Orianthi
- Rock Metal Machine
- 43 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Artists: Orianthi, James Bruner
Venue: The Brook (Southampton)
Date: 1st February 2026
"Orianthi was out of this world. She is an incredible guitar player and vocalist and she deserves to have a lot more recognition than she has currently got."
The Brook holds up to five hundred people and is one of the top venues to go to see live music in Southampton. Tonight it is sold out, and the venue is packed solid. This is the last night of the short UK tour for Orianthi. She was headlining Planet Rock’s Winters End 2026 last night and apparently she was very well received. Today was one of the wettest days that I can remember for a long time. The rain never stopped, which made the two hour journey to Southampton interesting to say the least, avoiding vast pools of water and then having to queue for an hour in torrential rain outside The Brook.
At 20.00, ‘That’s Life’, I think sung by Tony Bennett, struck up, followed by James Bruner and his band exploding onto the stage He is a young guitarist and a singer-songwriter from Nashville and has a female bass player, a lead guitarist and a drummer in the band. The sound is a bit muffled to start with, but soon gets sorted out. This is a high energy performance. Bruner doesn’t stay still, he bounces all over the stage during each of the songs in the set. He has a very good strong voice and the band is on fire. Zach Mears, the lead guitarist, is superb. Best song for me was ‘Red Light’ that has a full on performance from Bruner interacting with the audience and a superb guitar solo from Mears. It was only a thirty minute set, but in that time Bruner had won over many new fans. An excellent support act and one to watch out for in the future.
Setlist (contains spoilers)
Switchblade, Can’t Keep Wanting, Red Light, Big Shot, Alibi, I Get Everything
Orianthi is an Australian guitarist and singer songwriter. In the past she has been the lead guitarist with famous artists such as Michael Jackson and Alice Cooper. She has been a solo artist for some time now, and very rarely ever comes to the UK. I first saw her in 2014 at the Calling Festival held in Clapham, which had Joe Bonamassa, Aerosmith and Thunder appearing on the bill. She was in a relationship then with Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) and they had formed a band called RSO that unfortunately did not last very long.
At 21.00, the intro music started, which I did not recognise, and Orianthi and her band took to the stage. She was dressed in a black leather skirt, black lacy top, boots, a red hat and shades, and looked very much the Rock star. She was playing her signature white PRS guitar with her logo in gold emblazoned on it, and behind her were her signature Orange amps. She opened with ‘First Time Blues’ from her latest album. The sound was excellent, and she immediately had the crowd in the palm of her hand. The other band members were Sam Collins on bass (Toby Lee band) and Demian Arriaga on drums from Los Angeles.
The first few tracks were from her various albums from over the last few years. However, in between songs, she had a rapport with the audience, talking about her music etc. One story she told was about her father turning her onto all sorts of music, including the Blues. She then proceeded to play B.B King’s ‘Never Make Your Move Too Soon’ which had an incredible guitar solo full of sustained notes and pull offs. The crowd response was terrific. Following a few more tracks she then played a short but beautiful acoustic set, blaming the weather on trying to keep her guitar in tune.
The remainder of the set was pure class. ‘Heaven In This Hell’, written with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics who apparently was in the audience somewhere, was a gem demonstrating how she can mix Rock with a more Poppy style of song. Michael Jackson’s ‘Give It To Me’ was a surprise. I did not know the tune, but was astonished at how good her guitar work and vocals on it were. It was during this song that she invited a guitarist that she met during the Meet and Greet session earlier in the day, to come up and join her on stage. However, that unfortunately did not go as well as she was hoping it would go and it turned into a bit of a non event. A highlight for me was ‘How Do You Sleep’, a long, slow Blues track. This was the best guitar solo that she did all night and demonstrated what a classy and skilled guitarist she is. After ninety minutes or so then all too soon it was the final song, ‘Voodoo Chile’, and had the drummer and the bass player doing very short solos whilst Orianthi was, amongst other things, playing the guitar with her teeth.
The gig was a brilliant night of music. The support act was very good and got the crowd fired up. Orianthi was out of this world. She is an incredible guitar player and vocalist and she deserves to have a lot more recognition than she has currently got. I hope she does not leave it too long before she returns to the UK.
Setlist (contains spoilers)
First Time Blues, Sinners Hymn, You Don’t Wanna Know. Never Make Your Move Too soon, Attention, Rescue Me, Where Did Your Heart Go (acoustic), Before You Accuse Me (acoustic), Light It Up, Heaven In This Hell, Give In To Me, Whats’ It Gonna Be, Sharp Dressed Man, Dark Days Are Gone, How Do You Sleep?, Voodoo Chile
Gallery: All photos © Marty Moffatt (used with kind permission)
Review: Paul Gregory
Photos: Marty Moffatt
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