Sari Schorr
The new album is due out in the Autumn and, from this sneak preview performance, it is going to be a cracker.
The UK leg of New York blues-rock singer songwriter Sari Schorr's 2025 Unbreakable Tour may have kicked off on April 24th at The Flowerpot in Derby, but two songs into her Saturday night set at Norwich's Adrian Flux Waterfront Studio it was announced that she and the band were adding an extra set, in which she and the band would be showcasing brand new songs from the upcoming album, and that we were going to be the very first audience to hear them performed live. A special unexpected treat for the delighted audience, some of whom had been inside the Studio ever since the doors had opened at 6.00pm, and had been waiting patiently, without any support act, until Schorr and her band had arrived on stage at 7.45pm.
The ten-song extra bonus performance included a couple of songs performed acoustically, but the majority were electric blues-rock belters, including Hometown Girl, and Highway 69. There was also a gentle, reflective self-searching number about losing oneself, Where Have You Been My Friend, and also Coal River, a song about the Appalachian coal miners. The segment drew to a close with a real rock-out of a finish in Hometown Girl and a slightly sarcastic closer, Since You've Been Gone. The new album is due out in the Autumn and, from this sneak preview performance, it is going to be a cracker.
The main set brought us more familiar tracks from Schorr's two previous albums, 2016's A Force of Nature, and 2018's Never Say Music. It also included Joyful Sky, the title track of the album that Schorr recorded with Robin Trower, an album that went on to top the Billboard Blues Chart in America on its release in 2023. Each and every song was delivered with Schorr's amazing five-octave vocal range twisting and soaring as the band – Ash Wilson (guitars), Chris Cliff (bass) and Phil Wilson (drums) provided the excellent backing and accompaniment. Standout tracks for me included her impassioned tribute to Martin Luther King Jr, The New Revolution, taken from Never Say Music; the smooth and soulful Ain't Got No Money; and a rocking cover of the Lead Belly classic, Black Betty. The set ended with the rocking Valentina.
The relatively early finish meant that I was still able to dash over to Norwich Arts Centre in time to catch the second half of Panic Shack's set, and you can read Pavlis' review of that gig elsewhere on the Outline review pages. However, I do still wonder why Sari Schorr's fans needed to be incarcerated inside the Waterfront Studio for so long without a support act to keep them entertained, or why the door times could not have been moved forwards to allow them to delay their arrival? They could not even go and sit in the riverside garden because of a Craft Beer Festival being held downstairs. A great gig, though, and a very special chance to hear all those brand new, yet-to-be-released songs from one of New York City's finest blues-rock performers.
