Gig review: CASSIDY PARIS – The Cavern, Raynes Park, London, 7 August 2024

Australian singer Cassidy Paris is almost a veteran at 21, having recorded her first EP at 16, and chalked up a fair few air miles since including to the UK. She’s played at various festivals and support slots but summer 2024 has seen an extensive headline tour up and down the country.

Only this show at Noel Nevin’s Cavern – fast becoming one of the leading London venues outside the Camden/Islington area – was free, though hopefully coffers were substantially swelled when the pub’s famous jug was passed round. Considering this I was surprised the place was only about half full, though to be fair a midweek in the peak holiday season is not ideal.

Hitting the stage in a black PVC-style dress, the first impression was how assured she is as a stage performer, mastering exactly the right tricks to engage the audience and with a personable manner even if she did perhaps address us as ‘Wimbledon’ a few times too many. She had a tight band consisting of the Rogowski brothers Tom and Alex on guitar and drums from the band Mad Haven, and Radio Sun and Wicked Smile member -and her Dad!- Steve Janevski on bass.

On opener ‘Midnight Desire’ her voice was somewhat drowned out by rather loud backing vocals but things settled down with ‘Addicted’ and the gig really hit its stride with ‘Song For The Broken Hearted’. The set was mainly originals from last year’s ‘New Sensation’ album but a cover of Joan Jett’s ‘I Hate Myself For Loving You’ suited her feisty style perfectly.

There was a bit of everything from the ballad ‘Stand’, ‘Danger’ which for much of the song I was convinced was a Vixen cover and ‘Like I Never Loved You’, with the vibe of nineties stars like Amanda Marshall and Meredith Brooks.

She would also add guitar from time to time, and ‘Here I Am’ had the hooks that could have made them US hit singles when the post-grunge sound was so huge. ‘Rock And Roll Hearts’ and ‘Searching For A Hero’ were more conventional melodic rock with big choruses, and though ‘Give Me Your L.O.V.E’ was less impressive, ‘Wannabe’ had some Avril Lavigne-style brattishness and another hook-filled gem in ‘Walking On Fire’ was one of my favourites of the night.

After a very enthusiastic response, she was brought back for an encore which I didn’t recognise but was a Paramore cover in ‘Misery Business’ (a top 20 hit both in the UK and US back in 2007, proving how out of touch I am!). With her band members she was then extremely willing to chat afterwards and seemed genuinely grateful for our support.

With her feet on the ground like this, a natural presence and raw talent to be developed further, expect Cassidy Paris to be playing much larger places than this in years to come.

Review and Photos by Andy Nathan

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)