Amanda Shires Review - The Tabernacle

Amanda Shires, The Tabernacle London 9th June 2026

It’s surprising just how many artists you see perform who, despite their musical genius, can’t talk to an audience. Sometimes you can feel like an uninvited guest at a party who the host is trying to ignore. Amanda Shires is not one of those artists. You get the distinct impression too, that she is a very good party host, and any uninvited guests would feel more than welcome. As the regular house band performs to a distracted group of regulars on the ground floor, upstairs, every one of those watching Shires is in the palm of her hand.

Shires is an intoxicating mix of extreme confidence and extraordinary vulnerability and on stage at The Tabernacle, she displays those extremes. She is warm, engaging and funny, discussing all things from the London weather (she says it was a lovely day, but has missed the heatwave by two weeks) to previous trips to the capital, including when she saw Stephen Stills perform. She strides the stage, and the first few rows, casually chatting about people’s favourite films, admitting that she needs some recommendations. At one point she realises there’s no seat on the stage and a fan from South Africa offers hers. This leads to a delve into their background, followed by a huge hug.

Shires is known for her improvision at gigs and these conversations with the audience can take her setlist in different directions. She orchestrates a narrative cleverly around songs like Break out the Champagne; here stripped right back to the bones to make it feel much more heartbreaking than the faster recorded version. She talks about being single, but there are also marriage and adoption propositions for Shires and her keyboardist, in between intense and confessional performances of songs like Friend Zone and Living.

As she concludes the blues infused set, every one of the seated audience gets to their feet. Her lyrics might reveal tales of unrequited and lost love but here at The Tabernacle there is no shortage of adoration for this hugely talented singer and violinist.