Georgie Fields at The Wheaty Review

Cookie Baker and Jjan had just driven 8 hours or so from Pt Lincoln for this support role for Georgia Fields at the Wheatsheaf Hotel. That is dedication, considering it was a 4pm start, so they would have had to set off early.

They started the set with Jjan on guitar and Cookie just on vocals on Don’t Start a Fight, a song from 2018. Cookie’s voice is amazing and fills the Wheaty Live room with ease. Picking up a guitar, Cookie and Jjan continue with Magnola, the extra guitar adding depth to the music. With the crowd on their side, they rolled through Cookie Baker’s back catalogue, as well as a few newer tunes. The songs were about life, love and lost love and were sometimes very personal songs. Cookie made no apologies about singing these songs. The Summer, originally released with Tim Rogers from You Am I on backing vocals was a standout.  One cover, in Sunny Road, was performed, and performed stunningly. Originally sang by Emiliana Torrini in 2005 and Cookie encouraged us all to check it out later (which I did). Valencia closed out the set, written while she was living in California. 

Singer songwriter Georgia Fields has a new album in Hiraethis, pronounced “hee-raith, taken from a Wellsh word with no direct translation but refers to a profound longing for a home you can’t return to as it no longer exists.

Georgia was surprised at how quiet the audience were. “You never know what you will get, a noisy pub or people listening”. Georgia was alone on stage with just a small keyboard set up and a guitar. Opening song, Holding My Hands Out had Georgia playing the keyboard, recording live, vocal loops and singing, all to wonderful effect.

She was here to promote the album and we were told “All the songs tonight will come from the album”. It is such a good album, no one was disappointed about that. Persuasion followed with Georgia on guitar. “The song goes out to anyone who has knocked on an ex’s door in the middle of the night. Not that I have done it” Georgia promised.

There were songs about loss of a friend during lockdown, “Zoom funerals suck”, songs about her daughter (Tigress) and songs written during lockdown (In my Blood). Georgia was full of stories about the songs and didn’t hold back telling them.

Write it in the Sky was a standout with clever use of musical and vocal live loops and then there was an attempt to get everyone to sing at the end of Find your Way Back. I saw it Coming ended the show with information that Georgia is afraid of snails. A little trivia to take home.

But what we really took home was a memory of a great show, performed with emotion and passion. The album took 3 years to write, record and release.