Music Review Joni Mitchell’s Blue: An Evening in Laurel Canyon Cavern Club, Liverpool

 

It was nearly a year to the day since I first saw the Lewes Music Group perform here. They were fabulous, so I’ve followed them ever since. Talking to people in the queue before the doors opened, it was clear others felt the same and had come back to see them again. Tonight, they had an opening act: Tangled Up in Dylan.

Tangled Up in Dylan, as the name suggests, is a tribute to the music of Bob Dylan, performed by Clark Gilmour. Armed with guitar and harmonica, he took us through a short but hugely enjoyable set. Opening with ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ signalled that he would stick to the poppier side of Dylan’s songbook. ‘To Ramona’, ‘All Along the Watchtower’, ‘I Want You’ and ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ confirmed this. ‘A Simple Twist of Fate’, from Blood on the Tracks, was a deeper cut, but the closer was probably Dylan’s most famous song, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’. Tangled Up in Dylan was the perfect precursor to the main act. 

So who are the Lewes Music Group? Founded in August 2019 by Artistic Director Daniel Lauro and friends from the East Sussex Academy of Music, their aim is to provide affordable, high-quality, and accessible concerts to local communities. 

The Group’s players tonight were the aforementioned Dan Lauro on percussion; Alice Grace on keyboards and vocals; Ethan Holliman on keyboards; Aaron Carpenter on drums (the only one from Lewes); Liam Badgery on guitar and vocals; and the star of the show, Han Nelson, on vocals, guitar(s), bass, dulcimer and kitchen sink.

So that’s the band, but what is Laurel Canyon and why is it worthy of a dedicated concert? Laurel Canyon sits high in the Hollywood Hills and became a secluded haven for musicians looking to escape the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. They lived in wood-framed cottages, doors always open, and made intimate, acoustic music during long, productive nights, largely free from structure or commercial pressure. It was a creative hub where the likes of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, Cass Elliot, Jim Morrison, Carole King, Jackson Browne, and Linda Ronstadt flourished. In short, it was a brief but highly influential moment in music history that created a soundtrack for an era. The band opened their set with America’s ‘A Horse with No Name’, then went straight into one of the era’s most influential songs, The Byrds’ ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’. Much to this reviewer’s delight, their next song was a Monkees number, ‘She’. The first Joni Mitchell song of the night followed, but not her arrangement. The band performed the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young version of ‘Woodstock’. Up to this point, Liam had handled lead vocals, but for the next song he handed the microphone to Han Nelson for Neil Young’s ‘Revolution Blues’. Han stayed on lead vocals for Crosby, Stills and Nash’s ‘Helplessly Hoping’, on which the band’s harmonies were beautiful.

Liam returned to centre stage for two classic singer-songwriter compositions: Cat Stevens’ ‘Moonshadow’ and James Taylor’s ‘Fire and Rain’. Every drummer likes the opportunity to sing, and Aaron Carpenter was no exception. He had a ball with Frank Zappa’s ‘Willie the Pimp’, a true piece of psychedelia. Alice had been providing keyboards and gorgeous backing vocals but stepped forward for two Carole King songs: ‘I Feel the Earth Move’ and ‘It’s Too Late’. Many in the audience had seen her perform Tapestry in its entirety last year. The Eagles’ ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ and a rousing version of The Doors’ ‘L.A. Woman’ closed the first set. 

Thousands of words have been written about Joni Mitchell’s album Blue since its release in 1971. It remains revered because it pairs emotional truth with artistic precision. It doesn’t just sound beautiful; it feels real in a way few albums ever have. It’s a challenge to reproduce live, but with Han Nelson, Mitchell’s songs were in safe hands. She didn’t try to reinvent them, so the deliberately sparse arrangements, mostly piano, dulcimer, and acoustic guitar, allowed her voice, high, pure, and almost crystalline, to sit front and centre. There’s very little vibrato, which gives it a direct, unadorned quality, creating the sense that she’s singing straight to you.

From the opening chords of ‘All I Want’, Nelson held the audience rapt. Those who grew up with the album were transported back to their salad days; younger listeners mouthed along to every word. Supported by Liam on guitar and Alice on keyboards, the unflinching emotional honesty of Mitchell’s songs remained direct and exposed.

It’s difficult to pick out a highlight, but the closing three tracks were probably it: ‘River’, ‘A Case of You’, and ‘The Last Time I Saw Richard’. For the latter, the band used a 1974 live arrangement that worked beautifully.

After a well-deserved ovation, Nelson closed the evening with ‘Both Sides Now’ and a playful version of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’. The Lewes Music Group had certainly delivered on their aim to provide an affordable, high-quality, and accessible concert.

Tangled Up in Dylan return to The Cavern next month,  details here 

https://www.cavernclub.com/events/event/tangledupindylan/?srsltid=AfmBOoq1FoI-Qrw6qLDbReJ3-HwlSxD3bfer13hlHvYEJw7UQVJKEhs

Information about the Lewes Music Group can be found here, https://www.lewesmusicgroup.com/

Reviewer – Adrian Cork 

On – 09.04.2026