Tag: Country Music

Plus support Florence Sommerville

Sunday 20th July 2025

Photos and videos by Keith Belcher, review by Mike Latham

Well, that certainly felt like an event that should come with a warning; though, to be fair to Eve, she did set out what she was going to do throughout her set.

Eve took us through her darkest times explicitly. Her art was to try and make sense of what was happening, events far beyond her control and make something out of it to provide a counter to the wide range of emotions that she faced during those times and beyond. That she was able to find that support and resilience to bring her out of those depths was great but then she used her skills as an artist and collaborator to offer those opportunities and solutions to others in her words and music.

The straw poll that Eve carried out at the start showed that nearly the whole room had been affected in similar ways. Her songs supported everyone through those early stages and took them through ways of finding solutions and resilience of their own to emerge with hope and positivity for the future. An emotional rollercoaster certainly but to relive that through each performance as she sings those songs shows the strength of her art. As you say, Eric, powerful.

Special mention must also go to the guitar work of Sam Hunt and the cello of David Hornberger. Both musicians brought a different dimension to the performance than we experienced from Eve before, mirroring the discord of those earlier songs, ‘Monster’ in particular and taking us through to the calm of ‘Grace’ and the positivity of ‘I choose Love’.

All in all, a totally unexpected but emotional and, ultimately, positive experience. We’ve had plenty of great shows this year but Eve’s performance was outstanding.

Thanks to Ron and Hilary, as always.

The evening started off with a beautiful set from Essex singer songwriter, Florence Sommerville, a young artist with a big future ahead of her. Having just launched her debut album, Endless Horizon, she is busy esrablsihing herself on the touring circuit and is also beginning to make waves over at the home of Americana music in Nashville. She’s a gifted songwriter and singer with great stage presence. Look out for her!