Jess & the Bandits

5th May 2016, Talking Heads, Southampton

By Helen Pocock

Venue

Once again I ventured to a new venue, mind you, this would be a new venue for most people as it has recently re-located from Portswood in Southampton to the Polygon which is central Southampton. It is a good venue, there is a seating area on the right as you walk in & the bar is to the left. The stage surprisingly is right smack bang in front! There is an area beside the left of the stage which made a very good merchandise / Meet & Greet area. It is a good little venue (260 maximum capacity) and very conveniently situated, there is a multi story car park 5 minutes walk, or the train station is about 10 minute walk.

Support act

We were treated to not one but 2 support acts. First up was Darren Hodson from Southern Companion. Confession time! I have their CD – 1000 Days of Rain, but until the day of the concert I had not played it, just hadn’t got round to it. 2 plays later & I love it.

Having listened to the album a few times I was looking forward to seeing Southern Companion. It was only Darren though, apparently the rest of the band were busy & as Darren said himself on stage “P*** poor companions”!!

Darren started with 2 tracks from the album – The Leaving Kind and Feels Like Years. He was then (in my opinion) terribly brave and sang Chris Stapleton’s Whiskey & You. Now the last time I heard this was when Chris sang it at C2C & not far off got a standing ovation even though it was in the middle of his set, he got a reaction most artists dream of getting at the end of their set, not in the middle of it. The reaction brought tears to Chris’ eyes! This is why I thought Darren brave. He did however do justice to the track & he sang it really well. Another couple of tracks from the album followed, including Crash, which Darren said he would like to release as a single if he only knew how! Towards the end of Crash, the Bandits, who were in the audience watching decided either Darren needed a hand or the song needed a little bit extra & from the curtain that was the entrance on to the back of the stage, they all sang an alternative line! Darren wasn’t expecting this (& neither were the audience obviously) and he had trouble containing his laughter & finishing the song. Now this wasn’t very professional, but highly entertaining & reason number 465 why I love live music!!

A cover of Jason Isbel Cover Me Up finished Darren’s set. Another confession – I had to Google who had sung this song as I didn’t know who had sung the original!

I thoroughly enjoyed Darren’s set. He has a wonderful voice and chatting to him before his set, he was a very warm & a genuine guy. I will be looking out for Southern Companion and will defiantly be going to a full line up gig, as they are reasonably local to me, there is a fair to middling chance this will be soon!!

Luke & Mel were next up. Luke started by saying they was from up north – as if his accent didn’t give him away! He asked us all to come closer to the stage as we were all stood around respectfully around the edge. A request I very happily complied with!

A cover of the Stella’s Gravy opened their set. They sang a couple of tracks and then sang their BCMA award winning song Something About a Woman. After this track Mel put her guitar down and sang without playing, she has a very pure voice which somehow comes across even more when she isn’t playing her guitar. Meanwhile, Luke’s guitar playing is wonderful. These 2 compliment each other so well.

One of the tracks they sang was Misery, which as Luke explained was a track he started to write one evening when Mel had gone to visit her mum & had taken the dog with her, one kind of gets the impression they had had a fight!! They also sang Bad Habit, which is their latest single which only came out the week before the gig, I am sure I wasn’t the only one singing along though! Enjoy the Ride finished their set.

I really like Luke & Mel, they are lovely people and have a confident stage presence. Luke does like to chat between numbers, they ran over time slightly, which Luke said was probably due to him nattering on too much & he earnt more than one eye roll from Mel, but I like it when they tell you a little bit about the tracks & how they wrote them. You get an insight into the real person & their personality. The other thing is Mel wears KILLER heels on stage, how she even stands up in them, let alone walks confidently & then performs in them is beyond me!

Main Act

And then it was the turn of the main act. It is no secret that I love Jess, I adore her! I think she is absolutely beautiful, she has a wonderful voice and she has fantastic stage presence. To be seeing them in a small venue like this was a real treat for me & to get any closer I would have had to have been the mike stand!! I was certainly close enough for Jess to clock my boots & mouth ‘Nice boots’ to me! Yes, I was wearing the same boots that Angaleena Presley admired!

Jess and the Bandits are fairly unique in that they are neither a UK act or a US act, as Jess originally hails from Texas, whereas the Bandits are all British. Originally both Jess and the Bandits performed separately, but on tour as support acts for the Overtones they became good friends and when Jess was asked to tour with Boyzone she needed a backing band. She turned immediately to the Bandits and they haven’t looked back.

I have seen Jess and the Bandits before, but this was my 1st time at their own gig. There appeared to be an extra Bandit tonight, normally there are 4 of them, but tonight they also had an extra chap who was playing a steel guitar for the most part, I presume this was Matt Park who does perform with them.

We Are Tonight and Trouble kicked us off. Jess had an electric fan placed just slightly to her right, the breeze from it often caught her hair, causing it to fan out, not quite Kate Bush style, but it was very effective.

Another couple of numbers and Jess asked if anyone knew of Lee Brice. I gave an almighty cheer, to which Jess responded “How did I know you would little Miss Cowboy Boots!” She and Stephen then did a duet of I Don’t Dance. I love the original of this song and they really did do it justice, it was beautiful.

Nitty Gritty followed, which was written by Jess to coincide with her being appointed as ambassador to Evans and their campaign #STYLEHASNOSIZE.

After 2 more numbers Jess introduced a new song, Here’s To Us. She explained she wrote this song in Nashville, it came about when she was feeling guilty about how good life was when they were so many other people suffering. The theme is to live for today and to not feel guilty, a sentiment I heartily agree with!

After this track Jess asked Darren back on stage and together they sang If You Can’t be Mine. My partner, Peter, thought this was the highlight of the whole show, he thought the two voices complimented each other perfectly. High praise indeed from Peter as he is actually very hard to impress!

The next 5 tracks included 2 covers, Glen Campbell’s Witchita Lineman, which Jess dedicated to the late Terry Wogan as they had originally sung it for him and he had absolutely loved it and Dixie Chicks Some Days You Gotta Dance.

Ready Set and Single Tonight finished the show.

It was such a treat for me to be seeing one of my favourite country bands (including US acts!!) so close to home. The crowd were receptive and respectful, I heard very little background chat & my friends who were sat in the sitting area said they didn’t really hear any either, this is no mean feat when the bar so close to the stage.

Jess & the Bandits have recently released a Deluxe version of their album Here We Go Again. When you buy it (!!) look out for my photo on the fans page of the cover, I am in the centre, 4 rows down & directly above where “JATB x” is!!

Jess & the Bandits

5th May 2016, Talking Heads, Southampton

Venue

Once again I ventured to a new venue, mind you, this would be a new venue for most people as it has recently re-located from Portswood in Southampton to the Polygon which is central Southampton. It is a good venue, there is a seating area on the right as you walk in & the bar is to the left. The stage surprisingly is right smack bang in front! There is an area beside the left of the stage which made a very good merchandise / Meet & Greet area. It is a good little venue (260 maximum capacity) and very conveniently situated, there is a multi story car park 5 minutes walk, or the train station is about 10 minute walk.

Support act

We were treated to not one but 2 support acts. First up was Darren Hodson from Southern Companion. Confession time! I have their CD – 1000 Days of Rain, but until the day of the concert I had not played it, just hadn’t got round to it. 2 plays later & I love it.

Having listened to the album a few times I was looking forward to seeing Southern Companion. It was only Darren though, apparently the rest of the band were busy & as Darren said himself on stage “P*** poor companions”!!

Darren started with 2 tracks from the album – The Leaving Kind and Feels Like Years. He was then (in my opinion) terribly brave and sang Chris Stapleton’s Whiskey & You. Now the last time I heard this was when Chris sang it at C2C & not far off got a standing ovation even though it was in the middle of his set, he got a reaction most artists dream of getting at the end of their set, not in the middle of it. The reaction brought tears to Chris’ eyes! This is why I thought Darren brave. He did however do justice to the track & he sang it really well. Another couple of tracks from the album followed, including Crash, which Darren said he would like to release as a single if he only knew how! Towards the end of Crash, the Bandits, who were in the audience watching decided either Darren needed a hand or the song needed a little bit extra & from the curtain that was the entrance on to the back of the stage, they all sang an alternative line! Darren wasn’t expecting this (& neither were the audience obviously) and he had trouble containing his laughter & finishing the song. Now this wasn’t very professional, but highly entertaining & reason number 465 why I love live music!!

A cover of Jason Isbel Cover Me Up finished Darren’s set. Another confession – I had to Google who had sung this song as I didn’t know who had sung the original!

I thoroughly enjoyed Darren’s set. He has a wonderful voice and chatting to him before his set, he was a very warm & a genuine guy. I will be looking out for Southern Companion and will defiantly be going to a full line up gig, as they are reasonably local to me, there is a fair to middling chance this will be soon!!

Luke & Mel were next up. Luke started by saying they was from up north – as if his accent didn’t give him away! He asked us all to come closer to the stage as we were all stood around respectfully around the edge. A request I very happily complied with!

A cover of the Stella’s Gravy opened their set. They sang a couple of tracks and then sang their BCMA award winning song Something About a Woman. After this track Mel put her guitar down and sang without playing, she has a very pure voice which somehow comes across even more when she isn’t playing her guitar. Meanwhile, Luke’s guitar playing is wonderful. These 2 compliment each other so well.

One of the tracks they sang was Misery, which as Luke explained was a track he started to write one evening when Mel had gone to visit her mum & had taken the dog with her, one kind of gets the impression they had had a fight!! They also sang Bad Habit, which is their latest single which only came out the week before the gig, I am sure I wasn’t the only one singing along though! Enjoy the Ride finished their set.

I really like Luke & Mel, they are lovely people and have a confident stage presence. Luke does like to chat between numbers, they ran over time slightly, which Luke said was probably due to him nattering on too much & he earnt more than one eye roll from Mel, but I like it when they tell you a little bit about the tracks & how they wrote them. You get an insight into the real person & their personality. The other thing is Mel wears KILLER heels on stage, how she even stands up in them, let alone walks confidently & then performs in them is beyond me!

Main Act

And then it was the turn of the main act. It is no secret that I love Jess, I adore her! I think she is absolutely beautiful, she has a wonderful voice and she has fantastic stage presence. To be seeing them in a small venue like this was a real treat for me & to get any closer I would have had to have been the mike stand!! I was certainly close enough for Jess to clock my boots & mouth ‘Nice boots’ to me! Yes, I was wearing the same boots that Angaleena Presley admired!

Jess and the Bandits are fairly unique in that they are neither a UK act or a US act, as Jess originally hails from Texas, whereas the Bandits are all British. Originally both Jess and the Bandits performed separately, but on tour as support acts for the Overtones they became good friends and when Jess was asked to tour with Boyzone she needed a backing band. She turned immediately to the Bandits and they haven’t looked back.

I have seen Jess and the Bandits before, but this was my 1st time at their own gig. There appeared to be an extra Bandit tonight, normally there are 4 of them, but tonight they also had an extra chap who was playing a steel guitar for the most part, I presume this was Matt Park who does perform with them.

We Are Tonight and Trouble kicked us off. Jess had an electric fan placed just slightly to her right, the breeze from it often caught her hair, causing it to fan out, not quite Kate Bush style, but it was very effective.

Another couple of numbers and Jess asked if anyone knew of Lee Brice. I gave an almighty cheer, to which Jess responded “How did I know you would little Miss Cowboy Boots!” She and Stephen then did a duet of I Don’t Dance. I love the original of this song and they really did do it justice, it was beautiful.

Nitty Gritty followed, which was written by Jess to coincide with her being appointed as ambassador to Evans and their campaign #STYLEHASNOSIZE.

After 2 more numbers Jess introduced a new song, Here’s To Us. She explained she wrote this song in Nashville, it came about when she was feeling guilty about how good life was when they were so many other people suffering. The theme is to live for today and to not feel guilty, a sentiment I heartily agree with!

After this track Jess asked Darren back on stage and together they sang If You Can’t be Mine. My partner, Peter, thought this was the highlight of the whole show, he thought the two voices complimented each other perfectly. High praise indeed from Peter as he is actually very hard to impress!

The next 5 tracks included 2 covers, Glen Campbell’s Witchita Lineman, which Jess dedicated to the late Terry Wogan as they had originally sung it for him and he had absolutely loved it and Dixie Chicks Some Days You Gotta Dance.

Ready Set and Single Tonight finished the show.

It was such a treat for me to be seeing one of my favourite country bands (including US acts!!) so close to home. The crowd were receptive and respectful, I heard very little background chat & my friends who were sat in the sitting area said they didn’t really hear any either, this is no mean feat when the bar so close to the stage.

Jess & the Bandits have recently released a Deluxe version of their album Here We Go Again. When you buy it (!!) look out for my photo on the fans page of the cover, I am in the centre, 4 rows down & directly above where “JATB x” is!!