Luke Jackson with Wes Finch - 21/01/2018 - Fulford Vh

When your joint headliner (Amy Wadge) is forced to pull out of a show less than a week before it goes ahead and you have sold all your tickets, you would think this was a recipe for disaster but when the other headliner is Luke Jackson, you just know that it's still going to be a fantastic night. 

Within the space of five days, the show went from having two artists, to one, and then three when A500 Music favourite Wes Finch agreed to do a support slot and Luke drafted in Stoke born fiddle player, Ciaran Algar, to accompany him on a few numbers. 

On his third visit to A500 Music, Wes Finch kicked off the evening with a predictably fine set of his own original music (with the help of a few words from poet William Butler Yeats).

Closing his short set with a cover of the John Martyn classic 'May You Never', Wes proved yet again what a wealth of young talent there is out there, just waiting to be heard. "That guy was good enough to be headlining this show on his own" was the view of one audience member seeing Wes for the first time, simply reflecting what those of us who have seen him a few times already know. 

There was a buzz of excitement in the room as Luke launched into his punchy opening song 'Cherry Picker', followed by a stripped back and emotional interpretation of Tom Petty's 'Free Falling'. 

"What you have come to witness tonight is commonly known as winging it" joked Luke as he admitted to the panic caused by finding that Amy Wadge had been forced to pull out of this tour. However, what the audience were treated to was anything but second best and with each visit Luke seems to grow, not just as an artist but as a raconteur, keeping us all in stitches with stories like him coming second in a local pub karaoke contest to a group of stags who removed their tops mid song 

For anyone still disappointed by the absence of Amy Wadge, Luke managed to bring some of her magic into the room by paying homage to her writing skills with a flawless rendition of her grammy winning song 'Thinking Out Loud'.

Luke later introduced Ciaran Algar onto the stage to accompany him on a new song 'I'll be on my way' and another song normally sung with Amy, 'Finding Home'.

It was hard to believe that these guys did not play together every night, yet had in fact hastily rehearsed these songs in 'the green room' earlier in the evening.

Bringing the evening to a close, Luke returned to the stage one last time, to perform a jaw dropping version of Foy Vance's 'Make it Rain'.