On Monday, English band Eliza and the Bear headed to York and headlined The Duchess to a very passionate group of fans. They were joined on the road by Scottish singer-songwriter Michael Cassidy and Welsh duo Into The Ark.
By Jane Howkins
Photos by Andy Argyle
Michael Cassidy was up first, deftly playing his handwritten acoustic tunes to the audience. Michael was very good and certainly had potential, but sadly the crowd spent the majority of his set chatting to each other very loudly, despite most of them being at the front of the stage. However, Michael continued playing and managed to crack a couple of jokes, giving his all regardless of the attention paid to him by the audience.
Next up were Into The Ark, who received a greater reaction to their arrival, perhaps in part due to the relative youth of the fans gathered and the good looks of the duo. Their songs and on stage charisma more than matched their youthful appearance, with both Dane and Taylor playing guitar together and harmonising their vocals. Also impressive was the use of a harmonica during their set, which added a nice alternative sound to their acoustic music, alongside the backing tracks they used to accompany their songs.
After quite a lengthy break, headliners Eliza and the Bear took to the stage. The show was very busy, with the majority of the crowd seemingly either in their late teens or early twenties, and when the band took to the stage, the audience went wild. Unlike their
Michael Cassidy
support acts, there wasn’t much band interaction with the crowd until halfway through the show, with a few Valentine’s Day jokes being made.
The band’s set was well practised and polished, with songs like Brother’s Boat and the rather well known Light It Upbeing extremely popular. Near the end of the show, frontman James Kellegher made a point about how pretentious the concept of encores are, and then hilariously proceeded to do one anyway, with the band performing songsFriends and It Gets Cold afterwards to a rapturous audience.
Overall, an excellent trio of performers to look out for in the future!
Eliza and the Bear
Into the Ark
Michael Cassidy, Into the Ark and Eliza and the Bear played at The Duchess on Monday 15 February 2016