Monday 3 August 2015

Live in 2015: Balsamo/Deighton live at The Chattery, Swansea on Saturday 25th July 2015

 
I was back at my favourite venue - The Chattery in Swansea - to see local boy Steve Balsamo and his musical partner, Rosalie Deighton play the second date at the intimate Swansea venue.
 
Steve & Rosalie have just completed their debut album through a successful PledgeMusic campaign
 
 
and have signed with an as yet to be announced German label to release the record - so it all good news for tonight's performance.
It is very much a hometown gig for Steve and the band (except Rosalie) and there were plenty of the bands friends & family there to support.
 
But first up we had another local boy, Karl Morgan from the band Who's Molly playing some acoustic versions of songs from the band's forthcoming album. And I must say, I was well impressed both by the songs and Karl's on-stage persona. The songs were melodic and Karl's delivery was excellent. With songs as good as these it bodes well for the forthcoming album.
 




After Karl's performance we welcomed Steve and Rosalie to the stage, with ex-The Storys partner Andy Collins on Bass, Christian Phillips on Guitar/Keyboards & Pete Thomas on Keyboards.


 
Tonight was a chance for the band to play some of the new songs destined to appear on the new album - called Unfolding - due for release in October. There were also a few surprises thrown in for good measure.
 
Below, there is a short video about the new album
 


The band opened proceedings with the exquisite Ghost Of You And Me. The songs are very much in the Americana & Singer/Songwriter stable and the harmonies are impeccable throughout tonight's performance.
Two further tracks, Blue and These Four Walls follow before we have the first surprise of the evening as Andy Collins takes to the Mic to perform one of his own songs, Pretty.


 


We then have three more tunes by Balsamo/Deighton. The first a Jazz tinged song sung by Rosalie, which was very good indeed and then two new songs called I believe, Ride It & I Want To Sleep With You.
It was good to see Steve & Rosalie almost alternate lead vocals on the songs tonight as it gives both a chance to highlight their individual vocal skills - very much in the same way that other superb Welsh duo, Zervas & Pepper, do so well.
 

 
Christian Phillips then gets his chance to shine as he performs his first song of the evening called Circle.
Steve & Andy and later Rosalie, were in Welsh band The Storys, who released a few albums.
 
 
And next up Andy Collins took lead vocals again to perform The Storys song Nobody Loves You to great applause from the Swansea audience, who are obviously aware of the song.
 
 
This song brings the first half of tonight's performance to a close.
 
The band come back to the stage with a trio of new songs,
Light In The Dark, Run Back To Your Life & The Dream Song.
 
Steve had stated earlier that the band had recorded over 30 songs for the album so WE don't know what songs are going to appear on the album yet - but every song the band played tonight was worthy of a place on that album, so it should be an absolute corker.


 
It was then Christian Phillips turn to take to the microphone again to perform another of his songs , Only For The Night.
 
We then come to the final song of tonight's set - Rosalie's If I Had A Gun.
 
The encore is a performance of the title track from the forthcoming album, Unfolding.
 
It was an excellent performance by a band now with a few studio miles under their belt and tonight was an indication of just how good the new album is going to be.
 
 


Two songs which will not appear on the album but are worthy of a mention are

the gorgeous Shawn Colvin track, I Don't Know Why (you MUST watch the video)

 
and their gorgeous cover of Jackson Browne's Sky Blue & Black, which was released to benefit the Harry's Fund Charity.
 
 
 
 
 

Twitter - @balsamodeighton

@stevebalsamo

@rosaliedeighton

@whosmolly

@karlmorganmusic
 
@Fillips74
 
@andycollinsbass
 
@PeteThomasSound






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