Live Music Review: Acoustickle's 9th Birthday at The Maze

Words: Angel Barrie-Shaw
Friday 13 April 2018
reading time: min, words

Our Angel chats to promoter Parisa East as they celebrate Acoustickle's 9th birthday in style with great music, delicious food and plenty of fairy lights...

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For the best part of a decade, Parisa East has been bringing soul to Nottingham’s music scene in the form of her Acoustickle nights. She started at The Maze in 2009 and has since grown to be a well-known promoter in the Notts circuit, having put on events all over the city and boasting acts such as Jake Bugg, Georgie Rose and St. Raymond, as well local favourites like Harleighblu and Yazmin Lacey.

She returned home to The Maze on Sunday 8 April to host the event’s botanical themed 9th birthday party. The atmosphere in the main room embodied that of an intimate 1920’s speakeasy and the decor was stunning as always, with endless fairy lights and flowers covering every inch of the venue. It was incredibly warm and inviting with a continuous buzz of contagious excitement.

Hosted by Jazz FM’s charismatic Tony Minivelle, the event included music from Nadia Rae who was promoting her much anticipated second EP “YOLO”. Young guitarist Gallery 47, who debuted at an Acoustickle event, also returned to celebrate the anniversary along with R&B singers Georgia Copeland and Nadia Latoya who featured with a collaborative onstage performance that moved the audience. Headlining the celebration was soul vocalist and songwriter Boadi and his band The Banku Powers. These London natives captivated the room with a stirring performance that was equal parts impressive and emotional. I’d highly recommend checking them out; they even gor’ everyone singing along to the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s get it on”.

Not only did the night have a terrific vibe and even better musicians but they really covered all bases by including stalls from local craft and clothing businesses, delicious vegan meals by Yejoma Foods and baked goods by SweetVibes Baker which, I have to admit, I ate a fair bit of!

I caught up with Parisa to hear how she felt about nine years of Acoustickle: “I just feel so overwhelmed and blessed about the amount of music and support there is for our nights; everyone that’s helped with the media, the venues and the acts, it’s amazing! Big thanks to Gaz, Steph and Kav at The Maze who’ve been here from the very beginning and continued to support us, this wouldn’t be possible if not for people and venues like this.”

Happy 9th Birthday Acoustickle!

If you fancy checking out an Acoustickle night for yoursen, follow them on Facebook to stay up to date with all their latest projects.

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