Over the weekend I attended One More Shot, which is a full 3 day music event held at the Ramada in Sutton Coldfield. The purpose of the event is to bring people together to raise money through music in aid of fighting cancer, a cause very close to the event founder, Rachel. This is the fourth year for the event & the first year that it has sold out, meaning 300 people attended this year.
There were 6 singers/bands that performed at the event, Gary Quinn and Stewart Mac & Dean Roberts alongside American artists Matt Lande, Jenn Bostic, The Life of Riley & Christian Kane.
Gary Quinn has been a guest at all 4 events, Stewart and Dean have been at the last 3 events.
On the first evening all the musicians made their way around tables full of guests for a 'Meet & Greet'. This gave everyone a chance to have a quick chat with the artists, as some hadn't had an opportunity to see them perform before.
On the Saturday night the artists performed for the first time. Gary Quinn was the second act up on stage. He performed a set of songs, including 'Body Language', 'Don't let the door hit you' & what has become the 'anthem' for One More Shot, 'Love to watch you leave'. Gary certainly gained himself a wider fan base after his set.
Stewart Mac & Dean Roberts were up next. They performed favourites such as 'Moments like these', 'Finding my way home' & the recently released single 'Radio', making sure the whole crowd sang along. They kept everyone entertained with their usual cheeky sense of humour and banter between each other on stage.
At the end of the evening, Gary, Stewart & Dean all joined the artists on stage to sing Christian Kane's song 'House rules'.
On Sunday night the artists all performed a second show. Gary again was second act up. Gary sang 'Crazy Idea' & 'Shame' from his recently released Ep, The lounge sessions, alongside a cover of 'Help me make it through the night'. He was then joined on stage by Jenn Bostic to sing 'Love & Lose' from his new Ep, which they co-wrote. Gary then invited Christian Kane up on stage to join him in a cover of Garth Brooks, 'The dance' before finishing his set with the crowds favourite 'Love to watch you leave'.
Stewart & Dean were again next up. After Stewart entertained the crowd by modelling a jacket worn by the events host Ray, they got started with their set, performing 'Catch me when I fall', 'Paper heart' and 'When we were young'. At one point in the set, Stewart stepped off stage to leave Dean to perform 'Takes you'. This was first performed at One More Shot back in 2015 during their debut at the event. Dean co-wrote this song with a band member of his previous band. It's a truly touching song which didn't leave a dry eye in the room.Dean then took to the stage a little later on to support Jenn Bostic in a song from her set, 'Hollywood'.
At the end of he evening the artists all took to the stage to jointly perform 'House rules' & 'One more shot', both by Christian Kane, 'One more shot' being the song behind the inspiration for the name of the event.
It was an wonderful weekend, full of fantastic music, that raised around £4,000 for cancer charities.
There are plans in motion for One More Shot 5 in 2019. Visit http://www.onemoreshotuk.com/for more information as it becomes available as to the dates and artists that will be there.
It truly is a weekend not to be missed!