It has been a long time since I last saw Deborah Bonham play at my friends funeral, and I have met her since, but this was the first time I have actually seen her “live", doing a proper set! Opening with 'See You Again', a proper Blues stomper, before diving straight into 'See What You’re Doin’, this was followed by a slight homage to the man himself, namely 'Bleeding Muddy', that saw guitarist Peter Bullick duly put himself firmly into focus with a wonderful deep Blues solo outro. Once again Bullick held the fore with more tasteful solos on 'What It Feels', 'I Need Love', 'Grace' and 'Thunder', plus Bonham very much at the top of her game, as her band closed out playing 'Train', 'No Angel' and 'Nobody’s Gonna ..'. A worthy opening to tonight's proceedings!

Now on to the act that everyone was there to see, and the launch of Brave Rival's second album, 'Fight Or Flight'. It’s fair to say that I have seen them a few times and I have always been impressed, despite the fact that two female vocalists can, and will always compete, but Chloe Josephine and Lindsey Bonnick complement each other very well.

Opening with 'Blame The Voices' and a screaming guitar tone, the show kicked into full swing, with a blended twin vocal assault, as well as a great guitar outro solo. 'Seventeen', another excellent track off the new album, saw guitarist Ed Clarke playing a wicked, ‘chopping’ riff before a massive chorus from Chloe and Lindsey, duly reminding us that we were all seventeen once! Next up was the opener from the latest album, 'Bad Choices', with it's combination of guitar and vocals setting up the track for a rockin' guitar solo outro from Clarke, proving once again that they don't call him Ed "The Shred" for nothing!

As the crowd roared appreciatively, it was then back to familiar territory and 'Heart Attack', a fan favourite that has always gone down well, and tonight was no exception. It was then back to the new album closer, the Bluesy 'Stars Upon My Scars', with it's emotional vocals, before returning to another established crowd pleaser, 'What’s Your Name Again', which unsurprisingly went down a storm! The see-sawing continued with another new album track, 'Insane', with some delightful powerful Bluesy vocals, just to back it up for good measure.

Another oldie but a goodie, 'Guilty Love', preceded 'Five Years On', another strong track from the new album about the trials and tribulations of trying to make it in the "business", which brought down the tempo with some excellent heart-felt vocals and harmonies. 'Run And Hide' upped the tempo again, before showcasing the new addition to the band, Jonny Henderson's Hammond Organ on 'Unravelling', who also played keys on the new album.

'Stand Up', another classy song from the new album, saw Will Wilde with his trusty harmonica, guest on stage, complemented by another classic solo from The Shred, as well as some more outstanding vocals from Josephine and Bonnick. Another vocal power duet that really worked, after a quiet build-up, was the penultimate 'Fairytale', followed by the show closer, 'Heavy', a well thought out track with the appropriate breaks and builds, plus one final classic Ed solo of course!

Well not quite. They then deservedly returned for a great rendering of 'Sink Or Swim' to bring the evening to a raucous close, letting The Shred off the reins for one final time! An excellent way to spend a chilly evening in North London and well done to the band on a brilliant album launch!

Tim Russell