Bradford’s Chantel McGregor has had a spectacular 2025 including the release of her latest studio album ‘The Healing’ to critical success at the iconic 100 Club in Oxford Street, London, as well as touring around the country to major venues, including Joe Joe Jims in Birmingham and festivals.
She has also been playing occasional acoustic shows and her Christmas show took place at the intimate Temperance Café in Leamington Spa. This performance had her wide range of songs re-imagined for a solo acoustic performance.
The show kicked off, after her typical Yorkshire welcome to the sold-out crowd, with the Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) written song ‘Landslide’ played (as most of the set was) on a Fender Acoustic guitar with its lovely mellow vocals. Followed by a song about vampires with her virtuoso guitar picking and plaintive singing.
Chantel also played songs from ‘The Healing’ with the first one being ‘Echoes’ backed by her effects panel to a slower paced song with great passionate vocals. ‘Broken Heartless Liar’ about relationship breakups and an ex-boyfriend. Chantel gives the powerful vocals a mellower acoustic feel.
One of the features of any acoustic Chantel set is getting the audience to request songs and both ‘Summertime’ with its Spanish guitar style and emotional vocals and ‘Anaesthetize’ with its echoey guitar, great picking and strong emotive vocals, were played to great applause.
The first set finished with Metallica’s ‘Nothing Else Matters’ with its Spanish guitar style and emotional vocals and ‘Cat Song’ (to compete with the barking dog upstairs!) which is a quicker number with fast guitar picking.
The second set kicked off with Neil Young’s ‘The Needle and the Damage Done’ with its melodic acoustic guitar song and powerful vocals. Another song from the new album was ‘Tears’ again with backing effects with its powerful emotive vocals and lovely guitar picking.
After a quick Christmas song ‘Santa Baby’ learned during the break we were back to Chantel’s ‘Truth Will Out’ from the new album with its eerie start, breathless vocals and quiet guitar.
During COVID Chantel had recorded two Shed Sessions albums and from #1 we had Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’ but a softer mellow version with passionate vocals.
Next up was ‘Home’ with its lovely emotive start on guitar & vocals for a great acoustic version.
To finish she played another Fleetwood Mac song ‘Dreams’ but at a slower pace with great guitar picking, and for an encore Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Voodoo Child’ on a traditional acoustic guitar with great expressions and passion.