Photo: Andy Teo
Written by Sahar Summer Bayer
Tonight its Nashville meets London as Sarah Darling makes a sweet entrance, accompanied by her sweet vocals. A magical evening that ends in a starry night both in the Chapel and above as the stars glisten.
Performing at the Union Chapel ,an undoubtedly fitting venue ,Darling manages to win our hearts and souls while also heightening sentiments of Christmas cheer and togetherness during this holiday season. Sarah performed an array of her old and new songs as well as classic and timely Christmas songs to celebrate the winter season.Having recently released her highly anticipated 5th studio album with with pop and folk undertones ,‘Wonderland’, the show began with Call Me. Her promising album has achieved much acclaim rising to the UK Country charts to reach number 1, alongside two British Country Music Award nominations for ‘International Touring Artist of the Year’ and ‘International Album’. This reinforces Darling’s position as a global country star. Her album would therefore make a lovely addition to someone’s stocking!
She had several guests throughout the evening such as Jamie Lawson who did a goosebump-worthy rendition of Cohen’s Hallelujah. This was followed by a performance by The Wandering Hearts, enriched in gorgeous harmony, as she introduces them as her 'Americana Dream'. From the band, Lizzie and Catherine joined Sarah for a take on Joni Mitchell’s River and The Dixie Chicks version of Landslide. The trio clearly have great stage presence and chemistry so it would be great to see them continue to perform and write together.
Darling’s songs are soaked with vivid imagery and have the ability to evoke powerful and heart-wrenching emotions, as Darling mentions “from heartbreak to loss” and reassuring that “feelings are much like waves and they go if they want to.” The chapel evidently added an ethereal and magical flair. Darling ended her show with London Fog before serenading us into a trance with an acapella of Silent Night. She was met with deserving applause and a standing ovation. Understandably so, as her music and performances are so elegant and have a lullaby quality - so effortless and dreamy, wonderfully encapsulating the spirit of Christmas. A Winter Wonderland indeed.