LIVE REVIEW: LUCY MAY, SHEA RAFFERTY, JEFF COHEN - WHIRLWIND 10 YEARS ON - THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB

It was actually 24th November 2014, that #TEAMw21 first came into the orbit of Miss Lucy May, as part of a 5 act show at 229 The Venue, along with Balsamo & Deighton, Red Sky July, Raintown and a full band finale from Frankie Davies. One of our abiding memories of the night was of the lady whose immaculately sprayed hairdo seemed to tower in the air and who had the most incredibly neat handwriting as she scribbled on our copy of the EP that would go on to become some of the songs on "Whirlwind" - Lucy May's debut album.

Tonight was to be a celebration of 10 Years of "Whirlwind" and its first appearance on vinyl however a combination of shockingly poor sound that a hapless engineer seemed unable to fix, combined with a boisterous crowd led to something of a car crash - made all the worse by it being filmed for posterity. Ironically the audience could hear the band best when they could not hear themselves and when they could hear themselves the audience were drowned in howling feedback. The Slaughtered Lamb moved away from doing live gigs some while ago and on the basis of tonight it's best they stay away.

Amazingly though there were still some bits to salvage from the evening which undoubtedly was not the 10 Year Celebration that everyone had imagined. Jeff Cohen said he had delayed his flight to attend this show and within seconds of taking to the stage he must have wished he was flying over the Atlantic, as he raced through his set of "1000 Hallelujah's", "Paw Patrol" and Princess Bride tunes. This was no Songwriters Round with a hushed and respectful audience who knew that he is really a Songwriter and raconteur rather than a performer, for him this set of minutes must have felt like hours.

Strangely the combative atmosphere seemed to bring the best out of the second guest of the night Shea Rafferty, the adversarial nature of the evening really fired him up to put on the best show #TEAMw21 have seen him do! Opening with "Running Wild" with it's strong guitar line and Springsteenish lyrics of cars and and a girl. Similarly "Blowing Smoke" from his upcoming album seemed more alive than ever, with Shea ever more fired up by the indifference of one half of the room. No amount of asking for something vaguely approaching quiet worked and so "Lend A Helping Hand", normally a more subdued considered song had to be performed at volume for the half of the room that were listening.

More from the new album came with "Nashville Life" which dutifully squeezed in as many Nashville references as it could "From the Cumberland River, to the Mother Church". It did paint a somewhat idealised version of the Nashville strip which is a hellhole of artists having to sell their souls playing covers that no-one really listens to, apart from that is seemed a song we imagine we'll be hearing a lot more of next year.

You have to give Shea some credit, his announcement of a singalong seemed wildly optimistic yet "That's What Friends Are For" with it's "Whoa ho" chorus temporarily drowned out the hubbub. Closing with "Living" with it's references to Springsteen & Petty it might have felt that the evening had been a total write off, yet far from it - Shea came out of it with his stock with us at its highest yet and he can bank that for when he plays at Country Calling 2026.

The newly revamped Slaughtered Lamb seemed to mainly consist of having moved the bar and removed the stools, tonight it was dressed in fairy lights and a large inflatable one and zero reminding us of the 10 year anniversary. The early signs had not been good, the soundcheck had hopelessly overrun and an early attempt to create an ambience with a couple of videos somewhat fell flat as the sound would not play properly. Had things gone to plan we would have clearly heard the late Sir Terry Wogan giving "Paper Heart" its first ever play, and we'd have been reminded of various promo videos from the time, of Lucy around New York. The second video played better and we got a glowing testimonial from Baylen Leonard waxing lyrical about the album.

Leading up to the main event, it had to be noted that most of the band had their sheet music in front of them which was not reassuring, though as things progressed that would be the least of our problems. A bit like a boxer heading into the ring and taking off his robe, Lucy May would similarly at the last minute reveal her dress for the evening, all blue sparkles and tassles along with white sparkling white boots. Any thoughts that the audience might quieten a little for the main act they had come to see though were soon dispelled, and so we had a band that couldn't hear themselves and a still chatty audience.

Strangely some of this was not immediately apparent and as the band launched into "We Got It" with Lucy holding the mic in hand as the band provided a punchy pop sound with the keyboard player on prominent backing vocals. The band all dressed in black then moved on "Looking Out A Window" as Lucy sung while affecting a sort of walking stance - it all but powered along however the sound wheels were starting to come off the wagon. For "Paper Heart", Lucy was joined by Producer and co writer Greg Fitzgerald on backing vocals, making the crowded stage even more so.

The dramatic Who power chords with the piano high in the mix really brought this to life and Lucy reminded us that this song was playlisted by Radio 2.

Up until this point the difficulties on stage had not really made it offstage however come "Hooked On Your Love" there was piercing feedback at times and by the time we hit "Rosemary Lane", the rarely played tune for which the keyboard player had turned to providing violin Lucy May could clearly be seen mouthing "I can't hear anything".

Slightly deviating away from the "Whirlwind" tracklisting came a tribute to Lucy's parents with a soulful Gladys Knight cover of "Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". It's a vibe that is probably Lucy's more natural home and after much pleading got the room briefly to something approaching silence. Her parents danced at the front of stage for a while there were tears all round, leading at one point to Lucy having to sing facing the back of the stage. It was one of the more memorable moments for the right reasons.

Greg would return for "Dishonest Things" which gave off more of a rockier opening than we remembered before moving off in more of a Lady A direction. Heading into "What You Look At?" the piano was once again high giving it a lift. There was a special moment for "Hole In My Heart" where the simpler sound of just acoustic guitar, piano and vocals won out.

The final two tracks of the album "Don't Wake Me Up" and the eponymous "Whirlwind" sandwiched a country medley that probably should have been the celebratory encore but it was moved forward to lift the mood up after "Hole In My Heart".

It was not really the celebration that either we or Lucy May had in mind - maybe we chalk this one off as a bad experience and gather in a years time at a venue that is anywhere but The Slaughtered Lamb and celebrate 11 years of "Whirlwind" and give the record and Lucy May the evening both truly deserve.