Some find it hard to decipher exactly what Paolo Nutini is about these days. The trite platitudes that pitch him as ‘the pretty boy’ are indicative to the contrarian view he often draws. His trajectory lately has been terrifyingly steadfast. The Scottish lad has sold out the 3Arena pretty effortlessly and with that comes a magnitude of responsibility. On the back of a bout of tonsillitis and cancelled shows he remains unperturbed, illustrating how whisky and Guinness will forever be at the forefront for curing niggling throats and nerves.

At 8:50pm the lights dip and estrogen levels trip. Paolo struts on stage, leans into the microphone and the thundering opener of Funk My Life Up shakes a 14,500 audience awake. The ten-piece band delivers a bold brass accompaniment that reverbs around and typifies Nutini’s ascendency to a beefier and bolder sound with an exceptionable light sequence to match.

Nutini is resolute and brazen in his introduction with his legs wrapped around his mic stand as he lower himself and shakes his hips promiscuously. His cover of Bettye Lavettes Let Me Down Easy is vocally smooth. The backdrop is an image of him dissolving to smoke and a revolving vinyl of the song title which blends together perfectly. A soulful lament miffed with loss and pain, it naturally takes on a new meaning when sang by a man, professing a yearning to a lost lover for recognition.

The crowd however remain quite stiff. Nutini’s done his homework, and expresses his utter bewilderment at playing a venue with such enormity as ‘The Point’. He has always been the Scottish charmer, an adept writer, the innocuously salacious brown eyed boy. Jenny Don’t Be Hasty reasserts just how far the kid from Paisley has come. It is zupped up with heavy  riffs, a rockier alternative and somewhat unidentifiable to the original. Bouncing straight through to New Shoes it typifies sonically the variance that Nutini has presented in ‘Caustic Love’ versus ‘These Streets’ /’Sunny Side Up’ and how the nuances in his sound are so much more formidable live.

At times it’s hard to discern the thick Scottish accent Paolo tries to project. It is muffled and lost beneath the chatter and size of the venue that he comments  ‘awfully big this place is’. Throughout the night he converses very little yet reaps adoration. There was little doubt who he shouted out to in Looking for Something.

‘That’s my mother, like no other,
Made me human, made me brother
And it’s swelling with blister for my sake and my sisters’

Dedicated to Mama Nutini and all the mothers around the world, it’s the first time Nutini freely moves around stage and there is a certain symbolism when he sings the lyric ‘Learning to Fly’. This is the first time Paolo has commanded arena-sized venues as the norm for his tour and he has a plethora of songs to cement a consistently engaging set-list.

‘It’s just me and you for the first time Dublin’ is the prelude before he delivers a solo acoustic rendition of These Streets. Intentional or not, his accent thickens as he sings of simple splendors ‘These streets have too many names for me I’m used to Glenfield road and spending my time down in Orchy I’ll get used to this eventually I know, I know’. The lyrics are particularly pertinent and a backdrop is lined with a young Nutini, surrounded by family and friends. It is illustrative of Paolo in his purist form, commanding mutual respect and applause from both the main man on stage and the inordinate contingent he addresses.

Amber lights dim the entire arena and a backdrop of ladies legs interlock Nutini’s body for One Day. He punches triumphantly and with tenacity in his voice, an impressive front man behind a salient string and brass arrangement. He screams Freedom with unrestraint reticent in Iron Sky that it’s clear he’s done things his way tonight.

Tricks Of The Trade is a slow mover in an encore that’s undoubted highlights were a cover of MGMT’s Time to Pretend and Last Request. The former a propulsion of synergy laddered in escapism. The latter imbued with tenderness, amity and emotion, just Nutini and an acoustic guitar with belief when he resigns that Ireland has always been ‘a home away from home’. He has the talent, he has the songs and he has the indelible charm. The boy done good tonight!