The debut album by Catfish and the Bottlemen went double platinum in the UK and charted in the top ten. Billy Bibby, who co-wrote and performed on it as lead guitarist, has never performed it in this format before: the entire Balcony record, stripped back to acoustic, as a solo show. Strings Bar and Venue in Newport on 29 May is the right scale for this: close enough that the acoustic performance carries without amplification doing the heavy lifting.
"Kathleen", "Cocoon", "Fallout", "Homesick": the Catfish debut has a consistency that rewards a track-by-track run-through, and Bibby's relationship with the material is different from the band version, having written the parts rather than just learned them. Strings Bar has hosted this tier of indie act consistently enough that the booking feels like a statement about Newport's musical credibility rather than a booking anomaly.
Tickets via Strings Bar. Booking recommended. More music events on the Isle of Wight through the late spring season.
