Potemkin.. definitely came to something!

A cold night in November, Sheelagh and I are off to The Cluny 2 for the album launch of The Union Choirs debut album, The Ghosts in the Room. Arriving late, sadly we missed the first performer, Trev Gibb but we were in time to catch most of the set from Nixé. This was her debut performance and it was quite a set, full of flowing sounds and Nixé has a rather good voice, will certainly be on the look out for more performances and sounds. You can catch the video for the single Rib Cage here.

Next up were Slow Decades, who seemed to be having great fun on stage, alternating with front man, Ben Lowes-Smith being very angry! They have an album out and it's available on Spotify, give it a listen.

The Union Choir have actually been around a good few years, my introduction to them came about when my eldest daughter decided to date bassist Peter Hall and they're now happily married!

A short wait and on came The Union Choir, all 9 of them, two of the brass section being tucked away to the side of the stage! Looking fresh and ready to go, they launched in to Wonderland. They sounded, at least to my ears, tight and well rehearsed. I'm not sure exactly how long it had been, but the band had been on quite an extended hiatus. In fact last time I had seen them live, they were playing with Tom Robinson during BBC Introducing back in 2012! The opener received a war reception and next up came Potemkin!, surely destined to elicit a bit audience participation. Mid set came two favourites, Eleanor and Dancer in Pearls.

On stage The Union Choir looked and played with a confidence that comes with being in a band of friends and pretty good musicians to boot. Jon Melvin taking centre stage proved to be quite a performer engaging with the audience and keeping the band moving along. In fact it all moved along way to quickly and after closer Lavender, it was all over. A few cries of 'More, More' but it was not to be and the cold North East air beckoned once more... taxi ride home! There's a video available for the first single from the album 'Wonderland'

Luckily more gigs are planned and it's worth checking local venues for dates. The two photo's have come from David Wala Photography check out his portfolio,

Tonight's gig was actually free to enter, so buying the album, available from Jon's mum,  was a no-brainer and at just £5.00 excellent value. All these bands need your support, so if you like and enjoy what they're doing head over to Facebook, give their pages a like and follow them or even better spend a few pounds and buy their albums and singles. After all if original songs and music is good enough for Simon Cowell...