We catch Grace Petrie and her band, halfway through her Build Something Better tour, continuing the fine traditions of protest and solidarity through music.

A snowflake matters, when we become an avalanche.

It’s two years since Grace’s album Connectivity smashed into the UK Top 40 and debuted at the top of the UK Download chart, propelling the fiercely independent (more on that later) Grace from critics’ choice to the main stages of major festivals and venues across Europe, Australia and Canada, mesmerising her audiences with the ferocity of her socially urgent lyricism and the barnstorming power of her live shows.

The second half of Grace’s UK and Ireland tour was supported by Gabi Garbutt and Molly Naylor. Grace had heard Gabi’s music on the radio and immediately knew that she had to get her on tour. Gabi’s music feels really fresh and there is some real lyrical mastery on display, as Cerys Matthews noted: “Lyrically at a level that you rarely hear,” can’t disagree with that.

The second support offered something a little different, the mesmerising Molly Naylor had the Music Rooms in stitches with her keenly observed, witty poetry, noting amongst other things that being a 6/10 is perfectly acceptable, pylons, how you can only really assess the strength of a relationship when amongst the mundane, even audience member Rachel’s ex seemed to make its way into the set for some added intrigue – but ultimately what we took away from Molly was that at the end of the day – we’re alright.

Then onto the main event and a real treat for Liverpool as it was the first time that Grace Petrie had performed in the city with her full band. Many people first became exposed to her talent following her stint supporting Frank Turner, who tweeted the offer of supporting her headlining tours in the future, we have yet to see that happen – but in the meantime we have a fantastic new album, produced by the man himself.

Frank Turner’s influence is most definitely evident in the new album’s sound; as Grace recounted to the near sold out, and very lively Liverpool crowd. She had recorded the vocals and guitar at Frank’s studio, happily departing safe in the knowledge that she had laid the foundations for her new folk album. So Grace was a little surprised, when she first heard Frank’s mix on what was most definitely a punk-folk album, but after her initial shock, she conceded that Frank did indeed know what he was doing.

Grace kicked off with the ironically titled Best Country In The World, which covers pretty much all the topics that are causing such despair in modern day Britain, followed by The House Always Wins – a searing critique of the state of British politics and a class war that is still raging, with no signs of abatement.

Following the tour with Frank Turner, Grace briefly courted the attentions of the big record labels, but as she explained, not even an office in Hackney would tempt her away from her artistic freedoms and so she remains, fiercely independent, continuing to tell the stories that she wants to tell, and fight the battles that she sees as worth fighting. But these presumably interesting, albeit brief brushes with the mainstream did result in the superb track We’ve Got An Office In Hackney.

The rest of the set wasn’t always so light hearted, the compelling and gut wrenching Meanwhile In Texas shines a light on the worrying developments for women across the pond, that also threaten to make their way over here. The equally challenging King And Country holds no punches when exposing the ridiculous yet highly dangerous rise of populist politics in the UK and the complicity of mainstream media in amplifying the right wing toxic rhetoric.

But is wasn’t all doom and gloom, and despite many of the the messages being forged from an initial place of despair, plenty of Grace’s songs offer solutions and solidarity, the set also included the welcome addition of Pride, Build A Wall, Black Tie (a personal favourite) and Northbound – making for a very uplifting evening that reminded us all that a snowflake matters, when we become and avalanche.

The packed out Music Room certainly wasn’t downtrodden by the challenging subjects that intertwine Grace’s discography, indeed they seemed energised by the fact that they have such a shining star willing to fight the underdogs corner and they sang and danced throughout, making for a very uplifting and powerful evening.

Grace’s latest album Build Something Better is out now and is well placed to get a decent placing in the Top 40, all sales before Thursday will help make this happen!

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