JERSEY BUDD/SALLY BARKER
Guildhall 14th November 2025
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" .
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.
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
Keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues...
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