Ray's Gigs

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Wednesday 15 March 2023.

Wednesday 15 March 2023. SLEEPING WITH SIRENS live at Shepherds Bush Empire. American rock band from Florida are promoting their seventh studio albums 'Complete Collapse', which was released on 14 October 2022. They have sold over a million albums during their career. This show is part of a European Tour. Two of their albums have made the UK Top 40 charts....'Feel' in 2013...and 'Madness' in 2015. -------- The venue is not sold out tonight, but it looks very full. Loads of interesting looking female emo rock fans here tonight. CHARMING LIARS arrived on stage at 7.30pm for their 30 mins set. A British band who have an American singer. Some decent rock songs played by them. STATIC DRESS arrived on stage at 8.15pm for their 30 mins set. Static Dress is an English rock band from Leeds, West Yorkshire. The band formed in 2018 and currently consists of vocalist Olli Appleyard, drummer Sam Ogden, bassist George Holding, and anonymous masked guitarist Contrast. They have released one full length studio album alongside various standalone singles and an EP. They were much heavier than the first band, and this created some moshing and crowd-surfing. Their sound was a bit too hardcore for me, but the crowd liked them. The interval was non-stop ABBA classics over the pa, that had the girls here all singing along to. SLEEPING WITH SIRENS arrived on stage at 9.10pm for their 80 mins set. They certainly put on a great stage show, as there were loads of lights and the first song had streamers, and every other song after had smoke plumes and pyros and ticker-tape. As with the second support band there was plenty of moshing and crowd-surfing. The vocals seemed to get lost a bit in the mix from my seat upstairs, or maybe it sounded ok from the floor. There were a couple of acoustic tracks played including 'Iris' by Goo Goo Dolls. There was a small film crew , filming all the headline band tonight. A decent enough show. Full SLEEPING WITH SIRENS setlist played tonight... Break Me Down Kick Me Leave It All Behind Never Enough Talking to Myself Do It Now Remember It Later Crosses Agree to Disagree Go Go Go Better Off Dead Scene Five: With Ears to See, and Eyes to Hear Iris (The Goo Goo Dolls cover) Bloody Knuckles Ctrl + Alt + Del (Live Debut + Music Video Recorded) If I'm James Dean, You're Audrey Hepburn Encore: If You Can't Hang OUTRO SONG OVER THE PA I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) (by Whitney Houston played as they exited stage) --------------------------------- --------------------------------- Tuesday 14 March 2023. LADY BLACKBIRD live at Shepherds Bush Empire. ' Black Acid Soul' is the tiitle of the debut album from LA musician Marley Munroe’s as Lady Blackbird. Upon its 2021 release, The Guardian gave it a glowing five star review. This show is part of a European Tour. Lady Blackbird has already got some good tv exposure by singing a tune on The Graham Norton Show, and the following day after this show, she records a track for The Jonathan Ross Show, which will be aired on Saturday 18 March 2023. -------- It does not say sold out , but the venue is very full. The cool older jazz/soul crowd look like they would be more at home watching this show at Ronnie Scott's rather than squashed together in the floor standing area here. LADY BIRTHDAY arrived on stage at 9.05pm for a 1 hour 40 mins set. She arrives on stage , and you think straight away - Grace Jones - as she has a huge cone headwear, and a tight black leotard showing off her bum cheeks and boobs. She is backed by a four piece band including double bass, and has some nice stage banter. She has got an amazing jazz/soul voice and the respectful crowd are listening quietly to it all. Some great covers that were all jazzed up , which went down well with the crowd. A drum and bass improv section was played as she nipped off stage to add a huge silver neck collar. A really good show. Full LADY BLACKBIRD setlist played tonight... Black Acid Soul Walk With Me Blackbird (Nina Simone cover) Collage It's Not That Easy (Reuben Bell cover) Five Feet Tall Fix It (aka Peace Piece) (Bill Evans cover) Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You (Tony Joe White cover) Baby I Just Don't Drum & Bass Improvisation Come Together (The Beatles cover) Woman Feel It Comin' It'll Never Happen Again (Tim Hardin cover) Encore: I Am What I Am (Jerry Herman cover) Life on Mars ( David Bowie cover)