A Review by Alison Lawrence
This is a gig review of the WaterBear music bar opening gig on July 16th, which was going to originally be used for B&H news, but I had to leave early as I was quite ill, so the only artist covered was Tia Ice.
Upon first walking into the WaterBear music bar, it was hard not to notice the complimentary Prosecco, and even harder to refuse it. Half-jokes aside, the moment I stepped in there was an immediate sense of ‘come- in-and-make-yourself-at-home,’ that nearly recreates the feeling of walking into your own abode and your mother baking goods in the oven - except for the DJ on the stage pumping out house (and maybe the bar too). It proved a difficult feat to not turn my attention to the rather large tardigrade floating on the the small window-ceiling crevice in the middle of the room, and that the grand piano stacked up against the wall (behind said DJ pumping out house).
I questioned whether this small stage would be hosting our acts of the night, but shortly discovered that was not to be the case after exploring the downstairs on the left side of the stage, which also featured an arrangement of tardigrade art, one shooting lasers out of its eyes. When I got to the bottom-right, I stumbled on what felt like a cave, where it was pitch dark illuminated only by the stage lights. It turns out there are essentially two venues: one upstairs with 80 capacity that’s going to be utilised for bingo nights, acoustic sets and then the downstairs venue with a capacity of 110 for your more traditional gig setting.
I returned shortly after my underground expedition to above, where Adam Bushell gave a speech which highlighted the importance of keeping live music alive - and spoke about how a portion of proceedings from the ‘Fight Back’ cider and beer on tap would be going to the music venue trust. I couldn’t help but notice during his speech he made a comment about A.I how you can’t replace human music but A.I will have its place. I can’t help but wonder if Adam was hinting of utilising A.I for WaterBear in the near-future, and what the implications would mean for a creative university and how students would respond.
Our first act of the night was ‘Tia Ice’ a Neo Soul singer-songwriter from the waterbear alumni. The set opened with smooth, expressive saxophone that was inherently virtuosic, and Tia’s signature soulful inflections before sensually gliding into ‘Stay Tru,’ which had the audience entranced into a sermon of harmony. ‘We’re here to take you on a journey through our sound and my poetry’ to which she started reciting verses from a green book accompanied by a lone, clean guitar with tasteful chorus before kicking into ‘Summah Night,’ where the influence of classic hip hop, R&B alongside contemporary artists such Hiatus Kaiyote is evident. The groove of the song is tastefully loose, with the kick evoking the distinctive sub-bass sound of early hip-hop, which encapsulated the whole room. It’s great to see everyone having a great time - to our backing vocals Imani and Jeo swaying and the audience in a fervour of high vibration. Our next song is ‘Red Wine,’ with the groove rooted in reggae, and it almost feels like Tia’s original titular could be homage to Bob Marley’s song with the same name, but there’s clearly a strong influence of Amy Winehouse here, and a strong foundation of seductiveness rather than one of escapism. The one song that really stood out to me was ‘Lady Starlight’ and it was because of Tia’s vulnerability and courage. She spoke about losing herself in a dark period in her life to the audience - this part she named ‘Lady Starlight’ - and her subsequent journey of healing and internal reflection and learning how to love herself again.
Tia Ice is one to keep on your radar. She is authentically herself and full of high vibrational energy - able to cultivate a sense of interconnectedness and community that many artists can only dream of replicating.
Setlist:
Stay
TruSummah Nights
Red Wine
Red room – cover
Lady Starlight
Lineup:
Tia Ice – main vocals
Imani Ruiz, Geo Lane & Jack Patrick – backing vocals
Jack Patrick– Guitar
Chantelle Bartrup – Bass
Cash Green – drums
Jonah Little - saxophone