Support came from Darren Hayman

The afternoon started in unusual fashion with no organ playing to fill the time between sets but instead with ambient music from a band of woodland animals called Brute Love. (Darren Hayman in a mask). It was all rather pleasant and worked well within the Union Chapel.

First up was The Left Outsides. A husband and wife duo who took turns taking vocals. Their first song was really good. The female vocalist doing a great job on this song. The rest of the set was enjoyable, but didn’t really stand out for me.

Next up were TEYR, a folk group from London. I have to admit, I’ve getting a bit bored of middle class people singing traditional songs in fake accents and playing ‘traditional’ instruments. It all becoming a bit twee. This group unfortunately, didn’t help re-invigorate my interest in the genre.

Closing the set was Pete Astor. Unfortunately, I had to dash out at this point to get to my Prom. But what I heard was pleasant enough.

Bill Botting from Allo Darlin’ followed with a very Allo’ Darlin’ sounding set. This was in part due to the fact that his sister was providing the female vocals, often singing in a similar way to how Allo’ Darlin’ sound. It was all fine.

The next act, Pete Astor, was okay. But I have to admit, writing this a few days later, I can’t really remember too much about him. I enjoyed it at the time. But sadly, his music didn’t make enough of an impact on me.

I’d seen Evans the Death a few weeks ago. I wasn’t too struck by them. I think the problem is the singer. I’m not convinced by her. I thought she put a better performance in this time. The vocals weren’t hampered by her having run up the stairs because she was late for the set. So at times were actually pretty good. But their sound requires ‘more energy’ and at times she’s just too rooted to the spot.

Finally it was Simon Love and A Little Orchestra. This was a lovely little set. As a contrast to Evans, Simon had a great relaxed stage presence. Constantly quipping with his orchestra and to the audience. His material was sweary and really fun.

Unfortunately, the Shacklewell was again running late and I could see from my phone app that there were some train cancellations. So I decided not to take a chance that somehow the Shacklewell would make up the hour or so it was running late, and that the trains would run okay throughout the evening and decided to cut my losses. I was having to get up early the next day anyway to catch a train to Edinburgh. So sometimes it’s best to take the easy option.