Willie J Healey puts on a show to remember at SWX in Bristol
The Oxfordshire performer wooed the Bristol crowd.
Photo: Press
Oxfordshire-born singer-songwriter Willie J Healey has just finished his UK bound tour and boy did he deliver. Playing tracks from his most recent release from late Summer Bunny: a beautiful, soulful record that puts Willie even more firmly on the radar of many a music head.
The experimental nature of Bunny also comes through in his live set as Willie isn’t one to shy away from putting on a great performance. To get the crowd warmed up, indie five-piece FEET started proceedings with an energetic, dance-fuelled set with lead singer George parading around clutching a tambourine and radiating his energy across the room. Playing a range of tracks from their latest release What’s Inside is More than Just Ham, a personal standout is the comical yet ever so catchy Dog Walking. FEET were the perfect accompaniment to Willie’s tour, a band that are on the cusp of something special and yet perfectly complement the continual high energy vibes that was set to follow with Willie and his band.
Bowie’s Fame played out to dimmed lights before Willie graced the stage with the opener for the evening Bumblebee, which he later confessed as his favourite from the album. We were in the presence of someone who has really honed their craft to a tee — which is visible from the stage presence alone. The smooth soulful tones of Willie’s voice make his live set sound just as crystal clear as it is on the album. A quick Q&A happened between songs with Willie expressing his love for Bristol, having recorded most of Bunny in the city as well building excitement up when asked about a possible Glasto appearance which Willie began jokingly breaking out into a playful sing-a-long.
His love for Bristol was certainly felt during Thank You which he had linked up with pal Jamie T on, where a prolonged instrumental broke out and with Willie nowhere to be seen until you’d scanned the room to be greeted by him hugging almost everyone in the crowd. Everyone was in the palm of his hands that night and, with the set feeling and sounding so effortless, it was hard not to be. Bluebird and Black Camaro allowed for more sways than dancing but the slow, soft almost sensual tones to these two tracks were very much welcomed in between all the 70s-esque bass.
Bunny itself almost feels like you’re stepping into the honeymoon phase of a new blossoming relationship, the whole album evokes so much pure joy that is found in and around that time, you can almost feel the butterflies when listening to each uplifting track. After switching up the tempo with some welcomed slower tracks, Willie brought the momentum up again with Dreams; the whole venue could have easily just broken into a dancefloor with Willie and his band serenading with elongated instrumentals.
Fashun ended the night but, to my dismay, the last train back was calling my name. That’s a personal highlight from the album Twin Heavy and such a solid choice of a track to finish on. This gig is one that will stay in my memory for quite some time purely down to the sheer level of talent that we were lucky enough to bless our eyes and ears with. The passion, the evolution and the constant stream of new and exciting material that keeps coming from Willie is a sight to behold and in this day and age can be few and far between so for that I am thankful.
