Originally written for NottinghamLive.
It's always interesting when new venues
pop up. There's always a curiosity and anticipation to how it will
all work out. How the venue will feel, how the music works there, how
much you're going to enjoy it... These are all questions that came to
mind as I walked into Nirvana, a new venue which resides where Tantra
used to be. But it's had a make over. It's modern and chic with the
purple décor and slick new refurbishments. It's relaxed, with an
ample seating area and a dance floor in front of the DJ booth and
performance stage. It's been open for a little while now, but this
was my first time after it's revamp, and I really like it. The
relaxed atmosphere of the venue is enhanced by the music, as before
the live music kicks off, there's ambient reggae/soul playing, which
is perfect. But before long, JOSH WHEATLEY makes his way to the
stage.
Josh is always a treat to hear, and he
opened proceedings perfectly with From The Wild, which was
beautiful and delivered with a humble confidence that makes Josh so
likeable. His songs almost feel fragranced, as the poignance spreads
through the room. He straddles confidence, charm and vulnerability
perfectly. His set is varied, with some livelier numbers such as his
Foster The People cover, which are welcomed amongst his sadder,
calmer numbers. He ends with Follow The Smoke, which is the
title off his recently released EP. It's a sweet and delicate end to
his set, and with the lyrics left lingering in the room, it's sets
the space for the next band to take to the stage.
HEAVYHEADS are next on the line up.
Although the line up seems to have undergone a few changes from the
original, but none the less, Heavy Heads are ready to go, donning the
performance space with their cajon, guitar and Benylin. Yes, the lead
singer has the lurgy. But this doesn't detract from the performance
actually, with his vocals sounding pretty impressive throughout,
despite illness. They open with a pretty clever mash up of Nelly's
Ride With Me, and Michael Jackson's Beat It,
which I've had the pleasure of enjoying before so was looking forward
to it. It's a lively and engaging opener, with the clever merging of
lyrical ideas and melodies, it's really good fun. They engage in a
fair bit of banter in between songs, which I remember from their set
recently at Jamcafe. Although this time it was mostly about sipping
cough medicine like it's apple juice. They have a varied set, with
fun quirks such as the lap style guitar. They're very entertaining,
and really chilled out, which suits the venue well and the general
feel of the evening. They end their set with Bob Marley's Redemption
Song, which goes down a
treat and fits the evening well, as reggae-fusion fills the gaps
between the sets.
Finally,
heading up the live performance for the evening is YAZMIN LACEY, who
takes to the stage with her guitarist. She's modest and humble on
stage, which suits her performance style, and her music. Her vocals
are soft and sultry, with a breathiness which is so smooth and almost
haunting at times. Her vocals work well over the guitar, which often
contrasts but compliments them, being lively and upbeat whilst her
vocals remain cool and collected. Her songs are varied, with the
guitarist developing his style of playing throughout, with a nice mix
of fingerpicking and strumming. These musical parts are key to their
set, as they add flavour and intrigue to Yazmin's steady,
straightforward melodic lines. Her songs are sweet and gentle, with
gorgeous soulful lyrics and an open, honest delivery. I'd love to see
even more emotion coming through, as I think she could really pull it
off, but for the relaxed and chilled out atmosphere of the venue, it
suited well. She got a massive response from the audience throughout,
with lots of whooping and cheering, with Yazmin announcing into the
microphone “You can tell that these are all my friends”. But even
those who weren't familiar with her work enjoyed it, From A
Lover was a wonderful end to the
set, ending the live performances with sweet melodic lines and lush
guitar chords.
Nirvana is an
interesting venue, which is nice to go to if you fancy your gig
evening turning into a party, as I ended up doing some dancing to
reggae afterwards! It's great to see a venue not focusing on the
charts and going for some more interesting musical directions. It was
a great evening.
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