Lemonrock Showcase [Acoustic Covers & Originals]

Blog (2)

Clock Tower, St Albans

13 Dec 2021Clock Tower, St Albans

This is what St Albans is all about - come rain or shine, there's a bustling street market, an array of exotic food and drinks, and at Christmastime, music outside the Clock Tower.

On Sunday, four different acoustic acts played under the "umbrella" of Lemonrock, as they have all used the site to post their gigs in the past. The gig was part of St Albans' "Tinseltown" musical pop-ups. It was also a chance for the Lemonrock Editor (that's me, folks) to mention the word "Lemonrock" as many times as possible in 3 hours. I think most people have by now heard of the UK's best local gig guide...

Opening the gig was Laura Dannan, with a very friendly manner and an upbeat set of numbers, including some self-penned songs which were very different in nature; some happy, some reflective, and quite a few with incredibly funny lyrics. If you haven't seen Laura yet, go along next time you see her listed.

Next up, a rather frozen Lemonrock Editor plus Melanie Wall, sang some pop chart classics by Amy Macdonald, Yazoo, George Michael, and KT Tunstall. Spot the delicious fingerless gloves kindly loaned by Laura! We had such fun singing and playing - we always do!

Poor Grace George had to cancel due to tonsillitis, but we were fortunate enough to find Sinead Quinn to stand in at short notice. Sinead is a warm, engaging performer, and had us in fits as she interacted with some of the younger members of the Saturday lunchtime crowd. Her daughter also sang a song, You Are My Sunshine, and it was received with much enthusiasm. The talent gene is there, all right...

Finishing up were the ever-ebullient Julie Cole from Pat and the Butchers, with Seb Wesson on acoustic guitar and loopstation (Pat and a Butcher, obviously...). They sounded as full as the whole band, with Seb adding lovely touches of harmony vocals and playing melody lines on the guitar with live rhythm tracks recorded just seconds before. Their material was perfect for outdoors - punchy pop songs with a slight funk bias. The audience, from all walks of life, and of all ages, were obviously enjoying the free winter entertainment. Many smiling faces, and quite a few dancing bodies made this into a warm-hearted, memorable gig.

As the rain moved in and the gig ended, we managed to pack ourselves into The Boot Public House, literally a few feet away from our gazebo stage, to enjoy a nice warm mulled cider. Perfect.

---

Mac

Clock Tower, St Albans

9 Dec 2019Clock Tower, St Albans

Lemonrock showed the Christmas shoppers in St Albans what live music is all about on Saturday 7th December.

A mild and bright day, made even brighter by the lights, the town decorations, and some fine festive clothing (check out the fluffy white penguin!)

The music started with the melodic guitar and vocals of Bill Johnson, who is well known for hosting The Blue Angel acoustic open-mic night at The Horn every Sunday. Bill sang some classic Crowded House, Kinks and The Who. He was then joined by Richard Lafford, and they rocked the audience with some classic tunes, including The Rolling Stones' "It's All Over Now".

Next up was local starlet Grace George, whose energy, confidence and sheer musical playfulness always captivates live audiences. Grace uses a pedal loop station, so that all the sounds were created live, in front of the audience - no backing tracks were used, and the result was simply stunning.

After a short break, husband and wife duo Abigail and Andrew brought us some fine acoustic country-tinged songs with gorgeously rich vocals and a smile to match. Who needed mulled wine when the atmosphere was so warm and comforting? (Oh, I did.)

The afternoon was brought to a hilarious conclusion as Katie and John (Katie Plus Juan) sang and played a string of rhythmic and upbeat Latin-influenced numbers, finishing with audience-participation as Katie involved us all in the 12 Days of Christmas. Thanks to the chap with the lyrics on his mobile phone!

Lots of smiles, lots of happy faces, lots of superb live music in a very talented town. And a friendlier, more caring bunch of musos and spectators you could not wish to meet. Thanks to the mobile team at St Albans Arts for making it all happen.

Clock Tower in St Albans

Hope to see you at our next showcase - keep tuned to Lemonrock for details!

Thanks to Brad Wigglesworth for the excellent photos from his very heavy camera!

Mac MacLaren

Editor, Lemonrock Gig Guide

editor@lemonrock.com

Embed blog

To embed blogs into your own website, simply copy and paste the HTML below into your own page. Modify the iframe HTML to make the information fit.

Please note: the blog feed is cached by the browser for up to 10 minutes. Your site visitors will therefore not see any changes you make to your page's blogs for up to 10 minutes following the changes. However, if you or your visitors are logged into Lemonrock, your changes will be visible immediately.