Let’s lay our cards on the table, we have already identified “Dream Country” as a contender for the best album of 2017, and having seen her wow the UK last year, we were never going to miss Sarah’s return to C2C on the Big Entrance Stage. For C2C 2017 she was appearing with a backing band unlike her UK tour of last year with Jenn Bostic and Kyshona Armstrong.
The Big Entrance Stage set started with a trip back to the “Angels & Demons” record for “The Boy Never Stays”, Sarah as ever with the sparkling eye makeup and looking quite simply stunning and in fine voice, smiling as she recognised various members of the ever growing crowd. It was soon time to dip into “Dream Country”, as Sarah transported us back to the state of Wyoming for “Where Cowboys Ride”, the fact that the band were unable to recreate the delicate sounds of the record was instantly forgotten the moment Sarah started singing.
Never afraid to rock out, “Tell That Devil”, the song from the TV Series Nashville, suited the new band better. Sarah has always been able to incorporate a sense of humour into her records such as on “You Take Me All The Way”, and she unveiled a brand new song in that vein “More Issues Than Vogue” detailing all of her faults, it was an absolute hoot and was beautifully acted out. The biggest applause of the set were reserved for the song that could break a heart of stone, the song that captures your attention the moment the opening keyboard riff begins, “Halleys Comet”. Closing out with the gentle “Stargazer” it seemed that would have to suffice as our Sarah Darling fix until her UK tour starts later in the year.
In a strange turn of events, however the extreme heat in Club WM had caused us to take a few minutes outside to get some air when the notes of “Where Cowboys Ride” drifted towards us from the Town Square stage, and as if being called by a magical pied piper we found ourselves 40 seconds later transported and watching our second Sarah Darling set in front of a huge throng in the Town Square. Social media reports would suggest that alas we missed the wonder that is “Little Umbrellas” but we caught most of “Where Cowboys Ride” From there on in the set was identical with, another great reception for “More Issues Than Vogue” which will hopefully send her back to the recording studio soon. As the final notes of “Stargazer” once again trailed off, the reception was fantastic.
The Sarah Darling, Jenn Bostic, Michael Logen tour hits these shores soon, and it will be a must see event.