Tag: Live Music

Aug 17 2026

Davina & The Vagabonds

Wednesday 22nd July 2026

Photos by Richard Leach, review by Mike Latham, comments from Alun Pelleschi, Eric Fairchild, Gill Baxter

Oh, what a night. What a superb performance from Davina and her amazing accompanying musicians.
The love that they all have for the songs from different eras and the mark that their joyous versions emphasised the power that music can have in creating such a sense of joy that we all felt last night.

Each individual musician was phenomenal, as were the vocals which had such soul and power. It was a real treat to be introduced to yet another group of performers who, I assume, were previously unknown to many in the audience. That’s the power of the smaller music venues, introducing both audiences and artists to each other and allowing us all to join together in such an emotional and uplifting experience.

Thanks, once again, to Hilary and Ron. Long may you run in your endeavours to bring joy to the world.

Wow. A fantastic show- got to be up there with the best this year. Great stage persona, great range of genres and excellent musicality – Alun Pelleschi

Davina and the Vagabonds….Phew!!! A phenomenal gig. Norlins, Ella, Buddy Holly, Fats Domino…great players, a five foot trombone and Davina is a great singer and band leader – Eric Fairchild

We really enjoyed Davina & The Vagabonds last night. Fantastic musicians, great range of material ( loved the blues, soul & New Orleans best but all good) and Davina is a force of nature! What a voice – Gill Baxter

Feb 6 2026

Robert Vincent

Plus support Amy Jo Clough

Friday 16th January 2026

Photos by Richard Leach

The TLR debut of Robert Vincent and his trio was completely sold out and he gave us a stunning performance. What a voice! He received a standing ovation and we’ve rarely had so many rapturous comments from an audience as they were leaving. It was such a great show that we did that rare thing ourselves and immediately rebooked him, this time with his full band for January next year! Tickets on sale soon. We had a great opening spot from Amy Jo Clough too!

Thanks to Richard Leach for the photos.

Nov 24 2025

Malin Lewis

Thursday 13th November 2025

Photos and video by Keith Belcher, review Pete Lambert

A truly exceptional gig on Thursday by Malin Lewis and friends ..

I had in fact bumped into them (Malin) in the Old Inn in Carbost, close to the Talisker Distillery, a few years ago – here was someone quite special in skill and experience – that was clear even back then.

I began playing the Highland Pipes in 2010 and had my own set of Scottish small Pipes made by Ross Calderwood of Lochalsh Pipes in about 2018.

What a thrill, then to see them at the live room a few years later, one outstanding talent alongside two others in Sally Simpson on fiddle and Ali Hutton on guitar.

The skill and musicianship of all three was truly outstanding and mesmerising ! The way the two fiddles interacted, exchanging melody and harmony with apparent ease and held together with the powerful and rhythmic guitar and penetrating into wondrous and unknown places (the halocline)

The sound of the Lindsay system small pipes was exquisite: these extending the range of the normal A chanter from 9 notes (low G to high A) to a full two octaves low D to high D) and creating a whole new world for this noble instrument.

And if this were not enough, Malin’s mastery of the Great Highland Pipes was total and glorious! Exceptional in every way.

Now to learn some of Malin’s tunes … at least those that can be managed by a 9 note set. Thanks for bringing this extraordinary trio to The Live Room, Ron and Hilary !

videos by keith belcher

Hiraeth/Trans

Bulgarian Tunes

Gavottes

Nov 23 2025

Flook 2025

Thursday 20th November 2025

Photos Nigel Plant, videos Keith Belcher, review Mike Latham

Another stunner of a show last night.

The musicianship of the four players was outstanding. I was mesmerised by the intricate patterns that each instrument created and how they all meshed together to create those fabulous tunes.

It will definitely require a lot of thought whittling down all those outstanding performances we have witnessed this year.

videos by keith belcher

The Knot In Georgia; Ed's Big 5O; and Faqqua

John Joe Kelly Bodhrán Solo

Jig For Sham; The Dawn Wall; Johnny D's; and Timewaver

Nov 23 2025

Cua 2025

Friday 31st October 2025

Photos, review and videos by Keith Belcher

Friday 31st October 2025. The return visit of CUA, just a few days short of 3 years since their debut at TLR (13th November 2022). CUA are: John Davidson (fiddle, percussion, vocals) Shane Booth (guitar, vocals) and Ros O’Meara (bouzouki, guitar, percussion, vocals).

Usually bands progress from standing during a gig to sitting as the years pass. CUA seem to have gone the other way, 2022 found them all seated but 2025 was definitely all standing (the band, not the audience). The penultimate gig of their tour, they certainly gave an inspired performance.

The conversations I heard (and read) were all praise. Praise for their musicianship, praise for the quality of their songs, praise for their adaptation and interpretation of musical genres and especial praise for their outstanding harmony work.

Acapella songs opened and closed the evening. The first , one of their own compositions , “The Other Man”, a very hard hitting and political song. I imagine it would have been greatly approved of by the author of their final song , another acapella ,“The Tunnel Tigers”, a Ewan MacColl song about the dangerous and difficult work of constructing tunnels, specifically in the tough clay soil found beneath London.

The delivery of the show was really well paced mingling quiet reflective songs like “Sail Home With Me” with the very fast “The Guisers Fancy”, very apt for Halloween. It featured some extremely interesting and quite unusual time signatures. To my old ears leaning very heavily towards Eastern European music. I’m biased, I saw them twice last week . They are very good.

Many songs tonight were from the new EP “WILL YOU BE OK” .All songs were CUA compositions with the exception of “The Tunnel Tigers” and a really superb version of “The Auld Triangle” I’m sure they’ll be welcome back for a 3rd visit in the (hopefully) not too distant future.

videos by keith belcher

Wildflower

The Auld Triangle

Hot Blooded

Nov 23 2025

Courtney Marie Andrews

Thursday 26th October 2025

Photos Richard Leach, review Mike Latham, video courtesy CMA fans Facebook group

It was magical.

An intimate show with Courtney and her guitarist, Jerry Bernhardt.

Her tales of events and experiences were also very intimate in feel, the revelation of some very private feelings or observations, underscored with the great meshing of voices and music.
It was clear that there was a lot of expectation in the room and we were not disappointed.

The evening began with another excellent, albeit short, session from Chris Helme.

Video

Table For One

Jul 8 2025

Breabach

Sunday 22nd June 2025

Photos, videos & review by Keith Belcher

Sunday 22nd June 2025. The long ago sold out debut appearance (in the flesh) of Breabach. The band did make a virtual appearance during you know what, but this was the long overdue live visit.

The band are all multi instrumentalists and comprise Megan Henderson (fiddle, vocals, step dance), James Lindsay (double bass, vocals), Calum MacCrimmon (bagpipes, whistle, bouzouki, vocals, step dance), Conal McDonagh (bagpipes, whistle, vocals), and Ewan Robertson (guitar, cajon, vocals).

I might be wrong but I think Sunday was the first time we’ve had double bagpipes and double dancers on the stage in the same show. To say they went down well would be a gross understatement. A truly great night . They received a well deserved standing ovation. Some shots of the night.

videos by keith belcher

Knees Up

Les Pieds Joyeux

Muriwai

Jul 8 2025

Demi Marriner Band

Sunday 8th June 2025

Photos, videos & review by Keith Belcher

Sunday 8th June 2025. The Live Room Saltaire. Demi Marriner & Band.

Opening for the Demi Marriner band were The Steady Habits fronted by Connecticut born Sean C Duggan. The Steady Habits can be a duo, trio or quartet, (occasionally a quintet). Tonight they were a duo of Sean C Duggan, main vocal, guitar and harmonica and Cathy Ife on vocals and guitar. Joe Coombs who was playing guitar tonight for Demi Marriner is also a member of Steady Habits along with Jamie Dawson. Both Joe and Jamie are very familiar to TLR regulars.

Sean has a truly excellent voice, very reminiscent of Jason Isbell when playing solo. Excellent harmonica. Great songs and music. On the performance tonight, I, for one, would like to see the entire band at TLR in the future. Ron and Hilary have plans afoot, watch this space.

Demi Marriner Band is Demi, main vocals and guitar, Joe Coombs, vocals and guitars, Garry Kroll , drums and percussion and Scott Warman vocals and bass.

Wow!! immediately sprang to mind. I have been to a lot of great TLR shows since the venue opened in 2012 but I was staggered by the sheer energy of this performance. Demi and the band were on fire and it really showed. All the stops were pulled out. They were really enjoying playing, the audience were enjoying hearing and seeing, and the energy cycled between the stage and the floor and it just kept feeding on itself.

There are a couple of shots I’ve used just because of what I thought at the time. It was very difficult to pick a selection of shots to use, there were so many great ones.

On one shot Scott (bass) is laughing and for some reason when I saw that I started hearing the tune to ‘Start Me Up’ by The Stones but was hearing ‘You make a bass player Smile’ instead of the usual lines about grown men crying .

I’ve photographed Joe quite a few times and have never caught outright laughter when he is playing , the shot is out of focus but to me it just captured the mood. Likewise the final shot of Demi is heavily cropped but seemed to capture Demi’s feelings at the end of the show.

What a great night, you needed to be there! I really hope to see this band again.

videos by keith belcher

Steady Habits:Deviate

Good Guy Act

Forgiveness

Think Of Me

Jul 7 2025

Catrin Finch & Aoife Ní Bhriain

Sundy 11thMay 2025

Photos and review by Nigel Plant

Catrin Finch and Aoife Ní Bhriain treated The Live Room at Saltaire to a fantastic evening of entrancing musical mastery yesterday. Weaving classical and traditional themes from Ireland and Wales to create a magical soundscape.

Apr 1 2025

Sean Taylor Trio

Sunday 30th March 2025

Photos, review and videos by Keith Belcher

Sunday 30th March 2025. A superb show from The Sean Taylor Trio, accompanying Sean tonight were Mike Seal on upright bass and Paulina Szczepaniak on percussion and keyboards. Great songs, great lyrics, great and very skilled and varied music, not to mention great humour and enjoyment. Well worth a night out if you can make one of their gigs. A really cracking night.

videos by keith belcher

Berlin

Mona Lisa