Lately of Pronto Mama (will we see them, or their likes again, hope so!), Marc Rooney gave us excellent six songs on guitar and vocals. BM thinks this was one of his first solo gigs and a couple of things were a wee bit raw, but his incredible singing voice and deft guitar picking, along with the changes in time-signatures added to the fact that the songs were indeed very good. Enough said, but this guy has real potential, and BM hopes to hear more from him soon.
So Carla, as the headliner came on, to a rather mixed crowd, some Carla fans but also Celtic Connections fans who may have just booked a random Wednesday night gig, if so they were in for in for a real treat…
This was probably the best Carla performance that BM has witnessed – she was not suffering from a cold as was before, but mainly she was just on fire – really committed.
The band helped a lot as well, and were all on the same page for the set, drawn from 2018 album ‘Impossible Stuff’ and including a brace of what BM would have to call “bangers”. These include the sublime ‘Lights In The Dark’ and the singalong ‘Wanting What I Can’t Have’, played with gusto and relish by the band, and this lot in full flow are quite something else, like (comparison alert!) Suzy Quatro fronting Queen – ok that may be a crap comparison but there is that level of tension and excitement….
Carla’s voice is an instrument of power and it is on top form tonight – on ‘The Girl From Before’ magnificent, as on closer ‘Impossible Stuff’. The best yet from Carluke’s “pocket rocket”, maybe another journalistic cliche but BM cannot help throwing superlatives at Ms. Easton – after due consideration, she is just quite simply amazing, and BM is still reeling!