Last week was an incredible night with guest artist Chrisèe performing a great guest set, and this week was looking to be just as good with another guest slot from Emzae who recently performed at Beat the Streets.
The night started as usual with a few open mic slots and two guitarists kicked things off with Shaman joining them with some vocals on their last song. They created a dramatic atmosphere with their calm rock instrumental music and Shaman ended the set promising he’d be back later. January Moonlight was up next, a well-known regular at acoustic rooms now. He performed his usual covers of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ by Tears for Fears, and then ‘Ode to Viceroy’ by Mac Demarco. He then mixed things up performing a new song which contained the same drama and passion as his classic ‘Black Fields’ but provided a welcomed change from the usual set.
Up next was Josh Leverton who opened the night last week with his loop pedal and guitar and his performance was yet again amazing. He skilfully layered up his songs using a variety of textures and techniques to create a sound with depth. He started with a mash up of Muse and Lady Gaga and then performed an original song which had similar sounds to ‘Hey There Delilah’ by the Plain White T’s. Josh finished with a song that he assured us “we won’t see performed acoustically very often” which turned out to be ‘Uptown Funk’ by Bruno Mars, and it got the people of Rescue Rooms moving and dancing along.
It was then time for the headline act of the night, Emzae. Her set up was different to Beat the Streets as this time she had a guitarist accompanying her which definitely added an extra dimension to the performance. She has a very talented voice and used it along with the guitar to paint an electronic-pop picture for the rescue rooms audience. Emzae put emotion and passion into her performance and it was clear that performing is something that she loves.
After Emzae’s set the music style changed with some rap and spoken word from Marcel Jnr who has also performed before and who was then accompanied by the incredibly talented Jalle who then also went on to do his own set. Jalle expertly demonstrated his ability to perform both rap and song intertwined and gave an emotional performance. Shaman then took to the stage again and is another example of a talented musician who can both sing and rap and he ended with his own version of ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child which he has performed before but even on the second time of watching it surprised and impressed me with the talent.
Next up was Timothy Pickford, a singer/guitarist who gave an emotional performance of a few covers including ‘How to save a life’ by The Fray which was very moving. He had a strong and talented voice and gave a touching performance. The night ended with Jaque Sauvignon who is a member of the band Kaleido. He started with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright’ and then went on to play his own song ‘Submarine’. He gave off a very George Ezra vibe but rougher, with sounds of Catfish and the Bottlemen. He ended with an upbeat medly of ‘I’m a Believer’ by Smash Mouth mixing in with ‘ABC’ by the Jackson 5. He was a very talented musician and it would be good to see more of him at Acoustic Rooms.
Yet again it was a great night demonstrating a wide variety of talented musicians and highlighting the talent we have on the Nottingham music scene. Next week, Acoustic Rooms is hosting guest Alex Lleo and I implore anybody who hasn’t been before to come down and enjoy the music (and the bar being happy hour all night!).
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