Since her first show in London back in 2019 as part of Country Music Week, Tenille Arts’ career has gone from strength to strength. Her song ‘Somebody Like That’, from the album ‘Love, Heartbreak & Everything In Between’, reached the top three on the US Country Airplay charts and she’s since followed that up with her latest LP, ‘Girl To Girl’ which was released last autumn. She’s also been back over here to play at C2C, made her Grand Ole Opry debut and embarked on her first UK headline tour, culminating last night with a show at The Grace in London.
Accompanied by her three-piece band, Arts arrived on stage around 8.20 PM to deafening cheers, dressed in a pink top and trousers and carrying her trademark rhinestone guitar. She kicked off the set with ‘Back Then Right Now’, a sunny slice of upbeat country-pop that had the crowd singing along from the off and clapping along with her encouragement. It was a great way to start off the show and set the template for the next hour and 20 minutes of music.
One thing which really stood out to me throughout Arts’ performance was her connection with her audience. The whole way through the show she could be stepping away from her mic to hear the audience sing along (which they did with great gusto on the likes of ‘the frank yet wistful ‘Girl To Girl’), talking about her experiences growing up on a farm in Canada before moving to Nashville and getting her big break on ‘The Bachelor’, as well as waving into fans’ phones during the laid-back, sunny ‘Life Goes Like That’ and even singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to one lucky audience member! That said, in between jokes about the heatwave and losing her luggage, she also found time to talk about serious issues like body image and men’s mental health. There’s a honesty about her that’s really refreshing and I think that only added to how much she was enjoying being on stage and playing to an audience (with swigs from her cup of tea in between!).
For me a particular highlight was Arts’ solo acoustic section, which she opened with the moving ‘Growing Old Young’. The song is clearly very close to her heart and she delivers it with so much emotion that it’s impossible not to well up when you hear it live, especially midway through when she encouraged the audience to reach out to their loved ones and check that they’re OK. She followed that with ‘One Bedroom Apartment’, a beautiful love letter to her first home in Nashville that was packed full of details and showed off the delicate, tender tones of her voice. Meanwhile, new song ‘Jealous Of Myself’ had a melancholy, nostalgic feel, ‘Over You Is You’ saw Arts jamming out with her band as she delivered the yearning tale of repeatedly returning to an ex-lover despite trying to move on, and the dreamy ‘Wild Love’ (which she dedicated to her boyfriend) had a gorgeous, old-school quality.
That said, there was still plenty of room for Arts to also show her sassy side, with the likes of ‘Heartbreak Regulars’, ‘Mama’s Boy’ and ‘Missing You’ – which saw her show off her vocal chops with one incredible note! I also loved ‘Wildfire And Whiskey’, a Taylor Swift-esque early track which she mashed up seamlessly with Swift’s monster hit ‘Love Story’, as well as her twangy, Eagles-esque take on ‘I Hate This’ with its acapella intro and the 90s medley that saw her voice soar on the likes of ‘Blue’, ‘Any Man Of Mine’ and ‘Goodbye Earl’. The latter really showed off her versatility as a singer and that sound is something I’d love to see her tap into more on a future project.
Arts closed the main portion of her set by leading a crowd singalong on the female empowerment anthem ‘That’s My Friend You’re Talking About’ before going into her signature hit ‘Somebody Like That’. She put a little more of a country spin on it than the album version and it added a really nice extra dimension to the song, balancing the richness of her vocals perfectly. During the intro she talked about how the London crowd had ‘made my dreams come true’, telling them ‘you’re blowing my mind [and] making my heart so happy’, and as she performed she could be seen jumping around on stage and raising her fist in the air. It was so uplifting to watch and the audience clearly loved it, given the loud demands for an encore, which she happily obliged with her take on The Chicks’ classic ‘Wide Open Spaces’.
Overall Tenille Arts delivered a performance of pure joy that felt like the perfect way to cap off her latest trip to the UK. She has a real star quality about her, with the ability to completely hold a crowd’s attention whilst highlighting her outstanding vocals and open and relatable songwriting, as well as a great bond with her audience – after the show she could be spotted shaking hands, signing autographs and snapping pictures with fans. As she left the stage she told the crowd, “I can’t wait to come back, and I hope to see you again real, real soon”. Given the response from the audience (I think one fan summed it up for us all when she yelled, “London loves you!”), it’s safe to say that next time she’s here, she’ll be playing much bigger venues – and you should definitely make sure you get yourself a ticket.
Set list: 1. Back Then Right Now 2. Life Goes Like That 3. Girl To Girl 4. Heartbreak Regulars 5. Wildfire And Whiskey/Love Story (Taylor Swift cover) 6. Missing You 7. Growing Old Young 8. One Bedroom Apartment 9. I Hate This 10. 11. Jealous Of Myself 12. Over You Is You 13. Blue (LeAnn Rimes cover)/Any Man Of Mine (Shania Twain cover)/Goodbye Earl (The Chicks cover) 14. Mama’s Boy 15. Happy Birthday 16. Wild Love 17. That’s My Friend You’re Talking About 18. Somebody Like That Encore: 19. Wide Open Spaces (The Chicks cover) Performance date: 16th July 2022
Tenille Arts’ latest album, ‘Girl to Girl’, is out now on 19th + Grand Records.
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