Romeo’s Daughter
Venue: Barnoldswick Arts Centre
Date: 26th January 2025
What happens when a great band, teams up with a great venue and the result is an acoustic set that will be recorded for a live album released later in 2025? I'll tell you….its Heaven…(you can fill the rest by yourself)
This appearance was the second gig to be recorded over this weekend. Sandwiched in-between was a set with just Craig and Leigh performing and taking part in a Q&A which I would have loved to have been present at.
To say the Arts Centre is bijou is an understatement at the venue holds something like 40 people. It really does feel special when you’re a part of Romeo's Daughter gig in such small numbers and puts you right in the centre with the band.
A lot of bands will write songs acoustically, before taking everything up to eleven. The true test of a song is if an amplified electric song transfers to acoustic and is just as interesting and great as the original version. I can tell you right now, that the songs played tonight are a perfect testament to their craft.
There is a certain magic about Romeo’s Daughter. A band that has been around long enough to be considered veterans, yet still delivering performances with the vitality of a group fresh out of the blocks. If melodic rock/AOR had a royal family, these guys would be holding court - and tonight at Barnoldswick they proved exactly why.
From the off I could tell we were in for a good night, we could cheer and shout as loud as 40 people can muster for this special occasion of a live recording.
Most of the songs tonight are from the 2nd wave of Romeo's Daughter and rightly so as there are so many great songs since they reformed. First a triple-header from ‘Rapture’. How ‘Bittersweet’ and ‘Alive’ have not made Romeo's Daughter the darlings of Radio 2 is beyond my comprehension. Leigh Matty has always had the likes of sultry, smoky and sexy to describe her vocals, in this acoustic steering its even more so. It's not long before a trip to the past comes knocking with ‘Colour You A Smile’, and the crowd - small but mighty- responded in kind.
Attending a Romeos Daughter gig is like being in a family. Craig, Leigh and Andy have been together for so long that they could almost finish each others sentences except from figuring what song came from their albums ‘Enemy’ and made for a good laugh, as did Graig forgetting how ‘Time Of Your Life’ actually started. He did comment that ‘its an interesting experiment, retraining the brain to learn the acoustic versions’. Afterwards he did comment that Leighs arms were akin to ‘Pointy Bob’ from Magnum.
They snuck in ‘Since You Went Away’ which only appeared on Organik. The final song of the first set was ‘Cry Myself To Sleep’ an absolute banger of a song, sounding great as an acoustic version.
There was a brief interlude before a second set.
The second set opened with Wild Child. Heart is the biggest band to cover a Romeos Daughter song if you exclude Steps. Heart's version is a very good cover, but I will always prefer the original. Craig had mixed the intro up a bit which I am a big fan of. I love a version where its either like for like, or a new interpretation, this was a mix of the two. The latest album is possibly their finest, and ‘Over You’ and ‘Everything’ were present and represent Romeo's Daughter at their utmost best. But this was no nostalgic trip. Tracks from the last 3 albums slotted in seamlessly, proving that Romeo's Daughter is still writing music that holds it own against their classics
A sing-a-long ensued for ‘Don’t Break My Heart’, which the final song being a Tom Petty cover of ‘You Wreck Me’, a song that didn’t chart in the US singles but is a fire cracker of a song, and excellently chosen, and played.
So, that is it. A gig I will remember for a ling time. I was present at the live gig in Derby in 2014, and it was a pleasure to be present at such a small and intimate gig. It was a stunning set from a band that deserves every bit of the reverence they receive. If you get the chance to see them live, take it.
Review by Paul Chesworth
9/10 Still……Heaven In The Back Seat
Lightning
Bittersweet
Alive
Colour you a smile
How does it feel
Will be
Time of Your Life
Since you went away (organic)
Cry Myself To Sleep
Interval
Wild Child
Enemy
Fly away
Radio
Talking love
Over You
Everything
Don’t Break My Heart
Tom Petty cover - You Wreck Me
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