Lucy Rose released her first album last year. It’s called ‘Like I used to” and it’s a great album. I’ve been listening to it almost non-stop since I bought it a few weeks ago and I’ve been looking forward to her gig at 53 Degrees ever since it was announced. One of the great things about this venue is the intimate surroundings and that intimacy was ideally suited for Lucy Rose and her band who had the Preston audience captivated with a great performance.

There was another dimension to the songs live, much rockier and judging by the new songs Lucy played last night she is very comfortable playing things a bit harder.

This is Lucy Rose’s first headline tour in the UK and she had the Preston audience captivated with favourite songs from the album and some great new material too. The vocals are delightful and the gentle songs from the album are mixed with more up tempo pace changes from the band on songs like Red Face.

The band were tight but all eyes were on Lucy Rose. There’s something really special about this artist. She has a great connection with her audience and finds time to engage in conversation at various points in the show, quite charming. No one wanted the night to end but it did with a three song encore which included the latest single Shiver – a really beautiful song which gets better every time you hear it. I did feel they overdid the echo on Lucy’s voice at times but that perhaps nitpicking.

If you get chance to see Lucy live, don’t miss it. This was a great night at 53 Degrees and I’m just hoping she returns to Preston soon.

Paul Melling Photography