They walked on to “White Rabbit,” and as it built you got the sense you were in for a proper night of creative music from a band who write their own songs and mean them. The look backed it up. There was a definite Sgt Pepper feel about them, all colour and cut and period detail, and in a room like the Waterloo it made them impossible to ignore.
As a songwriter and a musician, what struck me first was how tight they are. This was the last night of the tour and they played like it was the first, with an energy that never dropped. Lee-la Baum on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Tom Shemer on lead, PY Letellier on bass and Dave Traina on drums, four players locked so closely that the whole thing moves as one piece, and that only comes from years of doing it together. All four of them sing, too, and those harmonies are properly arranged rather than thrown on top. “Be Somebody” and “Killer Whale” opened the set proper and made the point straight away nothing was rushed.
Shemer and Letellier barely stood still all night, constantly moving, spinning, crossing the stage, playing off each other and off the crowd. They obviously love doing this and it came off the stage in waves. In a room the size of the Waterloo it was infectious, and half the crowd was moving with them by the third song.
Lee-la Baum has a voice that could take the roof off, and she knows when to hold it back. On “Love Outta Luck” and “Addicted” she sang across the top of the band with real power, then pulled it right down for “The Willow” so the room had to lean in. That range of dynamics is the mark of a singer who trusts her material. The writing holds up too. “This Is Who We Are Now” and “All Night Long” both have a chorus you find yourself humming on the way back to the car, and that is harder to do than most people think.
Then came “If I Don’t Make It Home.” Lee-la dedicated it to her father, who passed away four months ago, and you could see what it cost her to sing it. Her voice held, but the emotion was written across her face the whole way through, and by the final bars she was visibly overwhelmed. The room understood exactly what it was watching and gave her the silence to do it in. Singing something that raw in front of a crowd, four months on, takes a kind of courage most performers never have to find. It was the moment of the night and everyone in the Waterloo knew it.
They lifted it again afterwards, which was the right call. Letellier took a bass solo that brought the room back up off the floor and reminded everyone what a player he is, and Traina followed him with a drum solo that had the Waterloo clapping along. Handing the two of them the room at that point in the night was smart, and “Lonely” picked the energy up from there. “Look Innocent” and “Get With You” kept it climbing, and “Tomorrow” closed the main set with the whole place singing back at them.
Lee-la told the room that although this was the last night of the UK tour, they cannot wait to come back, having had an amazing time over here. Tom Shemer mentioned that the band had been nominated for Rock Album of the Year at the Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys. They did not win that one, but on the strength of this performance I do not think it will be long before they do. The encore of “Better This Way” and “Devilish Folk” sent everyone out into a Blackpool night on a high.
The timing could hardly be better for them either. The deluxe edition of that self-titled album, produced by Bob Rock, landed worldwide through Frontiers Music on 11th September, days after this show. Go and see this band while they are still playing rooms like the Waterloo. They write real songs, they play them properly, and they mean every word. On this form the intimate venues will not hold them for much longer.
Setlist: The Damn Truth, Waterloo Music Bar Blackpool, 6th September 2026
White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane, entrance tape)
Be Somebody
Killer Whale
Love Outta Luck
Addicted
The Willow
This Is Who We Are Now
All Night Long
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If I Don’t Make It Home
Bass solo
Drum solo
Lonely
Look Innocent
Get With You
Tomorrow
Encore:
Better This Way
Devilish Folk
With many thanks to Peter Noble for the media accreditation.
Photography: David W Beech Photography
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