LIVE REVIEW: FLORENCE SOMMERVILLE - THE LOFT, B'HIVE CAFE & BAR - HIGH WYCOMBE

Always a pleasure to go to a new local venue, and The Loft at the B'Hive Cafe & Bar looks set to become a firm favourite. As it is in a loft, the ceilings are high, the stage low, wide if not exactly deep but ideal for tonight's performance. The walls have musical notation stencilled on them while a picture of David Bowie with his fingers to his lips in a "Shh" position subliminally keeps everyone in order. A nice array of tables and chairs, where food and drink is brought to you, and AC to keep your cool on a somewhat balmy night. This venue ticks all the boxes for providing a great evening out.

#TEAMw21 are here to see Florence Sommerville live for the first time in a while, in fact we've seen her more off stage at other peoples gigs. With no support we are to get a double dose of Florence, now back from her most recent trip to Nashville armed with a large collection of co-writes some of which we will get to hear tonight.

Starting with a batch of songs from her debut album, it was immediately apparent that they were similar, yet different, as if a year of playing them has allowed Florence to find the definitive versions of each song. The opening song "Broken Pieces" felt fractionally slower, more measured and suited Florence perfectly who was both on top singing form and enjoying the sound that the room had to offer.

This seemed to be a crowd mainly meeting Florence for the first time and it is safe to say that they liked what they saw. The autobiographic "Fearless" sounded bolder and more strident as Florence reeled off her list of life learning mishaps. This was a room so quiet between songs that you could hear the stage creak if Florence moved in the slightest.

The song that gives the album "Endless Horizon" its name, "California", equally sounded majestic and assured. A quick cover in the shape Guns & Roses "Sweet Child Of Mine" did elicit an audience sing along however its place in Florence's set is surely under threat with so much new material to impart, especially as its ability to shock and surprise is lessened by a year of playing and its inclusion on the CD version of the album. One of the new Nashville songs made its debut with "If Water Liked Wine", it came with lots of lyrically powerful lines although on the night the meaning of the title did somewhat elude us. Keeping the water theme going, Florence laid her saddest song on us in "Forget the Water", the calm picking of the guitar against the purity of the vocal was a definite highlight of the evening.

Touching a raw nerve by adding in a topical, if ill timed cover, of Rascal Flatts' "Life Is A Highway" which has been the theme to ITV's World Cup coverage, though Florence's introduction came via the film soundtrack to "Cars". The first half would close with the mood of "Molasses" followed by the promising unrecorded "Just For Once".

One of the gigs in town we met Florence at was Cam at Koko, and the second half of the evening would start with a cover of "Diane", the opening, a fog horn attention grabbing announcement of a first line to alert everyone that Part 2 had commenced, as Florence protested her innocence before dropping into a quiet first verse, only to then rev up and let the breaks off for the runaway romp of the rest of the tune.

It was then back to the debut for a run of songs from the album "I'll Be Your Best Broken Heart", definitely always sounds better with a band. For "Overton" we've always heard the spirit of Nanci Griffith storytelling shining through, this version felt a little faster and louder, still an excellent version in its own way however maybe a little of the magic that made you believe each line was lost in the ether.

It was soon back to the stellar versions of the originals, "Silly Little Things", was definitely presented in its best solo incarnation, "Boots In The Rain" similarly showed its best format, always threatening to wander off into Bacharach/Gallagher territory yet remaining staunchly Sommerville! A George Ezra cover "Blame It On Me" also got a very warm reception.

Another new Nashville song getting its premier outing, was "Another Bump In The Road", which on first listen sounded extremely strong, complete with key change this already seems ready for a band to record. Florence's hometown song "Out Where The Love Grows" was also on peak form, it could easily sound cutesy, this version though really connected with the audience, with an audible "Wow" being gasped by one impressed audience member. The final song of the album and tonight's main set is the definitive Florence song - "Cut and Run", which whether solo or with band never fails to deliver a knockout punch with its power chorus.

The encore on a most entertaining night, at a most wonderful venue was "Through The Embers", another unreleased song, really showing what a little trove of new material Florence is amassing. With some powerful extended notes this was another that we almost immediately wanted to hear again, the moment Florence had played the final note.

Florence Sommerville will be at Country Calling Aug 14-16th https://tickets.country-calling.com/events/country-calling-2026/