JJ Lovegrove/Sally Hossack/Kevin Hewick/Clouds by L'Ku/Rai Waddingham/Chris Ilett

JJ LOVEGROVE/SALLY HOSSACK/KEVIN HEWICK/

CLOUDS BY L'KU/RAI WADDINGHAM/CHRIS ILETT

Firebug 12th September 2025

This is a challenge... looking for more superlatives to use! What a beautiful warm evening at JJ Lovegrove's fundraiser last night... as someone more qualified to say it said before... Magic Happened

Even before the music started there was a lovely warm feel of love and peace in the room... to a level you don't often feel... it was clear from the start that this was going to be a special evening.

First up was Chris Ilett... i've seen Chris a number of times but even by his own high standards this was a magnificent performance. Chris writes damned fine songs, usually intense and dramatic and last night he delivered them with brilliance and passion in equal measure... his guitar perfectly matching his voice in intensity and passion... simply outstanding set, Chris set an amazingly high bar for those that followed.

It was left to Rai Waddingham to follow him... and of course she did a superb job. Very much in contrast to Chris, Rai was beautifully relaxed and warm throughout, clearly enjoying herself... delivering mainly her own songs in her beautiful voice with immense class and warmth... another simply beautiful set.

I find it difficult to speak of CLOUDS BY L'KU. I have a huge respect and even admiration for artists in any field who buck the trends, who try something different regardless of risk, and as such I have huge respect for this performance. It clearly takes a great imagination and technical ability to produce a performance like that, and he clearly achieved a goal in creating a unifying warm feeling in the audience... to that extent it was a great performance...

However, not the kind of thing I enjoy so I confess to not actually liking the performance despite having great respect for it

Onto the next artist, and up stepped the unique legendary Kevin Hewick... a master performer and story teller... his voice is so powerful and expressive delivering his own songs, all of a high quality, in his own inimitable way... punctuated by his unique apparently random tales and views between songs.

Kevin didnt start with a set list, and simply plays what feels right at the time.. and invariably gets it spot on.... on this occasion he said he hadn't planned to do the first song until he got on stage... and what a good choice it was!.

Once again, an exemplary performance by Kevin.

Following Kevin, up stepped Sally Louise Hossack to deliver another outstanding set... i've seen Sally a few times with her band, but tonight she was on her own with just her guitar for company, and (i may be deceived here) seemed more relaxed and chatty than usual, but her singing and playing was as usual superb. She concentrated on her own songs, which are always great to hear... She has a lovely voice and sings beautifully, in a relaxed warm way... totally engaging and super performance.

Finally, to end the evening, by which time the love and harmony in the room was almost a physical thing that you could touch, up stepped JJ Lovegrove to deliver an unbelievably wonderful and emotional set... that fabulous voice singing those beautiful songs over the ethereal layers of sound was, as ever, all embracing, warm and emotional... the new material for a forthcoming album sounds stunning... can't wait to hear the finished thing, which i believe will be next year... what a perfect sublime way to end a wonderful evening.

If you had had a tough time, as many have, and needed a warm hug to make things feel better... this was the show to be at... beautiful music delivered with class and emotion by a group of gifted musicians... it delivered great music, warmth and incredibly good positive vibes...

And as others have said... huge respect and thanks to the sound engineer... the sound was immaculate from first note to last.

keep music live.. keep music real... support your local artists and venues, they are precious

This is a challenge... looking for more superlatives to use! What a beautiful warm evening at JJ Lovegrove's fundraiser last night... as someone more qualified to say it said before... Magic Happened

Even before the music started there was a lovely warm feel of love and peace in the room... to a level you don't often feel... it was clear from the start that this was going to be a special evening.

First up was Chris Ilett... i've seen Chris a number of times but even by his own high standards this was a magnificent performance. Chris writes damned fine songs, usually intense and dramatic and last night he delivered them with brilliance and passion in equal measure... his guitar perfectly matching his voice in intensity and passion... simply outstanding set, Chris set an amazingly high bar for those that followed.

It was left to Rai Waddingham to follow him... and of course she did a superb job. Very much in contrast to Chris, Rai was beautifully relaxed and warm throughout, clearly enjoying herself... delivering mainly her own songs in her beautiful voice with immense class and warmth... another simply beautiful set.

I find it difficult to speak of CLOUDS BY L'KU. I have a huge respect and even admiration for artists in any field who buck the trends, who try something different regardless of risk, and as such I have huge respect for this performance. It clearly takes a great imagination and technical ability to produce a performance like that, and he clearly achieved a goal in creating a unifying warm feeling in the audience... to that extent it was a great performance...

However, not the kind of thing I enjoy so I confess to not actually liking the performance despite having great respect for it

Onto the next artist, and up stepped the unique legendary Kevin Hewick... a master performer and story teller... his voice is so powerful and expressive delivering his own songs, all of a high quality, in his own inimitable way... punctuated by his unique apparently random tales and views between songs.

Kevin didnt start with a set list, and simply plays what feels right at the time.. and invariably gets it spot on.... on this occasion he said he hadn't planned to do the first song until he got on stage... and what a good choice it was!.

Once again, an exemplary performance by Kevin.

Following Kevin, up stepped Sally Louise Hossack to deliver another outstanding set... i've seen Sally a few times with her band, but tonight she was on her own with just her guitar for company, and (i may be deceived here) seemed more relaxed and chatty than usual, but her singing and playing was as usual superb. She concentrated on her own songs, which are always great to hear... She has a lovely voice and sings beautifully, in a relaxed warm way... totally engaging and super performance.

Finally, to end the evening, by which time the love and harmony in the room was almost a physical thing that you could touch, up stepped JJ Lovegrove to deliver an unbelievably wonderful and emotional set... that fabulous voice singing those beautiful songs over the ethereal layers of sound was, as ever, all embracing, warm and emotional... the new material for a forthcoming album sounds stunning... can't wait to hear the finished thing, which i believe will be next year... what a perfect sublime way to end a wonderful evening.

If you had had a tough time, as many have, and needed a warm hug to make things feel better... this was the show to be at... beautiful music delivered with class and emotion by a group of gifted musicians... it delivered great music, warmth and incredibly good positive vibes...

And as others have said... huge respect and thanks to the sound engineer... the sound was immaculate from first note to last.

keep music live.. keep music real... support your local artists and venues, they are precious