Face Of Cheam

This is my 5th Rose gig this year. This time it was to launch her new single stop/start/synchro which was released on vinyl that day. It’s a long trek on the tube to Kilburn, and when I arrived I saw Rose smoking a cigarette outside the Black Lion pub opposite. Unfortunately they were not showing the cricket, Sri Lanka knocking the aussies out of the 20-20 cup, so I chose not to socialise with her and her band and walked on to another pub. She should lay off the smoking really as when she walked past me in the venue shortly before she came on, her jacket stank of smoke. That aside, it was another great performance and the first time I came away with the impression that she is more than capable of playing bigger venues than the Luminaire. It was fairly heaving and I wonder if it was because of the marketing towards the single. This also meant it was her show, rather than a group of bands playing on a bill together. There was even an encore, which I’ve not seen her do before. The set was mixed up from last time and the songs are progressing well. You can hear that they are becoming more structured for a band environment, whereas before the band were playing along with Rose leading. Her bass player continues to impress with her playing high up the neck of the instrument and the rest of the band seemed to have a whale of a time too! The album ‘without why’ should be with the world soon, and we wait to see whether this can launch her into more music venues rather than pubs and the like.