Photo Credit: @takenbystorm_photography
There must be something in the water in the North East of England right now judging by the amount of up and coming bands from that area, aside from Mr Fender names that spring to mind are Andrew Cushin, Cat Ryan and Tom A.Smith to name just a few. Tonight’s headliner at The Poetry Club can also be added to that list; Lizzy Esau. This was the second Glasgow gig for Lizzie Esau in a week after supporting The Pale White at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on 8th February and quite a few of the folk at that gig would have been at The Poetry Club, the smallest of the SWG venues for the show tonight. We like these intimate gigs as they allow you to get close up to the artists and the support for tonight’s show Glasgow indie rockers Foreign2 gave us half an hour of tracks mainly from their only EP to date No Pleasure, No Doubt. They also entertained the growing crowd with two well known cover versions, Portishead track Woman and Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through The Grapevine which were well received by the appreciative music lovers. 6/10
Newcastle rock singer-songwriter Lizzie Esau made her breakthrough appearance at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in 2022 and since then has steadily built a fanbase as well as releasing debut EP Deepest Blue in July 2023. Tonight’s gig was originally meant to be at the end of last year but had to be cancelled due to illness but it was well worth the wait as Esau worked through nine tracks during the forty-five minute set. The four-piece band are an impressively tight unit and aside from the short delay in the set starting due to sound issues they played every song to perfection. Opening with Wait Too Late the fans in the now packed out room nodded along enthusiastically with a few singing along. We got to hear a brand new song called Crush in the middle of the set and Esau has promised lots more new music during 2024 which we look forward to hearing. Latest release Impossible + Strange is a foot tapping track which got the crowd moving but the highlight of the set for us was Bleak Sublime, a track which has beautiful vocals from Esau alongside some great guitar melodies and begins with the explosive lyrics “I’d rather be here on my own for a second/Take it all in all the pain and the suppression”. The crowd got right behind the band during this song, by far their biggest to date and if they can produce more numbers like Bleak Sublime then they will continue to gain more attention and build a bigger fanbase. The vocalist came out into the crowd during the last song to the delight of everyone in the room. The band are signed up for Stockton Calling at the end of March and we would recommend seeing them live if you get a chance. 8/10
Written By: Alan Brown
