On 14/03/2019 I was lucky enough to go and see Emily Burns play at the Bodega in Nottingham. This was not my first encounter with Emily. In fact, I had been to school with her for several years and vividly remember her singing one of her first songs, “Plasters, Glitter and Glue”, in front of a crowd of adoring high school students at one of our yearly Christmas assemblies! Therefore, it came as a brilliant surprise to find out that she had got her very own UK tour- kicking it off in Nottingham before travelling to venues in Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and finally, Bristol.
Opening for Emily were up-and-coming singer-songwriters Laura Anderton and Sam Johnson. Anderton was first on, playing a few of her own songs alongside some choice covers. Her music was soulful with R&B influences, each song telling its own unique story. Very easy listening! Next came Johnson. One thing I particularly enjoyed about his performance was the switch he made between a nostalgic and, at times, grief-stricken artist and his own bubbly, funny personality. His stories and jokes in between songs were excellent- quickly causing the audience to warm to him and truly relate to the songs he was singing.
Finally, on came the main act. The show started with “Bitch”- a song from Emily’s latest EP. From the off, one of the most noticeable things about Emily was her absolute dedication to the crowd. She made a point of singing to every single person in the room and was evidently absolutely thrilled to see people singing along to her songs. She brought a lot of personality to the stage and had some excellent, heartfelt introductions to the songs.
The gig consisted mostly of her EP ‘Seven Scenes From the Same Summer’ with a few new additions (including her latest single “Too Cool”) and a couple of oldies ‘for the people who have been here from the beginning’. The show was a lot of fun- Emily made sure to get people dancing- and managed to bring the Bodega alive. I have no doubt that she will go from strength to strength from here on.
You can find Emily on Spotify- make sure you check out her latest single “Too Cool”.
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