Tapestry plus from the sensational Lewes Music Group, performing at the Grove Theatre Eastbourne on Wednesday 13th November 2024.
In the first half they performed songs of the era, starting with California Dreaming by the Mamas and the Papas and going on to include Mr Tambourine Man by the Byrds, Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Mitchell and finishing on a stupendous rendition of the Doors.
The second half was a play through of Carole King’s Tapestry album. What an album that is! The first three tracks are all brilliant: I Feel the Earth Move, So Far Away, and It’s Too Late. But then we hit the second side. We all sang along to the chorus of You’ve Got a Friend; the lead vocalist replaced the keyboard player to accompany herself on the piano for Will You Love Me Tomorrow? Which was hauntingly wonderful and the set was finished with the rousing chorus of A Natural Woman.
The encore was threefold. First we had Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell, then Carly Simon’s You’re so Vain and we finally finished with Pleasant Valley Sunday which, although a Monkees song, was written by Ms King.
The musicians were incredible. In the first half I didn’t get much from the keyboard (Ethan Holliman), but there were moments in the second half when his accompaniment of the vocals was perfection. The lead guitarist, Ben Thomas, was phenomenal, especially on the faster paced numbers such as the Doors piece and Pleasant Valley Sunday at the end. His microphone needed to be a little louder; I found it difficult to hear his backing vocals. The drums (Rick Jones) were perfect and the glockenspiel (Daniel Lauro) gave a real west coast vibe to so many of the songs. Hannah Nelson on bass guitar also sang accompanying herself on acoustic guitar as Joni Mitchell: she had that light high voice. The lead vocal, Alice Grace Oseman, was strong and gutsy and perfect for the Carole King numbers and You’re So Vain. The ensemble worked perfectly.
It was a superb night out.
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