I was a newbie to Lady Maisery and when I say newbie I mean I had just listened to their current album Tender about a day before the concert in Stroud. But that’s what I love about live music – if something intrigues you then there’s nothing wrong with being spontaneous and just rocking up to a show with no idea!

On the traditional side of folk, Lady Maisery are an English folk trio made up of Hannah James (vocals, piano accordion, clogs, foot percussion), Hazel Askew (vocals, melodeon, concertina, harp, bells) and Rowan Rheingans (vocals, fiddle, banjo, bansitar).

The stage was set up with multiple instruments including a harp which instantly caught my attention. It’s not every day that you get to attend a show where someone plays the harp. The trio had no support act which was a nice change because we got to have an interval in their set instead.

From the very start of Hazel’s flawless vocals on the track Birdsong and how beautifully the viola and accordion were being played, I was instantly captivated.

Hazel, Hannah and Rowan gave such an inviting performance throughout which was full of spectacularly moving music, great stories behind the songs, history lessons of the folk classic covers and roaring humour in between songs. Lady Maisery are instantly likeable for their personalities as well as their music and performance skills. You can’t help but love them! Down to earth and witty, the talent that was on that stage was absolutely insane. I couldn’t even confidently name all the instruments that they played but the ease with which they played them was awe inspiring.

Playing songs mostly from their current album Tender, we were treated with songs such as birdsong, echoes, scientist, rest now, noughts and crosses, tender and bird I do not know. Also from the album we had covers of Tracy Chapman’s 3000 Miles and Björk’s Hyperballad. Hyperballad was a particularly memorable moment. One of my favourite songs off of Björk’s album Post and probably one of my favourite songs ever, this version did not disappoint. Hannah on lead vocals, the girls also made the melody out of vocal harmonies, hand clapping and finger clicking (I am pretty sure there is a musical term for this but that’s a term I do not know). The way this song was performed was completely mesmerising and out of this world – it showed the pure and natural talent that they have collectively and individually. It took me back to Reading Festival 1995 when I saw Björk sing that very song although of course her performance was a little more on the mad but brilliant side.

Playing various traditional folk tunes, Lady Maisery may be young but are definitely old souls. Harmonies to get completely lost in, each moment of the show was an absolute joy to witness and I can’t believe that I am only just discovering them now! Even in the encore they wowed as an audience member requested an older song that they hadn’t performed in years. You wouldn’t have known that though as they met his request and played the song to such utter perfection that you would have assumed it was already part of the setlist!

If you love live folk music and good times then please catch them on the rest of their tour. Info here . I promise you it will be worth it!

I laughed, I cried, I sang along (mimed) and applauded every moment! What a wonderful experience! They can make melodies out of anything! They could even use car parts, bottles and cutlery or whatever they find lying around and still make a concert out of it and I’d go! I can’t wait to see them again and again!