The career of Anglo-French Rocker Laura Cox grew out of social media. As a teenager, she amassed a huge following through guitar fuelled cover-versions on YouTube. Some say that’s ‘cheating’ and that real music can only come out of playing sweaty gigs for years in front of small audiences seven days a week. If that’s the case, then Cox has also now ‘paid her dues’ through a decade of touring. She won my musical heart when I saw her perform a blistering set at the Harmonie in 2020 to four Rockpalast cameras and an empty hall. This time around an audience was allowed, and I was very glad to be there and see her set a real audience on fire. Strange days indeed. It must have been hard for Cox and her band on that day in 2020, because tonight’s performance showed just how much they fed off of the audience’s energy.
Cox’s music has a very ’70s hard rock feel to it, and as a ’70s concert goer myself it was heart-warming to arrive at the Harmonie and see a wall of Marshall amps – always the sign for me that a show will be rocking. Having said that, I was a bit concerned that one of those Marshall stacks was set up front of stage, directly in front of me. I wasn’t tech-savvy enough to know if it was actually plugged in, or just serving as a stand for Cox’s lap-steel guitar. If the former, I was likely to get my face melted and lose all my fillings. Fortunately, the amp stayed silent and I was perfectly placed to grab some pictures and enjoy excellent slide playing early in the set.
With only three full discs to her name, Laura Cox doesn’t have a huge repertoire to call on. It doesn’t stop her from delivering a set with no obvious fillers or dull ‘go to the bar’ moments though. As I expected, there were a lot of out-and-out rock songs on offer like ‘Bad Luck Blues’ and ‘Freakin’ Out Loud’ with marvelous old-style riffs. There were also some excellent quieter moments, particularly when Cox took charge of that Duesenberg lap slide that was sitting on the Marshal amp and which was perfect for adding a bit of a Country spin to the sound. A clue that she has a melodic side to her playing style was also right there on her body in the form of a Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt.
Kudos to the soundman. I really liked the tight bass and clear balance. Loud but not unpleasantly so, with good sound separation that made the most of an excellent band. I really do love the ’70’s beefy rock rhythms that the likes of Deep Purple used to put out, and Laura’s band proved to be chips off that wonderful block. Hats off to Adrian Kah (bass), and Antonin Guerin (drums) for that meaty 70’s rhythm, and to Florian Robin for his Jon Lord style presence on keys.
One of the evening’s closing numbers is an early one with a telling history – ‘Too Nice For Rock n Roll’. It was, revealed Laura, what she was told in the early days of her Hard Rock career. In her case, those early days were around 2008 when she was racking up that huge following on social media mentioned earlier, filled with her versions of top rock songs. Still only in her early ’30s, Laura’s own material is in itself plenty strong enough in its own right, and there is already a mature edge to her onstage presence that puts her up there as a guitarist and singer-songwriter alongside the likes of Samantha Fish. I have a feeling though that, good as she already is, the best is still yet to come. Right now though, Laura Cox is very good indeed and I’m glad I finally got to see her live. If you haven’t yet done so – look for a date near you, and to quote one of Laura’s many tattoos – Chill Out!
