Sara Petite missed the 2024 festival season this side of the Atlantic, but she made sure to be back in 2025. Having just played two out of three days at the Maverick Festival, she turned out, on a warm Thursday evening, at Stables 2 in Milton Keynes. Stables 2 is a rectangular room with tables and seats laid out, adjacent to the foyer at the famous arts centre.
Petite’s tour was set up relatively late, and two of her regular UK pickup band were not available, so Mark Lewis (bass) and Thomas Dibb (guitar) were drafted in as replacements (along with Jamie Dawson on drums). Dressed snappily for the part, the pair play like they have known the songs forever. It’s been two years since Petite’s last album, “The Empress”, was released, and she’s been building up the next one with the set featuring some new songs as well as some well-known from previous tours.
The first of two sets opened with ‘Snakes’, which has all the hallmarks of a great Petite tune and is then followed straight away with a rollicking ‘God Save The Queen’, which has the audience responding enthusiastically at the close. As they move on to ‘Honky Tonk Angel’, it becomes more apparent that Jamie Dawson’s drums are a bit high in the mix, and it’s noticeable in the second set when he switches for a couple of songs to the soft mallets, this adds to the sound.
‘Lead The Parade’ – the full pelt version – followed and then a joyous ‘Little House’, preceded by a bit of classic Petite banter on the subject of loosening clothing, when full, to feel more comfortable. We then get a delightful ‘She Runs With Wolves’ before a one-two from the last album with ‘She’s Come Undone’ followed by ‘Le Petit Saboteur’ which is preceded by Petite’s introduction to its hilarious French section. The first set closed with a head down ‘Promised Land’ – originally on 2010’s “Doghouse Rose” – with plenty of fills and more than one return to the chorus on the way out.
Set two began with Petite alone with her acoustic guitar. Despite her irrepressible nature, she can seem quite vulnerable at times. This is particularly apparent as she sings ‘Getting Over You’, the opening to the second half. She follows it with ‘Goldfinch’, an interesting song, especially lyrically, which sounds like it has some space in which to develop. She then announced (loudly, so they’ll hear) that the band will be coming back.
The first full band song of the set is the reflective ‘Feeling Like An Angel’, which is a sound choice of bridge from the solo acoustic segment. ‘Jealous Heart’ is the first single from the new album, with which it may or may not share a title. With its driving rhythm and big chorus, it has the right characteristics for a hit record- repeat streaming is strongly recommended.
‘The Empress‘ is introduced by Petite, talking to the male and female energies in every person and the importance of balancing the two. She frames it in terms of her personal experience, which makes the thought quite compelling. The temperature is taken down a notch or three for ‘Keep Movin’ On’, followed by, in response to an audience request, ‘Rare Bird’. Both songs display the honest emotion at the heart of Petite’s songwriting.
Having taken the tempo down slightly, Petite and the band cranked it right back to 11 with a trio of bangers. First up is ‘Bringing Down The Neighbourhood’ in which Petite’s twin sister Jenny plays a starring role, then ‘I Wanna Get Wasted’, a rocker evoking some of the frustrations of Covid times and finally the roaring and unapologetic ‘Misfits’.
A happy audience called them back for an encore of Springsteen’s ‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’. Petite introduces the song with some heartfelt thoughts on the events unfolding in the US, with particular reference to Southern California. She takes time to thank Springsteen, Taylor Swift and others for speaking out in words or songs and expresses a hope for a less divisive America in the future.
It’s been a fine show; catching Sara Petite live will never disappoint any music lover.
