Paolo Nutini plays before a sold-out Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. (Photo by David Ortiz)

Where: Culture Room, Fort Lauderdale

When: Aug. 31, 2009

Van Morrison’s got nothing on the Scottish kid with the Italian name and the ancient voice. Paolo Nutini’s whisky-burned singing bounced off the walls inside the cramped and hot space of Fort Lauderdale’s Culture Room.

Twenty-two-year-old Nutini satisfied a sold-out crowd made up of all types of people, from enamored young ladies to older men admiring young Nutini’s musical chops.

After a short acoustic set from trio Nothing Rhymes With Orange, and solo artist Anya Marina, Nutini took the stage with a six-man band, horns included, opening with the fast rockabilly rhythm of “Alloway Grove”.

The Scotsman distributed songs from both his albums on the playlist. One of the first to be played was one of the hits from his debut These Streets, “New Shoes”, which whipped the crowd into frenzy, and opened their appetite for more.

Mostly just singing, the energetic but always hunched Nutini pleased people with favorites like “Candy”, and “Coming Up Easy” from his sophomore album Sunny Side Up, and “Jenny Don’t Be Hasty”, and “These Streets”, from the his first, completing about and hour and a half of songs. Nutini and his also young band offered a rocked-out version of “Down In Mexico”, by The Coasters.

Ironically, a disappointing moment from the show was that Nutini selfishly did not play his first single, and the song that practically launched him into the spotlight, “Last Request”, actually requested by various members of the sweaty crowd.

Nevertheless, attendees got what they paid for, and Paolo Nutini sounded great, giving people a pleasant memory from an artist with still a long way to go, and much more to give.