Wednesday evening quickly came and I rushed home after work to get ready and get myself to the venue - The Gibson Guitars Studio. I arrived around 6.15pm, doors were to open at 7. There were already a handful of people in front of me and soon many more people began to arrive. They began to let people in just after 7 and as I got up to the front, a woman asked for my name (it felt cool to be on a guest list!), crossed off my name and let me into the venue where I was given a wristband. We waited downstairs for about 5 mins before they told us to go upstairs to the room where the showcase would be.
Walking into the room, it felt very small and laid back. There was a free bar ( I treated myself to some wine) and people were going around with mini hot dogs and burgers (very Amercan!). I went over to chat to some people I had met before/spoken to on twitter for a few minutes before going closer to the stage. There I met some girls that were also on their own. We spoke about how much we loved country music, Taylor Swift, C2C etc.
It wasnt long before The Shires manager (I think - they called him their boss, so I assume it was their manager) came on stage to introduce the first guest, The Shires. Now just to be clear, I had only heard The Shires single Nashville Gey Skies which I thought was amazing (I'm not one to listen to British country artists and I was eager to hear more of their music). Well let me tell you they did not disappoint, they came out on stage and explained that they had been in Nashville and Swedan working on their new album and that it was nice ot be performing live again. They started off their set with Brave followed by Nashville Grey Skies, an upbeat song that has been recently added to the 'A' list at BBC Radio 2, a huge achievement! The crowd were all singing along and you could tell that Ben and Chrissie were excited that so many people were singing along. I just wanna Love You was the third song performed, which was a beautiful song performed on the piano. Their last song was Tonight. The Shires entire set was great, having only heard one song before, I am now a fan and cannot wait for their album to be released, I know its going to be absolutely fantastic and I am so proud that a country duo with so much talent has come from little old England!
Next up was Cassadee Pope, I first heard of Cassadee from the Voice and having followed her journey throughout that show and seen her grow as an artist I was really excited to finally see her perform live in my own city. Cassadee opened her set with Champagne, an upbeat song and the second track on her debet album, Frame by Frame out in the UK on Monday 19th May. Cassadee spoke to the crowd and told us that she was glad to be back in London. Her next song was 'I wish I could break your heart' which is her UK debut single. Next up was '11' - my personal favourite. 11 is a song that Cassadee wrote with Nathan Chapman, the song is about her parents divorce. I have a huge connection with this song and I was so glad that she was performing it (I had actually tweeted only hours before that I wanted her to sing 11).The song was quite an emotional one and there were tears in my eyes when she sang it, it's actually incredible how much a song can touch you. After the performance Cassadee told the crowd how much it meant for her that we were singing along to such a personal song and that she might cry - there were definitely tears in her eyes. You could tell her overwhelmed she was that so many people were singing along with her throughout the entire showcase even though her album hasnt been released yet. Her final song was her debut US single 'Wasting All These Tears', the crowd sang along to every word! It was a great song to end the set. Cassadee thanked us again for coming, that she would be out to say hi and told us that she would be back later this year.
After the set we all waited around talking about how incredible it was, I had no idea that Cassadee was already out saying hi to fans and that she was right behind us. She spent a good few minutes with each person and genuinely wanted to listen to what each person had to say. When I went over to say hi, she thanked me for coming to which I replied, no thank you for coming over here and allowing fans to come to the show - she joked about how many people where there and said she was excited to have fans over here even if there was only like 7 (which is definitely not true, there are soooooooo many!). I explained to her how much 11 meant to me and that I had literally been through the same thing, she seemed really touched by this and said that she is glad it has helped me and to know that I am not alone among other things. After we spoke for a few mins I asked her if I could get a selfie with her, she was all up for it and told me that it was best to face the lights to get the best lighting - she definitely knows her stuff!! I then got a full photo with her too. Cassadee was told that she needed to have some record label pictures taken and so she told us if we didnt have to go home so soon, to wait outside and she will come down and say hi before she had to go. By this point the room had gotten very empty and there were only a few people left.We got our stuff, went outside and Cassadee was already there - she must have taken the short cut! We all chatted and she signed for us all and took more photoss.I told her that her baby cousin (she had instagrammed a couple of pictures of him the day before) was the cutest and she began to tell us all about him and how they his family had moved to England from the states and he now has a 'cute British accent' and began to imitate him - it was the cutest! We spoke for a bit longer and decided to get a group picture. Cassadee shouted 'thumbs up everyone' - her signiture pose ;) A friend of mine shouted 'I havent got any thumbs' to which Cassadee was like WHAT?? He explained he was holding too much stuff to do thumbs up - it was hilarious, a you had to be there moment!haha
 |
| "Thumbs up everyone" The group picture outside the venue |
The whole night was magical, both The Shires and Cassadee are going to do so well in the country music industry here in the UK and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for both of them.
Make sure that you grab your copy of Frame by Frame on Monday 19th May.Songs to check out on the album - Champagne, Wasted All These Tears, 11, Easier To Lie, You Hear A Song.
To check out any more pictures from that night go to my instagram page http://instagram.com/chantellehussey#
