Ally Venable & Garret T. Willie

Rescue Rooms, Nottingham – Eleven months ago Ally Venable arrived on our shores for the first time ever and to great success. She has an awfully big following this side of the pond, but whether that would transfer into tickets sales, no one knew, so the smaller of our suburban venues were chosen. This time around someone saw enough last year to up the ante and move the size of venue up a notch, and so, in our case, we spend a Friday night in Nottingham at the Rescue Rooms, one of the bigger venues in the City, and one that’s had a few quid spend on it since the last time I came here…

There’s now a huge LCD backdrop at the back of the stage, capable of displaying many an advert in the run up to gig time and the obligatory band logo throughout the gig too. Marketing gets everywhere these days. There’s also an excess of new lighting effects, stage left and right for added impact, so it all bodes well for a night of Southern blues - as long as someone has been employed to work all those new buttons and knows when to push them. It wouldn’t be the first time that thousands of £’s had been spent on venue lighting only for them to remain dormant most of the time, but we’ll see.

The Support act last year was Tom Moriarty and what a gem he turned out to be, so there’s a bit of pressure and big boots to fill for Garret T. Willie, who strolls on stage, a larger than life Fella, with three guys for accompaniment, in case the UK is a scary place.

Garret T. Willie – So, this Fella isn’t just larger than life, he’s also louder than life as he blasts out his opening tunes with menace and if Nottingham wasn’t quite ready for the Support to begin, they certainly knew he had. Those Marshall amps were about to put in an almighty shift.

There was no setlist available and Willie kept the chat to a minimum, as he ploughed through the set with a husky, gravelly voice that lent itself so well to the blues-rock that he was delivering in a no nonsense style, which Nottingham embraced well and showed their appreciation of, too – which Willie was keen to acknowledge, when he finally did speak, although his Southern accent was so ‘Southern’ I’m not sure many knew what he was saying – but knew it was complimentary, so all was good.

There’s not much more that can be said really apart from on this showing, this City at least hopes he’ll be back again soon, down the road at The Bodega perhaps, which is where all good blues-rock bands start their relationship off with Nottingham and grow an audience from scratch – see Robert Jon and The Wreck, Zac Schulze Gang, Laura Cox, Whisky Flowers – need I say more ?

Ally Venable - Venable arrives on our shores this time around with no new album to promote, but when you already have a good few to your name, you’re not exactly short of material. A sneaky peak at the setlist says that we’re pretty much getting the same gig as last year - but if it ain’t broke, it don’t need fixing, does it. Venable is also supported by the same twosome from last year as well. Isaac Pulido will do the honours on a proper set of drums - none of this four piece nonsense that will fit in the back of a Fiesta, there’s a good half dozen on show and all will be hit and hit hard; and E. J. Bedford will put some serious effort in on bass, keys and bv’s, as well as looking ‘dead’ cool in the process, especially in Nottingham.

The ‘Rooms’ was close to full when Willie hit the stage, but it was packed now and that bigger venue gamble had certainly paid off. Promoting the ‘new’ album ‘Money and Power’ was the order of the day last year and she starts off this year with two from said album, ‘Unbreakable’ and ‘Brown Liquor’ which the crowd were well in to from the off and told Venable of their appreciation as well.

She then followed things up with two of her biggest songs, so early in the proceedings too, ‘Steamroller’ and then ‘Texas Louisiana’, the Buddy Guy collaboration track she did for her previous album ‘Real Gone’  with E. J. providing Buddy Guys vocals. These two went down even better than the last two and Nottingham was relishing everything that was put before them.

A blistering cover of Jimi Hendrix’ ‘Fire’ and another of her ‘must include on the setlist tracks, her ‘Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan’ – an instrumental that must last for a good fifteen minutes – sealed the deal, before another cover for the encore of the Alabama State Troupers ‘Going Down’ send everyone home floating on the coldish night air.

Now you have to give credit where credit is due, and despite the nominal amount of years that Venable has been on this planet, she can compete with the best of them. She controls an audience and has them eating out of her palm with ease. Her playing is free, not forced, even when she moves from Gibson to Stratocaster to Gibson, and the way she handles the vocals at the same time is a joy to witness. What’s the betting that when she next returns to the UK in 2027, and to Nottingham, she moves next door to the really big venue. Rock City awaits and the betting says she’ll fill it too.

Ally Venable Setlist

Unbreakable 

Brown Liquor

Steamroller

Texas Louisiana (Buddy Guy Collaboration Track)

Broken and Blue

Stopper Back Papa

Fire (Jimi Hendrix Cover)

Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan (Instrumental)

Encore

Going Down (Alabama State Troupers cover)

The Ally Venable Band are…

Ally Venable – guitar, vocals

Isaac Pulido – drums

EJ Bedford – bass, looking cool

You see more images of Ally Venable by clicking here...

Written in association with Noble PR