Kicking off with her hit single ‘Mother’, Portsmouth-based Jerry Williams opened proceedings for a Billy Lockett headlined show which sold out in just a day.
It was a much more stripped back set without the full aid of her live band, but certainly still very impressive viewing.
Performing a cover of The Cure’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ which the songstress spoke about on stage about how she wish she’d wrote it – as well as short and sweet, minimalist ‘Babe’ both singles were sandwiched between an unreleased song titled ‘David At The Bar’ – aptly named about a guy called David who Jerry met and struck up a conversation with on a night out at a bar.
‘Left And Right’ was something a little bit different from what you’d usually expect to hear from Jerry, which went down a country/folk route, before finishing her set and taking the plaudits after another unreleased, and pretty awesome single in ‘Grab Life’.
It was the first time that I’d heard Jerry live, and every track that was played sounded exactly like the studio versions themselves. Sometimes you see artists live for the first time and feel a little disappointed as they don’t live up to your expectation, but every chord & fancy riff was hit with perfection, with sublime vocals to match, added with a strong stage presence.
The lights dimmed, Billy Lockett took to the stage, perched over his piano, you could see that he put every emotion possible into the words that he sang, with Billy you get more than ‘just’ lyrics, there’s always a story behind the words he sings.
One of the singles was about the bond he shared with his late father, and how he snuck alcohol into the hospital to see him. Excellent vocals, brilliant performance. The Northampton-based artist left to rapturous applause before coming back from an encore which the singer suggested to the audience that he might do, to finish his set on ‘Burn It Down’, which the audience sang along to word for word. Of course there was a standing ovation, what a guy.
Bush Hall felt much like a fancy school assembly hall, with 250 chairs in the room, chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and awesome stage lighting, it was perhaps a fitting venue to hold such an array of singer-songwriter talent, with Jerry Williams and her upbeat guitar melodies and Billy Lockett with his piano driven pieces. Two artists who are destined for deserved greatness.
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