Often, if you have the blues, it is said that you are down, depressed and in a black place. Well, that is definitely not the case when Orianthi is in town playing the blues. Tonight was an exhibition of note-perfect, precision played blues guitar, full of emotion, sass and attitude. This O2 Academy Islington show was electric and the perfect antidote to the miserable weather outside.
Orianthi
O2 Academy Islington – 29 January 2026
Words: Adrian Stonley
Photography: Robert Sutton
Tonight was one of those evenings where you could stand and let the music wash over you in giant swathes of harmonic energy.
From opener First Time Blues, the music cascaded around you. Orianthi held court with just a bass player and drummer. She was the queen of the night, and all eyes were focused completely on her. The tone of her playing was mesmerising.
Providing a life story told through the blues, she laid her soul on the line; thought-provoking, personal and exquisitely beautiful.
Yet this is a Lady who can rock with the best of them. We can slip through the gentle acoustic depth of Where Did Your Heart Go where it was just Orianthi and her acoustic guitar solo and alone on the stage, showcased in a beam of unwavering white light, before ripping out raunchy riffs and cascades of notes as she tears a great rock ‘n’ roll hole in the venue’s roof. Light It Up. She certainly did.
With material spread around her musical history, it went from back to basic first album tunes such as What’s It Gonna Be through to the Michael Jackson song, Give In To Me.
The set was beautifully balanced. We had Orianthi telling her life story, from discovering BB King as a child, courtesy of her father, and a perfect rendition of King’s Never Make Your Move Too Soon, through to letting your hair down to ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man.
With the set only lasting for ninety minutes, it was all over far too soon. Closer, another cover, Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile, was drawn out and extended through band introductions and solos.
Certainly, we were back out in the cold far too soon, although there was a wonderful bluesy buzz in the pit of your stomach as you walked back down the windy streets to the tube.
What a night.
