Page 50 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 99

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TONIGHT ALIVE / JAMIE LENMAN / WOLF CULTURE – BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE, 12.11.18
Some concerts we love enough to give the band 5 out his set is top-level professional. He’s got the banter down
of 5, but tonight… Tonight Alive were not just a definite 5, to a tee (it’s so natural, we envy how he can just come out
but more like 10 out of 5. with wittiness without thinking), his stage presence is per-
Opening up on their November UK/EU tour is fection, and he has his own dress sense and style that is
Bournemouth-bred Wolf Culture. They don’t have much full of character. His songs, too, burst into life with
room on stage, but their set shows that they are emerging charisma. ‘All Of England Is A City’ is a funky, electro-sonic
UK hopefuls on their way up. Playing songs from their stomp, while his cover of Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The
debut EP, ‘The Devil’s Plans For Idle Hands’, the white- Dust’ makes perfect sense in the set. Like Queen, Jamie
topped four-piece have already worked hard on the art of Lenman is spectacular, and if there’s any justice in the
writing solid songs. There’s nothing to dislike about ‘Conti- world, Jamie will become as successful as they have.
nents’ or ‘The Side Effects Of Being Happy’, although Equally so are Tonight Alive. They’ve played sold out
‘Killing The High Horse’ and ‘Wreck’, the final two songs of shows, huge festivals and been signed to a major label, but
their set, stand out with their tuneful melodies. ‘I’m just a this tour have gone back to smaller rooms – and as soon
nervous wreck’, Max Dervan sings in the latter. Nervous or as the four-piece come on stage you know they deserve
not, these guys do well and are a nice start to the evening. more. Every speck of their set is magnificent. Jenna is the
It was forever ago since we first saw Reuben. They perfect frontwoman. Tonight, there’s something about her
opened for Billy Talent and we’ll never forget grabbing a that gives off an air of what the love child of Mick Jagger
photo of Jamie Lenman with a copy of Black Velvet after and Chrissie Hynde may appear like. Maybe it’s the blazer
the show. Now, he looks like a completely different person or the way she flashily moves around on stage, but she is
– and sounds it too. If this was your first time seeing Jamie, contagious to watch. And while drummer Matt Best is
you’d immediately notice his star quality. His years in the pounding away behind the kit, bassist and guitarist
music business have not gone to waste, as every ounce of Cameron Adler and Jake Hardy are much more in their own

world. Tonight Alive’s song catalogue sounds immaculate
live; Jenna’s vocals, as always, sound magical. Whether
it’s the love song ‘For You’, the tough-knuckled ‘divine fem-
inine liberation’ song, ‘Crack My Heart’, or the bouncier
‘Disappear’, every song is like stardust. “Ask yourself” says
Jenna before ‘What Are You So Scared Of?’ while the in-
spirational lyrics of ‘World Away’ emanate. After singing
the final couplet, ‘I know I will survive this, I’ll be the
strongest person I know,’ she adds “And you will”. ‘Waves’
and ‘Amelia’ are both packed with emotion and Jenna talks
from the heart to the crowd. It’s the realness and honesty
of Tonight Alive that you love as much as the music and
when the final notes of final song ‘Temple’ end, you feel
like you’ve been on a spiritual journey. Breathing life into
music, Tonight Alive really are heavenly.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet
Jenna McDougall (Tonight Alive) Photo By Shari Black Velvet
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