Words and Pictures: Dave Martin / Faversham Photography
As I approached the Underworld early, the queue for the event was already wrapped far around the corner of the World’s End pub. As I waited at the front of the line to receive my accreditation, I started talking to the fans, some of whom had been queuing for four hours already and some having traveled hundreds of miles to see Lloyd’s inaugural appearance presenting her own material. Upon entry, I made my way to the front of the stage where I encountered the fans who had paid for VIP and they were waxing lyrical about how friendly and nice Lloyd had been during the meet and greet before the show. This was my first time photographing the 500 capacity venue and what struck me instantly was just how close you were to the artists when they were on stage, providing an intimate atmosphere that is not always found at venues these days.
Opening for Lloyd was Welsh rocker Chez Kane, former singer of family band Kane’d. The 80’s styled artist provided that 80’s era rock sound that featured elements that include influences from artists such as Def Leppard and Joan Jett. The music took the older members of the crowd down memory lane with tracks like opening song “Too Late for Love”. The set drew upon both of her albums “Chez Kane” and “Powerzone”. Kane, along with her band, provided an energetic performance and interacted well with the crowd, making her a great choice as a warmup for the main act.
Setlist: 1. Too Late for Love, 2. All of it, 3. Nationwide, 4. I Just Want You, 5. Love Gone Wild, 6. Ball N Chain, 7. Get it On, 8. Powerzone, 9. Rocket on the Radio
First to enter the stage from Lloyd’s band was drummer, Christopher Painter. The future Mr Lloyd was greeted with a warm reception from the audience with several people shouting “we love you Chris”. There was then a comedy moment as the next shout was “I love him more, I’m his mum”. The crowd laughed en masse, and Chris acknowledged “I love you too mum”. This was indicative of the warm supportive atmosphere within the venue on the evening. Painter was then joined on stage by guitarist Christian Rivers and Bassist Adam Darat before the headline act entered to rapturous applause. Lloyd was clearly moved by the reception and launched straight into the vocal-less track “Battleground” from album Delusions. Following the completion of the track, Lloyd thanked everyone for coming to her first sold-out show and said that her uncle had even flown in from Australia to be there. On completion of her address, Lloyd launched into the first ever track she had written, “Bulletproof Revolver”. Lloyd’s singing ability is evident if you have followed her Youtube channel as I have done for years, but to see her talent from a few feet away is something to behold. After a couple more tracks from the Delusion album, Sophie was joined on stage by Gaz Twist to sing “Fall of Man” originally sung by Matt Heafy of Trivium on Lloyd’s album “Imposter Syndrome”. Twist brought his own energy and had excellent interplay with the crowd. Twist remained on stage to sing track “Pressure” before Lloyd covered Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. The track was unaccompanied by a singer, so the crowd adequately stepped in to sing over Lloyd’s playing. The covers continue with a rendition of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” which was again met with good voice from the crowd with chants of “Thunder”. For Lloyd’s third track from the “Imposter Syndrome”, she was joined on stage by vocalist Marisa Rodrigez of Marisa and the Moths. The pair released a music video together earlier in the week and this was the first opportunity to see them playing live together. During the track, inflatable guitars were thrown into the crowd and batted around. On stage, Lloyd and Rodrigez had excellent interplay and started back-to-back as the verse started, both demonstrating their agility as they performed for the crowd.
Following on from “Hanging on”, the band, apart from Lloyd, left the stage, and the shred maestro demonstrated her skill to the delight of those gathered. The band then reappeared to play “Delusions” before Lloyd addressed the crowd explaining how she had suffered from performance anxiety, even being scared to perform in front of friends and family and never expecting to play stadia around the world. She said she felt like an imposter, hence the title of her album “Imposter Syndrome”. Following the speech, Lloyd adorned a silver sparkling explorer style guitar that felt like a nod to Lizzy Hale and performed “Imposter Syndrome” with Rodrigez back on vocals.
Rodrigez then asked the crowd if they knew about the other band that Lloyd was in and was met by a resounding comedy answer of “no” from the crowd. She explained that Lloyd had just returned from a world tour with Machine Gun Kelly and that the next song was for them with a cover of “I Think I’m Ok”.
The set completed with both Twist and Rodrigez on stage for “Do or Die” originally recorded with Nathan James. The whole event was a great success, and at the completion of the track, Lloyd stayed to have photos with the fans and signed autographs. She had clearly enjoyed herself, and I anticipate that she will tour with the Imposter Syndrome album in a similar way to how Slash toured after his self-titled album.
Lloyd is a phenomenal talent and has great stage presence. Combined with her down-to-earth attitude and infectious personality, she will attract fans in droves as they discover her. I can’t wait for the next gig, and for our friends over the pond in the US, get along to her show at Whiskey a go go on the 16th of January.
https://www.sophieguitar.com/live
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