Izzie Derry's Christmas Show with Lauren South & Katherine Abbott
Review
In describing to you last night's Christmas Show put together by Izzie Derry, since she headlined and was supported by Lauren South (who was herself supported for most of her numbers by her duo comrade Keith Donnelly) and by Katherine Abbott, it seems almost superfluous to comment on the exceedingly high quality of the music. Those of you who have had the pleasure of catching any or even better all of them live will know what to expect & if you haven't, my regular reviews of each of them will leave you in no doubt as to my views. In fact my problem is finding new superlatives.
I'm so pleased that if the LTB Showrooms have to close, the plethora of artists whom we have championed who are playing the final gigs there is a worthy testament to Alan Denyer & team's vision for a space where original music of this calibre can be performed before the right audiences. The final ever gig features Sophie Hadlum on January 3rd (with the New Moon Choir) and the official closing party on 28th December has multiple great acts. But more of that at the end.
We were privileged to see an unprecedented coming together of three such acclaimed artists: they'd never played together before & I gather after the success, they would be very open to repeating the combination.
All are to some extent local musicians but are now enjoying reputations which have spread very wide & far: which is excellent. All are long past the point where we can expect all their performances to be in our area & so any which are, can be seen as treats: it's great to see them all enjoying rapid career progression.
First up was Katherine who apart from having gigged internationally this year (including the US), came straight from a most prestigious concert the night before with the group she is also a member of: WLDFLWRS. Another of their popular re-creations of The Band's "Last Waltz", this one at the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax featured a true host of guest stars including Dodgy's Nigel Clark, Chris Helme of Seahorses and to me the most jaw dropping, R&B legend P P Arnold (and that's the first time I've used the word "legend" in a review as it's the first time it's been appropriate).
This gig however gave Katherine the chance to sing her own compositions & you know how much I rate those. The evening could have comprised a great many songs I know & love (after all I am pretty familiar with the work of all three musicians) but they are better than that & all sprung surprises. Katherine focused on her more recent songs including her upcoming single ("Freedom"), her current one "Wings on Fire" (composed while in the US), another very recent new one and even an AC/DC cover so processed to her own style as to be completely unrecognisable as theirs. There was a real sense of looking ahead & not back.
Many things form bonds of similarity between Izzie, Lauren & Katherine: but not style. Each is unique and that commitment to wholly personal writing & performing is instead one of the instances of commonality. The complete lack of interest in artistic compromise is one aspect of the adamant which provides the creative spine of them all: they each conceal this to some extent under the beauty of their performing & the friendliness of their demeanours on stage & off, but delve into the songs & the steeliness is there to be discovered.
In Katherine's case, her outwardly gentle & hypnotic approach to songs can divert you from the profundity of the usually allusive, poetic lyrics. With Lauren, the form is much closer to traditional folk for the most part, but don't be fooled by the beauty of the melodies & arrangements: songs can be about family & love, but also loss, challenge & personal growth set against adversity. We'll come to Izzie in a bit.
If Katherine has been transatlantic in her travels, Donnelly & South are a nationally known & respected duo who are in demand everywhere in Britain. After the warm months spent in multiple festivals, they arrived at the LTB off the back of a pre-Christmas tour of the country.
As Katherine moved on from her back catalogue, Lauren chose songs of a festive nature I'd not heard before: from her own personal Christmas composition to a traditional Hebridean carol and a more contemporary cover ("I Am Christmas" by Bill Meek and John Conolly), it was typical that they celebrated Christmas nicely but not by resorting to the cliched "authorised" canon of the mainstream media. A small note, but worth I think sharing: I'd never heard Keith play so many guitar harmonics before (he modestly suggested that his new pickup made them easier) but may I suggest that these make for the most refreshing alternative to actual bells to conjure up the atmosphere of Christmas? And subtle with it.
Outside these, Lauren did play several tracks off her debut album ‘Tiny Boat': which was appropriate since Izzie acted as "production consultant" on that collection.
Production & sound engineering are two of Izzie's interests on top of her own music (and I was pleased to hear how she's mentoring young musicians in Brighton too) and she worked the sound for the gig herself (though for her own set, Jake Rizzo who's back from his Philadelphia adventure for Christmas, helped out on the faders).
Having described how the other two have aspects of their craft within iron gloves, it's now Izzie's turn. In her case, the manifestation I've reported on in loads of recent reviews of "angry Izzie" is stunning live & in an intimate space (I'd only heard her play these newer songs outdoors before you see). Easing us in with an older, more dreamy period number, the rest of the set was more recent material (plus a nod to Christmas with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River"). What astounded me is how she's developed an extra gear in terms of the power of her voice: at times she seemed to scarcely require a microphone. I'm not sure how that's happened but it really helps put this sort of material across & she is so convincing. This is yet more deeply personal & hence emotionally charged music. No wonder her career has taken in Glastonbury in 2024. Her set was always magnificent & now it's hitting awesomeness in its intensity.
I started with some words about the venue. Sad as it is that it is closing, that was always known & to be fair, they have had more extensions than anticipated. Alan apparently has top secret plans to set up a similar space elsewhere which is very good to hear. However given that Commonground in FarGo Village closes next week, it is a worry that venues where the likes of these fine original musicians can be enjoyed are firstly too few locally & potentially becoming fewer. It's great to see people rally round The Tin to raise funds (thankfully more to do with refurbishment than an existential threat) but realistically, given that these artists have so many gig offers elsewhere, when they do have the time to play in Coventry & Warwickshire, they can only do so if there is a space for them to do so. Although Izzie had played the LTB previously, the others had not & expressed sadness that they wouldn't again from onstage. The need to support venues where artists can dare to be different & challenge audiences instead of having to pander to them is actually more of a contemporary issue than that of musical talent: thankfully we are so lucky to have so much of that around currently.
I'm personally so thankful that musical talent & the right space came together last night for my considerable pleasure & that of all those who could join Izzie's hometown party. The artists involved have all had really impressive professional years in 2024 & all the signs are that they will all hit new heights in 2025. I hope to witness & report on as many as possible.
