THE Sunday Acoustic Lounge has become an established part of the Lichfield music scene by showcasing the singing talents of many local performers.
Hosted as always by the dapper Tom Roberts, the evening’s entertainment also featured keyboard player Gladstone Wilson and guitarist and backing vocalist Mark Eustace.
The young singers – Ava O’Brien and Ruby Clarke – made their acoustic lounge debuts, while Clare Andress and Beck Gosling both made return visits.
The evening showcased songs by legendary performers and writers that included Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Paul Simon, Karen Carpenter and Elton John, as well as newer names such as Adele and Lady Gaga.
A reading of Man in the Mirror opened the concert with the lively vocals of Ava O’Brien being showcased – and she continued with Lady Gaga’s Always Remember Us This Way. At only 14 years of age she has a fine voice and a confident stage presence.
Ruby Clarke gave us a spirited Diamonds Are Forever with a quieter singing style than the song is used to.
Becky Gosling raised the pace with Elton John’s I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues, before Tom Roberts and Mark Eustace delivered an arrangement of Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer, with their harmony vocals and deft guitar playing adding to the famous song.
Numbers featured in the second half featured Adele’s Easy On Me and Abba’s The Winner Takes It All.
Tom Roberts and Becky Gosling sang Sonny and Cher’s I Got You Babe, while Clare Andress and Ruby Clarke closed the evening with an intimate version of Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, featuring sterling guitar and keyboard playing throughout.
With this range of music, there was enough variety for most people in the audience, whilst the lack of a bass player of drummer allowed for newer, different arrangements of the songs to be aired.
The musical backing was always sympathetic to the singers, and to the songs, and there were also moments of unexpected musicality during such songs as Stairway to Heaven, here robbed of the bombast that develops in more familiar arrangements, or in Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer, where the narrative of the song could be better appreciated.