Jeannine Barry Live at Boisdale

On Thursday evening I headed along to Boisdale restaurant in London, to see Jeannine Barry perform live. The venue is in Canary Wharf in London, and heading out of the lift and into the restaurant, you could tell it was going to be a classy affair. Having given my name at the door, I entered into the huge, swanky restaurant – this was certainly not going to be your usual UK country gig. The tables nearest the stage were filled with diners, while the pockets of country fans were nearer the back of the venue.

At around 9pm Jeannine took to the stage, looking amazing in a little black number, the perfect look for the setting! The London based singer started with ‘Off the Hook’ the title track from the EP that put Jeannine on my radar. With another C2C festival under her belt in the last few weeks, Jeannine seems to have an extra confidence in her performance and did a fantastic job in the slightly unusual setting.

‘Carousel’ from the same EP came next (one of my favourite tracks from the artist) before the heartfelt ‘Burning Bridges’ slowed things down a little. While most of the set was original material, Jeannine threw in two great covers. The first of these was Logan Brill’s ‘World Still Round’ – a great track (check it out if you haven’t heard it) and Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’, which was a great choice for audience at the gig.

The high energy ‘Undeniable’ was just fantastic, as was the upbeat ‘Long Hot Summer’, which had us all hoping the never-ending winter and the early wet spring will finally be coming to an end. ‘Bittersweet’ is always going to be a highlight whenever Jeannine plays, while the set ended on a real high with Jeannine’s impressive new single ‘Sweet Spot’. If this is an indicator of music to come, we have a lot to look forward to.

The venue was an unusual one and it didn’t feel like your usual UK country gig, but the quality of the artist on stage made it a great night. The country fans at the back of the room made the most noise!

A special shout to Morganway, who appeared after Jeannine. I only managed to see the start of their set before train times dictated an early exit, but I saw enough to know that we’ll certainly be featuring them soon.

Review written by Nick Cantwell (twitter.com/nickbelles_gals)

Pictures courtesy of Lesley Hastings (twitter.com/lesleyhastings)