Sandi Thom

Whilst the majority of the citizens of Nottingham were queuing up outside Rock City to see The Goo Goo Dolls, just around the corner in a venue called Rescue Rooms was a rather small intimate sell out gig taking place. Sandi Thom may not yet be playing big venues but it will only be a matter of time before she takes that step up.

Just in case you have never heard of Sandi Thom, here is smoe brief background information...

‘Too broke to go on the road, 24 year old singer/songwriter Sandi Thom decided to set up a webcam in her South London flat and staged a three week world tour from the basement. She spread the word about the ‘21 Nights from Tooting’ tour via Myspace.com and her own site, inviting fans to watch the tour live on the web or in person at the very modest underground venue of her basement.’

She was snapped up by a major record label and has slowly been building up a strong army of fans ever since.

For tonight’s show the audience seemed to be quite diverse ranging from your really casual fans in jeans and t-shirt right across the spectrum to hardcore Goths. There's no denying that Sandi’s music seems to appeal to many people.

Sandi and her entourage arrived on stage to a friendly applause from the diverse crowd, and wasted no time in belting out the songs from her debut album ‘Smile... It Confuses People.’

It was obvious that her popular hits ‘I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair)’ and ‘What If I’m Right’ were going to be crowd pleasers. However these were just few of many crowd pleasers - Sandi even managed to squeeze in a couple of new tracks, which the title sounded like ‘Mirror’, which looks certain to be a hit if it is recorded onto her next album. She also treated us to her next single ‘Lonely Girl’ which will win her quite a few more fans.

There were a couple of cover versions thrown into the setlist as well, and as much as I hate cover versions she covered Eric Clapton and Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel incredibly well.

One unintentionally comical part of the show was when Sandi’s guitar strap snapped and the guitar fell onto her foot. She then bent down to pick up the guitar and on her way back up whacked her head on the microphone - she took it with good grace and laughed it off.

Sandi also kept the audience captivated in between songs by sharing amusing stories and jokes with the audience. She has got that ability to make it feel really intimate and you got the impression that she genuinely appreciates every fan.

This was one of those gigs that was surprisingly impressive - enjoyable from the start to the finish. If Sandi plays nearby again I will definitely be first in line to buy tickets!!

FUTURE GIGS