Page 48 - Black Velvet Issue 95

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YYYYY Excellent YYYY Very Good YYY Good
YY Listenable, Just Y Poor

JARET REDDICK / THE LOUNGE KITTENS – WOLVERHAMPTON SLADE ROOMS, 18.09.17

It’s quite nice when a concert is not just
your average concert. To go beyond the songs
and find out more about the person singing
and playing them makes for a much more per-
sonal and intimate experience. While Jaret
Reddick is most often seen on stage in Bowl-
ing For Soup, performing bouncy, fun, pop-
punk songs with amusing bandmate banter,
this ‘Heartache And Hilarity’ tour sees some-
thing much deeper.
But first, The Lounge Kittens, and a little
less of the depth for the time being. These
three girls are comical and talented at the
same time. We’ve never been much of a fan of
cover bands, but Timia Gwendoline, Zan
Lawther and Jenny Deacon take their covers
to the next level. You can tell they’ve worked
hard to piece medleys together so they fit
seamlessly, and they cater their songs to the
audience in hand, tonight beginning with a
pop-punk medley which features snippets of
songs from artists such as The All-American
Rejects, Good Charlotte, Panic! At The Disco,
Blink-182, Sum 41 and even Bowling For
Soup. They give the covers their own Lounge
Kittens harmonious, cabaret-style stamp and
add humour to their set to make the whole
Lounge Kittens experience very entertaining.
If you’re not singing and laughing along with
them by the end of the set there’s something
wrong with you.
‘I’m just trying to be real, real, real’, Jaret
Reddick sings in ‘Real’, and, sat on a stool with
an acoustic guitar and no barrier separating
the audience, tonight he really is. And it’s when
Bowling For Soup’s songs are stripped down
that you realize how honest and heartfelt they
are. Between songs, Jaret explains how the
songs came about – often in a hilarious fash-
ion. Some are sad songs with even sadder sto-
ries behind them though – such as ‘Goodbye
Friend’, which was about Jaret firing his best
friend, who, two weeks after a phone call, died
of a drug overdose. It becomes very apparent
how appropriate the tour title of ‘Heartache And
Hilarity’ is – with heartbreaking tales as well as
amusing quips. We get approximately 15
songs in total with a story in between every
one. Sometimes Jaret sidetracks, sometimes
an audience member butts in, and every time
it’s very interesting. He talks about how ‘The
Bitch Song’ was written about two different
girls, and about falling asleep in the Nick-
elodeon studios before writing ‘Phineas & Ferb’
for Disney. He tells us he’s just discovered
Wetherspoons for the first time ever, learns
from the audience that a Mimosa is also called
a Bucks Fizz, and also talks about his weight.
The evening is very revealing, interesting and
different. It makes a great change from just
seeing a band or solo artist getting up on
stage, performing songs and then leaving. We
find out a lot more about Jaret than we knew
before, and leave with a new respect for the
hard-working singer/songwriter. More musi-
cians should do shows like this. It’s something
that stands out and that you’ll remember for a
long time to come.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet
Jaret Reddick Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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