Kezia Gill plus support from Alyssa Bonagura

Having seen Alyssa Bonagura before, I knew what to expect. A classy lady with oodles of talent, and she didn’t disappoint. Her song writing seems to be getting better and better, as is her stage presence. She was clearly having a ball tonight along with the big Rock City crowd, even having a sing off between the sexes. It surely won’t be long before she rises through the ranks, following in the footsteps of main act Kezia Gill, having also contributed songwriting to Kezia’s new album. Definitely one to watch.

Anybody that reads our reviews will know we are big fans of Kezia Gill, and as we have followed her for a few years now, it sort of makes you feel like a proud parent watching their child grow and achieve something. With Kezia now a fully-fledged record label artist, out she comes with her first album via Snakefarm, ‘All On Red’. And what an album it is, superb, and this tour to obviously promote it, finds her playing much larger venues. Having played it constantly, we were curious to see how they come across live. Let me tell you, even we were blown away along with the very big crowd in Rock City. The new stuff took centre stage of course, meshed together with older classic Gill numbers, and a couple of slower acoustic songs, like the song for her late father, ‘Local Mans Star’, which Kezia really struggled to get through, but did so with the help of the crowd, who took over the chorus for her. It meant so much to Kezia especially as this was somewhat of a local gig, wiping her eyes, saying “Nottingham you really done me tonight”. She also did a superb cover of the Reba McEntire song, ‘Fancy’.

After the slower section she upped the tempo again, all the way until the end, only leaving the stage to reappear with pinky coloured faux fur coat and big sunglasses for ‘Money In The Bank’. Spraying the crowd with fake money from a hand machine, and at one point joining the crowd in a line dance! We really loved this playful Kezia. Nobody and I mean nobody wanted this to end. It was a perfect gig. Perfect sound, an artist who is, and should be on the brink of bigger things, and this album, could break her in the states. I know she is getting a lot of air play on Radio 2 with ‘Gut Feeling’, but don’t even ask for highlights tonight, it was all a highlight. Do yourself a favour and listen to ‘All On Red’ – it’s a cracker – and see her live.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe