We are now on to our fourth Retune show, and each one has been a treat. For July, we
welcomed New Zealander Penny Riviera, local favourite Elliot Porter, young St. Mary’s band
Sticks and Stones and spoken word artist Erin Golding. Once again, the night did not disappoint.
It was a warm summer evening (who knew the UK could have such a fine summer?!) but
nevertheless the event drew in a healthy crowd. We are starting to see some familiar faces that
turn up to every event, which is fantastic.
Retune founder Tom Ryder kicked the night off in the usual fashion by explaining what the project is all about. He then introduced Erin Golding to the stage. Erin is a prolific songwriter, and more recently has explored the medium of spoken word. She gave a stirring recital of four of her pieces of work, of which opener ‘Broken Generation’ was an immediate favourite. Erin had created an accompanying piece of artwork to illustrate this piece, a poignant representation of our society’s reliance on image, perception and gaining favour online. As transfixing as Erin’s poems were, the audience was equally impressed by how eloquent she was between songs, explaining her close links with the cause of wellbeing and mindfulness.
Next up were Sticks and Stones, hailing from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Bishop’s Stortford. The trio have bundles of raw talent, and know how to make some noise! The guitar playing and drumming was impressive, and they have a bright future ahead of them, finishing off with Oasis favourite Live Forever.
Elliot Porter is a very experienced singer and songwriter whose work has taken him all over the UK and overseas. Adept on both acoustic guitar and piano, his songs contain a great deal of honesty and authenticity. Elliot has been working on his debut album with producer Dave Gerard, and road tested some of the new material with the Retune audience. The response was overwhelmingly positive; Elliot has a distinctive tone to his vocal and a delicate falsetto.Our July headliner was Penny Riviera, who had brought her dog Yoda along to the show. Yoda is an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) so even he tied in to the theme well!
Alongside Penny’s spellbinding set it was very entertaining to watch Yoda run excitedly round the room. Penny has travelled all over the world and has spent extensive periods in Canada as well
as her native New Zealand and the UK. Her sound definitely has elements of country about it, not just in the sound of her vocal but also in terms of the strong lyrical messages contained in her songs. She was accompanied brilliantly by Tom Wright on acoustic guitar - we might well have to have Tom back on a future occasion to perform some of his original material.
Another belter of a Retune - roll on August!