Joanna Newsom at the Olympia

Elfin and impish might be the most common adjectives used to describe the 25-year-old folk harpist from California, but there was nothing twee about last Saturday's spellbinding performance in front of a packed Olympia, which veered from utter silence while the band played to raucous applause as soon as they finished. Accompanied by minimal percussion, tambura and violin, she played the highlights from her debut album, including Peach, Plum, Pearand The Book of Right On, and all five songs from her celebrated second album Ys.