Gig Review - Alyssa Bonagura - Hare and Hounds Birmingham

 

Birmingham has always had a thriving music scene, birthplace to (among others) UB40, Duran Duran, Ozzy Osborne and host to many touring acts, recently including The Shires at Town hall supported by a certain Alyssa Bonagura.  

Kings Heath’s Hare and Hounds - itself an iconic venue – was the venue for the first date of Nashville Unicorn Alyssa Bonagura on her first ever headline tour.  We call her a Unicorn because she's a Nashville native, growing up on a tour bus as the only child of travelling musicians with Baille & The Boys.  Despite her American upbringing, Alyssa has a real fondness for the UK, having performed here many times and graduating from Liverpool Institute Of Performing Arts.

Opening for her Birmingham show were close friends and Brum natives Gasoline and Matches.  Equally accomplished as an acoustic duo and a full band, tonight saw just Sally and Steve on stage entertaining the crowd with personal stories, and songs from their ever-growing catalogue.  Both could relate the story of when they first saw Alyssa when she was playing as part of duo The Sisterhood and how their friendship grew, including hosting her as part of their popular “Nashville Sounds In The Round” literally across the road in the intimate Kitchen Garden Café.  Its not a Gasoline and Matches set unless they finish with their popular drinking game/song “Never Have I Ever” which was joined in with gusto – despite it being a school night for most!

 

Alyssa took to the stage with a cry of “Are You Ready To Rock?” and for the next hour or so showed us what can be achieved with just two guitars and excellent songwriting.  Three guitars – she took delight in playing a beautiful blue guitar that was just “£80 in Denmark street”

 

Alyssa was accompanied on stage by Steve Shirley who plays lead guitar and boyfriend!  Together for two years, Welsh born Steve brings his own Birmingham connection having graduated from the University of Birmingham with a degree in Physics – “Shout out to all UoB physicists” was possibly the most niche shout out ever!

 

Its very clear how much Alyssa loves being on stage – and it doesn’t matter how big the stage.  She’s performed all over the world but seems incredibly at home in any venue. Talking about how much she enjoys hearing stories of how her fans relate to her stories she described her audiences as “We start as

strangers but leave as friends”.  The whole set could be best described as upbeat acoustic with songs drawn from across many years.  “This could be my Eras Tour” she said before inviting the audience to suggest what they sing next – which did mean a little bit of discussion over how songs start and showed that Steve isn’t just a guitarist/boyfriend but a great support to her on stage. Writing “happier songs” over the past two years, even Alyssa’s more heartfelt songs still have an element of energy to them, and we were all thrilled to light up our phones in memory of friend and collaborator Roman in a lovely tribute.

 

I caught up with Alyssa after the show, and after she’d taken time with every audience member – signing merch, posing for selfies – and asked her, after a lifetime touring, how different this – her first headline tour – feels

 

It’s a dream come true.  I’ve been wanting to do this since I was a little kid and its crazy when people buy tickets to your show and your able to pack out a venue.  Tonight was sold out.

It’s a total dream come true

 

In the words of her song Road Less Travelled

 

I ain't gonna chase money or fame

I'm just gonna do what makes me smile

 

You can catch Alyssa on her UK tour for the rest of June as well as find her on Facebook & Instagram and follow her on Spotify

Silverball Country attended the show as guests of Alyssa Bonagura and Gasoline and Matches 

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Single Review - House On The Hill - Kezia Gill

 

 

After many years in the business, awards, hit records and her position within UK Country music you might think that Kezia Gill can relax and take things easy, but what she actually does is keep on growing and developing into an even better version of herself.  However success can be measured – appearances at Country 2 Country, a sold out headline tour, a show on Radio 2 – there is still more out there for Kezia, and it is all certainly well deserved.

 

With her latest single release – House On The Hill – Kezia acknowledges many of the things that she has achieved -  travelling the world, seeing amazing sights, but at heart she is still a hometown girl.  This who know her personally know that the hometown is Derby and her anchor is husband Lloyd.  If you don’t know her personally, the song actually spells it out for you.  The House On The Hill in the title is literally the home she shares with Lloyd nestled on a hilltop in Derby.  Throughout lockdown, Kezia (and Lloyd) regularly live-streamed from the living room, often in her fluffy slippers, showing that even when performing, home is where she feels most comfortable.  Even if you’ve never seen it you can start to picture it, not just physically but as a safe haven, a place to come back to as an escape from the hectic world of music and growing success.  Even those of us who aren’t rising through the ranks of Country music can identify with having our own space to go back to, our very own House On The Hill.

 

The song itself shows how much Kezia is constantly growing.  If you take a walk through her back catalogue you will hear her very distinctive style and her UK take on the Country music tradition, with this and some of her more recent music you can hear how she is embracing the Nashville sound that is so popular in the UK but still very definitely making it her own, still keeping it UK and keeping it Kezia Gill

Guitar driven, the track effortlessly combines the energy that you see on stage with the song-writing and vocal that Kezia is known for. 

Written for the sheer joy of it, and incorporating some real honesty, House On The Hill is sure to be a live favourite as we head into the festival season.

 

House On The Hill, the new single from Kezia Gill is available from Friday 31 March.

 You can find and follow Kezia on Instagram and Facebook and stream her music on Spotify

Kezia Gill is represented by ZimagineD

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Gig Review - Keith Urban in Amsterdam

Crowds made their way to AFAS Live on a windy evening on 4th March for C2C Amsterdam, which was more locally promoted as a Keith Urban concert. The usual check shirts, jeans and cowboy boots could be spotted amongst a few Stetsons, wrangler shirts but generally more casual dress.

Drake White opened the main stage (Black box). His characteristic spoken style with a twang launched into full song supported by his band, the Big Fire. Drake is from Alabama and like he says they like to crawl, twist, jump and spit; he was certainly energetic moving around the stage. Even when standing still he has a tendency to twist his left leg. Drake explained that the band had to put on their superhero capes and put 10lbs of you know what into a 5lb bag (his father's expression) to make the gig, driving 6 hours after their flight from Berlin was cancelled.  Slight problem with the sound initially but the guys blasted "the demons" away. The set was upbeat, with the crowd was clapping along and the boys even lined up for a boy band guitar swing. An excellent set, if too short (30 minutes) with Drake back to his old self with motivational yet realistic songs. 

Between sets the crowd headed to the second smaller stage (Beat box) which was promoted as 'Introducing Nashville, Discover current artists from Music City'. Set up as a round, first to perform were Lindsay Ell and Lauren Jenkins. Both talented musicians and vocalists who are not unfamiliar with the stage. At the next interval Logan Mize and Craig Campbell kept up the excellent performances, with Logan even getting a volunteer to help him out, holding his harmonica.

Next up on the main stage was Brett Eldredge in a dodgy looking jumper. His 1st time playing in Amsterdam and only his 2nd visit to the city. There seemed a mutual appreciation for each other as Brett described how walking around the city inspired him to write, a bicycle image on the large screen lead into the song “The Long Way” The crowd followed Brett's request to hold up their phones to replicate fireflies, an image he recalls from his past. 

“Something I'm Good At” showed off Brett's amazing vocals, holding onto those notes in a way that rivals the top female artists. With an explanation that the rush of lyrics was done to simulate the feeling you get on a rollercoaster. 

Ian on piano (keys) helped create the image of a Smokey bar, for a surprising rendition of 'My Girl'. Brett finished with an inspiration message that you just needed to stick with it, he had been successful moving from Paris, Illinois to Nashville and was now at C2C. 

The crowd were on their feet as Keith Urban took the stage and that's where they stayed throughout. The set Keith showed off his stunning guitar skills and golden hair with those classic hair flicks. 3 songs were sung before he engaged with the crowd: “Never Comin Down”, “Days Go By” and “Coming Home” but total respect at his attempt at speaking Dutch, he also accepted a flag from the audience and displayed it throughout the set. 

Keith introduced his band members: Danny Waygo (the Phantom) on electric guitar, 6 string guitar and lead locals, "the guy in the funny ass hat", electric guitar and vocals, Jerry Flowers, and Seth Rush on Drums. 

Carrie Underwood appeared on the screen so that Keith could sing “The Fighter”, the crowd took over her part giving Keith time to travel through the crowd to a stage set up at the back of the room.  From here he thanked the audience for their hospitality and in order to leave a lasting musical gift, he gave away a signed guitar. 

“Blue Ain’t Your Colour”, “Stupid Boy”, “Long Hot Summer”, “You Look Good in My Shirt” were all in there but Keith finished with “Wasted Time”, but of course he came back for an encore: “You'll Think of Me” followed by “Horses”. 

Despite negative comments on social media relating to the organisation, poor floor management and a lack of catering C2C Amsterdam will be back next year and hopefully the music will be equally amazing!

Tot volgend jaar. (see you next year)

Francesca