by Ziggy Merritt

Saturday marked the triumphant return of Laura Marling to Philadelphia alongside openers Johnny Flynn and Marika Hackman. The venue, Union Transfer, was filled to the brim that night with infectious enthusiasm from a more than devoted following. It was a sight to see, especially for someone like myself who had up until that night been inundated with a wash of various and talented punk outfits both local and abroad.

The transition then was sudden yet, by the end of the night, much appreciated. Exposing her talents to the Philly area for the first time was the brief opening set by Hackman who beat the recent heatwave wearing her pajamas onto the stage that night, which in all respects is a fantastic idea. The set that followed was brooding, exhibiting a tone darker than the delivery than much of Flynn and Marling’s respective catalogues. If anything it exposed one of the finer aspects of folk as an art of raw expression and emotion, an art with depth.

Flynn transitioned on to the stage immediately after the exit of Hackman. Greeted by thunderous approval from a crowd excited by the brilliance of the prior set, Flynn happily began to pour out his soul on to the stage. A charismatic performance followed, all aided by Flynn’s impressive vocal range and at-home ease on the guitar. It had the impression of being effortless even when he debuted a new song. Adding to the electricity of the evening was a surprise, end-of-set appearance by Marling herself who performed their single, “The Water” before Hackman again reentered the stage for Flynn’s “Tickle Me Pink.”

A long, pregnant pause of twenty minutes built up the eager and unsettled feel of the room following the end of Flynn’ set. Marling’s eventual arrival was then an answer to the thick anticipation as a sea of smartphones captured her first few moments onstage before settling into the pockets and sweaty hands of their owners. She opened with the first three tracks from her 2013 album Once I Was an Eagle before gliding throughout her impressive catalog of heartbreak, humor, and pain. This included a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” and a sort-of-encore performance of Steely Dan’s “Dirty Work” alongside Hackman and Flynn. I say sort-of here as Marling herself stated she does not do encores, yet encouraged whoever in the audience was a fan of encores to treat it as such.

A few minor and literal hiccups pervaded her set, yet every one of these Marling laughed off with ease before settling back down seamlessly to wherever she left off. Her talent as a songwriter and even more plainly, as a live musician was not only shown via her smallest of mistakes but her flexibility as she switched out acoustic guitar for Rickenbacker and vice versa. Marling’s humor and grace enraptured the room that evening, showing off a humility that too often goes under appreciated.