Amy Wadge & Luke Jackson - 22/01/2017 - Fulford Vh

There aren't nearly enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe this show that Amy & Luke put on for us at Fulford.

This was one of those gigs that was always going to be special but even those of us who had seen these incredible artists play solo before had to draw breath as together, they took their musicianship to another level.

On the Friday before the show, Amy was interviewed on Radio Stoke, where she described the experience of winning a Grammy for co-writing Ed Sheeran's massive global hit 'Thinking out loud'. However, for all her success, there's definitely no 'big time' attitude with this girl and her bubbly personality and amazing stage presence made her an instant hit with the packed crowd.

Opening with 'Always', 'Scream' and 'Freefall' from her first two studio albums, Amy demonstrated that her songwriting is not a newly acquired skill and as the set progressed she introduced newer material inspired by her children, grandparents, as well as 'that' special song that has brought her the acclaim she so rightly deserves. To help her sing 'Thinking out loud', she introduced Luke Jackson onto the stage and it was great to see the musical bond that these talented individuals have formed, as well as the banter between two artists who have obviously become firm friends.

I first saw Amy in concert in her adopted home country of Wales back in 2002 and it was fitting that she should close her Fulford set with the first song that I ever saw her play live, which was 'Breathe' from her first album 'Woj'.

One of the special things about this evening was that there were many people amongst the audience who had seen Luke play live at an 'A500 Music' gig before but who didn't know of Amy Wadge. Likewise there were folk there who had seen Amy play at nearby Ashbourne recently but who had not yet heard Luke's voice. So it was a particular joy to watch their jaws fall to the floor as he launched into the opening few bars of 'Ain't no trouble'.

Luke's incredible voice and punchy guitar style are his trademark but his songwriting is also far from shabby and as if to return the compliment, he invited Amy back on stage to accompany him on such fine self penned songs as 'Lucy and her camera', 'Finding home' and 'Better man'.

Ironically, for all of the brilliant original music on offer, it was a cover of a Simon & Garfunkel song that will live longest in the memory and you could have heard the smallest of pins drop as Luke floored us all with his arrangement of 'Bridge over troubled water'.

Despite playing two very full sets of music, the evening seemed to rush by all too quickly and Amy returned to the stage for one last time to accompany Luke for their blockbusting finale, 'Purple rain'.

This was definitely a show which would open 2017 with a bang and blow away those winter blues. 

Hear Grammy winner, Amy Wadge, being interviewed by BBC Radio Stoke before her show at A500 Music