Photo credit: In Your Area
*Scroll down for a photo gallery of the event!*
Everything is better when it’s free, and I’d say that this
sentiment extends nicely to music festivals too. You mean to tell me that
instead of paying what can be extortionate amounts of money to see a whole
bunch of artists, I can do it for free? Count me in. Just one of the reasons
why I’m a big advocate of Nashville Meets London, which this year saw its third
annual edition in Canary Wharf’s Canada Square Park.
And what a day to kick off the festival. The weather was scorching,
and the crowds were out in their hordes even as the festival began at 2pm. Jade
Helliwell was the artist chosen to kick off the festival, entering the stage
dressed in a shimmery mermaid jumpsuit. She kicked off the party with some
upbeat tunes including Boom Tick and By My Side, and it was clear from the
way she worked the stage that this is a woman who is truly at home when
performing.
It was on the ballads where she truly shone with her strong
vocals and classic ever-so-slight American lilt that UK country singers tend to
develop. Indeed, whilst being the first artist to hit the stage, I knew her
rendition of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah would
be a highlight of the whole weekend for me.
There were half hour breaks between each set, which whilst
relatively long, wasn’t really a problem as it gave attendees the chance to
mill around and find something to eat or drink in the many surrounding shops
and bars, as well as giving yours truly a chance to get some interviews in
(watch this space!) Festival goers were spread out on the grass in front of the
large stage, with a screen to the side for those of us sitting further back. My
only qualm about the setup was that the speakers themselves were relatively small,
and with the windy weather, vocals all too easily got carried away on the
breeze.
Next to join the party were The Adelaides, comprised of
Paris Georgia, Alicia Alba and Abi Phillips, who I was astounded to find out
had only been together for a year given their well polished performance. They
left no doubt that they were country between their songs including Jack Daniels (“is my only friend”) and
fantastic style that I wish we could wear on a day to day basis here.
They proved without a doubt that three voices can be better
than one with beautiful harmonies as highlighted on a lovely cover of Jolene (I take my hat off to anyone who
dares compete with Dolly!) and their catchy end song, potentially called Pull The Trigger. With sounds not
carrying across the park, lyrics and song names weren’t the easiest to pick up
on!
I was excited to see the next band perform, given that the
last time I had seen them must have been around 2014 when I stumbled across
them busking on Grafton Street in Dublin. However, good music is worth
remembering, and reading the name Keywest on this years lineup, I was brought
back to stopping to enjoy their performance then, and sure I would again at the
festival .
Keywest were perhaps more rock/pop than country which I had
no problem with given that this festival was a great opportunity to show Brits
the range that country encompasses, be that more traditional styles to the
crossover with pop that we know and love today. They were high energy and loud
as they rocked together on tracks like Something
Beautiful and a cover of The Cranberries Linger, coming together at one point to all bang the drums in
unison. Definitely a change from some of the other acts.
The next act was a great pick in my opinion, and one of the
only ones that I had actually seen perform live before, given Frankie Davies
was the opening act for Maddie and Tae last year (you can read a review of that
gig here) and has opened for plenty other big name US acts too. There’s a
reason for this, and that’s because she’s great.
I remembered admiring her pure voice and we were treated to
this again, as well as her talent on guitar, as she performed songs like The Sweetest Sound and Wherever I Go. I also really appreciated
her interaction with the crowd, greeting them gratefully within minutes of
coming onstage and explaining stories behind the song she wrote for her dad (Superman), and the song she wrote for
her mum who was jealous her dad got a song first (Dancing All Night). The covers performed by acts throughout the
festival were of a very high standard, and Frankie’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain was no exception. Certainly
one to watch.
If you’d have heard of anyone at the festival, bets would be
on that being Sam Palladio, known for his role as Gunnar on the hit TV show Nashville. Now that the show has ended,
Sam has started to make steps out on his own, beginning with festivals like
this. He kicked off with the very vibey Hello
Heartbreak Blues which was reminiscent of an early John Mayer.
There was plenty of Nashville
to go around, including Can’t Get It
Right, Gun For A Mouth, I Will Never
Let You Know, I Will Fall and of course the classic Fade Into You, just in case you forgot where he came from.
Splattered in between these was the occasional self-penned track like Faster Than A Bullet, songs which felt
reasonably different to those he’d been singing for the show. I’d be interested
to know whether Sam will be able to step out from behind Gunnar’s shadow and
make a name for himself. Here’s hoping.
The final act of the night was young gun Dylan Schneider,
playing his first show in the UK. He certainly had a lot of energy and warned
the crowd that he would be talking a lot during his set, a promise which he
kept, occasionally shouting at the crowd in glee things like “this is amazing,
you’re blowing it off the road, baby!”
He was the epitome of bro-country, citing his biggest
influence as Florida Georgia Line and putting his take on Cruise. Whilst not everyone’s cup of tea, his high energy ‘Friday
night party’ tracks like You Heard Wrong and
How Does It Sound were a sound way to
take the festival up a year and leave attendees on a high. Day 1 done!
I hope you enjoyed today's review of Nashville Meets London! Come back soon for my Day 2 review and roundup, and make sure to stay tuned to the blog and follow me on Twitter @CiarasCountry for plenty more music reviews, as well as interviews with many of the artists in this article. Thanks for reading!
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