It’s difficult to categorise the Adia Victoria sound and that’s a good thing. At its heart its blues but slowed down with a country soul feel to showcase Adia’s smoky ‘Macy Grayesque’ vocals. A stripped back show tonight with just a keyboardist and an additional guitarist and tiny box knob twiddler, (apologies I have no idea what the musical term for this device is). They have been are over in Europe supporting Calexico/Iron and Wine but sadly not the London date on Saturday for visa reasons, so we made sure we took this opportunity to see her tonight.
The set is taken mainly from her last release, this year’s rather excellent ‘Silences’ with a few oldies thrown in along with a couple of new songs, ssshhh, don’t tell Atlantic Records, and they more than stand up with the back catalogue.
Adia is an assured confident performer on stage although she retains a fragility that sucks you in as you dive into that swampy bluesy pool and let those sounds envelop you and drag you down into that murky musical water.
A joyous evening is had with the three of them especially the interaction with the keyboard player and I can’t wait to see her again hopefully with a full band in tow to further add depth to the sound.
Highlights tonight include a great slowed down super melodic version of ‘Mexico Blues’ and a superb cover of Gillian Welch’s ‘Elvis Presley Blues’.
Till the next time keep on swampy blues rockin y’all