Rock on!

Wow, it has taken a few days to recover from the Songbirds evening at the Bedford on Monday.

*G*

It was fantastic, as usual. The Thelma and Louise of music (Niki and Been) did a stonking opening set at the Globe Theatre - yet another secret room at the Bedford. Those ladies should run Battle of the Bands competitions on tv - honestly. With their noses for sniffing out talent and for cultivating and encouraging it in growing, they should bottle and sell themselves.

Or not. Because if they do, we will be without these showcases of new talent.

I am sorry to say that at this point in time, I do not recall all of the fantastic artists performing and will remedy that by emailing Niki and adding them in, but in the meantime these are the ones I remember - and I was on lemonade all night long, Officer!

Jamie Ambrose - the inimitable wordweaver performed two songs which she had written and they were stonking. Her first live performance to a large audience in 20 years and even if the first song's lyrics got away from her for a few seconds, she was charming and had everyone in the palm of her hand with her inimitable self-deprecating way. I think she got the biggest round of applause of that whole night. We love you, Ms Ambrose!!!!!

Young Roberta was up next with her wistful sounds - she is a Tori Amos/Kate Bush mix and as pretty as a doll. She had a friend with her who accompanied her on the cello and it provided a pleasant counterpoint to her ethereal voice.

Next I remember Susy Thomas who insisted on explaining to people that she was not the comedy act for the evening, she was there to sing. Her first two songs she fluffed the start of, just to prove to Jamie that these things happen and if you are gracious about it, you win the audience over - snaps finger - like that. Her performance was strong and she played three songs masterfully - her new album is out and me, the fangirl that I am, ran after her after the main break and got her to sign my CD. Neh neh neh!

After the main break, Rietta Austin and her nine man band came onstage - three guitarists, one drummer, one keyboard player, three backup singers and the gorgeous Rietta herself. You know, apparently one of the chaps from INXS was quoted as saying "Rietta is music". I strongly and utterly deny and defy that. She is a force of nature. This woman has the most amazing voice and stage presence - she rivalled Niki - and hell, that says a lot. The very second she had her boys and girls start up their first song, the entire vibe in the room changed. She was sex on legs, prowling, singing, flirting, dancing - it was amazing to watch. A Kiwi, and quite well known in NZ, she is no doubt going to make it BIG here in the UK. I hope so - her album is out in around six weeks. And it is one of those albums, I think, which you have to LISTEN TO REALLY LOUDLY because any other volume just would not do.

As I said earlier, this review is not as good as it could be, as I do not recall the other people's names who had performed, so I will get the details from Niki and do the review properly. I do not want to call them "The tiny lady with the big voice wearing the red dress who sang the slightly country and western music songs that made you want to hug your nearest and dearest" or "The pretty English girl who performed right at the end of the evening who has a voice like smoke" - it just would not wash - especially with Niki.

I promise to do the rest, hopefully, by the end of the week.