BY MICHAEL CHOWNE
It was pleasing to see that, after her recent social media appeal, Kylie Price had a completely full room for her album fundraiser show at 21Soho on Thursday 1st October 2026, put on by those lovely people at TALENTBANQ.
This was not ‘Below’, but in the much larger ground floor space and Kiwi Filipino Kylie had brought with her an all male band comprising bass guitar, drums and fiddle, with Kylie herself playing acoustic guitar.
Kylie was raised in Dunedin in the south of the South Island of New Zealand but is very proud of her Filipino heritage through her mother who moved to New Zealand to marry a man she’d only ever corresponded with by letter! Kylie moved to London in 2022 and this was my 6th time seeing her live, though the first time with a band.
This quite different show was split into 4 parts – firstly kicked off by Kylie and the band playing her catchy brand of country and americana, finishing this section with a singalong ‘Wagon Wheel’ (which Kylie doesn’t like playing but says the New Zealanders demand it!). There was then a quiz with some snack giveaways hosted by Kylie’s husband and a friend – there was a large contingent of Antipodeans in the room and the questions were taken from the latest UK citizenship book (no, I did not know all the answers to some quite obscure questions!). Kylie then returned with probably my favourite part of the evening with Kylie solo on stage, allowing us to really hear that beautiful voice and delve deeper into her songwriting. Finally, the band returned and I particularly liked one of Kylie’s singles, ‘John & Julie Stone’ and, best of all, her next single which I think was called ‘Everyone I Know Is Here’, apparently based on Kylie’s past with all her friends at a now defunct club in Dunedin, The Monkey Bar. Upbeat with some great hooks.
Kylie herself was a joy throughout – very funny and clearly very feisty too! There were more giveaways – of capos and coffee vouchers – and even crisps to take away as Kylie said she didn’t want anybody leaving one of her gigs saying they’d not been fed! I loved that Kylie told everyone to take their glasses back to the bar – ‘the bar staff aren’t our slaves, we’re not animals, we can behave like adults’. Well said Kylie!
Opening the show we’d had a strong set from Alex Francis. My 9th time seeing Alex live playing his well written and catchy more soulful tunes, the first of those times being way back at a festival in his home town of Hitchin in 2015 (where I also first saw The Shires). Alex and Kylie have been writing together and it will be interesting to hear what they release. A little annoying that there was some talking from the back of the room throughout Alex’s set – Ray Jones thankfully gave a polite version of his STFU speech during the interval.
