Yola

Live reviews

• Yola

  Wednesday 4th December, Islington Assembly Hall, London. Yola. So, it’s my last gig of the year and it’s a round forty for 2019. A good effort significantly down on previous years. There have been some great shows this year and the consistency of the quality of gigs has improved over recent years as everyone is upping their games for the valued gig dollar.

  Once again, we are here at my favourite mid-sized venue blessed with the best toilets, great sound, good sight lines and it’s never over sold. The downsides are it seems to emphasise the noise of those ignorant people who insist on talking at the bar during a set. But with the prices they charge for alcohol its cheaper to talk than drink there.

  Its fair to say that 2019 has been a breakthrough year for Yola ending it with four Grammy nominations. Seemingly spending most of this year over in the US of A she is back over here for some homecoming end of year shows.

  Signs are not good when there is water and Lucozade on a table and then the manager brings a cup of tea on stage. So, it proves as Yola is currently suffering with Bronchitis. Her voice is soft and raspy at the start of the show especially at the low end and there is an obvious restraint certainly to begin with.

  Yola has a really interesting back story full of anguish, depression and fire and if you want to know more listen to a great podcast from Chris Shifflett with her. She regales the story of her catching fire and its as probably at this point with ‘Walk through Fire’ the title track of her ‘debut’ album that the shackles start to be loosened on that powerful voice.

  The set is largely the same set as when I saw her in May at the 100 Club with the majority if not all the album being played along with some selected covers including an excellent upbeat version of the Birds of Chicago track ‘Never Go Back’.

  I have tried really hard to like the album, but I find it a little safe and over produced and certainly doesn’t reach the heights of Yola’s previous band Phantom Limb’s ‘The Pines’. What sets Yola apart though is that voice, it’s such a strong unique instrument and it needs to be in tip top shape to take the listener to the next level. There were moments of this tonight, but it was like a well-oiled engine tonight with one cylinder occasionally misfiring.

  It may sound harsh but when Yola herself sets the bar so high being slightly off makes a huge difference. A pleasant enough show with some great moments but it will not live long in the memory.

  Till the next time keep on country soul rockin y’all.

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  by garyw66

• Monday 19th December. The Borderline. Yola Carter. In one of the last gigs at The Borderline before its refurb in the new year it’s the fabulous Yola Carter once of Phantom Limb now solo cutting a new path in the country soul scene. Hitting a lot of the ‘one to watch’ lists for 2017 we jump on board at the first stop.

  It’s refreshing to see the artist hit the stage at the allotted time and despite her nursing a cold we are overwhelmed by the force of that voice from song one. Self-medicating on water and beer, if she’s not at 100% it’s not showing tonight.

  She hops, skips and jumps through her only recorded release to date the EP ‘Orphan Offering’ joined on stage variously by her backing band and guest vocalists Danni Nichols and Emily Barker. Highlights for me are the excellent ‘Fly Away’ and the new song about her mother’s death ‘Free to Roam’.

  After the usual charade of leaving the stage before the encore, Carter reappears with the excellent Emily Barker for a great version of the Band’s ‘The Weight’.  I am not familiar with Barker but her higher range perfectly complements Carter and I would have welcomed a lot more of them together.

  It’s a small but enthusiastic crowd and I’m sure that once the word gets out the crowd and the venues will get bigger. Carter is such a talent and her voice in the lower range grabs you from your toes and envelopes your whole body as she goes through her vocal gears. If this is what it is like with a cold then stand well back when she unleashes the full force of that voice when fully fit.

  It’s been a hellava ride this year with this being my 52nd gig (many thanks to the most understanding wife in the world) and considering what has happened in the world in the past twelve months it’s a fine way to send off 2016. This year has only cemented my passion for live music and 2017 is already shaping up nicely.

  One final word for The Borderline and its makeover. Don't change too much, lose the velvet curtain so we can see the iconic sign on the wall again and please, please make the men’s toilets bigger and drier!

  Keep on rocking into 2017 y’all.

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  by garyw66

• Wednesday 29th May, 100 Club, London, Yola Carter.

  Ms Carter has reinvented herself recently dropping the Carter with a newly produced album by Dan Auerbach. It’s a highly polished affair and obviously designed to break the American market. It’s a little over produced for me and a lot of the songs just wash over you and I think that this works against Yola’s stunning vocal talent. It’s a unique voice evoking ‘in Memphis’ era Dusty along with a bite or two from other greats of soul and country. I can’t put my finger on it, whether this is the quality of songs or the shift to a more soulful approach but it doesn’t move me. I do think that the slight move away from the country tinge of her EP has taken a little of her character out of the music.

  The same criticism is true for tonight. Backed by a tidy six piece backing band it all feels very safe. The set tonight airbrushes nearly everything that she has done before save one track from her EP or previous band Phantom Limb. Whilst the opening forty minutes was pleasing enough it wasn’t really until ‘It Aint Easier’ that she really lets loose and that amazing voice sends shudders through the room. This is quickly followed by a great cover of Birds of Chicago’s ‘Never Go Back’ and the album’s standout track ‘Faraway Look’. The momentum carries through to the encore of ‘Spanish Harlem’, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ and ‘The Letter’.

  So, like the football last night it was a game of two halves with an uninspiring 45 minutes of nice enough music followed by an immaculate display from a unique talent to win the day.

  Till the next time keep on rockin y’all

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  by garyw66