It had been a while since Shelby Lynne had last stood in stage in London - a fact she alluded to on a number of occasions during the evening's proceedings. When she was last here in 2001, she played Shepherd's Bush and was touring in support of the (now classic) I am Shelby Lynne album. I seem to recall standing next to David Hepworth and Mark Ellen for a while (or was that at Lucinda Williams?). Anyway, the gig remains one of the best I've ever seen. She just blew me away that night.
All these years on, could she do the same?? Not quite, but you know what, she gave it a good go.
The set was a near perfect blend of songs pulled mostly from I Am Shelby Lynne, and her new album of covers of songs made known by Dusty Springfield, with a few others from Love Shelby etc thrown if for good measure.
It was safe to say that from the moment the band launched into opening track 'Life is Bad' (a Sheryl Crow-esq country rocker from I am Shelby Lynne) the audience knew that this was going to be good. Like sister Alison, Lynne's strength is the fact that she has a tremendous voice, that works as well on tracks like this as it does on her stripped down versions of Dusty songs. Of these 'Just a Little Lovin', 'I Only Want To Be With You' (in which she fails to get us to sing along) and 'Breakfast in Bed' were certainly highlights, as were 'Jesus on a Greyhound', 'Gotta Get Back', and one of my all-time favourite live songs, 'Your Lies'.
I was slightly disappointed that 'Black Light Blue' was missing from the set, but then again, you can't please everyone.
Lynne was accompanied by a four-piece band, including - if I am not mistaken - a guy on guitar who I saw with Lucinda a few years back.
Lynne had me and the rest of the audience (mostly 40-60 age bracket - hello young people, where were you?) in the palm of her hand. Let's hope it is not another 7-8 yrs before Lynne re-appears on our shores ( Next Febs dates have already been cancelled).
Clip from Chicago gig
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