Amy Lynn and the Gunshow’s April 23rd show at Kenny’s Castaways marked the group’s first return to the venue since their performance debut three years ago; for this special occasion they lavished their revved up crowd of fans, family, and friends with a stellar 90 minute set. A polyrhythmic three-part horn build-up started things out, gaining volume steadily as the crowd hooted and hollered in anticipation. When she was good and ready, Amy Lynn sauntered onstage, and within seconds of the groovy mid-tempo opener “Clearly it’s Me,” was drawing laughs with her comedically theatrical delivery. After the initial fun and games, she fully unleashed that jaw-dropping voice of hers, a sassy—and sometimes spine-tingling—instrument that had the room up in arms all the way through a funknasty reprise.

In addition to playing about eight doo-wop, rock & roll and blues style originals off their two EPS, the Gunshow also pulled out a couple choice covers, including Burt Bacharach’s “Always Something There to Remind Me,” and Rufus and Chaka Khan’s “Tell Me Something Good.” But their selection of Adele’s latest single “Rolling in the Deep,” was their biggest triumph. Powered by Adele’s explosive chorus, it’s a fire-and-brimstone number to begin with; but belting is undoubtedly Amy Lynn’s forte, and her physical performance had all the blistering intensity that Adele’s leaves untapped.
Something should be said about the band’s overall kineticism: the horns just don’t keep still, and Amy Lynn’s two backup singers performed their purposely campy girl-group moves with such integrity that smiling was unavoidable. Likewise, whether performing the exuberant “To Say I Do” (wherein Amy Lynn and bari sax player/co-founder Alex beamingly announced their engagement) or the dryly grim “I Believe it to My Soul”, the Gunshow delivered the entire set with a joy so infectious even Scrooge himself would’ve left with a pep in his step.