Jenny On Holiday
A polished and personable performance at their first solo homecoming gig.
Back in October 2014, during Norwich Sound and Vision weekend, word began filtering back to Norwich Arts Centre about two 15 year old girls who had just astonished a lunchtime audience at The Birdcage pub in Pottergate, with an eccentric and highly original musical set. Those two girls were Let's Eat Grandma.
Twelve years on and Jenny Hollingworth, one half of the leg of Grandma, now performing as Jenny On Holiday, has their own solo album release, 'Quicksand Heart', and the first ever solo tour includes a homecoming gig at the Adrian Flux Waterfront Studio.
Entering the stage in full bridal regalia, Jenny is joined by similarly dressed drummer Steph Anderson, and veiled guitarist Jacob Berry and Sam Rourke on bass and keys. They begin with album opener 'Good Intentions', and immediately it is clear that we are in for a memorable evening in Hollingworth's company. She recognises many familiar faces in the audience, and is clearly delighted to be back on home turf for what is night three of the album's launch tour.
As we are taken track by track, in chronological order, through the album any nerves rapidly evaporate as Hollingworth soaks up the audience's warmth and welcome. And whilst Berry might accidentally lose his veil at the earliest opportunity, the wedding fair continues with a procession of songs that includes the power-pop banger Every Ounce of Me, the pensive beauty of Dolphins, and eventually closing with the upbeat optimism of Appetite. This is so unlike what we came to expect from LEG – and the upbeat 80's pop vibe reminding me so much at times of mainstream post-punk pop band Altered Images.
The only extra inclusion is a wonderful cover of The Replacements' 'Androgynous', an 80's shoegaze anthem written by Paul Westerburg that has since been covered both Crash Test Dummies and Joan Jett, and which championed gender-variance.
The whole show was a charismatic and joyful experience, a complete contrast to those carefully choreographed antics and quirky dance routines that characterised the Let's Eat Grandma gigs. It was a more honest and open Jenny Hollingworth that gave the audience a chance to see a mature and honest musical talent triumphing with a polished and personable performance at their first solo homecoming gig. And ‘Good Intentions’ is, indeed, a really good album, gaining four star reviews from the likes of The Guardian and DIY.
Opening support came from Phoebe Troup, a singer songwriter who has lived and played in Norwich for over ten years, but had never played before at The Adrian Flux Waterfront. She put right that wrong in style, playing with a four piece band, and performing a seven song set that included tracks from her 2023 album, Middlenite, as well as recent single 'Where's The Magnet'.
