Nick Baker AKA Macwood Fleet reviews Nick Heyward in concert July 2023.

In what gig would you find Bunty Gunn, Barry Manilow, Flowers, Rock Bastards and Mudlarking all getting an honourable mention. Only one place I can think of, and that’s in a Nick Heyward gig.
Now, if you’re a Nick fan, or have seen him live before, you’ll know which way Nick’s mind works. He’s like a mental sponge. You can almost see the synapses firing in his eyes as his mind flits from one thing to the next like a butterfly on speed. He really is a unique individual. When you see him live or even speak to him you can see where the imagery, often very English, in his songs comes from.
After an excellent reception to his acoustic tour at the Acapela last year Nick has decided to play 2 nights in the venue this year. As I was there for both, I shall treat both nights as one review for the Blog.
This time Nick has gone electric and brought his Gibson and his Gretsch along with an acoustic for what will be a mainly electric performance. This time he is accompanied by Samer Sharawi on Bass/Backing Vocals and Sian Monaghan on Drums & Percussion who were excellent throughout and showed what energy and dynamism can be achieved with just three instruments in the time honoured tradition of trios such as The Police, The Jam, Cream etc.

Over the 2 nights, Nick only had a couple of changes so basically we had a full 2 hours plus per night of his greatest hits. A wise decision which paid dividends in crowd participation.I’ll nail my colours to the mast right now and say that Nick is my favourite singer/songwriter and has been since I first heard him strike a chord on the debut Haircut100 release.

So he kicks off with his second solo single from his debut album, 1993’s North Of A Miracle but with a twist. Shorn of it’s horns it turns into a bluesy almost Bossa Nova version.

To read the full review – click here