Grace Petrie played a Labour fundraiser in Hebden Bridge last night: an excellent gig. I’d never seen her before but I will definitely go out of my way to see her again. Her politically acute lyrics use humour as a weapon and she also has the timing of a stand-up comic in her banter between songs, but at one point she sang a capella a song Roy Bailey, with lyrics she had updated. that moved me to tears. A wonderful night and a very big turnout, especially as the gig was booked barely a week before.
The support act was Isaac Hughes-Dennis, who performed his highly political satirical songs while accompanying himself on the ukulele. I sometimes struggle with comic songs, but Isaac was hilarious and an amazingly assured performer – I say amazingly because he is 16 years old. This guy is a prodigy and I suspect we will be hearing a lot more of him in the future.
Les Gillon 