Face Of Cheam

My second trip to Kilburn. This time for must see pop folk muso Thea Gilmore.
Walking up Kilburn High Road from Kilburn Park, it really is an odd area of London. Some of it reminds you of the bad side of Croydon, certainly the market area. Yet some of it seems distinctly trendy. The first pub we went in was the Westgate, with pool tables but also with candles and low lighting, very odd. The second pub, The St James Tavern was a market pub and not that great, whereas the Black Lion opposite the venue was a delight. Victoria architecture, a large circular bar, Amstel and friendly barstaff. A good pub. The Luminairre is an upstairs venue that can’t hold many. About fifteen yards separate the stage from the bar at back. A sign on the wall states you may be thrown out if you talk during the acts. Support was from Joan Coffey, a irish solo acoustic semi lesbian (one of her songs was about a same sex relationship). Pleasant enough but too mellow for me to but her album. Her set included a cover of Girls Just Want To Have Fun which was good though she did talk a bit too much inbetween songs.
Thea was good as always. Another acoustic tour this was, a few new songs and a cover of Pinks Get The Party Started. As with all London shows, she commented on how quiet the audience were, until Nigel (husband and guitarist) pointed out the sign. The singalong Are You Ready though was surprisingly loud and in tune and When You’re Gone was requested by an audience member as they walked out for the encore. Here’s the set.

Old Soul, Gods Got Nothing On You, Worse Side, And We'll Dance, Rosie, Avalanche, Get The Party Started, If You Meet Me At The Back Of The Bus, Prize, Inch By Inch, Dance In New York, Saviours And All, Girl Is Taking Bets, Are You Ready ///// When You're Gone, When I Get Back to Shore, Take Me Home

Two days later I followed Thea to Winchester. The Tower Arts centre, being half hour walk from the station meant a dash for the last train but using the timings of Wednesdays gig I thought I’d be fine and was (even having time to purchase a couple of beers from the one stop for the journey home). A bigger venue than London which was sold out! A theatre type foyer was selling only bottles at £3.10, but this included a large Summer Lightning, with a choice of chilled or not chilled. The theatre bit was semi circular and I managed to get a decent view down the front on the left. Caught a bit of Joan Coffey, who explained that she does covers sets in pubs in London to pay her rent before doing ‘Like A Virgin’ in place of the cover on Wednesday. Thea was a bit different with a new song Come Up With Me described as her happy song, and it seemed instantly bouncy (poppy). The encore was different too with lots of people yelling out various titles. Nigel went to play one that was asked for until Thea stopped him saying she forgotten the words. I then yelled / requested for Bad Idea and she replied yes asking for requests was a bad idea! so she decided to choose one herself. This was her cover of Van Morrison’s Crazy Love. Also in the encore was Juliet, not played the last time and one of my favourites so I went on the long journey home happy. Set below;

Old Soul, Worse Side, Come Up With Me, And We'll Dance, Rosie, Get The Party Started, Avalanche, If You Meet Me At The Back Of The Bus, Prize, Inch By Inch, Dance In New York, Saviours And All, Girl Is Taking Bets, Are You Ready ///// Crazy Love, Juliet (I’ll Keep That In Mind), Take Me Home