GIGS February WolvesShropsStaffs.qxp_Layout 1 19/01/2022 11:25 Page 2
Gigs
Live music from across the region...
The Clause The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent, Wed 23 February
Brummie four-piece The Clause bring together the swagger of the ’60s, the rolling groove of the ’80s and the riotous verve and attitude of the ’90s. Last year saw them support Pigeon Detectives, Slow Readers Club, DMAs and The Snuts, while their last three singles have garnered an impressive 2.5 million streams. With singalong choruses that are destined for stadiums, they visit the Potteries as part of their solo 2022 tour, ahead of a new album release in the spring.
Seth Lakeman A popular figure on the folk scene and beyond, singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Seth Lakeman is visiting Wolverhampton this month in support of his new album, Make Your Mark. Written during lockdown, the album
features 14 powerful songs, including the BBC Radio Two playlisted single, Higher We Aspire. Pandemic aside, 2021 was a busy year for Seth, having also celebrated the 15th anniversary of his gold-selling Freedom Fields album, for which he released a deluxe reissue on CD and Vinyl. Support on the night comes from fellow folk singer Benji Kirkpatrick.
Sea Power
Kyla Brox
Simone Felice
Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, Thurs 24 February
Lichfield Guildhall, Sat 12 February
Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury, Fri 25 February
Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton, Wed 9 February
BAFTA-winning and Mercury-nominated Sea Power - formerly known as British Sea Power, of course - are widely admired for the intensity and invention of their live shows. Describing their sound as “amplified high church rock music”, they remain a bold, galvanising, idiosyncratic force. The band are visiting the Midlands in support of new album Everything Was Forever, which is set to be released on the 11th of this month.
Mancunian vocalist Kyla Brox’s raw talent and “tender, urgent, gritty’’ sound has seen her described as ‘the finest female blues singer of her generation’. The winner of the 2018 and ’19 UK Blues Challenge, she was also named best female vocalist at the 2019 European Blues Awards. Kyla is the daughter of cult blues figure Victor Brox, in whose band she began her career while still a teenager.
King King
Simone Felice’s path through life has been far from smooth. As a young boy he suffered a brain aneurysm which saw him pronounced clinically dead for several minutes. Then, as an adult, the loss of his child in a late-term miscarriage was swiftly followed by emergency surgery which saw him fitted with a mechanical heart... Little wonder, then, that his songs display such maturity and depth. He visits the Midlands this month with his All The Bright Coins tour.
Birmingham Town Hall, Tues 22 February
King King’s five studio albums have seen the band establish themselves as major movers and shakers on the UK blues rock scene. Boasting a live show replete with soul and swagger, the boys are led by charismatic man-in-a-kilt Alan Nimmo, whose brother Stevie joined the line-up just in time to contribute to King King’s most recent album, Maverick. whatsonlive.co.uk 17
