49 Winchester plus support from Wyatt Flores

Tonight, we get the chance to see Wyatt Flores supporting 49 Winchester. We last saw Wyatt at the Long Road Festival two years ago, as he said at the time he had just got himself together after some mental health issues, but it was great to see he was in fine form and seemed to really enjoy himself, as did the sold out O2 Institute. With a cracking set full of emotion and a fair few catchy tunes and laughs, he was blown away with the reaction and singing from the delighted crowd. Hope he comes back soon.

As for the 49 Winchester, we have to admit we only had seen a couple of YouTube videos, so went in with open ears, and our ears were glad we did. What a cracking night. As said earlier it was a sold-out venue, so obviously they knew more than us. And last year supporting Luke Combs at London’s O2 Arena, and with their raucous, hard live wire performances, hitting the road to continue gathering new fans, like us. With a new fifth album, ‘Leavin’ This Holler’, this is one hot live band. Don’t expect any twee, twangy tunes. In fact, they are quite a hard rockin’ outfit.

Their final song was a rollicking version of, ‘Changes’. These guys with vocalist/guitarist, Isaac Gibson, possessing a strong gritty voice, which can be gentle at times, they can’t go wrong. And with tunes like, ‘Everlasting Lover’, ‘Bringing Home The Bacon’, ‘Russell County Line’ and ‘Tulsa’, the future looks very bright for this Virginia band, who should be playing headline shows of their own at The O2 very soon. Judging on tonight’s performance, it won’t be too long, excellent, go 49ers!

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe