My Darling Clementine

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

IMV 11th March 2026

Lovely night at the The International Music Venue last night with the excellent My Darling Clementine... two great voices, whether singing solo or voices blending perfectly together, acoustic guitar and keyboard, with a couple of delicate bursts of harmonica... just shows that's all you need to make great enduring music and deliver a superb concert!

I believe the original plan was to do a retrospective of My Darling Clementine's albums in the first half and some material from their new and forthcoming solo projects plus a couple by favourite writers in the second half... it didnt quite go that way, but not far off!!

They opened with what they described as their only love song... and i was sold!...

They alternated between lead singer, sang some songs taking a verse each and also singing together... and each combination worked elegantly.

i believe both write and the songs are all of the highest calibre and hugely enjoyable.

Towards the end of the first set Michael played one of his solo project songs and Lou ended with her reworking of "Jolene" from the point of view of Jolene... it worked so well!!

The second half started with a couple of country songes by Elvis Costello.. and up to this point the mood and feel had been light, warm and rather lovely...

Midway through the second half the mood took on a more sombre feel as Lou spoke of their tragedy a couple of years ago when their grand-daughter was lost in the incident in Southport... and she sang her song "Angel" for BB... this song was beautiful, poignant and painful... and Lou delivered it with passion, clearly feeling every painful nuance... unusually for any gig these days there was not a sound anywhere in the room apart from Lou's voice and keyboard... immensely powerful and moving performance. She had said it was difficult to sing, it was clear just why... Michael followed with a reworking of Springsteens "For You" which fitted into this segment before Lou played a second piece describing how they heard the news of their loss... equally riveting and moving...

After this they switched back to the more familiar My Darling Clementine material with a few more lighter songs, including an answer to Tammy Wynette's "Stand by your Man" offering exactly the opposite advice. They ended the show with a couple of upbeat pieces and then were gone...

Lovely voices, great musicianship, great songs, delightful couple they took us through every emotion - joy, fun and deep sorrow in their terrific show... would love to see them again... soon!!

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