Sarah Darling

Monday 2nd December, Union Chapel, London. Sarah Darling Christmas Show. It’s a chilly night in North London but as this is a church there’s ample supply of tea, coffee and hot chocolate. So, here’s a question when is it too soon for a Christmas Show. Well according to Sarah its not the 2nd December.

As always with the Union Chapel, you must get there early to get a decent seat and I don’t know why they can’t put rows and numbers on the pews like the Ryman and Opry do to avoid unnecessary holding of whole rows of seats as is often the case. Rant over.

Tonight’s show is a game of two halves with the first set concentrating largely on Sarah’s fine album ’Wonderland’ from this year with the second half taking in some Christmas classics along with more original material from Sarah. It’s also a UK country guest fest with Jamie Lawson, The Wandering Hearts and Ward Thomas appearing on stage throughout the night.

Onto the show and after a shaky start sound wise where the drums were all wrong and Sarah’s voice was too low in the mix the sound guy sorts this out and we are treated to five songs from the latest album. Sarah originally from Iowa and now, of course, Nashville resident doesn’t have what you would call a traditional country voice. There’s not much twang but at the low end it has hints of Steve Nicks added to some impressive top end vocals too. After the initial sound issues Sarah’s voice soars in this impressive room.

First guest is Jamie Lawson who does a couple of tracks. He has a self-deprecating charm and is apparently mates with Ed Sheeran, but he doesn’t live long in the memory for me and I’m not sure his version of ‘Hallelujah’ adds anything to the myriad of covers of that song out there. Ed’s note, obviously Jeff Buckley’s version is the best.

Next up we have in my opinion the UK’s finest country rock harmony band The Wandering Hearts and its been a very long year since their five star gig up the road at the Assembly Hall last November. After performing their best song ‘Burning Bridges’ Sarah joins them on stage for ’The Christmas Song’ where they can really showcase some sweet four-part harmonies until the break.

After the break we continue with some Darling originals before welcoming Ward Thomas on to the stage for a Joni cover of ‘River’ and The Macs ‘Landslide’. Its on this last track that the band get their groove on and the three leading ladies hit their vocal stride and fill the church from pews to the top of the dome with their beautiful harmonies.

Onto the Christmas segment proper with ‘Santa Baby’, ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’. Everyone loves a Christmas song even though we only waved November goodbye a couple of days ago. This particularly segment of the show ends with an acapella version of Silent Night without any mics to a completely rapt audience. It’s a hair tingling moment.

Its been a beautiful relaxing couple of hours with some great songs, great guests that help you forget the worries of the world temporarily and you cannot stop yourself smiling and leaving with a warm glow inside.

Till the next time keep on country rockin’ y’all

Another wonderful set from Sarah. I just wish it had been longer than the 20 minutes she was given as the other acts did nothing for me apart from allowing me to leave early during the last act.
With the four rows in front of me having over 60% of the seats empty I fail to understand how it can be claimed by SEE Tickets that they had offered me the Best Available seats! £30.50 for 20 minutes music is dreadful value for money when you are left sitting at the back of the stalls with so many seats empty.
I don't blame Sarah at all for this but will avoid SEE Tickets in future if that is the way they work.

Sarah Darling is a gorgeous singer and performer.She loves what she does and her warmth and enthusiasm spreads to the audience.She is a storyteller and has you captivated from start to finish.She is a very accomplished artiste but also very humble.She took time to speak to anyone who waited behind afterwards and if she comes back at would happily go and see her again.A treat and Liv Austen was great too.

What an amazing gig !! Sarah, Jenn and Michael complemented each other perfectly with a great mix of ballads and more up-tempo songs. And some great singalong moments!
I hope you come back to Birmingham soon Sarah !

Amazing, and simply amazing. Love the songs and the passion in her singing. Great voice and she very much engaged with all the audience. The band was wicked and the sound was epic.

A superb evening of beautiful songs by Sarah Darling with a nice mix of Sarah singing by herself and backed by her band. Liv Austen was the very enjoyable support act.