Dan Lines is a professional singer and guitarist from Portsmouth who has performed all over the world in many events, parties, cruise ships and bars. He has a large amount of experience in all areas of the music industry including songwriting, audio engineering and teaching.
I caught up with Dan Lines at Kassia, Drayton in his home town of Portsmouth. The venue is Kassia’s flagship restaurant and cocktail bar well known locally as a great place to watch local talent. It is a welcoming, intimate venue serving delicious Indian tapas and cocktails. The place comes alive every Friday and Saturday night with live entertainment for over 18’s but on Thursday evenings us under 18’s can also enjoy the musicians just maybe not the cocktails! When I arrived at 7.20pm Dan was set up and ready to go with a prompt start for his 7.30 slot. Dan brought all his own equipment including a bass drum pedal, lights controlled by sound and a loop pedal as well his guitar that he is known for. His set up not only matched the decoration of the venue with his blue lights but also created a nice atmosphere around him. So we got comfortable and ordered some tapas and drinks.
Opening with Sam Smith’s hit Stay With Me, Dan set the mellow tone straight away. The sound quality was perfect and the volume was just right for this intimate venue as the audience could hear every word clearly without feeling overwhelmed. Dan’s performance matched the laid back feel of the venue, my only criticism would be that I would’ve loved him to have introduced himself at the start but he responded well to the audience by thanking them when they showed their enjoyment by clapping for him. I was impressed that his use of a bass drum pedal and a loop pedal created an interesting experience for his audience as they got to watch him create his backing track while performing. Dan is a very talented musician and showed off his skills in both guitar and singing extremely well. His trills in falsetto had the audience in awe and his use of dynamics made his performance seem more intimate. At 8pm he started to perform some older songs, such as Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, but kept in a few current ones. After a short 20 minute interval, Dan returned only this time with disco lighting that was controlled by sound. He continued to perform a great range of songs from varied genres, some of my favorites being All Of Me by John Legend and Dance With Me Tonight by Olly Murs. Dan finished his set by playing the song It’s All About You by McFly. I would love to see Dan perform again and recommend him to anyone who likes acoustic, relaxed performances. I give him a five star review :)
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