(Review by Nick Linazasoro & Mark Kelly)
It’s been five years since we covered a live set from Echobelly and that was an intimate acoustic performance on 21st May 2019 at The Prince Albert in Brighton. We noted that Indian born vocalist Sonya Madan and Swedish born guitarist Glenn Johansson and chums announced that they will be performing in town again, but this time at the larger Concorde 2 venue, which is located opposite Brighton Beach. Not that we will be tying in some sunbathing with this new gig announcement as the new gig date is 1st December 2024, and is part of a 16-date UK tour, which sees the band taking in towns the length and breadth of the country.
Sonya met Glenn in a pub back in the early 1990’s and forming a band was discussed. They soon teamed up with bass guitarist Alex Keyser and drummer Andy Henderson, who had previously played with PJ Harvey’s band. Guitarist Debbie Smith, formerly of Curve, came on board in 1994. The name Echobelly comes from the notion of “being hungry for something” and success was on the future horizon. Sonya and Glenn set about writing the band’s material and they dropped their debut EP, ‘Bellyache’ in late 1993. Their ‘I Can’t Imagine The World Without Me’ single followed in June 1994 and then they recorded their ‘Everyone’s Got One’ album which went storming up the UK Albums Chart, reaching No.8. Their ‘Insomniac’ single from the long-player was featured in the film and soundtrack of ‘Dumb And Dumber’.
1995 witnessed the band drop their second album, titled ‘On’ and this apparently sold almost two times as much as their debut platter. A trio of other albums followed in the form of ‘Lustra’ (1997), ‘People Are Expensive’ (2001) and ‘Gravity Pulls’ (2004), then after a gap of thirteen years ‘Anarchy And Alchemy’ suddenly appeared. 
Bringing us right up to date, Echobelly performed a compact half hour showcase set on the Castle Stage at ‘Victorious Festival’ on Saturday 24th August. We were in attendance and as a taster for the 1st December Brighton concert, here is our brief account of that concert which was penned by Mark Kelly:
Tickets are on sale for the Concorde 2 gig and can be purchased HERE.
