One of the more pleasant surprises of 2022 was the re-emergence of Lucy May - in the intervening time she had suffered from a severe bout of covid and had also been away from the UK scene earning a crust singing backing vocals with Michael Bolton. Her show at Pizza Express and a great new single last year showed that she still has much to offer the UK scene.
On the ICON stage today she would be supported by 2 guitarists including long time associate Gonzo, as well a drummer and bassist or at least that was the way it was supposed to be. As she opened with the title track of her second album "Little By Little" it became apparent that there was no sound coming from his instrument. The band carried on and any fears that Lucy might be drowned out by 2 electric guitars were groundless - she was in superb form. Obviously her sixties inspired sound would have benefitted from the extra oomph but nothing was going to get in the way of having a good time and all would be resolvde thankfully before the second song "Better Off Now"
With the sound fully restored Lucy could concentrate more on her performance moving to the front of stage at one point to engage wth the crowd. Sounding better than ever from Lucy's debut album "Whirlwind" was "Keep Your Hands Off My Man", a song of female sassiness that was maybe ahead of its time - with Lucy truly vocally acting the part of the feisty tigress that you would not want to mess with.
With Lucy's first album leaning more in an Americana direction and her second being more influnced by soul music - the perfect song would be a blend of both worlds and in last years single ""How Do I Carry On?" she found the perfect vehicle. The opening all Fleetwood Mac, the chorus classic soul and the band able to handle both with ease - it all made for a perfect combination which played out wonderfully today.
For her second album launch Lucy May had the luxury of having a couple of backing singers, for todays appearance it fell to the all male band to provide the soulful backing and it was a challenge they willingly rose to - it gave the extra lift to "Ain't About You" and Lucy looked completely in her element with her tambourine fronting this crisp soul sound.
The closing songs saw a return to the debut album "Don't Wake Me Up" with it's big dramatic intro, saw the band adopt a more rocky persona. Equally at home within this sound, Lucy was soon organising the onlooking crowd to start clapping along. It only left Lucy's signature tune "Whirlwind" to close out the set, the twin guitars allowing it to be played as an all out rocker - the way it was maybe always envisaged.
There is still much more to come from Lucy May if she can continue to crash her two musical worlds together and get the right sound balance - Who knows where it might lead?