Last nights acoustic rooms featured special guest Tash Bird at the start of her ‘Reminded’ release tour. It also featured some great artists, a couple of which have never performed at Acoustic Rooms before, so it was great to see some new talent.
First up was Ben Smith, who performed some great acoustic numbers including his own song ‘I think this is going to work’ from his EP ‘Streets’. Following Ben was Ross Harding who started with is own song ‘Delete the world’ and went on to perform a couple more of his own songs before ending with Bob Dylan’s ‘Peggy Day’ which lifted the mood and brightened up Acoustic Rooms.
Next up was reoccurring favourite January Moonlight (Luke Irwin), who played a few new songs which we haven’t heard before. They had a calmer vibe to them than what Luke usually plays but it really suited his vocal style and would be an interesting direction for him to explore.
It was then time for Tash Bird to step up to the mic, accompanied by her electric guitar. Tash had a great presence about her, relaxed and joking with the crowd and immediately created a positive and comfortable atmosphere in the venue. She opened with ‘Ice Breaker’ which she informed the audience that she had written about seven years ago so bear with the lyrics a little bit. She then went on to perform a collection of her other hits including ‘Fly’ which involved audience participation and had everybody in Acoustic Rooms singing along and skilfully Tash used her own voice with a loop pedal to create extra depth and texture in her performance. The set ended with new song ‘Reminded’ where Tash was joined by Jonny Olley and the pair sounded really good together. Tash’s Reminded Release Tour continues to London tonight and tomorrow and then on to Leeds and Ayton and would be worth a watch if you’re around.
Continuing the open mic night was rapper ‘Tippy vs Humanity’ who expertly performed complicated raps with intricate lyrics and no mistakes to the backing music of some smooth R n B. It was a skilful performance and captured the attention of the audience. Next was something a bit different for Acoustic Rooms, Derby based band The Frank Hunter Trio played a short set which although it was stripped back, it was actually a full band performance with bass guitar, lead guitar and drums. They played a great set and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them opening for a band on a bigger stage like Rescue Room’s main room.
George Gadd performed next ahead of his tour supporting Ducking Punches which starts today in London. He treated the audience to a brand-new song ‘On the Mend’ which received a good reception from the crowd. He also played his well know ‘Shake a Ghost’ and ‘Runaway’ which ends with a merge of Enrique Iglesias which never fails to make the crowd laugh.
The penultimate act of the night was another Acoustic Rooms regular - Shaman, who performed another incredible set demonstrating his talent and ability to both rap and sing. He performed alongside earlier act of the evening Tippy vs Humanity and practically set the mic on fire with his skills, raising the energy up and getting the whole crowd to put their hands in the air. It was a great energy boost and left everybody impressed.
Finally, the last act of the night was a new face to Acoustic Rooms - Warren Ireland. Warren’s set took a little while to get going with a few false starts while he was setting up his guitar and loop pedals, but it was definitely worth it. He played his guitar with power and attitude giving his music an almost ‘Black Betty’ feel but using only a guitar and loop pedal to add percussion. It was a very clever and strong performance and ended with his own version of ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ which is a bold song to cover due to how many times people try, but Warren did it justice adding his own sound and even dipping into a different language at a few points, but still didn’t lose the core of the original. It would be great to see Warren return to Acoustic Rooms in future.
As always, Acoustic Rooms didn’t disappoint with the talent and the variety on offer. It’s great to see people coming out and doing interesting and original performances which never fail to impress the audience. The diversity of the acts sets Acoustic Rooms apart from the standard open mic night and should encourage even more unique artists to head down and show off their skills.
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