Chez Kane - London Review

Following a couple of local nights out over the past couple of weeks, it was time to get back on my travels over the warm bank holiday weekend. Jethro Tull really exceeded expectations down in Truro earlier in the month, before a decent set from Edge of Paradise here in Plymouth provided an after-work night out last week - but yesterday I headed back up to London for the first time this month. Considering I went to London three times in quick succession last month, though, it barely felt like I had been away. The vast majority of my gigging trips this year are to London, and it is only around a month until I am back again, but this past month or so has felt especially busy with trips up and back to the capital. As I write this I am back home again, trying to keep cool, following a very scorching trip to London - where temperatures, at times, breached 30 degrees. That is hot for May, although temperatures like that are becoming more common here in the UK deeper into the summer months, but I cannot imagine that too many businesses and tourist destinations in London were complaining too much. The reason for my trip to London was to catch the Welsh melodic rocker Chez Kane and her solo band live for the first time as a headline act. I first came into contact with Kane back in 2019 when her then-band Kane'd, which she formed with her two sisters, opened for Tyketto in Nottingham. I was never a huge fan of the band, who from memory where a pretty typical sounding hard rock act, but when she started a solo career a couple of years later I was much more interested in the melodic hard rock/AOR/glam metal sound that she was going for. Two albums dropped in quite quick succession, in 2021 and 2022 - and since then she has started to build up her live activity, and has already racked up quite a few shows here and abroad, both as a headliner and as a support act. Despite liking both albums as they came out, I did not get to see Kane live until last year - when I saw her opening up for H.E.A.T in London. I had expected to enjoy her set having enjoyed her albums, but I feel like she impressed live more than I expected - with her songs coming across really well live and Kane herself having really developed into a confident and powerful frontwoman. She got a great night off to a great start, then, and I have wanted to see her as a headliner since. With the release of her third solo album Reckless (which I reviewed here) earlier in the year, then, a new tour was inevitable - and I think that this current tour may well be Kane's most ambitious to date. Part of the reason that I did not see her until last year was the fact that many of her previous headline shows seemed to take place at that little group seemingly well-liked small venues that seem pretty inaccessible to anyone who does not have a car (The Patriot in Crumlin and Elven in Stoke-on-Trent spring to mind as examples). This tour had some more accessible options, though, and it meant heading back The Underworld in Camden for the third time within the space of a month. Following a hot walk around East London earlier in the day, and attempting to stay cool in my hotel whilst following what turned out to be quite an exciting day of Premier League football, I had wondered if The Underworld would be unbearable in the heat - but the air con was working overtime and it was actually quite a pleasant place to be. There was a decent crowd in attendance, but the place was not exactly full - which also likely helped. Given that this was Kane's first time headlining the venue, though, I imagine that she would have been pleased with the turnout.

Before Kane's set, though, the growing crowd was treated to a couple of support acts. Up first was long-time London rock scene staple Steff Voxx and his band - playing their first set of original material for many years. Voxx is largely known as the mastermind behind the long-standing hard rock and metal covers band Metalworks - which often plays at The Underworld and around the city. Many well-known faces have previously been a part of the band, including Judas Priest's Richie Faulkner and Uriah Heep's Davey Rimmer, plus many other big names have got up on stage with the many iterations of Metalworks over the years. I have never seen the band, but I understand that they are very well-liked and fixtures of the club scene across London - and that Voxx is something of a father figure in the current London rock and metal scene. It is, therefore, great to see him taking another stab at being an original act again, something which he did many years ago, but I cannot say that his material was anything special. It was certainly listenable and not bad, but all of the songs played were pretty generic hard rock with boogie riffs, bluesy solos, and quite simple choruses. There were a few decent hooks throughout, and some of the riffs were quite memorable, but nothing really jumped out all that much. Considering that this was the first time that the songs had been played live, too, the band did feel a bit under rehearsed at times. There were a few bits where someone seemed to be out of time or was not sure which bit came next - but largely the set hung together and Voxx was greeted warmly by those who had turned up early. Voxx's set was only half an hour, too, so it did not outstay its welcome - and it ended with a spirited version of UFO's Shoot Shoot, in tribute to the late Pete Way, which certainly had a few down on the floor singing along.

The night's main support act were the UK-based four-piece Star Circus, a melodic hard rock band that are opening for Kane on quite a few of her tour dates. I had heard of them before last night, but before their set I had not heard any of their music. There were quite a few people in attendance wearing Star Circus shirts, too, so I was keen to check them out - and I ended up largely enjoying their set. Seemingly based around Dave Winkler (vocals/guitar) and Sophie Aurélia Young (bass guitar/vocals), the band play a pretty poppy take on hard rock - with a very 1970s British glam rock take on melody and some 1980s style harder rock riffs. Given that Cats in Space exist, other bands that play a similar type of music are always likely to struggle to compete, but after a couple of numbers I largely enjoyed what Star Circus had to offer. I say this as the songs that the band played generally got better as the set went along. I thought that their opening number really was quite bland, with not much of a decent chorus to speak of. Bands like this live or die by their hooks, and at first I was not sure that there were going to be enough to keep me interested. The next couple of songs were similar, but as things progressed I started to warm to the band. There were some strong vocal harmonies throughout the set which involved the whole band, and the choruses got stronger as the set went on. I also warmed more to Winkler's voice as things progressed. I thought that he sounded a bit weak at first, but he also seemed a bit low in the mix early on - so as the mix levelled out I thought he sounded stronger. There were certainly a few songs towards the end of the set which grabbed me quite a bit more - and I started to enjoy the mix of the influences that were on show. Special shoutout should go to the band's new guitarist Joel Chalk - who only joined the band very recently. His riffing certainly gave the band a bit of a kick - and his solos were fluid and powerful. Winkler also chipped in with some lead guitar and soloing, but largely this was left to Chalk - although there were some Thin Lizzy-esque harmony leads utilised at times. The band had longer than Voxx and his band, too, with around 45 minutes to fill. At first I thought that this 45 minutes would pass quite slowly, but as I warmed to the band the time passed quite quickly - and this is always a sign that a good time is being had. Overall, then, I enjoyed Star Circus - despite the slow start. I would certainly be willing to check out their albums in due course - and it is always good to put some faces to a name.

The changeovers during the evening were quite quick, so it was not long following Star Circus' set that Kane and her band took to the stage. Since I saw her last year she has added keyboard player Oscar Charlton to her band - meaning that many of the main keyboard parts throughout the set were now played live. She relied on backing tracks for the keyboard parts before which, given how key they are to her sound, was a little disappointing. Clearly she is moving up in the world, though, so was able to bring the extra musician along for the ride - and having live keyboards certainly helped her to present a better show. She played for just under an hour and a half, squeezing 17 songs into that time - including 7 from the latest album. It was one of the new cuts, Personal Rock n' Roll, which kicked things off - and the twin guitar power of Harry Scott Elliott and James Ready was evident from the off. Kane herself is a great singer and on-stage presence, but she has surrounded herself with great musicians to deliver a great rock show. The band felt like a true band, too. The musicians did not just stand in the background as some musicians do when backing a solo artist, but there was a lot of chemistry between everyone on stage - with Elliott and Ready throwing lots of great rockstar shapes whilst soloing. Despite all this, though, Kane was clearly the star. She sounded great from the off, and has developed into a force of nature on stage in terms of interacting with the crowd and putting on a show. This would all be for nothing if the songs were not up to scratch, but anthem after anthem filled the set. Quite a few of the songs played early on were older numbers, with the newer cuts largely coming later, so there were big hitters like Too Late for Love, with its massive synth melodies, and I Just Want You to keep the crowd happy early on. Despite perhaps wanting to hit the crowd with songs that they would know early on, I think that everyone in attendance knew all of the songs - old and new. There was certainly plenty of singing going on around me - and there was a strong atmosphere in the room from the early part of the set. It was pretty much a hard rocking affair from the off, too. Kane did not include any of her ballads in the set, although there was a good mix of harder rock efforts and smoother pop numbers. Songs like Nationwide and the later Night of Passion showcased what having a live keyboard player can offer - with Charlton adding some fluid synth soloing to the latter. He also added some additional guitar to the funkier Midnight Rendezvous, allowing for some three-way riffing at times - whilst Kane rocked the guitar herself during a barnstorming rendition of Reckless. Given that 17 songs had to be squeezed in, there was little coming up for air. Kane spoke to the crowd well, but she kept things brief - largely letting the set flow and the anthems come. There is not much that needs to be said when high-energy rockers like Bodyrock can easily move a crowd - whilst more sultry numbers later in the set like Strip Me Down and Love Gone Wild certainly rose the temperature in Camden. Given that she now has three albums, it must be hard to know which songs to leave out - but overall I think she made the right decisions. Perhaps only the slightly more rudimentary Get It On felt a little out of place - but given everything else played one brief misstep can easily be forgiven. With anthems like Rocket on the Radio and Powerzone rounding out the set, too, everything ended on a real high - and perhaps Kane next time returns to London she will need to find a bigger room. The setlist was:

Personal Rock n' Roll

Too Late for Love

All of It

I Just Want You

Love Tornado

Nationwide

Midnight Rendezvous

Bodyrock

Better Than Love

Reckless

Night of Passion

Strip Me Down

Love Gone Wild

Get It On

Tongue of Love

Rocket on the Radio

Powerzone

Given that I had enjoyed Kane's set last year, I knew that I would enjoy last night's effort - but the headline show was much better than the support slot. Having a larger backing band likely helped, and the material from the new album is really strong overall. The setlist was a really good mix of all of Kane's albums, too, and a decent-sized Sunday night Camden crowd ensured that there was a good atmosphere from the first note to the last. Kane deserves to find success with her music, and she seems to be rising through the ranks in a sustainable way - so I look forward to seeing where things go next.