Lighthouse, Poole
– 11th November 2021
Featuring: Longstay, The Fleur Lindsay Band, & Kez Hinton
For those of you that have not ventured into Hangover Hill Studios “Live & Heard” series of gigs I seriously urge you to, you might just discover your new favourite band/artist. Most people that turn up go along as they have heard of one of the artists and want to support them and in consequence, they discover music from a genre they have never considered previously listening too. In the world of Spotify/iTunes they call it taste breakers. As many of you know I am a huge fan of Rock music, however working on a local radio station for 10 years has opened my ears to a host of different genres of music including Folk, Jazz, Ska, Punk, Classical etc… Diversity is definitely the spice of life. The three artists that our hosts Hangover Hill’s Matt Black & Mel Berkhauer have laid on for us tonight could not be more diverse.
The first of these is local 17 year old singer/Songwriter Fleur Lindsay; who I have had the pleasure of seeing live a couple of times performing solo. Tonight though she has got herself a band together, featuring Dave Gardiner on drums (Chaos From Order), David Elliott on Bass (Formerly Endea) and Will Kelly on Guitar (Chaos From Order, Circadian). Kicking off with the opening number “Hooked” it’s immediately clear this wonderful acoustic space complements Fleur’s considerable voice. She has been collaborating with Geth Williams of the band “Dusky Grey” on a number of her original tracks after he got in touch when he heard her cover one of his tracks “Call Me Over”. The audience including Fleur’s clearly excited (and proud) parents sit and intently listen to a host of skilfully crafted tunes that show off this young lady’s abilities. These include “Crutches” a song that she wrote just aged 14; a beautifully passionate tune called “Breathe” and “Rising”, a song written about the frustrations caused by her Biology teacher from school. The well-rehearsed but talented band completes Fleur’s creations, perfectly complimenting a faultless enduring performance.
Next up is a very colourful character from the local music scene, an ever-smiling and always positive chap called Kez Hinton. He previously played here as part of the Inner City Smugglers on bass in September 2019. This modern-day hippy with his long golden hair, unique dress sense and handlebar moustache is instantly recognizable. With a guitar in his hand and a microphone in front of him, he has plenty of abilities to entertain any audience facing him. As you would expect from this colourful character his lyrics uplift too. With opener “Love Reality” he talks about staying positive in challenging times. There are a few romantic songs about the love for his life partner Elaine who is clearly his number one fan (sitting in the front row). On one of these “The Woman I Love”, Kez displays some soulful stylings along with an unexpected hip/hop rap-style vocal. “Synesthesia” shows the troubadour pushing the boundaries of what we know, experimenting with colours and sound within the lyrics – “if I could take a colour and turn it into a sound”. He leaves us with an amazingly uplifting number called “The Power” which is a song about people working together to achieve our goals. The song features some wonderfully intricate guitar work and some infectious lyrics, which the crowd soon picks up and accompanies the singer. Kez leaves the stage to plenty of applause from the well-entertained audience, who clearly appreciated all he has to offer.
Tonight’s headliners have traveled the 500-mile journey from Perth in Scotland to perform for us here tonight and after the enforced lockdown, they are clearly very happy to be back in front of a live audience again. They are a Country band called “Long Stay” featuring Malcolm Swan (Guitar/Vocals), Callum Campbell (Guitar/Vocals), Cameron McCafferty (Bass) and George Staniforth (Drums). The area in which they live has become the adopted home for country music in Scotland and the band has cut their teeth performing at Perth’s “Southern Fried Festival” alongside some top Americana acts. They are a young band, still only in their late teens and it is so refreshing to see a group of lads of this age trying and succeeding in this genre.
The Lighthouse crowd gives them a warm welcome as they take to the stage and it’s clear from the start these guys are no amateurs. They are all top-class musicians with skills someone double their age would love to possess. They mix electric and acoustic guitars along with some fine harmonies, to deliver their own brand of Rock-infused Country on tracks like “Better Lands” and “Memphis”. You can hear plenty of diverse influences within their tunes and they cement these with a well-delivered cover of “Grievous Angel”, by the legendary Gram Parsons and an enlightening song inspired by The Eagles called “California Sunrise”. They are engaging and really stimulate tonight’s audience with a set full of great musical highlights and are a pleasure to watch.
Set-lists
Longstay
Your Name
All With You
Better Lands
Memphis
Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons Cover)
Grey Skies
Mariah
California Sunrise
Day Dreaming
Walking Down
See You Again
Kez Hinton
Love Reality
Natural Man
Hidden Treasure
The Woman I Love
Moon Comes Up
Without You
The Way I Love You
Synesthesia
The Power
Fleur Lindsay
Hooked
Wait for Me
Crutches
Breathe
Fine to fall
Rising
Losing Myself
Stay with Me
Videos
The December “Live & Unheard” is on 9th December featuring Steve Bonham & The Long Road, The Duskers & Polly Morris. Tickets are just £11.75 including the booking fee and can be purchased here.
Links
http://www.fleurlindsay.com
http://www.kezhinton.com
https://www.longstay.band
Words, Pictures & Video by David Chinery (Chinners).
