Lynne Jackaman comes of age

Former St. Jude singer returns to the stage

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This is the night when Lynne Jackaman finally becomes recognisable as a singer of quality, with the right back-up. Fronting Jackaman, her own band, she delivers a sultry performance, showcasing not only an intense vocal range and breadth, but also her emotional depth.

The potential was obvious through her time fronting St. Jude — who we tipped for success several years ago — but now Lynne has the musicians to really push her, and the songs to do justice to that vocal charisma. Opening with No Halo (On Me), she flies through three tracks straight off from the debut Jackaman EP, with Wasted and Honesty (Can Be So Cruel) proving to be of the highest calibre. Lynne’s stage confidence visibly grows as she realises not only is everyone in the crowded venue rapt in the performance, but in guitarist Guy Griffin (borrowed from the Quireboys) she has a pragmatic foil for her rock and soul creations.

A three-song acoustic interlude allows la Jackaman to vary her pacing, with an breathtaking version of Blind Faith’s Can’t Find My Way Home a highlight of the night. The full band then join her as You Can’t Take Back (the final track from the EP) and I’m Losing You finish the set with a flourishing musical cavalcade.

The encore starts with Lynne sashaying her way through Aretha Franklin’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman as if she owns it, before going solo at the piano to sing On My Own Stage, complete with nervous mistakes which endear her even more to the crowd. This is a fresh start for Lynne Jackaman, who now has a real shot at a significant breakthrough.

Malcolm Dome

Malcolm Dome had an illustrious and celebrated career which stretched back to working for Record Mirror magazine in the late 70s and Metal Fury in the early 80s before joining Kerrang! at its launch in 1981. His first book, Encyclopedia Metallica, published in 1981, may have been the inspiration for the name of a certain band formed that same year. Dome is also credited with inventing the term "thrash metal" while writing about the Anthrax song Metal Thrashing Mad in 1984. With the launch of Classic Rock magazine in 1998 he became involved with that title, sister magazine Metal Hammer, and was a contributor to Prog magazine since its inception in 2009. He died in 2021