Gig review: CHEZ KANE- Camden Underworld, London, 24 May 2026

May 31st, 2026 by andynathan

The release of Chez Kane’s third album ‘Reckless’ has seen her most sustained burst of touring activity in the UK yet. Only a couple of months after some acoustic promotional shows (which this website reviewed in Kingston) was an extensive tour, but this time with all the energy of a full band. It was great to see, as most of the Welsh singer’s activity in the capital at least has been support slots, to Crazy Lixx, Sophie Lloyd (at this venue) and H.E.A.T, and I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the turnout. Thankfully on a baking hot day the Underworld’s air conditioning was working a treat, even if the lighting made photography as much a challenge as ever.

With an early start and 10pm finish, unfortunately I only caught the final two thirds of Star Circus. Frontman, and my old buddy, Dave Winkler now has a new guitar partner in Joel Chalk who exchanged twin leads on ‘Chained to You’, while ‘Gina In a Bottle’ reminded me of Cheap Trick or even Willie Dowling’s eighties outfit The Grip.

The impression I got was that they were moving even further down a Thin Lizzy route with one guitar harmony break after another, be it on new songs like ‘Destiny’s Dawn’, one of the heaviest they have written, or old material like ‘Before the Song is Over’. ‘Last Dance’ ended a set from a band who seem to get better and better every time I see them, and pick up more new fans.

Chez Kane’s whole schtick is based around her love of the eighties that she is too young to remember, which took a new twist with an intro tape of ‘The Kids From Fame’ with ‘Chez’ shouted over the top. Sporting a body suit like the one whose presence on the ‘Reckless’ album cover seems to have caused such a stir, she opened with ‘Personal Rock’n’Roll’ and I was pleased to see a keyboard player in the headband wearing Oscar Charlton, as I wondered how the line up would cope with the more keyboardsy nature of some of the new songs.

Then surprisingly early came the big choruses of ‘Too Late For Love’ and another debut album favourite in ‘All Of It’. The more melodic ‘I Just Want You’ was classic female fronted AOR in the mould of Vixen, Fiona or Robin Beck, while she fairly belted out a couple of real feel good numbers in ‘Love Tornado’ and ‘Nationwide’.

She has assembled an excellent band with two guitarists who have been there from the start in James Ready and Harry Scott Elliott, also of Tyketto, whose flashy solos were particularly prominent in the first half of the set. However on ‘Midnight Rendezvous’ they took it a stage further with Oscar coming forward to form a triple guitar attack. Chez came over as very personable in her between song intros and the enthusiasm of both her and the band members was infectious.

‘Body Rock’ could not have screamed more 1980’s, while ‘Better Than Love’, apparently the first number songwriter Danny Rexon presented to her, harked back to the opening part of the decade and the melodic stylings of Pat Benatar or Quarterflash. She played two of my favourite songs from the new album back to back in the title track, classic AOR with its keyboard intro and big chorus, and ‘Night of Passion’, adding some dance influences to the mix, not unlike the classic Device ‘22B3’ album.

The set did get a little samey for a while with ‘Strip Me Down’ and ‘Love Gone Wild’, the latter enlivened by a fine solo from the shape pulling James, who as the night wore on seemed to be getting a greater share of the solos, with a slightly less polished and more rock n roll style compared to Harry.

‘Get It On’ got a great response before a final newbie in the saucy ‘Tongue of Love’, ending with a scream from Chez worthy of Ann Wilson. An hour and 20 minute set devoid of any padding whatever ended with a couple of old favourites, ‘Rocket On the Radio’ with those absolutely massive melodic hooks and the altogether heavier ‘Powerzone’. Over six minutes Harry and James soloed ever faster, first in turn and then together.

It ended a set of the very highest quality in which the new songs have significantly added to her repertoire, and with that encouraging turnout, hopefully Chez Kane will be graduating to more arena-worthy stages than this.

Review by Andy Nathan

Photos by Paul Clements

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Power Plays w/c 25 May 2026

BABY JANE Midnight Highway (Sped Up) (indie)
ASTRAL ROCKS The Flame In Me (Astral Rocks Prodns.)
INDIGO SYNDICATE dwn4smr (indie)
THE SKBS The Prying Eye (indie)
AGAINST THE CURRENT Dead Man Walking (indie)
ICONIC Tears Keep On Falling (Frontiers)

Featured Albums w/c 25 May 2026

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003 – 2025 (Singer Songwriter)

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