Oh so many songs! Laura @ Leicester 21/9

[Letter Bee]

Not got time at the moment to post up a full review, but WOW what a gig by Laura and the band last night in Leicester at The Musician Pub :D :D :D

This was my second time seeing Laura live and she was on superb form - played two sets, at least 21 songs, finally finishing at about 5 past midnight.

Place was jam packed from stage-front right to the bar at the back - the official capacity of the place is 220 standing, but I'm sure there was way more than that ;)

Was stood right at the front, to Laura's left throughout - took a few pictures too which I'll share later - lighting was very low so they're a bit on the dark side (didn't use a flash 'cause it would've blinded her going off under her nose!)

Sound was perfect, and Laura's voice was too, naturally :)

Will post more later when I've got more time at the weekend - meantime attached is a pic of the setlist written in Laura's "spider's scrawl" (her own words!) which I half-inched at the end of the evening - don't pay too much attention to the order of the songs - she mixed it up quite a lot but she did start with What You Said, finished the 2nd set with Yonder Comes a Freight Train and encored with The Whiskey Makes You Sweeter. Great stuff!

[Letter Bee]

Pics I took at the gig - they are 'as is' with no enhancement, so a bit dark like I said :(
also compressed as this board doesn't like big pics.

[johnfoyle]

http://supernormals.blogspot.com/2005/09/lost-in-leciester.html

The Social Secretary writes -

Lost in Leciester

Nick and I went to see the truly special Laura Cantrell outside of football hours last week. She is a phenomena. She sings bluegrass beautifully and clearly knows her subject. There were plugs for the great female bluegrass and country singers of the past and present. She covered old timey songs and a Lucinda Williams number to name but a few. She returned to the venue in Leciester which has challenged our map reading skills the most, the Magician pub and noted that it had grown. Great venue. Great gig.

[johnfoyle]

http://stereosanctity.blogspot.com/2005_09_01_stereosanctity_archive.html

Posted by: Ben

Laura Cantrell (The Musician, Wednesday)

Before this gig we were discussing the idea that it could become a law of nature that the musical careers of Hank Williams’ descendants will be alternately good and bad until the end of time. Obviously you know the low-down on this one already; Hank (good!), Hank II (bad!), Hank III (good!). Well tonight’s support act, Holly Williams, is the latest progeny of the family to strap on a guitar and... well sad to say she proves our theory pretty nicely. It would seem mean-spirited to let rip with a litany of critical spleen against a young lady who is, we shall generously assume, well meaning and kind-hearted, but needless to say by lunch time the next day “a bit Holly Williams” has cemented itself in my vocabulary to sum up all that is lamentable in the idiom of joyless, conventional, self-pitying acoustic emo MOR fodder.

Well at least we can hope that Laura Cantrell might be able to teach her a thing or two about the RIGHT way to do business in the world of country music. Despite her indie credibility, Laura totally sticks to the old fashioned c n’ w formulas (none of this ‘alt’ crap!), and is all the stronger for it. Throughout her set we know exactly what’s coming next, but it’s still always brilliant. She has such a classic voice, really powerful but still with a beautiful subtlety, and, man, her songs are so swoonsome and real realised – it’s the full package of everything this music can and should be. Also important for a geek like me, her band is SHIT HOT! The mandolin player and (acoustic) lead guitarist duelling and swapping solos and ripping through killer bluegrass licks all the way through…man, it was awesome! She dedicated about four or five heart-rending ballads to people who’d recently died, and sang a song about drinking whiskey and one about a ‘freight train rollin’ down the line’ and.. did I mention it was awesome?