Last night saw The Mic return to Acoustic Rooms at Rescue Rooms and oh wow, it was great one to start our year off with! An abundance of performers turned up to play a variety of styles of music and kept the night going until well past midnight.
Starting the night off was Scott Makepeace coming all the way from South Shields. It was his first time playing Acoustic Rooms but he’s been picked up by BBC Introducing East Midlands previously. He had a raw, almost IDLES sound to his singing and was a great act to get the night going. Kaori was up next who has previously performed, and she did an original song and tried to mix some Spanish into her final song. Then came Jake Burns who opened with his song “Bad Place”. He’s starting over with his music career and announced that he’s taken everything down off social media and scrapped his previous album, so watch out for the new stuff he’s working on at the moment.
Next up was Phil Ashmore with his guitar who had a gruff singing voice and brought a touch of country sound to his music. He finished with a song called “Jolene” which he said is “about all of the songs about Jolene”. Shaman the Witch Doctor had been impatiently waiting to come on and play all night but when he eventually did he started off with a cover of Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” with his own spin on it. He then went on to do “I’m a Survivor” with a freestyle rap thrown in which really impressed the crowd.
Another returning artist performed next- Alice Ashely. She has an incredible voice and performed a couple of her original songs which she admitted that she always has trouble naming. She stunned the crowd into an awe filled silence (well mostly, apart from an incredibly rude table at the back), and filled the room with her beautiful sounds, it was lovely watching her sing and play guitar.
The vibe of the night then changed slightly as rapper Marcel Jnr performed some rap pieces, and then he was joined by Jalle who provided some backing vocals before going on to perform his own songs. He was a really talented singer and could switch between his singing and rapping easily. When he sung his voice sounded like Alex Clare and his songs worked really well with the mix of the two styles. TippyVsHummanity finished off with some more rap before the night then went back to the usual more indie style with acoustic guitars.
Laurie Illingworth gave another unforgettable performance including his incredible cover of Sam Fender’s “Dead Boys” which never fails to capture the audience’s attention. A few people had turned up specifically to watch him play and you can understand why. The night quickly carried on with Ben Mark Smith up next and he covered a song by Jasper Malone, and then Daisy Whittle performed a few calming songs. Brandon who had been around chatting to a lot of the artists during the night did a song and then accompanied regular January Moonlight (Luke Irwin) with his set for the evening. January Moonlight has also just been announced to play Beat the Streets in less than two weeks!
Ending the night was Josh Leverton who performed with his guitar and keyboard and ended the night on a high. The first evening of the year for The Mic was definitely more jam packed than expected and it was great to see so many different styles of music. Next week, Acoustic Rooms is holding a Jazz evening which should be very entertaining and see yet more variety of music. Worth checking out!
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