Swansea & South Wales Live Music

The Bullfrogs played at the Mary Dilwyn in Fforestfach on Saturday 24 th November.  I arrived 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled 8:45 start time and was amazed to see the band had already arrived set up and waiting to go on. The venue was really busy when I arrived full with people finishing up their evening meals. The Bullfrogs were made up of three men of mature years, playing lead guitar/ lead vocals, bass guitarist/ backing vocals and a drummer.   After a very quick sound check, the Bullfrogs jumped into their first song and I was not impressed at all.  Having first checked the band's Facebook page, I was expecting a rock cover band who wanted to entertain the mixed audiences anticipated to be in a venue like the Mary Dilwyn with well-known covers, but instead, although reasonably talented musicians they seemed to be doing a gig with a playlist to please themselves and a lead singer who, unfortunately, nobody had told couldn't sing.     The ...

On Sunday evening I went again to see Swansea's very own Laura Jayne’s gig at Diablo's.   Laura is a regular performer at Diablo's and always puts on a great set. It was a particularly miserable day, with heavy showers constantly threatening to soak all who ventured out. So as a direct consequence of the inclement weather there appeared to be not so many regulars and a smaller audience than usual, as this venue is usually packed when Laura performs as part f the duo Dusty Road.  But, conversely, although not many standing, the tables were all taken as some intrepid diners, for Diablo’s exceptionally good Sunday lunch, may have avoided going out too soon, retained their seats and earned Laura more fans. Diablo's is one of Swansea's best venues for live entertainment, with a team of friendly staff, it isn't a surprise why it's one of my favourites.  Affected by the weather herself, Laura arrived, completed her set-up to start the gig on ti...

I went along to Pearls Coffee Shop on Walters Road to see Natalie Jones play a gig. After speaking with owners Mike and Lucy, I understood this was the first non-themed live music evening. So rather than booking live music for Valentines day,  St Patrick's day  or Beaujolais day, they wanted to make a start to what will be a regular live music Friday evenings.  Unfortunately, I arrived at 6pm for the published 7pm gig start time, but soon found out this wasn't the case after speaking with Natalie who was told it was an 8pm start time. Like anywhere trying to start a regular event it’s understandable for there to be a few hiccups. However, this wasn't a major issue as Natalie set up and got started in a matter of minutes. Natalie’s play list of regular cover songs was expanded with new material which had the enthusiastic audience singing along. Natalie was even kind enough to play a few of the requests I threw her way. A sample of songs she played o...

The Hyst on Swansea's High Street hosted a Swansea Fringe Festival event GRL PWR, featuring some of South Wales finest female vocalists as part of a celebration of the contribution women have made to the industry. The list of acts appearing that evening included;  Lorna Rees Edie Bens Aiden Keryn Emi Mcdade & Claire Edwards Eleri Angharad Natalie Jones Laura Benjamin The Hyst was set up as per usual for the occasion with a great sound system and technicians on hand to assist all the acts, as per usual. The stage was bathed in a pink lighting to emphasis the female focal point of the evening.   Lorna Rees Lorna Rees started the evening off by singing some of her original songs. I had never encountered this performer previously, so I was surprised not to see someone like Eleri Angharad or Natalie Jones open the show. However, I was blown away by just how good Lorna was. There were times during her set I almost thought I was listening to Nata...