Kendall Elise & The Belgraves Live Streaming Event May 29, 2020

Kendall Elise and her band The Belgraves treated fans to a live streaming event last night. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda was lucky enough to experience the show live in Kendall’s living room.

You’ve probably checked out a few live streaming performances during the past few weeks, for myself, I’ve watched Don McGlashan, Caitlin Smith and Burton Cummings perform solo from their respective living rooms. But this was a chance to see one of these events from behind the scenes. Kendall and her band (guitarist John Segovia, bassist Robert Scott, drummer Chris Kemp) set up their modest equipment in Kendall and Chris’ living room. There was no sound engineer, no massive PA, no crew or management, just four musicians and a handful of lucky family and friends. Incredibly, given the lack of gear, the sound of the show was just about perfect.

After hanging out and drinking a glass of wine or two, things got underway at 7:30pm. I should mention that this was the first of two sets with Kerryn Fields performing after Kendall from somewhere else in the country.

The four musicians began the 40 minute set with Valentine Street, a highlight from Kendall’s album, Red Earth, released just one year ago.  I don’t feel the need to describe the set in detail as you can watch and listen to it for yourself here:

https://www.facebook.com/kendallelisemusic/videos/2720106151536988/UzpfSTYxMzU2NjEyNzoxMDE1NzA2NDUzODI4MTEyOA/?q=nz%20music%20t%20shirt%20day%20live%20stream%20kendall%20elise%20%26%20kerryn%20fields&epa=SEARCH_BOX

Interestingly, the vibe was very similar to a night at The Wine Cellar. I was sitting just inches from Kendall as she and the band ran through seven tunes including Kendall’s solo cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark.

While all four performed admirably, I would be remiss not to mention John Segovia’s wonderful guitar playing. His lap steel work on The Clock Tower was beautiful and he generated some genuine rock and roll excitement on Black Dog and set closer Your Mama Don’t Like Me, a rollicking version of the Suzie Quatro classic.

The sound in the room warm and intimate and the performance hit many emotional high-points.

I couldn’t help thinking that this may be a type of live performance that could continue long after the current Covid crisis is over.

Marty Duda

Kendall Elise & The Belgraves set list:

  1. Valentine Street
  2. The Best Of Town And Country
  3. The Clock Tower
  4. Red Earth
  5. Dancing In The Dark
  6. Black Dog
  7. Your Mama Won’t Like Me