Emotional highs and glorious lows with Delta Rae, ZZ Ward and Martin Harley (review, photos)

The “Fire and Shine” tour arrived at on Wednesday night to a packed house at the TLA on South Street. Opener Martin Harley dazzled with his lap slide prowess in a short entertaining set. The highlight was a performance of his song “Winter Coat” that was prefaced with a story about how it once made two tough biker guys at a show get all mushy.

Co-headliner and Abington, PA native ZZ Ward hit the stage next, leading led her tight band through an exciting hour of her smooth mash-up of Blues, Hip Hop and R and B. Highlights were a touching acoustic “Last Love Song” and set closer “Move Like U Stole It” that had the crowd grooving along.

North Carolina’s Delta Rae closed out the night. They made the full house sweat on a cold wintery night with a powerful performance full of roller coaster emotional highs and lows and glorious harmonies. Early in the set songs “Morning Comes” and “Holding Onto Good” were high points but they saved the best for last. For their encore they headed out into the crowd for an exuberant, sweaty acoustic sing-along version of “Hey Hey Hey” that featured back-up vocals from everyone in the crowd.