Well, the rise of Holly Humberstone is quite spectacular, to think she only put out a song on the net during lockdown and released her debut EP in November 2021. Winning the BRIT award for rising star in 2022, she has gone on to play the John Peel Stage at Glastonbury – we were there, and you obviously could see how much it meant to her as she actually broke down on the first number realising herself just how far she had come, before gathering herself and knocking it out of the park. Supporting some big names, which seems to be working as she is here at the Rock City with a sold-out crowd, and more impressively not just young ladies. Obviously, she has a large female following, but I did notice ladies and gents well over that age group in the crowd.

Holly switches between keyboard and guitar throughout the night, with an assured performance, although the slower numbers seemed a little lost, I put this down to the venue and sound to be honest. Well, the clue is in the name and tells you a lot, Rock City, but it certainly came to life with the more up-tempo numbers like ‘Falling Asleep at the Wheel’, ‘Deep End’, ‘Drop Dead’, ‘Sleep Tight’ and the finale ‘Scarlett’, which were all met with the accompaniment from the younger female attendees who knew all the words. With only a compilation album ‘Can You Afford To Lose Me?’ released so far she informs us that she has been working on an album, slowly due to touring a lot, but should be finished soon. So, we will have to wait to hear the newer stuff, but it seems to me that Holly Humberstone’s star will continue to grow.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe