STEVIE JONES & THE WILDFIRES/DORIS BRENDEL & LEE DUNHAM/GRINNING SCARECROWS
IAC 10TH January 2025
First gig i'd been to for some 18 days and withdrawal symptoms were setting in... and there was no way the cold and ice was going to keep me away from this one at the International Arts Centre ... and those of us who were there were treated to a superb evening of music...
First up were the wonderful Grinning Scarecrows... an unlikely pairing of Autumn Dawn Leader and Paddy McCullough...two different talents who blend perfectly.
Autumn has a simply wonderful voice and sings with power and passion living out every nuance and emotion of the songs with her performance... performing with Paddy frees her from keyboard duties and the voice and singing reach even higher levels than normal... Paddy accompanies with some splendid guitar work and is a fine singer in himself, though less demonstrative!
The duo played a mix of their own songs, starting with a phenomenal version of Autumns' "Devour" which set the hairs on the beck of the neck tingling, and ended with a magnificent version of Paddy's "Lazarus Walk" (from where the band name comes).
Absolutely superb set by two great performers who bring out the best in each other... superb!!
Next up, a new name to me, Doris Brendel/Lee Dunham and they delivered a superb performance. An acoustic duo who came over as a rock'n'roll band without the band...
Doris has a superb voice and delivery, singing with great power and authority whether rocking out, bluesy or more coaxing... while playing guitar or whistle... in one song Doris delivered a couple of outstanding solos, delivered with style and authority.
Lee plays guitar... superbly... His playing is at all times powerful, rhythmic and melodic, whether on 6- or 12-string and fits perfectly with Doris' perfromance.
Not only a musically superb duo, but full of fun and life... larger than life personalities having a great time playing and simply wowing the audience... superb performance by Colin and Babs.. loved every moment...
Last up was Stevie Jones and The Wildfires.. in this case singular Wildfire as illness had kept the bass and drummer away... but no matter... whatever the format or line up you know Stevie is going to deliver a cracking set and this was no exception... Stevie was in great form as ever singing and playing superbly, ably accompanied by some superb guitar work by Wildfire Dave...
Stevie kicked off with "14 Days that Followed a Supermoon" from last years superb "Getting There" album... the set then ranged across much of Stevie's catalogue... including a superb performance of "Beautiful Deletion" (also from "Getting There") which is a personal favourite.
Autumn returned to the stage to sing with the band for a couple of songs, adding her own unique stylings to the songs.
For the encore, Stevie reminded us it was 8 years to the day since David Bowie passed, and ended with a tribute to him with an impassioned and superb version of "Rebel Rebel"
Stevie is a terrific song writer, singer and musician and has a wonderful warm stage presence and always delivers a quality set whatever the line up
Absolutely superb gig with three exceptional acts... loved every minute.
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venue
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