Kenny Wilson/Sheila Mosley

KENNY WILSON & AL SANSOME/SHEILA MOSLEY

IAC 31st August 2025

Lovely Sunday afternoon at the International Arts Centre being entertained by Kenny, Al and Sheila.

First up was the excellent Sheila Mosley who put together a set based on the material Joan Baez was singing in the sixties... so many favourite songs... I always loved, and still do, the Greenwich Village musicians of the period... Kicking off with an acappella "Queen of Hearts" which fully illustrated the quality of her voice before delivering a set including songs by Hedy West and Phil Ochs as well as others, including of course Bob Dylan. i was especially delighted to hear "Farewell Angelina' which I don't recall having heard covered, it has always been a favourite mine.

Sheila made the point that so many of these songs are applicable today as they were when written... so true!!... she ended with a lovely version of "We Shall Overcome". The set was beautiful, emotional and took me back to happy days discovering and listening to music.

Headlining was Kenny Wilson ably assisted by Al Sansome on guitar. 60 years earlier, on the day before this gig, one of the very greatest albums ever released came out... it revolutionised music but did offend some purists! That album was Dylan's first fully electric album, "Highway 61 Revisited", an album packed with magnificent songs and performances and some mind boggling and often enigmatic imagery...

Kenny and Al played the album in full, albeit starting with the original side two then playing side one in reverse order to climax with "Like a Rolling Stone"

Kenny was in great voice and sang the songs with passion and assurance despite the complexity of the lyrics... At his side Al added some excellent and tasteful guitar work which fully complemented Kenny and added much to the overall performance...

After the album they gave us two more songs, both superb but rarely covered songs, "Positively 4th Street" (anyone know who this is about?) and appropriately "It's All Over Now Baby Blue"

Cracking performance by Kenny and Al... loved it!!

Lovely gig altogether!

keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues and artists

Stevie Jones/Mark Bailey

STEVIE JONES/MARK BAILEY

Soundhouse 30th August 2025

Spent a lovely couple of hours in The Soundhouse Leicester on Saturday attracted by the presence of Stevie Jones.

Happily i got there in time to see and love a superb set by Mark Bailey. A new name to me but someone i would love to see more of. Gary is a phenomenal guitar player, and delivered a remarkable and hugely enjoyable set, featuring his own compositions on 6-string and 12-string guitars. The set was flowing, intricate and beautifully paced and I loved it!!... A superb musician delivering a really great set

Following Gary, another real treat... the debut of the new Stevie Jones Trio featuring long-time collaborator Mark Gill on guitar and Barney on keyboards.

Stevie delivered a few songs from the recent superb "Getting There" album as well as some older pieces, ending with Neil Youngs "Like a Hurricane".

As always Stevie's set was a real delight. He is one of the great songwriters and performers and this set in the new band setting was absolutely terrific... three great musicians coming together to deliver a set of great songs with great warmth and style... a real delight.

Due to other commitments I was unable to stay later, but this was a couple of hours spent wonderfully, watching a couple of superb sets by high quality artists

Keep music live... keep music real.. support your local venues and artists

Ridge Banks Wall of Sound/Wild Daisy & the Blackhearts

RIDGE BANKS WALL OF SOUND/WILD DAISY & THE BLACKHEARTS

Real Ale Classroom 29th August 2025

First visit to the Real Ale Classroom last night, and what a wonderful night it was... two brilliant bands, lovely warm vibe and a chance to catch up with some friends, both old and new... and the music...

First up were Wild Daisy & The Black Hearts , a superb southern rock band who are simply getting better and better with every gig... hard rocking band fronted by the wonderful Hannah (Wild Daisy) who is not only a great singer, but she simply radiates joy and good vibes, along with the band, throughout... This gig the band were totally on it.. absolutely superb rocking performance... could always listen to much more of them!! Fabulous stuff!!

Headlining were Ridge Banks. and the Wall of Sound. Like the Blackhearts, the band were at the peak of their form, there were a couple of technical gremlins during the set, but the band handled them gracefully. The set was basically the same as previous outings, but after the church gig they were back to the full electric band.

Ridge has a great voice, sings wonderfully and writes some pretty fine songs... the guys are all top quality musicians and are a really high quality band playing a fabulous blend of country rock with real style and joy

Ridge introduced a guest for the latter stages... the outstanding Niki Colwell Evans who sang harmony on a couple of numbers before delivering lead vocals on a couple... and wow... did she deliver!!.A fantastic powerful voice and really wonderful singer she stepped off the stage and belted out a couple of songs, including "Proud Mary" and had the whole room jumping...before Ridge took over the lead vocals and the whole band rocked out to end a superb memorable set.

It was a real treat to see two terrific bands on absolutely top form playing joyous wonderful music and loving every moment... as the audience did

For those of you who think you have to pay a couple of hundred quid to see a band on big screens over the stage... think again... you will rarely see a better nights music than this.. brilliant, local, intimate and free..

I've been to four of the gigs on Ridge's tour this month and it has been a great joy and privilege to see the shows and get to hang out with the bands... not only two incredibly great bands, but you will seldom meet a nicer bunch of people... Huge thanks to Ridge and Hannah and the bands for bringing so much joy and warmth with the music and your presence...

Looking forward to the next tour!!!

Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues and artists

JJ Lovegrove/Visceral Vessels/Luna del Tigre/Foxeye

 JJ LOVEGROVE/VISCERAL VESSELS/LUNA DEL TIGRE/FOXEYE

Duffys 28th August 2025

Another "Take the Stage" night and another great mix of artists brought together by Luke

First up was FOXEYE, i believe making her first appearance at Duffy's... and she delivered a really great set. Foxeye has a really good voice and sings well, accompanying herself on guitar... i particularly like the sound from the electric guitar. and her songwriting is clearly developing along first class lines.... the nerves showed, but the one thing she lacks is experience... and as that grows the natural talent will shine out... great debut and a lovely opening set

Next up were a three piece instrumental band, LUNA DEL TIGRE. Some lovely laid back guitar sounds accompanied by bass and drums creating a nice mellow vibe, but no real communication wit hthe audience and I felt it needed more variation and life, as for me it got a bit tedious... for their last piece they invited other musicians to join them to jam... and the singer from the next band joined them... and to be honest this was just a bit of a mess.. the same instrumental sound with the singer just shouting slogans, four letter words and random other stuff.

Final point on this band... i don't go to a music gig to listen to potty mouthed rants and lectures.... there are other platforms for that... and although I wholly endorse virtually everything he said the way it was said and the delivery made me really want to disagree totally...

Sorry but i really didnt enjoy this band in any way

Following were VISCERAL VESSELS, another band from the Riotous Collective... and after the singer's cameo with Luna and Luke's introduction I admit I feared the worst... however.. .this band are dynamite!!...hard rocking, full of energy and attitude and delivered a really great set... considering this was only their 5th gig since starting in March, it was exceptional... the band rock like mad, the second singer has a great voice which i would love to hear more of but up front the leader/singer simply commands the attention. She actually has a great rock voice and uses it really well belting out the songs... as the set built and built i felt the last bit got a bit over manic, and the vocals became more of a shriek.. .but hey.. no worries there.. i really enjoyed this set! Great stuff!!

Finally, the main attraction, the wonderful JJ Lovegrove who delivered her customary beautiful set. JJ has a superb voice and sings beautifully accompanying herself on keyboard.. her voice and piano are wrapped in a blanket of ethereal textures and rhythms which create images in the mind around the songs...

JJ's set included a host of songs from her next album, i believe due next year, and based on this performance I will be first in the line to get a copy... Superb set from a hugely talented artist.

Wonderful set to close a varied and excellent evening...

keep music live... keep music real... support your local artists and venues