing climax around the refrain “It was in love I was created and in love is how I hope I die”. If you squinted hard, it could almost have been Van Morrison.

Nutini granted the crowd’s last request with an encore of favourites from his first album.
Although they sounded bland in comparison with the new material, they received the kind of response to suggest that, while his new shoes are a better fit, it will be a while till he can give the old ballads the boot.