Music Blogs

Often, it’s difficult to guage the quality of a gig when you’ve not heard an artist beforehand. Are they performing at their best? Is the show representative of their style? Is the show essentially a canned presentation of their studio work? Obviously, this is alleviated to some degree by sites like last.fm, but there’s only so far that they can go.

With all of that in mind, I came out of Julian Velard’s gig at the Soho Revue Bar hoping that all three of the relatively new acts that played—Julian Velard, Vagabond, and Steve Appleton—could maintain or better their performances in the future. This is not to say that I was disappointed—far from it—I was impressed with all three, and only hope that they all have the chance to go on to bigger, better things.

First up, Steve Appleton is a singer-songwriter offering bright, summery songs delivered with charm and a smile. Following Steve were Vagabond, a band whose front-man, Alex, apepars to have more than enough energy and stage presence to fill a venue far, far larger than the Soho Revue Bar.

That brings us to Julian Velard. Julian’s set was very low-key: it was hard to focus on anything beside the passion flowing into the keyboard and through his lyrics. This didn’t stop him, however, joking with the audience and showing off the sense of fun apparent in his music.

Gigs like this really remind me why I love the music scene in the UK: it’s so easy to discover new music right on your doorstep whether home-grown, like Steve Appleton and Vagabond, or from further afield, like Julian Velard.

See more photos from Julian Velard’s show at Soho Review Bar