Northern Ireland’s newest pop star Rebekah Fitch stole the show as she alongside Alison McGrath closed Q Radio’s final ‘Summer Session’ in association with Belfast City Council’s ‘City of Music Initiative’ on Friday. The initiative aimed to give local artists the chance to play their music to the people of Belfast at the heart of the city in Q Radio’s Fountain Centre Studio. The event was free to the public every Friday evening and was the perfect way to kick off your weekend on the right note.
I was lucky enough to attend Friday’s final show and it has to be said that despite the dreadful weather outside it was a wonderful event inside. Young Rebekah, who’s music is influenced by the likes of Bjork, Lana Del Rey and Lorde took to the piano to play some of her biggest hits from her debut EP ‘Broken Mind’ including ‘Another Show’ and ‘A Love So Crazy’. She played stripped back versions of both on the keyboard and with her tremendous vocals wowed the watching audience in the studio.
Rebekah has already had commercial success with playlists on Cool FM and U105 and can now add Q Radio to her lengthening list of live sessions played. None have been as intimate as this, with just her, a piano and room of about 30 people. It seems tiny but yet she played as if it was a gig in front of 30,000, demanding the attention of everyone in the room with her stunning vocal range. I like many others, was mesmerised by her obvious raw talent and walked away feeling that I had witnessed a star in the making.
The multi award winning Bangor based Bangla Restaurant then provided us guests with delicious Indian cuisine, which was so good it disappeared in the blink of an eye!
Alison McGrath, a singer/songwriter from County Down then to the stage to sing. Fresh from releasing her new album ‘At Long Last’ McGrath performed some of the tracks from that album and others which have earned her critical acclaim from numerous music aficionados. Her style ranges from Soul, Blues and even a bit of reggae and we got a taste of all of that and more with her superb live performance at Q Radio.
All in all it was a fabulous evening of music, food and craic and the Summer Sessions have been a huge success throughout the months of July and August so a big well done must go to Q Radio and the City Council for making it possible. If you attended did you enjoy? We would love to hear your thoughts so don’t hesitate to get involved with us on social media.