10 February 2015 (gig)
15 February 2015
The venue is full, the audience is principally here to see Little Big Town so who could blame The Shires for some nerves. They are however well seasoned performers having been gigging almost constantly for the past year or so. They also have a clutch of very, very good songs.
They open with the beautiful Brave, and it’s obvious that the road work is paying off. It’s a basically the duo and bare-bones acoustic set (though some songs feature an extra guitarist) and while Crissie Rhodes, doesn’t move around the stage that much, her rich versatile voice grabs and holds the attention. Ben Earle is just to the side on guitar, and occasional keyboard. No mean vocalist himself, his voice is the perfect foil, and the resulting harmonies take the songs to another level.
The jaunty Nashville Grey Skies follows and the hard work is done, with the audience warmed and on their side, they look as if they are starting to enjoy themselves. Naturally the debut album gets an airing with a plaintive piano led State Lines and the more danceable, letting the hair down of Friday Night and Tonight. The set is broken up with a couple of covers; Young Hearts and the closing song Islands in the Stream.
It’s still a little novel to have a UK group playing Country music, and for all the Nashville allusions there’s something of these islands in their music, and that sets them apart. They should have made plenty of new friends tonight
Our thanks to Amy Westney for the kind use of the photo.
