The best all round roots music club in West Yorkshire
Tag: Live Music
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
Mar 10 2025
Joseph Arthur with Melanie Gabriel
plus support Rob Shore with Lucio Rubino
Sunday 9th March 2025
Photos, review & video by Keith Belcher
Joseph Arthur & Melanie Gabriel on Sunday 9th March 2025. By the end of the night I understood why the promoters Ron and Hilary were so excited about the prospect of this gig. I can only say WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If anyone would like to explain to those not there just what was going on during this show please feel free. It was quite exceptional.
Some shots of the night including two taken off stage in the darkness when Joseph joined the crowd and did a couple of laps of the room.
There was an opening set from Joe’s ex-manager, Rob Shore, accompanied by guitarist Lucio Rubino.
videos by keith belcher
St. Augustine Day, Rob Shore & Lucio Rubino
Honey & The Moon
In The Sun/Travels As Equals
No Weapon
Feb 10 2025
Jeff Cohen Writers Round – in association with Nashville Meets London
Sunday 26th January 2025
Review, photos and video by Keith Belcher
The Live Room, Caroline Street Social Club, Saltaire
Jeff Cohen with Ashley Campbell , Kezia Gill, Jade Helliwell and Steve Chrisanthou
Conducted along the lines of Songwriter’s Circle, the BBC 2 show from circa 2010/12. Three artists taking it in turn to introduce and sing a song. This show had 2 additional guests. Take my word for it , this was a truly great show. See the quotes below, taken mainly from TLR WhatsApp Group. Some shots of the night.
Quotes: (Thanks to Ron, Mike, Alun, Andy, Graham and Eric)
Someone (quite a few people actually ) left saying “Well, That’s show of the year sorted”
“It was fantastic entertainment from start to finish and everyone who took part was terrific”
” It was one of those truly magical nights, stunning from start to finish”
” Last night was such a warm, revealing and engaging experience. Each performance brought the individuality of voice, playing and writing of each artist and was enthusiastically received by the audience”
“Awesome, loving it, especially the girl from Batley”
“Off the scale”
“What a brilliant show. The girls singing was awesome – each different. Loved the way the Campbell girl paid so much attention and joined in on songs she didn’t really know”.
“Ashley’s song for her Dad Glen Campbell was a highlight of the evening. Very moving”
videos by keith belcher
Jeff Cohen - Holy Water
Ashley Campbell - Remembering
Kezia Gill - Sky High
Jade Helliwell - Lighthouse
Steve Chrisanthou - Put Your Records On
Dec 6 2024
Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Hass
Sunday 1st December 2024
Review, photos and videos by Keith Belcher
Sunday 1st December 2024. The Live Room, Caroline Street Social Club, Saltaire. Another TLR debut, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas graced the stage of The Live Room. The definition of graced being: “bring honour or credit to (someone or something) by one’s attendance or participation”.
We were certainly honoured by their presence and performance. They’ve been playing together for 25 years and it certainly shows in the best possible ways. Both were obviously virtuosos on their instruments but their mutual understanding, timing, phrasing was instinctively (seemingly) effortless.
Of the numerous comments on WhatsApp Eric possibly summed it up best: “Another stunner! This has to be the best year of TLR so far . So many great shows! Alasdair and Natalie are up there with the best. Many thanks to Hilary and Ron who are also great stars!”
Mike said: “The combination of both instruments was absolutely superb. It was often difficult to hear which was leading or which supporting as Alasdair and Natalie meshed them so closely together. Did I mention that it was superb?”
videos by keith belcher
A Lien of Alesund/The Kelburn Brewer
MacAlpine Strathspey & More
Nathaniel Gow's Lament for the Death of His Brother/The Gallowglass
Nov 20 2024
Hannah Scott & Amanda Rheaume
Sunday 20th October 2024
Review, photos and video by Keith Belcher
A double header of Amanda Rheaume (Canada) & Kyler Tapscott (Canada) and Hannah Scott (Suffolk)and Dave Banks (Bedford) In all honesty , not one of the best attended gigs at TLR BUT those extremely happy attendees who were there were VERY glad they attended.
A bit of a mixed audience in that there were those who had never heard of either act (but trusted Ron & Hilary’s judgement and taste) and those who had driven huge distances to follow the artists. So many people came up to Ron and Hilary at the end to just say how much they had loved the show.
Both acts were superb. The musicianship was superb, the storytelling sublime and concise and extremely personal. Great introductions to all the songs. The only thing wrong was that time didn’t allow us to hear more of each act. Perhaps in the future ……
videos by keith belcher
Amanda Rheaume - I Won't Hide
Amanda Rheaume - Keep A Fire in the Rain
Hannah Scott - The Boy in the Frame
Hannah Scott -
Oct 16 2024
Owen Spafford & Louis Campbell
Sunday 6th October 2024
Photos and video by Keith Belcher, review by Mike Latham
Well, that was interesting. I think that I should have paid more attention to the information supplied when the concert was announced. The first two tunes, to me, followed the usual pattern of tunes and then, subsequent ones went in different directions whilst remaining true to the original themes. I thought, ‘Hmm, a bit of experimentation going on’; then Owen referred to the experimentations that Louis performed in his other guitar duo. The penny dropped.
I have recently read the Robin Denselow update of ‘The Electric Muse’ where he looks at the developments within ‘folk music’ in the latter half of the last century and in to the current period. He was emphasising the changes and experimentation carried out by Davy Graham and Shirley Collins, Fairport and Steeleye, The Incredible String Band and Pentagle. All used the songs and tunes from the past and updated them to attract new listeners and that process continues through Bellowhead, The Imagined Village and Lankum.
We have seen Jon Boden and the Remnant Kings, The Paul McKenna Band and now Owen and Louis using those self same tunes and creating their own interpretation of broadside and parlour songs, folk songs and dance tunes. Each taking the popular tunes and songs of the past and putting them into a contemporary context, proving that ‘folk music’ is not a thing of the past but a living, continuous strand of people’s lives.
Last comment; I have found the musicianship and dedication of the younger performers we are seeing more recently to be truly astonishing. Owen and Louis were no different, a wonderful duo.
Videos by Keith Belcher
Pop Goes The Weasel
Two Brothers
Oct 2 2024
Peter Bruntnell Band
Sunday 15th September 2024
Photos and video by Keith Belcher
A return visit from The Peter Bruntnell Band. Touring and playing music from new record (CD and vinyl) Houdini And The Sucker Punch The band is Peter Bruntnell guitar and main vocals, Mick Clews, drums, Dave Little , electric guitar and Peter Noone on bass.
