What can be said? Macca. Live on stage. All the classic songs, a band that hits all the right notes, and an arena full of people who are singing their hearts out. Way back in the 1990s, I bumped into Paul when he was doing a poetry reading at my university. I'd missed out on tickets because I was a lazy student and didn't feel like waiting in a long queue. So I hung around the stage door and got a quick photo of him. Those were back in the analogue days before selfies were a thing. I've no…
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"This is a show which rewards punctuality!" Thus spake Ross - they only comedian I know of who can successfully heckle his own audience, chastise himself for doing so, go on a twenty-minute segue about cancer-sniffing dogs, and then return (more-or-less) to where he started. It is exhausting to watch him prance around the stage, screaming at invisible interlocutors, and miming the painfully slow death of a slug being dehydrated by the tears dripping down the face of a crying man. At times he…
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Bill's back! Fresh from winning some dance show on linear-TV and ready to... well, do the same thing as he's been doing for years. Rambling tales, dozens of instruments, innovative tech, and a charming whimsy - undercut with, perhaps, a little more darkness than usual. It is a classic, if unsurprising gig. There's an odd segue into Pachelbel's Canon - material which has been mined to extinction by a dozen other musical comedians - but Bill manages to find something new in it. Just about. The…
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For the first time in its illustrious 114 year history, the historic London Palladium will host a monthly orchestral residency beginning in February 2024, which will see iconic artists’ music celebrated. This was an entertaining, but curious, gig. It isn't a tribute act - no sequinned sound-alikes strutting the stage here - it's a a full rock-n-roll orchestra fronted by three dazzlingly talented female vocalists. They blasted out hit after hit - knowing that the audience is probably u…
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You know it's a good gig when you're having too much fun to take photos! I'd decided to go see the Internet-famous Scary Pockets on tour in London. A few months after buying the tickets, they announced they were moving to a bigger venue due to overwhelming demand. The Troxy was heaving! It's an excellent venue with a large standing floor and plenty of booths and seats for those of us who don't want to be on our feet for a couple of hours. The support act was David Ryan Harris who is…
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The Who are LOUD. Even from the nose-bleed seats at the unfashionable end of the O2 arena, my ears were ringing and my throat was raw from screaming. The "Hits Back" tour pairs The Who with... The Heart of England Orchestra. Now, obviously, The Who are your classic 4-piece rock 'n'roll group. Do they need a full backing orchestra on their songs? I don't know about "need" - but it works beautifully. A smashing start with a collection of songs from Tommy proves the power behind a dozen violins …
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I'm 16. My mate Pete has been humming "Achinta beyda beyda tatvaaaah" endlessly. I finally break and ask him what gibberish he's spouting. And thus I am introduced to Kula Shaker. It was the first CD I ever illicitly ripped to MP3. It was my reference album for any audio equipment purchase. Potential girlfriends were unfairly judged on their appreciation of its mystic tosh. I'm 36. My mate Vicky posts that she has spare tickets to Kula Shaker's 20th anniversary tour. I sprint to the web a…
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