A sell –out audience packed Pizza Express in Soho to witness Acantha Lang’s debut at the venue, the performance that she delivered was worthy of a much larger venue.
My wife and I first saw Acantha perform when she made a cameo appearance on October 22nd 2017 at the 606 club during a Wayne Hernandez performance. She only sang one song but it was enough to make us realise that she was a very talented singer, before this show we had seen Acantha perform six times.
Acantha was born and raised in New Orleans and having spent time in New York she is now based in London. (Great news for the UK!) Her music is a mixture of Blues and Soul with a hint of jazz and a few other genres. The New Orleans influence is there too with an outstanding brass section within her band. (Dave and Ricky Mian)
The small venue music circuit is full of very talented artists, I would rate Acantha as one of the very best. Acantha has a great voice, is an excellent song-writer and is a charismatic performer with some sass. The combination of these talents ensures that every performance is of high quality
The show opened with ‘Voodoo Woman’ which set the standard for the night. The two sets were a mixture of covers and Acantha’s own songs including at least two that she has not performed in public before.
The passing and loss of Aretha Franklin was remembered with a first set rendition of ‘Angel’ which was followed in the second by renditions of ‘Daydreamin’, ‘I say a little prayer’ and ‘The House That Jack Built’. Acantha used Janette Mason’s ‘D’ranged’ version of ‘I Say a Little Prayer’ and the result was stunning.
Acantha sang many of her own songs, all of which were superb. Generally her songs have positive messages like ‘Keep On’ which urges us all to persevere. My personal favourite is ‘Breathe’, one of the slowest songs of the night which I always find very moving, it is my favourite new 2018 song written by anyone. One of the new self-penned songs was ‘Lois Lang’ which was written for Acantha’s Mum who was in the audience watching her in London for the first time. Acantha said that having her Mum in the audience made her more nervous than normal, it did not show, I feel sure that Mum was very proud. The song had a humorous side with Superman references made.
Acantha closed the first set with her own ‘Ride This Train’ and the second with ‘Mighty Mighty’. We all certainly had a ball and I feel sure that those riding Acantha’s train for the first time will be riding the train all over again. Acantha was supported by a great band featuring Emlyn Francis on guitar, the Mian brothers, keyboards, bass and Mike Horne on drums together with two backing singers.
Any lover of good music should go and see Acantha perform, she is super talented. I am certainly looking forward to the next time.
Johns London Music Reviews 