Brooke Combe, Glasgow review: 'a natural pop soul belter'

Dalkeith-born Brooke Combe has been a rising soul pop star for a number of years, popping up most recently for a performance on prestigious US chat show Jimmy Kimmel Live. Here, she returned to the scene of her first Scottish gig, having long outgrown the venue, only several months later than planned due to some frustrating throat problems. Six months of singing lessons have pulled her back into shape and there was no indication of any diminution in her vocal powers.

Combe is a natural pop soul belter – not a rifftastic gospel testifier but with a slowburn blues ache when required. The pre-gig soundtrack said a lot about where her musical heart lies these days, landing squarely in classic vintage soul territory where strong voices, melodramatic melodies, lavish arrangements and ample tambourine action rule the day.

“Welcome all aboard the soul train,” she declared as her band launched into the driving summer groove of Lanewood Pines and the sweet chiming northern soul vibe of This Town, both taken from her 2025 debut album Dancing at the Edge of the World. The mellow, burnished A-Game, inflected with bursts of acid guitar, was a throwback to her earlier bluesy predilections, alongside her slick debut single Are You With Me?, introduced as the first song she ever wrote, with a little help from her mum.

She looked askance with L.M.T.F.A. (standing for “leave me the f*** alone”), a Raye-style diss with solo guitar adornment, then ahead to her forthcoming single, Tears Won’t Lie, another happysad northern soul-infused cut, before paying tribute to her northern soul icon, the R&B singer/guitarist Barbara Lynn, with a faithful cover of You’re Losing Me then rounding off the show with her own supremely Supremesy How Can I Tell You? (To Love Me More), wielding her tambourine as an instrument of joy.

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