To say that the past few years have been a bit hectic for British singer songwriter JADE BIRD is something of an understatement, she is fast becoming one of THE most exciting new voices and demand for her shows have been incredible. She has won the hearts of fans across the globe with her debut EP, ‘Somewhere American’ and followed this up with ‘Lottery’, an incredible single which really helped to put her on the map.

Having already performed on ‘Later with Jools Holland’, ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ and ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon’, she has amassed a global following and seeing as she is just 20 years old, I imagine that her future is looking VERY bright indeed!

We were invited to watch her and her band perform at The Lemongrove in Exeter, we packed our bags and headed off to watch this incredible musician do her thang….

Opening the evening was Surrey based ANNABEL ALLUM who stunned the room with a wall of guitar fuzz which created the bedrock for some great art rock. ‘Beat the Birds’ was all about staying up late and doing naughty things whilst ‘Not Where You Pretend You Are' was all about being friends with people who are cheating on their partners. Her sound was stripped back, simple and allowed the listener to get inside her mind and start to understand what was going on in there. She reminded me of an American folk artist called Esme Patterson which is never a bad thing (as she is incredible). If you’re in London to catch Jade at the Shepherds Bush gig, you will be treated to a full band performance from Annabel, something she is really excited about!

Second to the stage was Ashford indie rock 4 piece MOSA WILD, who turned the entire room into fans by the end of their short but sweet set which consisted of tracks from their ‘Talking in Circles’ EP and a fabulous cover version of ‘The Whole of the Moon’ by The Waterboys.

After their set, I chatted to the bass player and he gave me a tour of his (rather splendid) 1970 Fender Precision which I reluctantly gave back to him after he allowed me to have a quick ‘noodle’ backstage.

Chatting to the guitarist, he was really looking forward to a day off prior to hitting Bristol and then on to Shepherds Bush Empire on Thursday where he was “excited and a bit nervous” about playing such a legendary venue in the heart of the capital. I probably say this a little more than I should but this is a band you NEED to be keeping an eye on as I don’t think it’ll be long until they blow up (in a good way!) 

I’ll admit that before the show, I knew little about Jade Bird. I thought of her as a fragile little songbird, singing about things that, well, young ladies sing about so I came to the show with my mind already half made up which I’ll admit is a bad way to approach it but in a way, it was also a very good thing as, over the next hour, I was converted!

Jade took to the stage, confident, fresh faced, which was surprising as she’s now on the home straight of her headline UK/Ireland tour having completed 12 dates already. She burst straight into ‘Ruins’ and from that moment on, I was transfixed. Where was my fragile little songbird who hid behind her microphone stand and relied on her bandmates to prop her up? For what I saw was a super confident, life loving young lady dressed in a bright blue jumpsuit and black boots giving every ounce of her being to a room full of adoring fans. The tender, sweet voice I had expected was replaced with something that resembled a cross between Alanis Morrissette and Janis Joplin, it had power, it had authority and it had a delicious huskiness to it that many a man would have paid good money for her to speak to them on an 0898 phoneline (WHAT? These don’t exist anymore….)

‘Anniversary’ was a new track, and midway through, Jade snapped a string on her guitar. Being the professional that she is, she called a halt to the track and with a spare guitar, took it from the top as not to short change anyone who wanted to hear the entire thing.

She said she’d played Exeter in the past but couldn’t put her finger on where (It was The Cavern in December 2018) and said that this time around, she was happy that so many more people had the chance t see her show.

The band sounded tight and looked like they were genuinely having fun! I guess life on the road isn’t as bad as it used to be, 6 people crammed into the back of an ex British Telecom van (with all the gear) stopping off at motorway service stations for toilet and fag breaks whilst trying not to let the mundane ‘life on the road’ get you down TOO much!

‘My Motto’ saw jade without her guitar, the lead guitarist on keys and the sound taking on a whole new perspective, raw, stripped back, honest and oh so powerful! It was during this track that the very nice security man let a young girl and her mother stand on the other side of the barrier to get a better view which I thought was a wonderfully kind thing to do and probably made her year!

‘Something American’ started off with just jade and her acoustic guitar, her smoke tinged vocals ringing out around the room, she was joined by the rest of the band, and with the keys making another appearance instead of the second guitar, it added a new layer to the proceedings, allowing her to showcase that amazing voice of hers.

Jade offered a choice to the audience, “It’s your gig, sad or party?” she asked, ‘party’ got the loudest cheer so ‘party’ it was!

This was certainly not what I’d class as Sunday night music, this is the sort of stuff I’d expect to be seeing and hearing on a Friday or Saturday night, getting me revved up ready for the weekend, music to let my hair down to and let it all out hang out, instead of music to ease you into another week of meetings, arguments and office politics….

I was surprised to see a cover version on the setlist but when Jade and her band launched into Blondies’ ‘Call Me’, I couldn’t help thinking that she had absolutely nailed it! Her voice really hit the spot in hitting the angelic late disco sound that Debbie Harry mastered but with that husky, jagged edge that only Jade can create! The guitarist did a damn fine job at emulating the guitar prowess of Chris Stein too, Bravo!

‘Lottery' was clearly a firm favourite as it saw the audience singing along from the offm, having heard a couple of minutes of it, I can understand why, it was as catchy as measles and had an absolutely killer chorus that was simply impossible to love!

‘17’ saw Jade solo on stage and take to the keyboard, I can honestly say that this is one of the most beautiful tracks I’ve ever heard! UNTIL……the guitarist joined her on stage with acoustic guitars and proceeded to belt out possibly THE finest version of Radiohead’s ‘Blackstar'. Jade and her guitarist duetted and played face to face on the stage, alone, the room in silence as they stood, mouths agape at what was happening to them in front of their very eyes, incredible stuff indeed!

As the set started to come to a close, Jade took time to introduce the band before launching into ‘Cathedral’, another slow burner which kicked off with Jade’s expert finger picked notes before the band came crashing in with her to complete the full sound that accompanied the track to its end.

As ‘Going Gone’ came to a close, the audience reacted with utter elation, it had been one hell of a show, non-stop quality music, but, as with live shows, they wanted MORE!

Jade and her band appeared and bounded onto the stage for one last song and as they launched into the heavier tones of ‘Love Has All Been Done Before’, the room literally lost its shit!

Tonight was an interesting night, I arrived not really knowing what to expect and left a firm fan of what I believe is one of Britain’s leading lights in the female singer songwriter category. Jade Bird will go on to do great things and I strongly suggest you jump on her wagon and catch her live whenever you can as it won’t be long until this songstress starts to spread her wings and take in arenas and much larger venues!

Words and Picture by Steve Muscutt