Carson McHone
All the way from Southern Ontario Canada via Austin Texas, Carson McHone opened the evening on her first visit to LRB, accompanied by guitarist Daniel Romano as she enjoy her latest headline tour of the UK.
She opened with Tried leading seamlessly into Spoil On The Vine both from Carson’s 2022 Album STILL LIFE, this set tone for some gritty guitar style, or as Michele Stodart put it, “Bad Ass Guitar Playing”
Downhill was followed by Vision in a verse, both new songs from an as yet unreleased album.
Carson tells us that we are being treated to some new music tonight, and a great reason to get to as many gigs as you can, as this is where artists try out new material, it’s great to hear it live first. We get to hear songs as they were first written and conceived, they grow from here…
Winter Breaking is another new number… I couldn’t Say It To Your Face was released as a single in May 2024 and is a great teaser for the new album when it arrives. The single version is a full band sound which bodes well for the album on release.
Now we get a song inspired by the cold of winter when Carson was on a solo UK tour with her old road manager. They were both enjoying a podcast on the subject of existential risk and the end of the world. No surprise End Of The World is the title, track 8 on STILL LIFE
Next Carson rocks it up with Hawks Don’t Share, the opening track from STILL LIFE before slowing it down again with Folk Song, Track 10 from STILL LIFE I’d consider this song Folk for sure, but with a great Rock flavour… an interesting musical twist…
Carsonnow dons her harmonica for her last song as she raises the tempo once more to perform Someone Else, Track 4 her last album… and that was it, short and bad ass sweet… but the LRB audience really enjoyed the set.
Thank you Carson McHone.
Michele Stodart
We knew this show would be special, as it was Michele’s Birthday… Vicky made cup cakes for everyone in the Room, Lyn made a special birthday cake and presented it to Michele after the audience sang Happy Birthday as she made her way to the stage. You would never know Michele had recently recovered from spinal surgery, so it was a privilege to enjoy this day with her and her amazing band. Michele blew out the candle and made a wish, somewhat overwhelmed by the occasion before saying hello and performing Tell Me, track one from her 2023 award winning album INVITATION.
Alan ‘The Hat’s Bespoke T shirt certainly caught Michele’s eye in the front row.
The plan is to play the whole album as the first half of this set and you can tell this is a very personal set of songs for Michele.
The House is next, an invitation to go back to a happy place in life, as we begin to appreciate the quality of this band, Andy Bruce on Keyboards, hidden behind a mocked up pub piano, David Ford playing bass and guitar, Emma Holbrook playing superb drums and percussion and Basia Bartz playing beautifully on violin.
Michele tells us about how this album was written over a long period of time, it’s been almost 20 years since the release of her Band THE MAGIC NUMBERS first album, so Push & Pull, a song about a conversation with her daughter, has been 20 years in the writing. It was great to have her daughter in the front row tonight.
These Bones follows with its haunting intro, the smile on Michele’s face is infectious, you can tell she is having a great time. The sound also is amazing in the room thanks to the skill of Simon Allen.
At this point Michele introduces and appreciates the aforementioned band, telling stories of their joint adventures… By now everyone in the audience can appreciate the quality on show tonight.
Undone is next, track 5 on the album and another beautifully played song that captivated the audience. Words cannot describe the experience, you really have to be in the room…
Come Dance With Me is next, another personal song that is simply stunning performed live.
Now we have the last song from the album, one Michele fought most with when writing… “Who else ends an album with a song called Drowning”? Michele asks us… laughs…
Michele doesn’t just sing these songs, she is feeling them, she is living them and it’s a privilege to be in the room.
With a big sigh, Michele thanks everyone who supported her crowd funded album we just enjoyed, album of the year is no mean feat…
So, in the second half, Michele and the band are going to play some new songs. Michele tells us the story of her spell in hospital and how pleased she is to be at LRB and playing again.
Anabela is a song written for the nurse who spent time with Michele talking over the power of dreams, “She keeps giving me song lyrics unknowingly so I wrote a song about her”. Michele said… “I am looking forward to giving tonight’s recording to her”.
That was beautiful, I’m sure receiving this will make Anabela cry… in a good way.
Next is an old new song that Michele wrote with David Ford, they wrote a whole album during lockdown, but it never got recorded. Much on stage banter around this was enjoyed before we got to enjoy Tumbleweeds, inspired by a real life encounter with said same thing, in Milton Keynes!
Now it’s time for an off the cuff cover of An EVERLY BROTHERS song so Sad (Good Love Gone Bad) David Ford playing Harmonica as well, with some lovely percussion from Emma. That went down really well with the LRB crowd.
Back on script now with an old song of Michele’s Ain’t No Woman a single from 2016. Having an artist with a depth of catalog is always so rewarding.
Drink You Up is another great new song that feels like you know it already…
So, we approach the end of the set with Night Owls, Michele playing her Gretsch hollow body guitar on the last few songs, she really is an accomplished player along with all her other singer, songwriter, performer talents.
Now it’s the time for the LRB audience to join in and become part of this great band… I like to hope we didn’t disappoint…
Michele thanks the LRB crew, by name, before performing the last song on this set, it’s up tempo and the barn is gonna rock to Heard You Gotta Go. The LRB audience really caught the groove to this, they didn’t take much persuading to clap along as Basia took a great violin solo to much applause. David Ford shone on harmonica one more time as we approached the big finish with an amazing drum solo from Emma Holbrook, who powered the band through all night long…
That drew a standing ovation so richly deserved, it’s too late to stop now, we wanted more and we weren’t to be denied…
Michele closed the show, exhausted with a solo number Dismiss Me before handing out hugs at the merch table… A mini protest song highlighting the importance of words and what they can do… That was another Pin Drop moment at LRB making all the hard work putting on these shows, so worthwhile.
Thank you Michele Stodart that was amazing
Thanks to MICHELE STODART with her wonderfully talented band featuring Emma Holbrook on drums, David Ford guitar & bass and Andy Bruce on keys and opener CARSON McHONE for a memorable evening.
Thanks to everyone involved with the production: Simon Allen sound engineer and Geoff lighting tech; The fabulous little rabbit crew of Chris on video cameras and setup, Stan on setup and artist merchandise, Brian running Little Rabbit Bar and big thanks to Chris and Rebecca for helping Lyn. Thank you Vicky for making the yummy cup cakes and Paul for helping with our takedown.
Thank you again to Geoff Lee for running the show lighting.
Review: Chris
Video cams: Chris and Paul
Photography: Alan the Hat, Chris and Immy
Artist/guest hospitality: Lyn/Rebecca and Chris
Artist Merchandise: Stan
AV editing & audio mix: J
Artists: Terry
Sound: Simon Allen
To all wonderful LRB guests and friends who support live music at LRB, big thanks for supporting live music 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, HANNAH ALDRIDGE from Albama and FLORENCE SOMMERVILLE from Essex back from a recent return visit to Nashville. Show date Saturday 05 October 2024.
Best wishes, Keep Safe & See Y’all soon
The LRB team
