BY MICHAEL CHOWNE

What a performance at The Social, close to Oxford Circus, on Friday 26th June 2026, as Caroline Jones showed what a superstar she is with a full band performance and showing lots of personality.

Caroline is over with the Zac Brown Band playing massive shows at the new British Airways ARC on Thursday and BST Hyde Park on Saturday but squeezed in this ‘solo’ show at this 150 cap venue!

The first surprise of the evening was when Alyssa Bonagura opened with a solo acoustic set – she said fiancé Steve was cheating on her with Kezia Gill at State Fayre! I’ve seen Alyssa play many times but this was a treat hearing her play acoustically, so we could really hear her beautiful voice. Lots of crowd participation, of course!

Alyssa then came back out as part of Caroline’s band – guitar and backing vocals. She’d actually put together the band – Adam Beaney on drums, Mike Bradley on guitars and Sam Al-Sharawi on bass guitar – who’d only met Caroline 2 hours before the show! What an amazing job they did, sounding like they’d been playing with her for years, the mark of true professionals.

Caroline herself was sensational – a fantastic voice whether uptempo or in a couple of quieter moments, she sung 14 songs, mainly from her superb recent album, ‘Good Omen’, including my favourites ‘You’re It For Me Honey’, ‘Divorce in a Small Town’ and the title track. But what a musician and multi-instrumentalist she is too! So many different guitars, both acoustic and electric, ably prepared for her by Jorge who had an integral role. Caroline also played steel guitar, keys and harmonica just for good measure. Wow!

Wonderful to hear Caroline and Alyssa sing a song they’d written together and we also had very special renditions of ‘Gulf Coast Girl’, written for Caroline by Jimmy Buffet while they were on tour, ”Big Love’ by Fleetwood Mac and ‘No Hurry’ from the Zac Brown Band.

A truly great performance, very well received, I can see a UK tour beckoning in Caroline’s future!