Chantel McGregor - A two show Acoustic special. Matinee & Evening

Chantel McGregor

Saturday Afternoon 12.30pm - 4.00pm - 2 sets

Saturday Evening 7.00pm - 10.45pm - 2 sets

Chantel McGregor released her third studio album, 'The Healing', on May 23, 2025. Over the last 15 years the Yorkshire-born guitarist, singer and songwriter has carved a reliable presence on the British gig circuit, traversing the length and breadth of the country and appearing at some of our biggest festivals. It would be easy to presume that we know what makes her tick.

However, 'The Healing' is set to blow such preconceptions clean out of the water, revealing a whole new side to Chantel McGregor in both a musical and emotional sense. Back in 2011, McGregor introduced herself with an enjoyable yet (by her own admission) fairly blues-by-numbers set entitled 'Like No Other', and a full decade has now passed since a harder-edged successor, 'Lose Control', which began to absorb the rock and heavy metal that Chantel listens to away from the stage.

'The Healing' is the next logical step of McGregor's journey. "This is definitely, definitely a rock album – not a blues album," stresses Chantel. "It's heavy and dark and it introduces elements of prog-rock, which is a form of music I absolutely love. It has those 'wobbly synth vibes' from the 1980s," she continues, laughing. "Steven Wilson went down that route of being disturbing, dark and also slightly wobbly. It's got a bit of that."

Besides McGregor, the album features her regular band-mates Colin Sutton on bass and Thom Gardner on drums, a pair of players with whom she has developed a form of musical telekinesis. Where things depart from the norm is the presence of the two newcomers. Noted UK guitarist Oli Brown handles what Chantel describes as "programming and synth-y things" and is also a co-producer. "I've known Oli for donkey's years, but when I heard the work he was doing with his band The Dead Collective I really wanted to see if we could do something together," McGregor states. Wayne Proctor, another member of The Dead Collective, handled production mixing and mastering.

In another huge break with tradition, both Oli and Wayne were involved heavily in the songwriting process.

"Working with them has given me a completely new angle on things," McGregor states proudly. "I've used synths before, but bringing in a Moog really boosted my creativity because it made me think outside the box. Best of all, it all felt completely natural."

"I've really loved making what I consider to be a mash-up of dark, grungy heavy rock with my prog influences – the weird time signatures and the Moog," Chantel continues. "To me, it sounds really interesting."

And, just to clarify, 'The Healing' isn't blues? "It's definitely not blues," she chuckles.

Will all of this come as a surprise to those that think they know all about Chantel McGregor?

The answer is equally emphatic: "Yeah. Maybe. But I'm lucky with my fans. I believe that a musician must evolve and grow. I'm sure there are still some people might want to hear me still playing Robin Trower songs, like I did when I was 18, but on the whole they've always been so accepting of what I do."

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Realising at an early age that if you picked up a guitar you got attention, especially from her dad whose guitar it usually was, it was inevitable that she would get one of her own. So at the ripe old age of three, she got her first guitar, a half size acoustic.

At seven she started lessons but soon noticed that not only did the electric guitars have a smaller neck, making them ideal for little hands, but they could also make a lot more noise. After more lessons and a lot more noise, and at the grand old age of eight she became the youngest person in the country to pass a Rockschool grade. More lessons followed and with them came the realisation that if you want people to listen, you need to sing!

So it came to pass that at the age of twelve she arrived at the famous Melborn Hotel in Bradford to play and sing at the weekly jam session. Helped and encouraged by all the musicians, she developed rapidly into a incredible rock and blues musician.

Now described as a "prodigy", a visit from a major label soon followed and at fourteen she was told "great voice, but girls don't play guitar like that!" by the head of their A&R. Their advice to change styles because boys would be intimidated was met with an attitude of "that's their problem! I'm not changing!" Singing and playing on national television and radio soon followed.

Then came a change of direction, studying with a view to becoming an English teacher, musically she went away from live performance to concentrate on her exams, whilst at the same time recording and writing, and having passed her A Levels, chose music.

Now qualified at Grade Eight, the wrong "A" Levels required for a music degree course meant enrolling at the world renowned Leeds College of Music for a Btec in Popular Music where she became the first student in the college's history to achieve a 100% pass mark, 18 distinctions. Progressing onto the degree course she became the holder of the prize for outstanding musicianship for 2006/7 on the way to achieving a First Class Honours degree in Popular Music in July 2009 and at the same time the award for guitar.

Once free of the restrictions of studying, she started performing both solo and with her band throughout the UK, quickly building a following and being asked to play at festivals throughout the UK and Europe.

The rest as they say is History, Chantel continues to perform to SOLD OUT Shows across Europe and the UK.

This gig will give you an insight to the Chantel McGregor of the Past the Present and more important the Future.

Strap yourself in for a great Rockin Acoustic set of shows

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Imagine the technique and tone of Robin Trower, the feel of Bonnie Raitt, the inspiration of Hendrix, the influence of SRV, the energy of Bonamassa and the intensity of Trout all rolled into one.

Chantel McGregor is one of the most exciting rock blues guitarists in the country. This is rock blues for the new age, played by a musician born with an effortless virtuosity, peppered by flights of incendiary guitar and flanked by moments of poise, grace and fluidity…