Rock Regeneration

Mar14

Brave Rival/Red River Hogs

on March 14th, 2025 at 20:24

Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne

Tonight’s venue is the wonderfully acoustic and characterful theatre in the heart of West Borough in Wimborne, Dorset called The Tivoli. A place that has been providing entertainment for over 30 years, putting on a host of eclectic events from comedy, theatre and music. This evening a decent sized crowd have turned up to see Portsmouth’s Brave Rival, a Rock band with a Blues infusion that are slowly but surely building on the recent successes and reputation of being a putting on fantastic live performances.

There has recently been a significant change among their ranks with vocalist Chloe Josephine leaving to spend more time with her family and seek a solo career. The band have never the less decided to carry on as a four-piece with vocalist Lindsey Bonnick continuing on lead vocals.

Before the Hampshire quartet take to the stage we have local support from the Isle of Purbeck, the band Red River Hogs. These guys use a deep south Blues influence with contempered approach. Using an electric guitar, along with Hammond organ; coupled with solid complementary rhythms, the Hammond and the Gibson guitar provide some wonderful melodies with some great soulful sounding tunes including “Tulia’s Kitchen” and “Midnight in Memphis”.

Red River Hogs 1–2–3–4–5–6–7

The audience are charmed by the uplifting feelgood tunes and seem to enjoy watching the band’s craftmanship with their instrumentation. One of the highlights is atmospheric original Blues number called “Grand Central Station”, which features a lovely full-bodied guitar solo. There is also a locally themed tune called “The Guru of Bedsit Avenue”, set locally in the notorious area of Boscombe. It features some remarkably descriptive lyrics delivered perfectly by vocalist Micky. After a thoroughly enthralling set the band leave the stage to plenty of applause from the well entertained crowd.

After a short interval and the chance to buy drinks and ice creams from a member of staff standing in front of the stage with an Usherette tray, it’s time for our headliners to take to the stage. They arrive to the sound of New Order’s “Blue Monday” and enthusiastically dance over to their positions. Kicking off with the fast-paced “Heart Attack” the band show off their combined significant musical skills. Looking at each band member individually you have Donna on drums, Billy Dedman on bass, Ed Clarke on guitar and the aforementioned Lindsey Bonnick on lead vocals.

Brave Rival 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8

You can’t take your eyes off the stage for a minute, they are an incredibly visual band and there is always something happening. What with Ed’s ultra impressive guitar work, along with the supremely tight rhythm section and Lindsey’s powerful vocal delivery and engaging stories. We are treated to a host of tracks from the band’s latest album “Flight or Fight” including “Bad Choices”, “Sink or Swim” and the fantastically upbeat “Seventeen”. The band’s Blues roots are apparent, however the vast majority of their numbers have more of a Rock influence and they seem to sit more in the NWOCR (New Wave of Classic Rock) side than full on Blues.

“Stars Upon My Scars” is a tune that shows the band’s creative side in full flow and is one of the pinnacles of the evening, together with a story about the song and it’s dynamic delivery. The vivid lyrics and the emotive instrumentation makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up on end. The heartwarming vocals put to music is something that was worth the ticket money alone! A heartfelt tribute is delivered to Catfish’s Matt Long who was taken from us at just 29 years of age after a battle with cancer. To put his death into perspective, he was the same age as guitarist Ed.

The set whizzes by far too fast and we are already on the encores before we know it, the audience are treated to a 10 minute extended version of “Heavy” and with one last push of spirited energy, the band deliver an epic “Fairytale”, with Ed wowing us with some incredible strings work. The big question that every fan will be asking – is there life after Chloe? On tonight’s showing absolutely, the departure seems to have given the four musicians a regeneration and anyone coming to a show will seem them firing on all cylinders, showing themselves to be one of the top live bands around.

Set Lists
Brave Rival
Heart Attack
Bad Choices
Secrets
Run, Baby, Run (Sheryl Crow cover)
Sink or Swim
On the Next Round
Seventeen
Stars Upon My Scars
Up in Smoke
Stand Up
Run and Hide
Thin Ice
The Letter (The Box Tops cover)
Blame the Voices
Heavy
Fairy-tale

Red River Hogs
Justified
Tallulah’s Kitchen
Midnight in Memphis
Grand Central Station
Kid with the Dynamite Shoes
Prodigal Son
Guru of Bedsit Avenue

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