What a show Night Owl puts on – the Uk based company seek to bring a “whole new angle to the tribute genre” and it’s very clear they do so from a place of love. Back to Black is a simple show, when you boil it down. Incredible music meets incredible artists equals an incredible hour of performance.

Our lead for Back to Black is singer Reign Beau, and she embodies the soul of Amy Winehouse’s music so well, without feeling at all like she’s ripping off or stereotyping. She not only has a good, fundamental understanding of the jazz and motown stylings that were hallmarks of Winehouse’s most famous works, but in turn brings quite a rocky flair to sections, and reinvents a lot of the riffs and intonation. In fact, the songs as performed by the Night Owl band feel very iterative of the music itself. They aren’t rote covers – they take them in interesting and different places musically, without losing what makes Winehouse such an incredible songwriter.

The team onstage are each as talented as each other, and they all separately get a chance to shine through solos – except for our bass guitarist, but maybe next time! This is a tight band, who’ve clearly rehearsed this down to the second, but they don’t let this affect their freedom; especially when it comes to Beau’s physical performance, as tiring to watch as I’m sure it was to actually perform as she bounces across the stage. 

Interspersed with the music are brief glimpses into Winehouse’s life, either by projection, or told to us by Beau, again it feels deeply respectful of Amy’s music and her life. 

Night Owl do this for a living, their shows are designed to be slick, but they aren’t without soul – they’re a dream for any music lover.