Jade Helliwell & Matt Rogers
Updated: Oct 2
Night and Day Cafe, Manchester – Days like this have been long overdue. The sun has shone for most of it and as I head north to Manchester there’s still plenty of it in the sky. Driving to gigs in the daylight is something I thought I’d never see again - just how long did the Winter last for - far longer than it should have done, I say.
Still there’s a good four or five weeks of indoor gigs to enjoy before festival season kicks in and we think about digging our shorts and flip-flops out in the desperate hope we can still get in them after twelve months (no chance in my case), but for tonight, I’ll head to my 'third home'. Band on the Wall is where I normally reside in Manchester, but the Night and Day Cafe will do the honours this time around, and for an artist that I’ve not seen before. She comes highly recommended though, by fellow gig photographer, Dave Pickles (@picklesrockshots) and he’s seen more bands than me, so I thought I’d take his word for it and risk it. Spoiler alert – there was no risk whatsoever !
In another life tonight’s headliner tours with the lady that prompted the recommendation in the first place, Demi Marriner, when we both photographed her recently as Support to Wille and the Bandits and then as part of Elles Baileys band, where, it seems, she’s been since day one, so as good a reference point as anyone could ever need.
There’s a Support too, from someone else who I’ve not seen, or even heard of, before, so that makes it all extra exciting and interesting.
Anyway, let’s get on with it.
Matt Rogers - The man hails from Georgia, the American one, not the one that was part of the Soviet Union - this guy’s accent gives it away as soon as he speaks. He’s a stocky fella, good front row material I’d say, and he hits the stage with guitar in hand and starts the opening tune ‘Better at Heartbreak’, one of the sadder country songs he has for us tonight.
‘Richest Place on Earth’ is the story of the graveyard with a real metaphorical twist on it and was included on his 2017 EP, where he sports a Justin Bieber haircut, he says. Rogers is as fine a raconteur as he is singer and before his next tune, he invites Manchester to a bit of a drinking game called ‘holler and swaller’, (said he was front row material) so, as instructed, with our glasses raised high we all give a decent cheer (holler) and then partake in a good slug of whatever our poison may be (swallow). Now if that isn’t a fine way to get a crowd onside then I don’t know what is.
‘Whatever Keeps You Crazy’ is the back story to when he met his now wife Meghan, but its ‘Grandma’s House’, the new single came out Friday last (17th) that grabs some serious attention with some interesting lyrics that raised more than the odd chuckle as it relates to how all the Hippies of the 60’s are now grandparents – and how things then are looked up a little differently today.
‘Get You Off That Fence’ is a love song instead of a heartbreak song, which country music seems to thrive on, says Rogers and he enhances it with some good use of a loop machine. God bless Ed Sheeran for making it fashionable – more creative than any backing track.
‘South Dakota Sky, about pushing through and chasing your dreams, and ‘Ain’t Ever Been a Cowboy’. Are squeezed in before he finishes the set with ‘You’re My Alleluia’ which is where some audience participation is considered necessary, but Manchester had warmed to this Fella by now and they were happy to do as he requested.
Rogers was only down to do thirty minutes and I’m fairly sure he ran over, but he packed an awful lot into his time and Manchester enjoyed it all greatly. I couldn’t find any details as to when he’ll hit our shores again, but I hope he does as he was well worth the Support slot as a solo artist, and with a full band behind him, if he has one, he’ll be well worth the admission money.
More please.
Matt Rogers Setlist
1 - Better at Heartbreak
2 - Richest Place on Earth
3 - Whatever keeps you crazy
4 - Grandma’s House
5 - Get You Off That Fence
6 - South Dakota Sky
7 - Ain’t Ever Been a Cowboy
8 - You’re My Alleluia
Jade Helliwell – Helliwell has been a busy girl of late. Well, she’s been a busy girl for the last ten years really, since 2017 when her world changed after a seemingly innocuous video of her duetting with a busker in Leeds went viral. 23 million views later and Jade Helliwell had arrived on the big stageand – in a big way.
British Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year for three years, in 2017, 2018 and 2021, a number of ‘Girls' Night In’ tours’ with fellow partners in crime, Demi Marriner, Jess Thristan and Kezia Gil, plus a few of her own too, three EP’s, two albums, oh, and a new born baby was thrown in somewhere along the way (metaphorically speaking, of course), just for good measure. It all means that Jade Helliwell is a force to be reckoned with.
It’s the latest album ‘Rebegin’ that brings us together to sample in a live format, and for the first time and all seven songs are on the setlist.
The lady is not for messing about and has a larger than life persona, and together with her three-piece band starts the night off with what is now known as a ‘banger’ of a tune, ‘Look What You've Done’, is as ballsy an opening tune as anyone ever needs; but if it didn’t get your attention, Helliwell immediately follows it up with another, ‘Undercover’.
There’s time to take a breath with the slow ballad ‘Drink This Wine’, but it only lasts for one song as ‘Lighthouse’ demands that iPhones are held in the air with the torch lit brightly in true Barry Manilow ‘One Voice’ style. Manchester knew this was going to happen and performed admirably and from on stage it must have looked awesome.
With a banter interlude taking place, Helliwell finds a couple in the crowd (Carol and Paul) that have been together for 47 years, and for that sentence their reward is a dedication of the next tune ‘How love Goes’ which after that amount of time, I guess, they already knew.
Helliwell also explains the most recent event in her life, said baby, has prompted a new line in merch, so baby grows are available to purchase along with a copy of the seven track CD ‘Rebegin’, of course.
‘Lead Me On’ caused a righteous sing-a-long which Manchester was again ready for, which carried on, in to ‘Nothing But the Radio On’ , which also gave guitarist and husband Luke Thomas his big moment for a cheeky solo, in the middle of it.
Now, this had been a full-on performance from the off, and it wasn’t going to get any less of one as we headed towards curfew. ‘Heroes and Heroines’ built the frenzy up a little more, before ‘Drink You Outta My Mind’ tee’d everything up nicely for Helliwell’s biggest hit so far, ‘Woman I Am’, which finished off the night in perfect fashion.
Now, Manchester might not be home turf for a Yorkshire girl but it might well have been such was the reaction she got to each song and the way that the audience joined in at every available opportunity, whether they were asked to or not. There was an infectious buzz about the place at the start of the evening, enhanced by Matt Rogers and then seized and capitalised on by Helliwell in such a triumphant way that it was a pleasure to be there and witness it.
This was the first time that I’d seen Jade Helliwell, but you can bet your life that it won’t be the last.
Until the next time…
Jade Helliwell Setlist
Look What You've Done
Undercover
Smoke
Drink This Wine
Lighthouse
How Love Goes
Five Years Ago
Rebegin
Lead Me On
Nothing But The Radio On
Monster
Bad Habit
Heroes & Heroines
Drink You Outta My Mind
Woman I Am
