Flo Wilkes Gig Review

By Adesewa Yusuff

Hello everyone, welcome to my  blog post! Very exciting stuff! I am so happy to be writing a review on my dear friend's gig Flo Wilkes! On Friday 23rd February Flo headlined her first solo gig at Nell’s Jazz and Blues in West Kensington. The venue was nice, quaint but elegant. The floor area was quite spacious with a select number of chairs and tables and a seating area to the left side of the back. Flo had 3 opening acts lined up, Malachy Mcevoy, Frankie and Don’t Look Now. Malachy was the first to go on at quarter to 8. I quite enjoyed his songs and voice was similar to that of Hozier and Jeff Buckley. He was quite nervous, which I don’t think he should’ve been as he is very talented. 

Next up was Frankie and you could tell that she was very comfortable up on stage. She switched a lot between the keyboard and her guitar, she had a drummer and a bassist alongside her. She did a cover of ‘Valerie’ by the late Amy Winehouse which was just incredible and I particularly was dancing along and vibing to the song and of course her songs. A song of hers I particularly enjoyed was unfortunately unreleased but it does come out in 2 days! Which I will be keeping an eye out for!

Last but definitely not least was Don’t Look Now, and my goodness… The lead singer's stage presence was unmatched; the entire band knew what they were doing and the good vibes were there. Like Frankie, Don’t Look Now did a cover of the wonderful Amy Winehouse song ‘Back To Black’ and by putting their own twist on it, they made it a mixture of rock, jazz and soul. This was a band who has been on the stage many times before and knew exactly what they were doing.

Now was time for the main act herself, Flo Wilkes. The talented Miss Flo Wilkes. I said to my editors that I would make this review as unbiased as possible which is what I have done, but when I tell you Flo Wilkes is someone to look out for. Her transition from soft, sad ballad to rock powerhouse heartbreak anthem was a switch that was so right for her. I particularly enjoyed her Kings of Leon cover of Use Somebody. Not only did it have everyone bopping about but during the song we had some people get on the shoulders of others and I felt like I was at a festival. Another cover I enjoyed was Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish. Being a big Billie Eilish fan I was screaming my heart out (and those videos will never see the light of day)

My only qualm with this show was how anti-social the crowd was, and I particularly felt for the opening acts who did the best they could given the circumstances. There’s always a two-way relationship with gigs or concerts if the crowd isn’t giving 100%, why should the artist? And vise-versa. If an artist says dance - you should dance! Not only will you feel good but it will let the artist know that you are having fun and enjoying their set. Despite this I loved every single artist that was out that night, they are all brilliantly talented people, and I think will be names to look out for in the future.

I hope you enjoyed my review, and make sure to check out my interview with Flo Wilkes and my vlog of the gig @theabcon on TikTok!

That’s all from me and I will see you in the next review! Ok, love you, bye!