ELLES BAILEY PERFORMING AT LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB

★★★★★ (5/5)

ELLES BAILEY PERFORMING AT LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB
PHOTOCREDIT: JOHN HAYHURST

What a way to start the final month of the year, Elles Bailey supported by Demi Marriner in one of the best venues in Leeds, the Brudenell. If you don’t know the venue its holds about 500 for gigs along with having various other functional rooms. It’s intimate, its got great acoustics and its perfect for a gig like this. It was sold out for this gig with the vast majority of the crowd there well in advance and waiting patiently to get in out of the rain while the sound crew ironed out a few gremlins.

Support act Demi Marriner gave us a section of songs from her last album, The Things We Didn’t Say, some songs from her forthcoming new album, and even two songs she is thinking will go on her third album. The country/pop singer songwriter put in an excellent shift as the support act to Elles, even being joined by her on stage for a duet. She has a fantastic voice, an excellent band and a captivating way about her which meant she instantly won over the audience, she also confessed to taking too much but it added to a beautiful collection of songs. I think Demi is in the ascendant, she mentioned a tour coming up soon, it will be well worth going to.

After a short delay Elles reappeared back on stage, with Demi as part of her backing band, providing guitar and backing vocals. She delivered a blistering set with her trademark powerhouse vocals to the fore. If you don’t know Elles she is an Americana rooted, country/blues/ rock singer with a touch of folk thrown in for good measure.

The set leaned heavily on her most recent album Beneath The Neon Glow, opening with Enjoy The Ride from that album, she delivered a masterclass in being a fantastic vocalist but also someone who has built a close connection with her audience, At one point, after playing one of the less known songs from the new album, she became visibly emotional that the crowd knew all the lyrics and were singing them back to her, having to take a moment to compose herself and complaining there were no fans (except of hers) in the building to dry her eyes.

There was even an audience participation section where Elles gave the crowd a choice of four songs she would play next then, via a system of which got the loudest cheers, narrowed it down. The people next to me were very disappointed that Medicine man fell at the last hurdle.

The personal highlight of the night for me was Hell or High Water where the interplay between Elles and Demi was fantastic, adding to the song and taking it to another level. That being said there wasn’t a single one of the sixteen songs that composed this set that didn’t get a fervent crowd reaction. There are only two more gigs left for this tour but if you like the idea of someone who can sing, who can engage a crowd and who seems genuinely lovely then go see Elles the next time she tours, that’s if you can get a ticket!