WORDS AND IMAGES BY JAMES WOOLLEN
This evening was my first time visiting the iconic Leadmill in Sheffield main room as a reviewer, The Leadmill has hosted the likes of Pulp, Coldplay, Oasis, The Killers, Queens Of The Stone Age, Culture Club, The Housemartins, Suede, The Strokes, Lewis Capaldi, The White Stripes, The Stone Roses, Manic Street Preachers, George Ezra, Primal Scream, Manic Street Preachers, Muse, and is currently under threat please sign the Save The Leadmill petition HERE
But I was here for Brooke Coombe the main support act for Miles Kane UK tour. Brooke Coombe comes from the Scottish city of Edinburgh, she is 21 years old and a Multi Instrumentalist. She has flavours of 90s R,B, Motown, Fleetwood Mac and Amy Winehouse and she has recently signed to Island Records, i was really looking forward to this.
Brooke opened her proceedings with her latest single ‘A Game’ which is so soulful, with a swaggering rhythm, hypnotizing hooks and beautifully smoky soulful textured vocal. It was very impressive and the audience seemed to love it. It’s a full band performance tonight and the venue is slowly being flooded with the smooth sounds of a jazz/lounge/soul feel. The vocal is pure powerhouse – loud, strong and full, smooth and rich, like caramel. The songs that really stuck out for me were ‘Miss Me Now’ and a more than excellent cover of the Arctic Monkeys song, ‘ Why Do You Always Call Me When Your High’ which was a very brave move, considering we are in their hometown, but the performance of song was excellent, and brought the house down.
It is evident from the smiles on Brooke’s face that the lady was enjoying tonight, and the crowds reception to her music made that grin even wider. Coombs commands the stage and uses the available space to have a little boogie, communicating well with her backing band Coombes skills as a vocalist are wonderfully soulful, and reflect her musical influences grabbing the listeners attention, leaving them wanting to hear more. It is also nice to see female musician becoming successful in a very male dominated industry.
Brooke’s performance tonight was spectacular and over the moon that I had the opportunity to attend. I would recommend Brooke Coombe’s music to both fans of R,B and those people that like something a little different and special in a singer. My only critique on the night would be that Brooke only played a 30 minute set. A longer one would have been nice with maybe one or two acoustic numbers in the mix.
I look forward to more music and seeing Brooke Coombe headline her own tour hopefully sometime soon.
SET LIST
1/ A GAME
2/ KISS ME WHEN ITS RIGHT
3/ WHY DO YOU ALWAYS CALL WHEN YOUR HIGH
4/ IMPRESS ME
5/ HAERT ACHE
6/ MISS ME NOW
7/ OVER YOU
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
