Review | Brave Rival at Staggeringly Good - slimmed down, but on unstoppable form

Twin lead vocalists gave the band that something which separated them from the herd. Can they cut it with just the one?

The short answer: yes, with ease.

Remaining singer Lindsey Bonnick has never been a shrinking violet – now that she doesn’t have to share it, she gets to fully take centre stage.

They’re debuting the first ‘post-Chloe’ music tonight, and there’s no messing about – one of those new songs, Poison, is the opener. An anthemic rocker fans will soon be singing along with.

Key tracks, Seventeen, Blame The Voices (‘our submission for a Bond theme’), Run and Hide, and aflirtatiously filthy What’s Your Name Again? all get an outing.

If you know the songs well, it’s impossible to not mentally fill the parts Chloe would have sung. Yes, I missed her, but that’s because I’ve heard them so many times.

However, Bonnick has this hometown crowd in the palm of her hand. And part Stevie Nicks, part Ann Wilson, she’s got the powerhouse vocals to own these songs alone.

Stars Upon My Scars deserves a special mention – a song Bonnick prefaces with how much it means to her, and her delivery, matched by that of the rest of the band is jaw-dropping.

Another new number, Control, opens at a fierce tempo and is up there with the heaviest they’ve released to date. It’s my pick of the new material.

Main set closer Heavy, may not match some of their others for rocking intensity, but it earns the title for its emotional weight.

It also gives Ed Clarke one of several chances to show why he’s a proper guitar hero – there’s a lengthy solo as the song finishes, giving him the opportunity to really let fly.

And lest we forget the rhythm section – drummer Donna Peters and taciturn bassist Billy Dedman are no slouches in the talent department either.

The encores include a third newie – Wild Child – before the dizzying trip down the rabbit hole that is Fairy Tale.

As reigning UK Blues Awards Band of The Year, displays like this show why they deserved that crown.

Brave Rival are unstoppable.