Opening tonight we have two local upcoming artists playing the LRB for the first time and clearly happy to be on the stage that has graced so many of their musical heros and inspiring mentors.
Millie Kirkpatrick from nearby Sudbury makes a confident opening statement along with her black and white Taylor guitar playing Tomorrow Morning, a song from her 2020 self titled EP to great applause. This was followed by her brand new single Lies available on all streaming services, which also went down well with the LRB audience.
Millie tells us of how she heard about the LRB after meeting Terry at an intimate KT Tunstall gig in london, a conversation which led to tonight’s booking. This establishes the reasoning behind performing a lovely cover of the KT Tunstall song Paper Aeroplane from her 2007 DRASTIC FANTASTIC album, followed by a brand new, unrecorded song of her own Fake Fights.
Addicted To You is another new song, so new Millie tells us that she had to make lyric notes on the set list… Laughs…
Millie excitedly tells us how appreciative she is to play to a listening audience at LRB in stark contrast to her last gig where people were talking at the bar all the time, before she closes this short set with another new song, Friendszone and more well deserved applause.
Thank you Millie Kirkpatrick.
Next we have an even more local artist Lianne Kaye from Mersea Island, accompanied by her friend April Moodie on keys and BVs. (April is usually found behind a drum kit). Lianne is described by BBC Introducing as One To Watch and is also playing a Taylor guitar tonight as she opens her 2020 single The Light before confidently introducing herself, April and her next song from 2022, Haunted.
Those two songs went down very well before we have a new song that Lianne normally plays with the full band.
Tonight we enjoyed a stripped down version of I Feel Afraid For You, a song written for a friend not living an authentic life. “That’s a Great song” was a comment called out by an audience member after the applause died down, a comment which Lianne appreciated as she talked us into Glow, another new song and April’s favourite so far…
Lianne tells us how much she enjoyed making the Music Video for this next song, driving an old Mercedes was fun for sure, Drive… ‘leave it all behind, because the past is the past, Just Drive’…
Well, the applause said it all once again, before Lianne announces the last song for tonight, also her next single called Bitter. A song about the unreasonable jealousy we all sometimes experience.
These two really enjoyed their time on the LRB stage tonight with a confident performance that promises great things to come, the audience loved it and are looking forward to see Lianne’s full band some day soon. Thank you Lianne Kaye and April Moodie.
After another superb food break from Lyn and her team it’s time to get back to the music with the very welcome return of Barbara Nesbitt (Of the Stone Mountain Nesbitts and she says things) accompanied by Nevada Newman, opening with That Kind Of Love a song celebrating the long term relationship of friends of hers.
It’s hard to convey the humour Barbara brings to the stage between songs, but as I’ve already stated, she says things and knows people if you cross her. On that theme we enjoy the cautionary tale I Already Know track 3 from her 2020 SOMEDAY MAYBE SOONER album, a song which makes a point… You have to come to the gigs to get the full story…
Barbara now thanks Lyn for the lovely imbibing glass of ‘apple juice’ before playing a happy song with a twist… So Happy You Could Die, Nevada is all along adding some lovely acoustic fills and takes some applause too… That went down so well…
Next we have a Barbara Nesbitt classic, “Love songs are just murder songs waiting to happen” she tells us with a certain smile before paying tribute to the writing of Calman Hart before performing Never Been In Love from her 2013 Album ALMOST HOME. We all loved that song, and now Barbara said more things… “moist anyone?”… Laughs… (You have to come to the gigs).
Well, now Barbara brought us down to more serious thinking when she played a new song, The Cost Of Living. Great writers do this, they lift you up, they make you laugh and they make you think, they make you cry. They know how hard life can be and reflect it back at us.
At this point Nevada gets to play a song of his own Gonna Cross It Off My List after he reminisced touring the UK with his band many years ago, he didn’t know where he’d played or where he’d been and it wasn’t the LRB… His song went down well tonight though…
Barbara thanks the team, Alan Cackett and Alan The Hat (who has the best band T shirts on the planet) and tells the tale of her spare tyre challenges before singing a new love song for a Scotland she missed so much during the pandemic, Red Flames. We are treated to more lovely guitar fills from Nevada here.
Next we are treated to yet another brand new song I’ll Be Your Girl featuring some nice acoustic slide from Nevada. Many of these songs you won’t find on the albums, another reason to always come to the gigs, that’s where you hear them first…
“Let’s get back to murder stuff” Barbara tells us… Inspired by her aunt Peachy’s words, Old Devils Can Die from 2017’S RIGHT AS RAIN album is next on the set list for us to enjoy.
Inspired by a friend who always falls in love, but never falls out Barbara wrote That’s Just Love and plays it for us now before playing Not Dead Inside yet another new song…
Who knew, Barbara flies aeroplanes and loves cats & has written a song for all those who have a complicated relationship with their pharmacists… Laughs I’m Off My Meds (not true) This is almost a sing along and Nevada had another chance to shine on his guitar… OK, we did sing along. You come to the LRB, you are in the band… Barbara Nesbitt’s band is a great band to be in…
For the last song, we had a choice, Someday Maybe Sooner or All I Can Do (a song she did with the Whiskey Sisters) Alan the hat had the special honour of an impromptu song performed for him as the decision was made with much audience participation.
The title track to Barbara’s new Album SOMEDAY MAYBE SOONER won the day and what a beautiful choice to close the set…
The applause said it all, “ohh the games we play” Barbara says, we cant leave it there as she tells us more about her life and of course treats us to an encore, the catchy Right Next To you with an un developed ending… but that will do… Thank you so much Barbara Nesbitt and Nevada Newman.
Editor:
Thanks to BARBARA NESBITT w NEVADA NEWMAN | LIANNE KAYE | MILLIE KIRKPATRICK for a great evening.
Thanks to everyone involved with the production: Q our sound engineer and Geoff our lighting tech; The fabulous little rabbit crew of Chris on video cameras and setup, Stan on setup and artist merchandise, Stan and Dave on guest list, Brian running Little Rabbit Bar and big thanks to Chris for helping Lyn with food.
Thank you again to Geoff Lee for his expertise in setting up and programming all our lighting fixtures and the work he put in on the lead up to this show. The photos, video and audience experience are further improved.
Review: Chris
Photography: Andy Sheard
Artist/guest hospitality: Lyn
Artist Merchandise: Stan
AV editing & audio mix: J
Artists: Terry
Sound: Q
To all wonderful LRB guests and friends who support live music at LRB, big thanks for filling LRB full like the good times and hope to see y’all next time. Big thanks to all the new guests and all your lovely comments.
We will be ready to welcome back the amazing ANNIE KEATING from Brooklyn US with her top UK band and big welcome back to ABI MOORE, on Saturday 02 September 2023.
Another great evening….thank you everyone for filling this evening full.
Best wishes, Keep Safe & See Y’all soon
The LRB team
