Hannah Aldridge/Jason Charles Miller

HANNAH ALDRIDGE/JASON CHARLES MILLER

IMV 24th Novemeber 2025

Last night the The International Music Venue provided us one of the greatest shows i've seen there... one that will live long in the memory.. two slices of red hot americana that totally thrilled and excited.

First up was Jason Charles Miller... looking for all the world like a country outlaw, playing great strident guitar and singing with a fabulous powerful voice.. totally charismatic performer delivering his superb songs with authority and passion.

He gave us a few songs solo with acoustic guitar then switched to electric as he invited Hannah's band on stage to join him... they kicked in instantly and delivered a set of powerhouse irrisistable rocking americana played with passion, energy and a great deal of joy judging by the looks on the musicians faces...

absolutely superb show and well worth the admission at any price on their own... superb, absolutely superb!!

After the break... magic still in the air from Jasons performance, the band reappeared and kicked in encouraging the audience to start partying... as Hannah Aldridge hit the stage there was a roar and she and the band were into a piece of red hot rocking americana... and that set the scene for a truly remarkable show.

The band were hot... the guitar player ranging from country licks to fiery rock'n'roll and all points in between and all played brilliantly with energy and great style... the drummer and bass players were superb... rocking and driving the music along while the keyboard player switched between some beautiful almost ethereal keyboard work to some high glass guitar playing.. .

Up front Hannah was absolutely sensational... the whole band had achieved an instant rapport with the audience and Hannah, a bundle of high energy and charisma had an incredible stage presence... Her voice magnificent and singing full of power and character, and the songs all gems...

After a while the band left the stage and Hannah brought Jason back for a beautiful quiet duet, followed by another quiet number duetting with the bass player, now playing lead electric guitar. After this the keyboard player came back to add some beautiful keyboard work to the mix before the whole band returned to crank up the power and energy to at least 11... the band rocked like crazy... outstanding exciting uplifting music.

Hannah then introduced what was an emotional song that just built and built to a mind boggling crescendo.. .it looked like a closer as i didnt think they could follow it.. but they did and took it higher and higher...

The band reappeared for an encored clad in capes, it's never too early for hallowe'en!... for another high intensity country rock/americana finale which saw Hannah and the guitarist stepping off stage into the front of the audience and boogieing as the band rocked. Eventually Hannah left the stage while the band went into full rock mode for a blistering final few minutes which left the audience breathless and spellbound...

As Hannah came back on, with Jason, to join the band for a final bow the audience was on its feet cheering... judging by the expressions on the bands faces they knew as we did that they had delivered something incredibly special...

No question.. .Hannah and the band were simply phenomenal... a gig that i will treasure for as long long time... one not to miss, and never to be forgotten

The whole tour was being recorded for a live album... put me down for a copy right now!

Huge thanks to everyone involved for delivering a truly remarkable evening... absolutely outstanding

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Rogue Notion/Boilermen/Obi Denim,/Ro Jordan

ROGUE NOTION/BOILERMEN/OBI DENIM/RO JORDAN

Duffys 23rd November 2025

Last Sunday... so another Up the Duffys... an event that has become a highlight... a must go event... and another great night it was

First up was Ro Jordan who delivered a simply wonderful set. The one previous time i had seen Ro i was unable to hear her above the din made by the ignorant rabble at the International... so it was great to actually hear as well as see her last night.. Chris mentioned the issues at the earlier gig and the whole audience took her to heart... firstly because as people who love music they agree no artist should ever suffer that abuse, then primarily by the warmth and superb quality of her performance... As an artist Ro has everything.. .beautiful voice... fine guitar work and top class original songs.. I and the entire room absolutely loved her set, and were, i think, touched by how humbly and joyfully she responded to the audience... absolutely beautiful start to the evening delivered by a hugely talented performer.

Chris... get her booked in again!!!

Following up was OBI DENIM... Obi plays fine guitar and has a a great singing style... using a backing track to simulate a band. He does what he does extremely well, played with great energy and joy and was loved by the room.. i have to admit though, for me the electronic backing track was a tad metallic and left the performance a bit impersonal and sadly i didnt really enjoy it

Next up... Weare Boilermen... who were, well, the Boilermen!! if you know the band, you know what it was like... they are maybe not the most subtle band in the world, but they display the essence of punk... short sharp songs delivered with huge energy, passion and spirit, with no little attitude and a deal of humour... it started as a regular Boilermen gig but seemed to build into something rather special as it progressed... a superb performance by a hugely enjoyable band...loved it!!

Last up were ROGUE NOTION... a band I enjoy more every time I see them... bags of energy and personality throughout and a host of great songs, including the familiar "Going Rogue" "Ginger" and "See You Next Tuesday"... The band played with confidence and class, with a lovely reggae and rock vibe... somehow beautifully chilled yet rocking... I think the best set i've seen from them... absolutely superb performance from a really top line band

As ever, the whole show overseen by Russ who as always provided perfect sound for everyone, despite the wide range of styles and genres on display...

Another hugely enjoyable gig

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Rust for Glory/Marrakesh Express

RUST FOR GLORY/MARRAKESH EXPRESS

IMV 15th November 2025

Wow... what a night that was at the The International Music Venue brought together by Paul Collins...absolutely fabulous!!... We had nostalgia, soaring harmonies, rock'n'roll, great singing, superb musicianship and some magic throughout... an absolute joy!!

First up recreating the magic of Crosby Stills and Nash we had MARRAKESH EXPRESS... kicking off with :"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and you had to pinch yourself to realise this was a new band playing, not the original... the guitar playing and harmonies are spot on and the feeling for the music is clearly deep and loving. the set then continued with classic after classic, all beautifully and authentically performed... a few songs in the band went back to Crosby's back catalogue for a beautifully performed "Turn Turn Turn" and "Eight Miles High" (which of course has no reference to drugs of any sort!). The remarkable thing about these two piecces is that the guitar man managed to make a 6-string fender sound exactly like a 12-string rickenbacker... withchcraft!!... but superbly done...

The band continued with CSN classics including a rousing "For What it's Worth" before delivering a truly outststanding version of "Carry On"...

We'd just about caught our breath from that when the introduced Alex (in the role of Neil Young) for a magnificent "Find the Cost of Freedom/Ohio". The band closed with "Woodstock" and a superb version of the anthemic "Love the one you're With" to close out a truly magnificent one hour set... along with everyone else in the room i loved every second of the performance... outstanding.

Equally astounding... two guitarist playing left handed with guitars strung right handed...

Makes a tough job to follow a performance like that, but of course next up was the phenomenal Rust For Glory - Neil Young Tribute Band... however often i see them i marvel at the authenticity and energy of the band... in particular Alex's uncanny portrayal of Neil.

After a bit of fine tuning the equipment Alex greeted the audience and the band blasted into "My My Hey Hey" before a powerful "Powderfinger" and mighty version of "Southern Man"

From here the band concentrated on a few quieter songs, all Neil Young classics, including one of my favourites, "Down by the River" as well as "Cinnamon Girl" before inviting Marrakesh Express back to sing the harmonies in the beautiful "Helpless"

After this the band turned the heat up to 11... or more... with a blistering version of my favourite track, "Cortez the Killer"... i was thinking how can they follow that... the answer was with "Like a Hurricane" which started where Cortez left off and built on the power and energy taking it to unparalled levels... they then ended with a totally breathtaking "Rocking in the Free World" which left band and audience breathless and ended in the traditional way with Alex demolishing his guitar before throwing it down... After this, little time to recover breath before the band responded to the calls and delivered a glorious "Tonights the Night" to end two hours of blistering wonderful Neil Young Music.

The Rust for Glory band is a superb unit... powerful bass and drums driving things and some brilliant guitar work from the guitar player... but up front Neil Young (Alex Curtis) is a mesmerising leader, delivering an uncannily authentic impersonation of Neil Young...

Rust for Glory is one of the most exciting and uplifting bands around!!

Huge thanks to both superb bands and to Paul for bringing it together

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Jersey Budd/Sally Barker

 JERSEY BUDD/SALLY BARKER

Guildhall 14th November 2025

From famine to feast... after months with nothing at the LEICESTER GUILDHALL... a scond friday in a row with a gig, and again a couple of long standing local favourites...

First up was the outstanding Sally Barker. Sally has the most outstanding voice and sings beautifully.... last night she kicked off with a brand new song, i think "Little Bird" which was beautiful and a definite keeper... the set then included some Sally classics like "We Built Fires" and "Money Talking" as well as a couple of covers and songs written in America with Vicky Genfan, and another brand new untied song... also a gem!

The whole set was a total joy and one of the best sets i have ever heard from her... absolutely beautiful performance.

After the break, Jersey Budd, and I feel i have to split his performance into two sections... the first part of the set was Jersey with Silverball. He has got together a terrific group of high class musicians and they are formed into a really top class band. They concentrated on Jersey's songs, which are always well crafted and high class. The band were playing at full throttle and clearly having a ball... and Jerseys singing as ever strong and confident... they went down a storm with the audience... but for me sadly it was a bit too forceful and, for me sounded rather samey... i have seen the band a few times before and loved them, but to be honest i didnt really enjoy this one.

However... the second half of Jersey's set was a different proposition... Sally came back to join the band and although on the first two numbers she was barely audible from where i sat once they kicked into Neil Youngs "Only Love Can Break Your Heart"... which is getting good follows on spotify, things really improved... i felt their voices worked very well together and they were excellent.. .a couple of rough moments, but playing together a bunch of familiar songs was terrific and hugely enjoyable... i hope this continues because there is huge potential for it... Mind you i thought playing "Piece of my Heart" was high risk as for me no-one will come close to Janis's version... but they made a great job of it.. .and i especially enjoyed the Neil Young and the Stones "It's all over now" .

Through this set Silverball continue to be the band, but playing in a more restrained way allowing the vocals and harmonies to dominate...

Sally and Jersey ended encoring alone with a real classic... "Will you still love me tomorrow"... beautifully delivered, and for anyone my age, reminiscent of something Kristofferson & Coolidge may have done...

All in all another fine evening at the LEICESTER GUILDHALL

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Govannen

GOVANNEN

Guildhall: 7th November 2025

At the beautiful LEICESTER GUILDHALL last night for the annual GOVANNEN performance and as ever they delighted the large audience.

They are a bunch of highly talented individuals who all contribute fully to overall ethos and sound of the band... they opened with a boisterous version of "As I Roved Out" sung by Dan before launching into some tunes... from there on Roger took the next vocal on "the Beggar" and Chris followed with vocals on "Salley Gardens"... more boisterous tunes followed before Adele took the lead on the next song "Spancil Hill". From here on tunes and songs alternated.

Musically the musicians are all outstanding... Chris seems to be brilliant on virtually everything that will produce a tune and in the band concentrates on keyboards, whistles, pipes and kalimba. Next to him Neil plays a range of percussion adding lovely layers and textures of rhythm. Roger and Adele are very high class fiddle players, and a highlight of the show is always Adele playing a beautiful slow air. On the far right Dan plays great guitar, mandolin and bodhran and his superb song about the Clovelly herring fishermen, The Storm, is always an outstanding moment

The set ends with another outing by Dan, with a powerful lead on "Galway Girl"

The annual gig is normally in mid December, and ends with a christmas song.. the real one.. and despite the fact this show was early November they encored as ever with "Fairy Tale of New York" and another tune set...

All in all, a couple of hours of superb uplifting music delivered by five high quality musicians who all clearly love playing together...

A very lovely and highly enjoyable evening

i didnt notice at the time the blue cast over the stage... but for the guildhall it somehow feels appropriate on a photo!!

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