CHANTEL McGREGOR/BLUE NATION
Musician Pub 27th October 2023
Friday night finally saw a long awaited and much anticipated gig at The Musician Pub... and i am sometimes nervous that when looking forward so much the event can be a bit of an anticlimax... no way this one... this was an absolutely phenomenal gig from start to finish
At the appointed hour Blue Nation took the stage... after a brief spell of organising themselves they were good to go... i'd seen this band before and they were superb... and tonight they topped that performance... the crashed into the first number with some relish and no little power... the opening to a Blue Nation set can come as shock!! They are a force to be reckoned with! As it says on their website "this powerhouse 3-piece band unleashes a seismic fusion of Riff based Melodic Blues Rock"
Nick (Drums) and Luke (Bass) create a solid powerful rhythm thats rocks like crazy and never falters. above it guitarist Neil hammers out the riffs and delivers the vocals in a crisp clear way.
The whole band thrive on the banter between themselves and with the audience and generate a warmth that makes it impossible to not love them.
This was a powerful glorious set...
Aside from the brilliant music, the band spoke with compassion, intelligence and understanding of those suffering mental illness of any kind and take a collection for the Samatitans at their gigs.LCFC i didnt love them as a band anyway i would love them for that alone
How do you follow a scorching set like that.. it seems the answer is to bring on the phenomenal Chantel McGregor and her band.
The band comprises Thom on Bass and Jake on Drums along with Chantel on guitar and vocals.
I was thinking how i would describe Chantel... when my friend Richard came up with the answer... imagine a mixture of Bonnie Raitt and Rory Gallagher... yep... that seems right.
Chantel can start a piece melodically, almost quietly, the take off on a mesmerizing exciting guitar breaks... her playing is simply outstanding... the band is superb and the guitar breaks take it to another level and quite simply take the breath away... glorious.
Somewhere mid-set Chantel picked up an acoustic guitasr and delivered a beautiful song, " I cant make you love me" with emotion and great feeling. Her acoustic playing is every bit as brilliant as her electric work, and this song gave her the chance to show just what a fine voice she has, and what a fine singer she is.
I admit i was a bit alarmed when she announced a long prog piece... needn't have worried, though it lasted around 15 minutes the guitar work was sublime... full of both power and delicacy, light and shade.
On top of this Chantel comes over as a remarkably lovely woman... full of fun and a ready quip... and had an easy delightful rapport with the band and audience alike.
Two absolutely awesome sets..and an absolutely fabulous night
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues
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