Such is the familiarity of this venue to Stacie, there was very little need for any formal introductions and she must have been thrilled by the number of tee shirts baring her face and name in the audience. In return, Stacie and her Almighty band treated folks to a near two hour performance of ear splitting blistering roots rock spanning the blues, heavy and classic sound. The trademark cowboy hat barely lasted half a dozen songs as the girl from Nashville Tennessee rocked with sheer energy, exuberance and loud voluminous sound.
It is statistically safe to say that Stacie is not the most
prolific of recording artists and prefers to inject her passion into the live experience.
Up until this month, there have only been two albums pushed to the forefront of
her DIY marketing with there being a marked difference between listening to the
recorded Stacie and being in her presence in a live venue. Visually and audibly
on record, there is ample evidence of her country roots, yet these almost get
blown away in a wave of a rock rush on stage putting her really on the distant
edge of Americana.
Be prepared for a handful of interesting covers at a Stacie
Collins show. ‘If You Wanna Get to Heaven’
and ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You
Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)’ are two regular songs to frequent a Stacie Collins
set list with husband Al providing vocals on the first one and both numbers
reflecting the rock influences of the band. Just prior to the encore, Stacie
employed a new finale to her show since the last visit with a highly charged
montage of ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’, ‘Shakin’
All Over’ and ‘Folsom Prison Blues’
to rock the venue to its foundations.
Alongside Stacie, the promotion has brought three other
intrinsically linked bands to the Musician this year. Al’s other band Jason and
the Scorchers played a sensational sold out gig in July, and that band’s
guitarist Warner E Hodges returned for a solo billed show in September. Also
Dan Baird and the Homemade Sin visit in December and a song of theirs was
celebrated during the set as well as a rousing version of the Scorchers ‘If Money Talks’.
A Stacie Collins live show is not for the faint hearted and
this evening’s gig had a more profound rock ring to it especially as two of her
better songs which reflect a slightly different sound in ‘Lucky Spot’ and ‘It Hurts to
Breathe’ were surprisingly omitted to make way for the new material. However
this did not hold back the majority of the audience from lapping up the continual
stream of up tempo rock ‘n’ roll as the evening unfolded. Without any sign of
the ailments that have slightly affected previous shows in Leicester, Stacie
Collins was on top form and once again displayed all the traits of an artist blazing
a trail on the live circuit with a raw, authentic and high octane fuelled
sound. Long may she blow a mean harp, wrap her worn vocals around a bunch of
energetic songs and play music both steeped in history and able to retain
timeless relevance.