Single Review - Til Last Call - Alan Finlan

 

Alan Finlan can always be seen at a festival playing his guitar and singing – even if he’s not on stage! In fact someone has said to him

you bring a party everywhere you guys go!

With this in mind, it is no surprise that his new single – Til Last Call – is about, well, partying!

Opening with electric guitar, the instrumentation is quite heavy on guitar and drums, bringing the feel of a noisy bar on a Friday night.  Alan has always had a powerful vocal, and coupled with the sound of this track you can imagine him in the bar, getting the drinks in, calling to his mates and just generally having a great time to end the working week!  If you’ve seen Alan performing live, you’ll know that “having a great time” is pretty much his on stage style!

Til Last Call is released on Saturday 24 February to coincide with his first headline gig, in a familiar venue to him, close to his home town.  As well as featuring his new single (and Gasoline and Matches as support) it will also feature a new beer which Alan has helped to brew

Clearly Alan doesn’t believe in doing things by halves (there’s probably a joke there about doing things in pints, but we’ll pass on that!) – a headline show, a new single, a new beer, all by last call.

If you have a ticket to Saturday’s sold out show, then you are absolutely in for a treat, if you aren’t able to make the show then you can stream or download the single, turn it up loud and pretend that you are there!

 

Til Last Call, the new single from Alan Finlan is available on all major platforms from Saturday 24 February.

 

Find Alan on Facebook and Instagram and follow him on Spotify

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Gig Review - Girls Night In The Round - Birmingham Symphony Hall

I’m not sure that I’ve ever been to a show that opens with all four performers strutting/dancing on to the stage to the sound of Shania Twain singing “Lets Go Girls”, opening and pouring  the wine and then taking their seats – but then again, I’ve never been to Girls Night In…The Round before!

If you are yet to see this show, let me set the scene a little.  Its four of the very best female singers from the UK Country Music scene in a songwriters round…but fuelled by Jamshed wine (legitimately - they are sponsors!).  Once in their seats the four introduce the show by singing their own theme song, taking a line each and ending with a beautiful harmony.

The four are (in the order they were sitting) Kezia Gill, Jess Thristan, Demi Marriner and Jade Helliwell who are all friends away from the stage – in fact the tour was apparently conceived in a hot tub session.

As is fitting for such a night, there was a lot of sparkles on stage, with a special mention made for Jess Thristan’s jacket, although the comments were also slightly envious from the others!

 

In many ways, this show is not about music.  Well, it is, but it’s not just about the music!  The interactions, the jokes, the stories (a fight at the Glasgow date last tour) and the very obvious closenesss of the friendship all make this quite a unique tour.  It also adds to the flow of the performances – when Jess started a song and was advised politely, and then lovingly but less politely, by the others that she need to tune her guitar, there was no awkward silence as often happens.

The rounds are grouped by themes/titles (which is a great idea!) – including introductions, co-writes (Jade has co-written with all three!), Cry in your Wine and notably the Unreleased Round where each artist sings a song that is so far unheard, and these songs will change from venue to venue – accompanied by a plea to not put any videos on social media, making it an intimate treat for each audience.

In all there were 6 rounds with a short interval with the first half rounded off by an absolute showstopper How Long Have You Known and the recent single Jolene which we reviewed here.

It would be almost impossible to properly describe all the humour, situational jokes (Jade and her eyelashes), music choices and stories – and I wouldn’t want to spoil the fun if you are seeing the tour this week.

Suffice to say the show gives an insight into what it might be like to be on a night out – or a night in – with Kezia, Jess, Demi and Jade, and you can make your own mind up about who might be the ringleader of any shenanigans.  It also showcases the writing and performance skills of all four.

 

Girls Night In The Round is on tour all this week until Saturday 17 February taking in Liverpool, Glasgow, Gateshead and Leeds.

Tickets are available via Ticketmaster or direct from the venues

 

Although it was a girls night, we can’t forget to mention the input from Lloyd and Luke, husband and husband to be respectively of Kezia and Jade.

 

Silverball Country attended Girls Night In The Round in Birmingham’s Symphony Hall as guests of Zimagined Artist Management and UK Country Live

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