Seemingly on a never ending tour, one of the UK's most exciting Blues Rock bands, Brave Rival, returned to the Garden of England last Thursday evening at Chislehurst's The Beaverwood, as well as it being just their sixth show since the recent surprise departure of vocalist Chloe Josephine, with the new look four-piece being supported by London based Rock Pop quartet Star Circus.

Last minute's replacement's for Ramblin' Preachers, who have recently decided to take a well-earned sabbatical, the strength of tonight's undercard was well and truly maintained with the inclusion of Star Circus, who have previously been on our radar since 2022, making a big impression with two of their 'Separate Sides' Melodic Rock debut album tracks featured as our Tracks Of The Day. Formed in 2019, and spearheaded by guitarist/vocalist Dave Winkler, who has toured with Bow Wow Wow and Ryan Hamilton, the quartet also featured "alternative model" Sophie Aurélia Young on bass guitar, Santiago Periotti guesting on guitar and Reuben O'Donoghue on drums.

Kicking off with a few early "hey-heys" to the fist-pumping riff of 'Over & Over', fedora-hatted Periotti's opening guitar solo also augured all is well with this newbie, no doubt destined for this year's sophomore album release. "Welcome To The Party!" added the likeable Winkler, as he introduced 'Times Get Tough', a riff that not only reminded me of another great Rock band, unPeople (check them out), but also saw another excellent solo from Santiago, despite suffering a busted guitar string.

Now fully repaired, it was time for two further tracks from their debut album, as well those aforementioned Tracks Of The Day, namely their very apt Zombie video, 'Just Like In A Movie', with both its distinctive Thin Lizzy vibe plus some great backing vocals from the purple haired Sophie, backed up by the head bangin' 'Bridges', an opportunity for Dave to demonstrate that he could also play a mean (left-handed) guitar.

Sporting a trilby hat as well as Hendrix t-shirt, O'Donoghue's cow bell intro to another from 'Separate Sides', the fast paced 'Love Is The Enemy', was apparently their first ever single, which in turn was followed by the dual guitar attack and pounding drums of 'Chained To You', a much more recent single, and another shoe-in for the new album.

Right on cue, playing their next single 'One Hit Wonder', this was the first time they had performed it as a four-piece, which had both a McFly vibe plus some more great backing vocals from Young, whose exceptional bass line on their penultimate, oldie but a goodie, 'Before The Song Is Over', before saving their best for last, with both their debut album opener and set closer, 'Save Your Life'. For fans of Queen, Cheap Trick and Thin Lizzy, you simply cannot miss this outfits's melodies, so make sure you get your Rock arses along to see them when they support Will Wilde at London's The 100 Club on Tuesday 4th March.

Indeed, the last time I praised the fast-rising Brave Rival, was as a six-piece at this very same venue back in July 2022, just two months after they released their highly acclaimed debut album, 'Life’s Machine', as well as having been nominated as “Best Emerging Blues Artist Of The Year” in that year's UK Blues Awards. Just over two years later they released their second album, 'Fight Or Flight', duly showcasing the band’s evolution one month later with a launch show at London's Dingwalls.

Fast forward then to last November and the news that Chloe had understandably decided to step away from the band for good to focus on her family, with her final show, very poignantly, being just before Christmas, in the band's hometown of Portsmouth at The Wedgewood Rooms. Once again, infamously bumping into yet another artist in the Beaverwood's Gents before a show, lead guitarist Ed "The Shred" Clarke confirmed to me that there would be no keyboards tonight, so it would be Ed, plus the engine room of drummer Donna Peters and the bearded, shades wearing, bassist Billy Dedman, as well as Lindsey Bonnick, now taking over all vocal duties.

"Hello everybody - are you ready for us?" teased the fedora hatted Lindsey as they opened their fifteen-song set with their high adrenalin, funky riff driven opener and second single from 'Life's Machine', 'Heart Attack', of which this fan favourite only highlighted the aforementioned tight and crunchy playing of Peters and Dedman, but also the first, and by no means the last, powerhouse vocal from Bonnick. "Are You With Me?" continued Lindsey, the response being a definitive yes, with the audience duly wooing and clapping along to the opener from their latest album, 'Bad Choices', with it's combination of vocals and riff 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!

"You smell good!" Bonnick complemented the very healthy looking Beaverwood turn out tonight, cue the gut punching Rock anthem, 'Secrets', and yet another awesome vocal and guitar solo from 'Life's Machine'. Lindsey then introduced the emotional, Bluesy, "Fight Or Flight' closer, 'Stars Upon My Scars', as well as joking about being "back in this wedding tent again!" We then witnessed one of the stand out moments from the gig, as "The Shred" launched into a wonderful Bonamassa-esque guitar solo, with Bonnick departing the stage to give Clarke a well deserved spotlight, which culminated in Ed lifting up his guitar with a poignant message on the back dedicated to the much missed Matt Long.

Another established riff pleaser, 'What’s Your Name Again', with it's Floyd sounding guitar intro and echoing vocals went down a storm, as did Lindsey's gargantuan vocal, before the band slowed things down with their only cover of the night, Sheryl Crow's 'Run Baby Run', a ballad that gave 'The Shred' yet another opportunity to excel with a delicious solo.

'Stand Up', another classy song from 'Fight Or Flight', saw Lindsey finally address the elephant in the marquee, as she movingly spoke about not only Chloe's departure, but also some very surprising social media negativity following its announcement. Hence the importance of this "keep calm and carry on" anthem, which they despatched accordingly with aplomb, thanks to another classic solo from The Shred, as well an outstanding vocal from Bonnick.

Carrying on the theme of moving forward, Ed's driving Fleetwood Mac vibe on 'Run + Hide', also featured the pounding drums of Donna on this adrenaline fuelled, high energy and catchy as hell banger, which was equally matched by Billy's intricate bass intro on the raucous, anthemic, 'Sink Or Swim'. "Time to get sexy now!" announced Lindsey, as the sassy vocalist managed to get all her "beavers" woo woo wooing along to 'Fight Or Flight's 'On The Next Round', before the now shades wearing vocalist quizzed the audience as to, if they had a chance, what age would they go back to? The answer of course was 'Fight Or Flight's jumping 'Seventeen', that saw Clarke playing a wicked, ‘chopping’ riff before a massive chorus from Lindsey.

We were now on 'Thin Ice', with its funky, catchy, banging, heavy riff, fiery vocal and a chant of "You're no good for me", that unsurprisingly saw the whole of the marquee clapping along. With Peters now very aptly wearing Janis Joplin style shades, it was now time to 'Blame The Voices' with its 70s-like screaming guitar tone, complemented by Bonnick's vocal assault, as well as a great guitar outro solo from "The Shred". Lindsey's introduction to 'Heavy', explaining that she had a solo gig the following morning at an old people's home, got the biggest laugh of the night, given one grey-haired wag shouted out "No change there then" or words to that effect!

Seeing the funny side, but swiftly moving on, this well thought out Blues track with appropriate breaks and builds, saw Bonnick join the audience halfway through, admiring along with rest of us another classic Ed instrumental solo of course! After a quiet build-up, the encore 'Fairytale' was a tight, rockin' microcosm of an awesome set.

Earlier, Clarke admitted that the writing of the band's songs were based on dual vocals, however, for any Brave Rival virgins in the audience tonight, you would never have known, as Bonnick bravely grabbed the sole vocal spotlight with both hands, giving an unrivalled, standout performance. And as for their loyal Bravians, if they needed affirmation that this new-look Brave Rival has both a clear focus and a new rockier direction, then this was it. Indeed, the overriding message from the night, as the band very aptly exited The Beaverwood stage to a 1977 Fleetwood Mac classic, was just ignore the 'Rumours' and please 'Don't Stop'.

AJ

Photos: Les Linyard