On Saturday 15th July I was lucky enough to see Stevie Parker live at The Cookie in Leicester. This is a brilliant little venue with a bar on the top floor and the basement has been converted into a room for live gigs to be played. This dimly lit underground creates a vibe that you wont get at any other venue, a vibe that you only get when you watch documentaries of bands like Oasis and U2 playing in tiny little venues before they were famous. I saw Slaves here last year on their 'Back in The Van Tour' but this couldn't have been any different. A lot less sweaty and A LOT less mental, but still fantastic nonetheless. Stevie has such a unique voice in that I think I actually preferred her live than I do on the CD, that's how amazingly she performs live. I don't think I've ever seen someone live where I thought to myself "I'd love to have this released on CD" and that was such an incredibly unique thing to feel at a gig.
As many of you know, I've been a huge fan of Stevie Parker since the first time I played her debut album The Cure, and I was even lucky enough to interview her. And it was such a pleasure to see songs such as Blue, Without You, Prey and Stay. Songs that I've grown to love since the albums release and songs that I've yearned to see performed live. What made this gig even more special was that it was so intimate, as it's such an exclusive venue. Not to mention all of this experience came at the grand cost of nothing! A free concert that was this good! As Stevie only has a debut album and an EP the set wasn't long but she was still on for circa 40 minutes and that was all she needed to produce an banging set full of potential stadium fillers. After the gig Stevie invited everyone to the merch stand where she was selling vinyl and signing it for whomever wished to have it signed, thoroughly recommend going to see Stevie Parker if you get chance, it was brilliant!