Hi it’s Anna from the 1Xtra Music Team. On Wednesday night I went to see Ed Sheeran and Louise Golbey performing at a secret gig in Camden. The venue was tiny, maybe holding about 50 people, with tables laid out where people were eating dinner. It was tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the main road and the atmosphere was very intimate. It was quite a rare and special night, for two highly rated artists, one signed and one tipped for big things, to be performing to such a small crowd. I first saw Louise live in 2009 and immediately gravitated to her unique blend of British soul, and Ronnie Herel has been a big supporter and I’ve been hearing her a lot on his show. I have also been really impressed with her music videos, especially for an unsigned artist. This week Louise made her debut on 1Xtra day time, being played on Trevor Nelson’s show and it was nice to celebrate all her successes over a glass of champers on the night. Louise performed about seven soulful songs, including the smooth ‘Mr Potential’ and fan favourite ‘Sparkle’. Here’s a video (which I filmed on my phone so excuse the quality- I didn’t know about the gig until the day which is why I didn’t come more prepared!)

Ed Sheeran was also incredible, and it’s not hard to see why he’s captured the admiration of not only fans and industry bods, but has become an unlikely star on the UK grime scene. The 20-year-old guitar playing ginger-haired acoustic folk singer first came to the public attention through a performance he did on SBTV, and has since signed to Atlantic Records and was one of 1Xtra’s Hot 4 2011’s. Ed clearly puts a lot of emotion and soul into his music, which is evident not only in his lyrics but also his heartfelt performances. He played several new tracks that had not been performed before, including a poignant song about a lost unborn baby, where he sings of a “small bump”, which he explained to the audience that this was one of his most personal songs. He also performed some of his better-known material such as ‘A Team’ and ‘You Need Me’, which he left until the end and even incorporated a new bit which he’d recently added to the track.  Here are some videos (again not the best quality- gutted)

Anna x