Cats In Space / Rosalie Cunningham
- Rock Metal Machine
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Artists: Cats In Space / Rosalie Cunningham
Venue: The Komedia (Bath)
Date: 21st October 2025
Every song was performed marvellously and enjoyed by the Bath crowd with very enthusiastic clapping after each and every song.
The Komedia is a venue situated in the very heart of the beautiful Georgian city of Bath. Recently, it has hosted When Rivers Meet and King King, amongst many other bands. Two headliners are sharing the bill tonight.
Rosalie Cunningham and her band come onto stage at 19.15. I must admit that I have not heard anything by her and the band before. However, I do know that she was once the lead singer in the Psychedelic Rock band Purson from the mid-2010s. They open with ‘To Shoot Another Day’. Unfortunately, her vocals are way back in the mix, so it is difficult to hear her singing; however, the rest of the band in the mix is fine, and the song is very good; I even detected a snippet of the ‘Goldfinger’ Bond theme in it. There are a few more songs before the vocals are eventually back up in the mix. She sings very well and also plays both rhythm and lead guitar. Her band consist of a keyboard player, a lead guitarist, a bass player and a drummer who was only drafted in on the day. There were a number of songs that I really liked; ‘The Smut Peddler’, a great Prog song, ‘Rabbit Foot’ sung by the guitarist Rosco Wilson, ‘Tempest And The Tide’, which was a song originally by Purson, and was typically a very long Prog song with keyboard solos and flute solos that got an enormous response. ‘Return Of The Ellington’ was also worth a mention as it was another crowd pleaser. The band played for about sixty-five minutes and got a very big reception from the audience when they left the stage. Based on what I heard and because I like Prog with a difference, this is a band that I will be investigating more.
SETLIST (Contains Spoilers)
To Shoot Another Day / Timothy Martin’s Conditioning / Heavy Pencil / The Smut Peddler / Spook Racket / Donovan Ellington / Home / Rabbit Foot / Tempest And The Tide / Return Of The Ellington / Chocolate Money / Ride On My Bike
At around 20.45, the intro music struck up. To my surprise, it was Ace Frehley’s ‘Fractured Mirror’. The band then appeared on stage and broke into ‘Too Many Gods’ from the first album. There was a background projection behind them that played videos relating to the songs throughout the evening. The light show was very good and not too overpowering, and the sound mix was excellent. The band were at the top of their game, and the track rolled into ‘Immortal’ and then, without hesitation that in turn rolled into ‘Queen Of The Neverland’. After a few words from lead singer Damien Edwards about Will Dowling doing bass duties, the band then ploughed through more songs from their ten-year back catalogue. Every song was performed marvellously and enjoyed by the Bath crowd with very enthusiastic clapping after each and every song. ‘Bootleg Bandoleros’ from ‘KickStart The Sun’ was the outstanding track for me; a long, slow burner of a tune that had twists and turns and had amazing harmonies and superb dual guitar solos, it got the best response of the evening. After a few more fantastic songs from their ten-year history, the band left the stage at 21.55 before returning to do the two encore songs that have now become the norm for them to play as encores. As the last song ended, the backdrop projection displayed a photo of Ace Frehley with the caption ‘Goodnight From The Coolest Cat In Space Ace Frehley 1951-2025’. A special tribute indeed.
This was an outstanding night of music. I have seen Cats In Space in all sorts of places over the years. Outdoor festivals, indoor large venues and indoor small venues. The size of the Komedia was perfect for them, with a stage that was big enough to take all their equipment and give them room to perform, and it also accommodated the size of the audience that they can now attract.
SETLIST (Contains Spoilers)
Too Many Gods / Immortal / Queen Of The Neverland / Kickstart The Sun / Crashing Down / Jupiter Calling / This Velvet Rush / Bootleg Bandoleros / Occam's Razor (Not The End Of The World) / Hologram Man / Greatest Story Never Told
Encore: Thunder In The Night / I Fell Out Of Love With Rock 'N' Roll
Review: Paul Gregory
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