Heather Findlay

Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

9 January 2020

The first proper gig showing off the Wild White Horses material. Some of the songs were tried out at the show in York last month, but that was a special event, with a special atmosphere, and the guests, and the Christmas songs, and a forgiving audience. This is the first show where Heather is going to stand or fall purely on the strength of brand new material being played for the first time by a new, untested band line-up. And I honestly haven't yet formed a real emotional connection with the new songs, so I'm ... not worried, exactly, but not completely sure how it will feel.

So the moment of truth, without any fuss or fanfare the seven-piece band cram themselves onto the tiny stage in the small and sweaty club, and ...

And the thing that becomes immediately apparent is that these songs rock like anything. The whole show is loud powerful, energetic, and basically just rocks. Even the nominally acoustic numbers rock like proper rock songs should.

The band is flawless, the energy level on the stage is exhausting to watch, the songs are fantastic, the sound is as good as you could wish for at a gig like this, and Heather is just ... Heather.

It feels like years since I saw her play a show like this. For a long time she's been concentrating on the acoustic and folky side of her performances, and obviously I love that, but ...

But Heather Findlay in front of a proper rock band is just awesome.

You know how you come out of the best concert you've ever seen and wish you could see it all over again the next night too?

Well ...