As I sat vino in hand and bum in seat the people just keep pouring in from all directions into the venue … the support for local artists in Nottingham is immense!
Organised by the Council’s College Street Centre, the aim of Light Night Originals
was to help young, local musicians find their feet, giving them the opportunity to experience performing on a big stage and showcase their talents to the people of Nottingham.
Host Zach Mcarthy (Kemet FM presenter ) warmly greeted the audience and introduced each act accordingly making the audience build a personal relationship with each act before they even embraced us with their talent.
To kick start the Friday evening on a comical note, THE JIM EXPERIENCE warmed up the crowd with their excitable and theatrical performance. Ten of the twenty-four members wore quirky costumes ranging from an acrobatic monkey, a banana playing an electric guitar and Where’s Wally on the keys. Now that’s entertainment for you!
Light Night Originals also presented the inspiring 16 year old that is FRANKIE RUDOLF, who captivated the crowd with his beautiful melodies, soothing vocals and thoughtful lyrical content. This young multi-talented musician set the tone for the rest of the evening with his honest and intimate performance leaving audience members taken back, I can see why back in late Summer 2011 Nusic made him their youngest ever REWIND.
As the evening continued, the humble ESTHER VAN LEUVEN silenced the audience with her ear-gasmic vocals exclusively performing her track ‘Calling Out’ acoustically, which was produced by The Elementz. Also accompanied by FRAZER LOWRIE another local artist, the pair sent chills down audience’s necks as they harmonised beautifully, creating an atmosphere of pure bliss!
Adding a quirky spin to the evening the animated TASH BIRD instantly won over the crowd with her down to earth presence on stage. With her catchy acoustic tracks, TASH BIRD had the audiences in stitches with her comical lyrics and also keeping their attention through her well thought out set with her mellow track ‘Fly’ using a nifty loop peddle.
They promised a very theatrical performance, and it is that they delivered! With THE GORGEOUS CHANS infusion of original music, which can only be described as Chuck Berry meets an American Marching Band, this six-piece extremely talented band used a variety of electric and acoustic guitars, a cowbell, pipe, harmonica and saxophone and much more to enhance their lively stage presence. With all this excitement in place how could you not fall victim to a cheeky dance on a Friday night?!
Headlining was the Folky/Celtic sounding musician that is the one and only JOE DANKS supported by his mother BETH on the violin. With his EP having been played on BBC 6Music and making the Future Sound of Nottingham Final last summer it’s clear the future is very bright for Mr Danks.
To round off tonight’s show a spontaneous performance of THE GORGEOUS CHANS and JOE DANKS rounds off the evening as they ignite the atmosphere making the audience boogie on down once more offering an awesome infusion of music to their fans.
Without a doubt tonight’s event was truly a great success and will bring inspiration to all the young artists (every performer was under 21) in pursuing the similar success to that of JAKE BUGG. However this event could not have been possible without the support from The College Street Centre, young people and skills who provided all technical support and the venue, alongside the lovely event organizers Alistair Conquer and Alannagh Cooke.
After being lucky enough to witness tonight’s light night originals event I can truly
say I am proud to be from Nottingham after soaking up this talented lot I am excited to see who will be the next Nottingham artist to conquer the music charts in the year to come!
Yours In Love of New Music,
Steph Hargreaves
#spreadthelove
