gig Theatre Review · 250 words
The "…by Candlelight" concerts have a simple premise - come to a cathedral or church to hear top West End talent sing your favourite singer's songs, backed by a live band. This is a cut above your usual tribute act - they aren't trying to do impressions of the act, they're stamping their own energy onto beloved songs. It works! Mostly. This concert was in a West End theatre so the (electric) c…
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At some point around the start of the pandemic, The Algorithm instructed me to listen to music by Rainbow Girls. Who am I to question the ineffable will of the machine? I don't know what it was about their harmonies, slide guitar, and double-bass which tickled my brain, but I was hooked. A few days ago, a different algorithm alerted me to the fact that they were touring the UK - so I snapped up…
Continue reading →beatles gig · 2 comments · 550 words · Viewed ~275 times
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 …
Continue reading →comedy gig review Ross Noble · 1 comment · 300 words · Viewed ~220 times
"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 …
Continue reading →comedy gig review · 3 comments · 300 words · Viewed ~1,443 times
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…
Continue reading →gig music review Rolling Stones theatre · 250 words
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 t…
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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…
Continue reading →gig music · 1 comment · 300 words
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…
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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 V…
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