Tuesday 13^th December 2016

 

Time Out held their final Rising Stars at 229 The Venue in Great Portland street, London. Rising Stars, hosted by the lovely Ray Jones, was a monthly event that has been taking place on a Tuesday night, for a number of years, where up and coming artists mainly in the rock, folk, blues and indie rock genre, perform and showcase their work at music venues around London.

There were six “cracker” performances on the night to wave goodbye, with it being the run up to Christmas it made the night even more special.

Nuala kicked off the performances on the night. Standing there with just her guitar for company, her dynamic voice – her blues/folk sound – filled the room.

 

Up next was the travelling duo Sam & Jim from Los Angeles. They aim to perform a gig a night for a year where ever they are in the world; this was the 40^th gig in 40 days. Sam & Jim where humorous and their music had a country feel to it. For the last song they performed they left the stage and joined the audience, where they perform without mics, with crowd all around them.

 

 

Alex Francis with his full band followed and turned it up a notch. I have seen him perform a few times and with his soulful rock sound he gave a great performance, as always, and really got the party started.

 

Natalie Shay is a 17 year old singer/songwriter with a vibrant voice armed with her acoustic guitar, she took us a magical musical journey.

 

Lynne Jackman, accompanied with her full band, was my favourite performance of the night. She has a big powerful soulful voice, with a rock sound and huge stage presence. She was so amazing to watch and it was nice to see a female taking centre stage with a full band behind her. Not only is she a talented artist but she is also really nice lady, I met up with her after her performance she was so lovely and she gave me a copy of her EP No Halo, for free!

 

 

To close the show was Broken Witt Rebel, they rocked the stage and the venue with a lively performance.

 

I had a great time at the Rising Stars Finale and it has put me in the Christmas party mood. The performances were fantastic and it was a brilliant way to finish off the Rising Stars series – with a bang. Tuesdays nights will never be the same. Rock on 2017!