Lola and her band came on stage at Henry Weston’s Big Top at Cheltenham Jazz Festival on Sunday May 1st to an almost full crowd. Beginning with her song After Midnight, Lola was instantly captivating as were her wonderfully skilled band.

After the first song, Lola explained that her grandparents were in attendance and she would do her very best not to swear. Of course she slipped up once or twice.

Straight into Pick Me Up next, the crowd were fully engaged by this point and new fans were certainly made.

Young told the crowd that she was “feeling and sounding a bit rusty but if you had never seen her before, you wouldn’t know.”

Going solo with just her guitar for her song 3rd of Jan, Lola’s vocals really shone during this song. Her vocals live were beautifully raw and she has a gorgeous soulful tone.

The band came back to join her for Ruin My Make Up. This song showed a different side to her voice with rap styled verses which made the words painfully real and relatable. It’s astonishing the gift she has for songwriting and at such a young age that you can’t help but be in complete awe of her.

Lola has such a naturally funny stage presence which makes her so authentic and loveable. Only 21 years old, she is somewhat of an old soul musically as her lyrics are so experienced and mature. It’s within these lyrics that you hear the sadness she feels and has felt in her life and she tells us how the next song Pretty In Pink has turned into a meaningful song for her especially as she has a rare schizoaffective disorder.

Lola gifted us with an incredibly moving performance of Pretty In Pink. Crying on stage as she was singing, you couldn’t help but connect with her and fall in love with her a bit as it was such a powerfully emotive moment.

“If you know me by now then you know that I make sad music for sad people” Lola explains and then plays Bad Tattoo.

A song that really stood out was Dopamine. It has so many catchy moments and is wonderfully written.

Lola took to the keyboards for None for You and showcased her talents as a musician as well as a singer/songwriter.

So Sorry was the penultimate song. Telling the crowd how she performed this on a special show (Graham Norton) the song was incredible live and really proved how there is a massive place in the market for her music and that she is likely to become a huge star.

I believe the song she closed with was called Fake. Over too soon, we look forward to catching a full set from her one day.

The band were flawless throughout the set and really helped make the set the wonderful show it was.

Within time I know Lola will be more confident on the stage with her talking to the crowd but I hope she doesn’t lose her awkwardness completely because it really does make her very likeable.

Lola had us in tears with her powerfully emotive performance and in tears of laughter with her wonderful personality and we cannot wait to see her again.