Masterminded by East Kilbride brothers Jim and William Reid in 1983, The Jesus And Mary Chain transformed alternative music with their noisy, feedback-heavy yet melodic sound, announced by their influential 1985 debut Psychocandy.
From their chaotic performances to their distinctive style, the Scottish siblings inspired the shoegaze genre. Reuniting in 2007, The Jesus And Mary Chain have continued to tour and record, releasing their Top Ten-charting eighth studio album, Glasgow Eyes, in 2024.
The poster for The Jesus And Mary Chain and The Psychedelic Furs’ co-headline tour next January
Formed by brothers Richard and Tim Butler in London in 1977, The Psychedelic Furs redefined the meaning of punk and art rock. Landmark 1981 album Talk Talk Talk brought major recognition, topped by the single Pretty In Pink featuring in John Hughes’s 1986 film of the same title.
The Furs reunited after a 1990s’ hiatus and have continued touring and recording, releasing Made Of Rain in 2020.
The Jesus And Mary Chain and The Psychedelic Furs toured together previously in the United States in 2024. Their 2027 travels will take in Leeds O2 Academy, January 19; Edinburgh Usher Hall, January 20; Glasgow O2 Academy, January 22; Manchester Academy, January 23; Bristol Beacon, January 25; Birmingham O2 Academy, January 26; Brighton Dome, January 28, and London British Airways ARC, January 29.
David Essex: Playing York Barbican and Hull Connexin Live this week
FROM David Essex’s night of memories to the terrors of Paranormal Activity, Tony Blackburn’s Sixties’ celebration to Dirt Road Band’s blues, Charles Hutchinson heads into a fruitful autumn.
Still rocking on: David Essex, Thanks For The Memories, York Barbican, tomorrow, doors 7pm; Hull Connexin Live, Friday, doors 6.30pm
SINGER, composer and actor David Essex, now 79, is into the last week of his 21-date Thanks For The Memories tour, celebrating his 55-year career that began with playing Jesus in the London premiere of Godspell in 1971.
Essex has notched 19 Top 40 hits in the UK alone, such as the Grammy-nominated Rock On, Lamplight, Gonna Make You A Star, Stardust, Hold Me Close, Oh What A Circus, Silver Dream Machine, A Winter’s Tale and Tahiti. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Hull, connexinlivehull.com.
Dirt Road Band: “Punchy blues rock music to make your heart beat faster”
Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Dirt Road Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm
THE Dirt Road Band’s line-up of Steve Walwyn, guitar and vocals, Horace Panter, bass, and Ted Duggan, drums, play hard, punchy blues rock music to make your heart beat faster.
Walwyn spent 32 years in Dr Feelgood; Panter was a founding member of The Specials and Duggan has played with Banco de Gaia and Badfinger. They began Dirt Road Band as a side project five years ago, since when it has moved centre stage with the album release of Righteous in 2024. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Peter Brush: Quirky one-liners and original routines at Hilarity Bites Comedy Club
Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm
FRIDAY’S bill comprises Peter Brush, Pete Selwood and Al Stevenson. Brush, a deft writer of finely crafted jokes, takes to the stage unassumingly with his slight, bespectacled frame and scruffy hair to deliver quirky one-liners and original routines in an amusingly awkward fashion.
Yorkshireman Selwood focuses on tales of northern life, while being born with only one hand gives him a unique experience of the world around him, as he pokes fun at having a disability in modern Britain. Stevenson is a quick-witted Newcastle cheeky charmer who has hosted The Stand Comedy Club in his home city. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Mayhem, madness and muppetry of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company presents Right Here Right Now!, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm
YORK company Riding Lights goes on the road to Helmsley with its improvised show Right Here Right Now!, promising “no script, no clue, all chaos”. You bring the ideas for the merry band of improvisers to turn them into high-speed comedy, using witty games and gags to bring side-splitting stories to life. Cue joy-filled nonsense and feel-good fun for the family. Who wins the comedy crown? You decide! Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.
Infectious pop punk covers of the week: Captain Clap & The Burning Sensations, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 7.30pm
SOME years ago three men, all old enough to know better, decided the time was right to play pop punk, only missing the genre’s peak by a couple of decades. Since then, they have been bringing covers, bad jokes and loud, lively nights to pubs and clubs around Yorkshire, playing festivals and organising fundraisers too. “Expect pop punk classics, scene anthems and inappropriate song choices,” they say. Mooch support. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The Jake Leg Jug Band: Songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption at Kirk Theatre, Pickering
Ragtime gig of the week: The Jake Leg Jug Band, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm
THE Jake Leg Jug Band delivers the authentic sounds of 1920s and 1930s’ America – jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel – in songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption.
Since self-releasing debut album Cotton Mouth, Duncan Wilcox, vocals and double bass, and Warren James, vocals, guitar and banjo, have released a further eight albums in 12 years, among them Next Stop!, Everythin’s Jake, Break A Leg, Fifth Avenue, Goodbye Booze, Hello Central and 2024’s spirituals collection Some Glad Morning. Box office: kirktheatre.co.uk.
Eighties’ double bill of the week: Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey and Blancmange, York Barbican, Saturday, doors 6.30pm
REMEMBER the Thompson Twins, makers of such 1980s’ hits as Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor, In the Name Of Love, Love On Your Side, If You Were Here, Lies, Lay Your Hands On Me and King For A Day. Tom Bailey, the Sheffield-founded group’s lead vocalist and instrumentalist, now performs under the name Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, revisiting his past and showcasing debut solo album Science Fiction.
On Saturday, he closes his autumn tour at York Barbican, the only Yorkshire location on his 14-date itinerary, when fellow 1980s’ chart act Blancmange support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Psychological thriller of the week: Paranormal Activity, Grand Opera House, York, September 29 to October 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
IN a new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett and written by Levi Holloway, the playwright behind Broadway hit Grey House.
When James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape their past, soon they discover that places are not haunted, but people are. Can you hold your nerve in the face of this chilling production on its first British and Irish tour? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster for Sounds Of The 60’s Live at York Barbican
Sixties’ celebration of the week: Sounds Of The 60’s Live, hosted by Tony Blackburn, York Barbican, September 29, 7.30pm
BBC Radio 2 presenter Tony Blackburn hosts an evening of stories and songs from “perhaps the most iconic ten years in music, fashion and popular culture” on the Sounds Of The 60’s tour, 62 years since his first broadcast on pirate radio station Radio Caroline South in 1964.
The Sounds Of The 60’s All Star Band and Singers perform hits by The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, a Rolling Stones medley, The Walker Brothers, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and more besides. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
YORK illustrator, screen print artist, Bull and Hyde Family Jam bassist and event organiser Kai West has made a name for himself over the past decade from screen printing posters for bands, both in Yorkshire and globally.
From his studio in Rogues Atelier Art Studios, in Walmgate, Kai has developed a unique style, using bold colours and striking imagery to grab people’s attention, while applying traditional screen-printing methods to realise the power of contrast and shape.
York artist Kai West with assorted artworks from his Bluebird Bakery exhibition, placed either side of the Acomb bakery & cafe’s signature bluebird mural
His Bluebird Bakery exhibition sees Kai move away from posters. Building on previous exhibitions and intrigues, he explores Great Britain’s native ground-nesting birds, concentrating mainly those threatened on the UK Red List.
“I explores their folklores and stories as a means to learn more about our relationships with the creatures, and what this might mean in a world that’s heating up and rapidly changing, and where bird species are ever more at risk of extinction,” says Kai.
One of Kai West’s screen prints at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb
Kai West mounting his exhibition at Bluebird Bakery
Toad, by Kai West, from his Bluebird Bakery exhibition
Christina Meehan’s Annie and Karen Holmes’s Chris in Calendar Girls The Musical. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
STEPHEN Joseph Theatre artistic director Paul Robinson’s production of Calendar Girls The Musical is on the shortlist for a major award.
Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s 2015 show has been revived this year in a co-production between the SJT, Scarborough, Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake, the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich and the Octagon Theatre, Bolton.
Opening at the SJT, in late-June in its first-ever actor-musician staging in the round, Calendar Girls has been nominated for Best Musical Production, sponsored by Tysers Live, in the upcoming UK Theatre Awards.
Robinson’s production moved on to Keswick throughout August and is now playing the New Wolsey before moving on to the Octagon throughout October.
Barlow and Firth’s much-loved show charts the story of a group of Yorkshire women who create a fabulous fundraising calendar after the death of one of their husbands.
CharlesHutchPress’s review concluded: “Honorary Yorkshiremen Barlow and Firth, in tandem with Robinson – a director at his best in comedy – have delivered the best version of Calendar Girls yet, not least thanks to the leading performances of Karen Holmes’s Chris and Christina Meehan’s Chris, Yorkshire women of such spirit and resilience.”
Robinson says: “Being nominated for a UK Theatre Award is an incredibly proud moment for us in Scarborough. It reflects not just the work on stage, but our shared commitment, alongside our vital regional partners, to bringing high-quality and engaging storytelling to local audiences.
“This production simply wouldn’t have been possible without the immense trust of Tim Firth and Gary Barlow; allowing us to take their beautiful show and create its first-ever actor-musician version was a huge leap of faith.
“I am immensely proud of our spectacular, multi-talented cast and crew, and our visionary creative team who pushed all the boundaries to bring our ambitious vision to life.”
Calendar Girls The Musical faces stiff competition in the awards, to be announced in London on October 12. The fellow nominees are: The High Life (National Theatre of Scotland & Dundee Rep Theatre co-production in association with Aberdeen Performing Arts and Capital Theatres); Kiss Of The Spiderwoman (Curve, Bristol Old Vic & Mayflower Southampton co-production) and Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (Birmingham Rep).
Since 1991, the annual UK Theatre Awards have celebrated the creative excellence and outstanding work seen on and off stage throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Matthew Wood’s cover illustration for John Wheatcroft’s collection of football-related short stories, The Strange Death Of Football
YORK author and journalist John Wheatcroft set out to write a volume of stories in which football was the subject or the starting point.
“I’m using the sport to explore universal themes such as love, friendship, family and loss,” he says of The Strange Death Of Football’s resulting tales of winners and losers. “Even the pastiche boys’ football story, Portsmouth v Jupiter, satirises English post-war insularity.”
Introducing the stories, John says: “The lives of two international players are changed forever following a road accident. A young orphan learns lessons for life from his great-uncle, helped by a shared love of fooball, words and story-telling.
“A referee faces the toughest decision of his career in a testimonial match. A vicar thinks about his life and faith as he watches his relegation-bound team losing heavily.
“These inter-connected stories often have the feel of a novel as their protagonists, from Manchester to Portsmouth and Glasgow to Naples, cope with life’s highs and lows. For them, football is occasionally a curse, more often a blessing but always more than a game. There’s also a sting in the tail, a warning from the future.”
After publishing two novels, Here In The Cull Valley (2016) and Rocket Boy (2019), John has ventured into short stories for the first time. “However, to some extent I’ve tried to have it both ways, giving the 11 stories the occasional feel of a novel by revisiting characters and themes.
“With one stand-alone exception, The Footballer In Spite Of Himself, every story ties up with at least one other tale. The book also offers a picture of what football was like during different stages of its development, from war-time to the modern (and perhaps final!) era.”
Nostalgia plays its part, albeit without the slightest sentimentality. “The misery of one former player in the 1950s (in The Daft Wee Game) suggests that there was never a truly golden age for the sport,” contends John.
Author John Wheatcroft
“The sting in the tail, which explains the title, is a rather gloomy view of football’s (and the world’s) future, although it should perhaps be read as a warning rather than a prediction. In any case, many stories are quite upbeat and the protagonists predominantly likeable. Problems and conflict arise from how other people (and the football world) treat them.”
Sports journalist, broadcaster and My Father And Other Working-Class Football Heroes author Gary Imlach says of the book: “Like all well-chosen starting XIs, this book is more than the sum of its parts. The stories play off each other, key figures recur, connections reveal themselves. The result is a heartfelt narrative that’s as much about family as football.”
The Guardian sports journalist, author, tactical historian and The Blizzard editor Jonathan Wilson describes The Strange Death Of Football as “a beautiful album of short stories that performs the rare feat of using football successfully as a stage, a structuring device and a metaphor. Wise and moving.”
“Both Gary and Jonathan seem to have really understood what I was aiming for,” says John.
Tickets for today’s 75-minute launch can be bought via Explore York’s tickettailor.com site, priced at £2.50. Published by Blue Bunting, of York, the book also is on sale at Little Apple Bookshop, High Petergate, York.
Author’s note by John Wheatcroft
“MOST of my football sides [in The Strange Death Of Football] are current names or clubs that existed in the past. The exceptions are Inter Campania, Valley Cordials and the war-time Forces United.
One story, The Footballer In Spite Of Himself, contains some unfamiliar teams. Most football fans with an interest in the past will have heard of Ardwick and Newton Heath. Not so many, perhaps, will know that Oldham Athletic were Pina Villa and Stockport County were Heaton Norris Rovers.
“It’s my whimsical nod to the way the history of football might have panned out quite differently. After all, Bury were winners of the FA Cup twice before Manchester City and Manchester United won anything. And United survived by the skin of their teeth during the inter-war years.
Perhaps, had they folded, there might have been a ‘phoenix club’ like FC Newton Heath. And Manchester Central might have thrived.”
Tim Lowe: York Chamber Music Festival director and cellist
THE closing concert of the York Chamber Music Festival 2026 programme by festival artists Charlotte Scott and Tim Crawford, violin, Simone van der Giessen and Lilli Maijala, viola, and Tim Lowe, cello, opened with a rare outing for Beethoven’s impressive String Quintet in C Major, Op 29.
Although there was much to admire, the ensemble seemed out of sorts. To be sure, the extra viola gave the middle register added warmth and the tempo was well judged, but they didn’t seem to be quite in the zone.
This was occasionally apparent in the technically demanding outer reaches of Beethoven’s writing, where intonation was less secure, particularly in the first and third movements. The players took a short tuning break after the opening Allegro moderato, and the Adagio molto espressivo which followed was much more assured.
Here, the playing had warmth, and indeed, depth. The phrasing was clean and the two violas gave the timbre a rich, velvety quality. The third-movement Scherzo: Allegro had rhythmic bite and the sudden dynamic contrasts were convincing. I enjoyed the closing Presto.
The players clearly relished the fast passages, the central five-part fugato was clearly articulated, and the call-and-response episode was beautifully played.
Brahms’s String Quintet in F major, Op. 88 was an altogether more rewarding experience. The Allegro non troppo ma con brio was notable for the expressive opening first-violin theme: fine playing by Charlotte Scott, the resonant viola solos by the impressive Lilli Maijala and the energy and clarity of the often dense contrapuntal texture. The ending was just lovely.
Contrapuntal clarity and rhythmic drive were the memorable takeaways of the Allegro energico – Presto final movement. The performers were on fire as they responded to Brahms’s accelerating contrapuntal energy. Thrilling.
However, it was their performance of the central Grave ed appassionato that provided the concert highlight. The movement itself combined and integrated elements of both the slow movement and the scherzo. The opening Grave was very dark, a timbre created by the exploitation of the two violas and cello. It really is a unique sound.
Their delivery of the lighter, dancing Allegretto vivace was spot on: crisp articulation, pizzicato exchanges and even – dare I say it – evidence that Brahms actually had a sense of fun. The return of the weighty Grave was very well judged – the changes of colour very striking.
Despite some performance uncertainties, cellist Tim Lowe not only anchored the playing but also, in doing so, provided a reassuring sense of security. His contribution was vital throughout the programme.
SATURDAY’S programme opened with Beethoven’s early Octet in Eb, Op. 103 scored for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons.
This proved to be an inspired choice as the players – with no place to hide – delivered an utterly assured performance of a showcase Beethoven work.
The first movement was notable for the excellent solo playing of the principal oboist, Alexandra Nightingale. Importantly, this being very much genuine chamber music, the interest derives from integration with the rest of the ensemble.
This resulted in delightful exchanges between the bassoon, clarinet and oboe. Even the horns had the chance to join the fun towards the end of the movement.
The following Andante came across as a touching duet between the oboe and bassoon (Isabel Dowell). Their intimate exchanges were beautifully delivered, and the rest of the ensemble had the good grace not to intrude. The balance and phrasing were spot on.
The Menuetto e Trio was full of energy and wit – the contrasting Trio delivering the change of mood and colour with the clarinet more prominent. In the Finale: Presto Beethoven gives everybody the chance to show off, and they did.
Here the clarinet takes the leading role from the earlier oboe – Lesley Schatzberger being on fine form and so too the horns. The writing here is particularly demanding and the horn players – Mark Sykes and Tim Pocock – were very good indeed.
What struck me when listening to the work was how democratic Beethoven’s writing was. The hierarchy of the ensemble constantly changed: from principal oboe to oboe and bassoon duet, then ensemble equality to clarinet and horn prominence in the finale.
The second half was given over to Haydn’s radical Symphony No.104 in D major, London. This really is a remarkable work, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Academy’s confident performance. The fortissimo opening – bare fifths (D and A) – delivered that monumental quality, reminiscent of Beethoven’s Ninth.
The atmosphere generated was tonally unsettling; there is a strings-plus-first-bassoon response before the Adagio settles in D minor. The quiet Allegro saw the strings in confident mood, providing a strong performance platform for the woodwind to join in. Indeed, the recapitulation was sung by the flute and oboe. Fascinating listening.
There was much to admire in the following Andante – the simplicity of the opening G major theme; Becky Jobling’s solo flute with delicate woodwind support; the shocking fortissimo orchestral cut-through with syncopated rhythms and agitated strings; the short flute cadenza and the gentle horn fanfare near the end of the movement.
But what really drew me in was the infectious playing which, at times, was so, so seductive. Those gorgeous lilting cadence passages were delightful.
Similarly, it was the joyous sound of the rustic third-movement Menuetto which drew you in. There were fine oboe and bassoon contributions in the contrasting, gentler, chamber-like Trio.
With its drone bass and rustic, folk-like violin theme, the finale once again seems to anticipate Beethoven and here the pastoral language of his Symphony No. 6. Again, the playing was so instinctively infectious that I saw many audience heads nodding to the beat of the music.
The success of the performance not only depended on the quality of the playing, which was pretty impressive throughout, but also on the pacing, the integration of the orchestral grandeur and chamber-music intimacy. For this, Director Alan George deserves much credit.
This leads me nicely into the central work in the programme, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in Eb, K. 364, where he swapped his baton for the viola to duel with Jacob George on violin.
As if to contradict this, the two players emerged out of a substantial opening orchestral introduction as partners, complementing each other rather than competing. Indeed, the subsequent exchanges follow a pattern of call and response, of imitation; they even finish each other’s sentences and act as one with passages in octaves and thirds.
They are genuine equals with distinct voices – the violin’s bright sound contrasting with the darker timbre of the viola. The extended duet cadenza was superbly judged.
I really enjoyed the fast, buoyant exchanges in the Presto conclusion. The back-and-forth exchanges between the two soloists were a bit like musical tennis. What worked here was the spontaneity of engagement.
But it was the second movement Andante, the emotional core of the work, which impacted most. Here we had – sorry to say it, gents – a love duet between the two. Exchanging long, considered phrases, so beautifully embellished. Their closing duet cadenza was one of intimacy rather than one of theatre.
Academy of St Olave’s, 19/9/2026: Alan George, director; Claire Jowett, leader; Jacob George, violin; Alan George, viola.
Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus – Homer’s Odyssey, by J.M.W. Turner, 1829, on loan from National Gallery, London, for Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman at York Art Gallery. Copyright: National Gallery, London
GHOSTLY sculptures in gardens, the best in class in brass bands, Mikron Theatre’s mobile library tribute and 60 years of Gilbert O’Sullivan are among Charles Hutchinson’s cultural highlights.
Exhibition opening of the week: Turner, Wedgwood & Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman, York Art Gallery, on show until running until January 17 2027
J.M.W. Turner’s masterpiece Ulysses deriding Polyphemus – Homer’s Odyssey, generously lent by the National Gallery, is making an epic journey north to go on display at York Art Gallery in the wake of the Odyssey’s comeback into popular culture in Christopher Nolan’s film.
Turner, Wedgwood Beyond: Inspired by Flaxman features an ‘Odyssey wall’ in an exhibition that reflects on the life and legacy of York-born sculptor, illustrator and designer John Flaxman (1755 –1826). Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Tickets: yorkartgallery.org.uk.
One of 70 ghosts in the Ghosts In The Gardens trail through York this autumn. Picture: Amy D’Agorne
Trail of the week: Ghosts In The Gardens, York, September 19 to November 1
GHOSTS In The Gardens is back for its sixth haunting season and this time the ghosts are bringing even more friends as 70 ghostly sculptures appear in gardens, on balconies, along the city walls and in unexpected corners of York city centre.
Ten new ghosts join familiar faces from York’s past, each sculpture offering a snapshot of history, bringing fascinating York people, creatures or stories back to life. Some ghosts will return to old haunts, others will be found somewhere new. Admission is free.
John Bramwell: Heading for Selby Town Hall
Humble agenda of the week: John Bramwell, Selby Town Hall, September 19, 7.30pm
AS the singer in I Am Kloot from 1999 to 2014, John Bramwell achieved a Mercury Prize nomination for 2010’s The Sky At Night, a top ten chart position for 2013’s Let It All In, numerous UK and European tours and a triumphant orchestral farewell at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Now, as a solo artist, Bramwell travels a very different path, a path that criss-crosses the length and breadth of the UK with a humble agenda of taking his heartwarming songs to the stage for his devoted fans. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk.
York Railway Institute Band: Taking part in National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at York Barbican. Picture: Keith Meadley Photography
Brass clashes of the week:National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain 2026, York Barbican, September 19 and 20 from 9am and 3pm each day
THE National Brass Band Championships bring more than 70 of the country’s finest brass bands to York for the Sections 1 to 4 national finals. Among the Yorkshire bands competing will be York Railway Institute Band, Wetherby Silver Band and Swinton & District Excelsior Band, all having qualified to compete for National honours. Tickets: Only available to buy in-person on the day. No advance tickets.
Piff the Magic Dragon and Penn Jillette inPiff & Pop’s Magic Shoppe at Grand Opera House, York
Magical show of the week: Piff & Pop’s Magic Shoppe, Grand Opera House, York, September 19, 7.30pm
LEGENDARY magician Penn Jillette, of Penn & Teller fame, is touring the UK for the first time without his 50-year companion Teller, teaming up instead with London-born, Las Vegas-based comedy-magician phenomenon Piff the Magic Dragon (alias John van der Put), from America’s Got Talent.
Act One feature a solo act from both Pop (Penn) and Piff along with Mr Piffles, the world’s only magic-performing Chihuahua.. In Act Two, they blend into a one-of-a-kind double act. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Georgina Liley, left, Robert Took, Catherine Warnock and James McLean in Mikron Theatre’s Top Of The World, on tour at Clements Hall, York. Picture: Robling Photography
Touring theatre show of the week: Mikron Theatre in Top Of The World, Clements Hall, York, September 20, 2pm
MARSDEN’S travelling troupe Mikron Theatre makes its second visit of 2026 to York, this time with Maeve Larkin’s celebration of the importance of mobile libraries as sanctuaries, beacons of hope, public services that connect people and communities in a digital age where human connection is more important than ever.
Top Of The Wold invites audiences to hop aboard the charmingly quirky mobile library for a heart-warming journey via Bempton, Bridlington, Hornsea and Howden in an exploration of a region barely noticed by the nation it feeds, celebrating the forgotten, the resilient and the wonderfully eccentric. Tickets: available from Pextons, Bishopthorpe Road, York; Clements Hall, 01904 466086; by email to [email protected] or 07974 867301.
Tim Key: Serving up Loganberry comical whimsy at York Theatre Royal
Unpredictable comedy gig of the week: Tim Key, Loganberry, York Theatre Royal, September 20, 8pm
TIM Key, from The Ballad Of Wallis Island and Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme, pops his suit on again to plod about in new show Loganberry. In Key’s own words, “Bit gutted he’s old. Guzzling continental lager. Magnetic LOL. Decent reviews for previous shows. Played a pigeon in Bong Joon Ho’s latest movie. Been on Richard Herring’s podcast. Book out: “L.A. Baby!”. Met Steffi Graf in 1998/9. This show has poems in, and he’ll stamp and howl.” Who knows what else may lie in wait on Sunday! Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Mark Thomas: “Taster menu of government and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast”
Comedy landmark of the week: Mark Thomas, 40 In Stand-Up Years, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, September 20, 8pm
WHAT?! Mark Thomas has been “standing up” for 40 years? Impossible! But how old does that make you…? Alas it is true: one of our oldest-surviving alternative comics celebrates 40 years at the mic as he takes his new show on the road this autumn.
Expect a taster menu of government and personal mayhem, jokes, rants and a state of the nation broadcast as Thomas tries to turn ‘what the **** is going on?’ into a cogent night of stand-up.Box office: leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/mark-thomas-2026/.
Gilbert O’Sullivan: Songs old and new at the Grand Opera House, York
Seventies’ chart topper of the week: Gilbert O’Sullivan, Celebrating 60 Years Of Music, Grand Opera House, York, September 22, 7.30pm
GILBERT O’Sullivan will celebrate 60 years of making music, revisiting his UK chart toppers, 1972’s Clair and 1973’s Get Down, as well as such O’Sullivan favourites as No Matter How I Try, We Will, Matrimony, Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day, Why, Oh Why, Oh Why and What’s In A Kiss?, his last of 16 Top 40 entries from August 1980. Then add further selections from his 21 studio albums, the latest, On The Record, being previewed ahead of its November 6 release. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Nish Kumar’s tour poster for Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy
Political disquiet of the week: Nish Kumar, Angry Humour From A Really Nice Guy, Grand Opera House, York, September 23, Leeds Playhouse, October 3, Hull Truck Theatre, October 9 and Scarborough Spa Theatre, November 14
“THE world is in chaos,” laments political comedian Nish Kumar. “Inequality is widening, autocracy is rising and political parties are collapsing. In these divided times, what this country desperately needs is Angry Humour From a Really Nice Guy. (In many ways it’s actually the last thing this country needs, but it’s what it’s getting, so tough luck).”
Pod Save The UK podcast co-host and former host of axed BBC Two show The Mash Report and Late Night Mash, Kumar has entered his 40s. His mind is breaking, his body is worse, “but audiences can still expect existential angst and political disquiet from comedy’s cheekiest boy”. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Ceramics by Emily Stubbs and paintings by Di Gomery at Tinker Gallery
Last chance to view: Di Gomery & Emily Stubbs, Fracture and Flow: Conversations in Paint and Clay, Tinker Gallery, Church Street, Ilkley, until September 26
THIS exhibition by York artists Di Gomery (paintings) and Emily Stubbs (ceramics) is into its final week. Gallery owner and artist Joanne Tinker has refreshed the show since much of the work sold. Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm; other times by appointment.
The poster for the Pigeon Paint Off at City Screen Picturehouse, York, On Saturday
A COMPETIVE Pigeon Paint Off, the biggest of book fairs, top-drawer chamber music and Wright&Grainger’s new material are among Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for a particularly intriguing week ahead.
Bird show of the week: Dead Toe Society presents Pigeon Paint Off, City Screen Picturehouse, York, Saturday, 12 noon to 5.30pm
THE inaugural Pigeon Paint Off creative fundraising event in support of Columba Sanctuary and Advocacy for Pigeons features a live art competition with 11 artists and resulting picture auction, complemented by a Pigeon Social and Pigeon-themed Pub Quiz from 6pm, with the quiz starting at 7pm. Look out too for bird-themed arts and crafts on sale and a raffle with “some snazzy prizes”.
“Watch talented artists bring original works to life, each one inspired by our feathered friends, in two rounds of one-hour paint-offs with audience votes deciding the champion,” says organiser Sam Crick. “You’ll also be able to learn more about why pigeons are suffering, the issues they are facing, why they need our support and how you can help advocate for their wellbeing.” Tickets:https://www.tickettailor.com/events/deadtoesociety/2373410.
Book event of the week: York National Book Fair, Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, Knavesmire, Saturday, 10am to 5pm
AT Britain’s largest antiquarian book fair, 186 ‘bookshops’ are set up under one roof with prices ranging from only a few pounds to tens of thousands for more than 100,000 books. All subjects, all dates, from medieval to ultra-modern, are on sale, along with ephemera, manuscripts, prints, photographs and posters, while trade stands are selling marbled papers and binding materials.
York Racecourse offers unlimited free parking and a free shuttle bus is running from the Memorial Gardens on Railway Street to Knavesmire every 30 minutes. Tickets on the door cost £2. Alternatively, head to https://yorkbookfair.com/one-day-complimentary-ticket-2/ to book a complimentary ticket. Children aged under 16 are admitted for free.
Classical festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival, Saturday and Sunday
THIS year’s festival has invited six of the best string players in Europe – Charlotte Scott and Tim Crawford, violins, Simone van der Giessen and Lilli Maijala, violas, and Adrian Brendel and festival artistic director Tim Lowe, cellos, to participate, along with regular festival artist Katya Apekisheva, the British-based Russian pianist.
On Saturdayy, at 1pm, at St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, Brendel plays Imogen Holst’s The Fall Of The Leaf and J. S. Bach’s Cello Suite No 2 in D Minor; at 7.30pm, at the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, all seven perform Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio No 1 in D minor Op 49, Mahler’s Piano Quartet (movement) in A minor – Nicht zu schnell and Brahms’s Piano Quartet in C minor Op 60. All but Apekisheva return for Beethoven’s String Quintet in C Major Op. 29 and Brahms’s String Quintet in F major, Op. 88, on Sunday at 3pm at St Olave’s Church, Marygate. Box office: ycmf.co.uk or 01904 658338.
Artist trail of the week: Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage, Staithes, near Whitby, Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm
DISCOVER 113 artists exhibiting across 67 venues through Staithes. Explore galleries, cottages, studios and hidden spaces transformed into exhibition venues across the fishing village. Find out who is taking part at https://www.staithesfestival.com/festival/artists.php.
Enjoy live music, buskers, creative workshops, demonstrations, outdoor cinema, family activities and festival extras too. For the full event programme, go to: https://www.staithesfestival.com/festival/events.php.
Americana gig of the week: James Felice & William Lawrence, Pocklington Arts Centre, Saturday, 8pm
JAMES Felice and drummer William Lawrence, two members of New York State’s Felice Brothers, are taking to the road to perform songs from their respective solo works in a dreamy and quiet evening of Americana music and storytelling. James and William last appeared at Pocklington Arts Centre alongside Ian Felice and Jesske Hume in the Felice Brothers gig in June 2021. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Songs old and new of the week: Michael Ball, Glow UK Tour, York Barbican, Saturday, doors 7pm
MUSICAL star and radio and TV presenter Michael Ball promotes his 23rd solo album, Glow, on his 25-date tour.
“There’s probably only one thing I enjoy more than being in the studio – writing, producing and singing songs with people I love – and that’s taking it all out on the road and performing those songs, as well as all the old favourites to the audiences I love,” he says. Liss Jones supports. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Comedy gig of the week: Urzila Carlson, Fatty On A Yacht, York Barbican, Sunday, 8pm
SOUTH African-New Zealander Urzila Carlson returns to the UK with her understated punchlines and signature deadpan delivery in Fatty On A Yacht. Ever felt like you don’t belong? Like everyone else got the memo – and you turned up in the wrong outfit, on the wrong day, on the wrong yacht? Carlson’s new show is for anyone who has ever tried to squeeze into a space, physical or social, and thought “This can’t be right”. “It’s about not fitting in, standing out and laughing about it anyway,” she says. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Country gig of the week: Ward Thomas, Celebrating 10 Years Of Cartwheels Tour, York Barbican, September 14, 7.30pm
HAMPSHIRE twin sisters Catherine and Lizzy Ward Thomas perform their second album in its entirety, revisiting the record – written at home and in Nashville – that made history as the first by a British country act to top the UK Albums Chart in 2016.
“We had to plan a celebration for its ten-year anniversary,” says Lizzy. “We’ll be bringing our full band, doing a type of show we haven’t done in a long time.” The Wandering Hearts support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
New music, words and stories of the week: Wright& Grainger, Scratch An Itch, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 18, 7.30pm
IN a rare little moment of public-facing recklessness, Easingwold duo Wright&Grainger have some brand new stuff they wish try out in front of, and with, some other people. “It’ll defo involve a piano,” say Alex and Phil. “It’ll defo have music and words and story.
“There’s some tasty clues to follow, some sweet ideas to develop, some scary instincts to trust. And now there’s this big and warm open invite to you, to come join. So please do. We’d love that. Fingers crossed it’ll be good.” Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
The poster artwork for York Printmakers’ Annual Print Fair next weekend
Art gathering of the week: York Printmakers’ Annual Print Fair, The Chapel & Harriet Room, York Cemetery, September 19 and 20, 10am to 5pm
YORK Printmakers’ Annual Print Fair offers a weekend packed with original, handmade artwork, from striking linocuts and detailed collagraphs to monoprints and wood engravings.
This is a chance to browse, meet the artists, discover their diverse techniques and take home an original work. See how different printmaking processes create distinctive results and discover artwork not to be found on the high street. Look out for information on upcoming printmaking workshops too. Everyone is welcome; admission is free.
In Focus: Navigators Art presents Moss Glow and Shadow Bloom, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, September 19, 7.30pm
Astral Light
YORK collective Navigators Art presents four inspiring York performers whose work conjures up unique worlds in a magical programme of electronic, acoustic and vocal sounds, influenced by folk traditions and environmental themes.
This bringing together of ancient and modern iconography, art, poetry and music in Moss Glow and Shadow Bloom: Folk, Myth & Magic has been re-arranged from the postponed original date of July 11 with tickets still valid.
Things Found And Made
Taking part will be:
Astral Light: Scrappy-folky-blues, spoken word and ritual, featuring a homemade menagerie of masks, microphones, dolls, instruments, sound equipment and magical implements.
Filipe Massumi: Cellist and singer whose original and beautiful songs derive from the culture of his native Brazil.
Filipe Massumi
No Spinoza: Welcome to the thematic universe of Thomas Pearson’s forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, bridging history and legend, ancient and modern, as featured in session on BBC Introducing.
Things Found And Made: Lost cinematic folk-tales comprising imagined histories and half remembered rituals of sound and nature.
The cover artwork for Robert Harris’s Agrippa, published byHutchinson Heinemann
“I CAN’T stand it when novelists read from their own books,” deadpans Robert Harris before reading to a full house in the lecture theatre at Tempest Anderson Hall, Yorkshire Museum, York Museum Gardens.
The author, who isone of the most successful and popular novelists of our time, was in town to promote his latest page-turner, Agrippa, at an event organised by Waterstones, York.
The comment extracted laughter from the audience, who were mostly white, middle-class and over 50. Harris is a likeable presence. An ex-journalist, he has a pithy and appealing way of communicating. He can get to the point and has a winning way with stories.
His books have been translated into 40 languages and converted to numerous films and television adaptations. But he’s also enviably committed. He writes seven days a week, turning out a focused 800 words a day, and has an enormous capacity for memory and research. His writing study is filled with hundreds of books.
Harris’ 17 historical novels have roamed from ancient Rome to Nazi Germany. Typically, they focus on a moment of crisis: Precipice dealt with the start of the First World War. Pompeii focused on the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.
They also tend to dwell in the corridors of influence, whether it is Whitehall or Rome’s Senate. “Power fascinates me,” says Harris.
The stories invariably are the preserve of men. In Conclave, the Papacy struggled to pick its next leader. In Act Of Oblivion, men hunt other men who signed the death warrant of King Charles I.
Some of Harris’s heroes share several similarities with their author: introverted, disciplined, methodical and with a strong moral backbone. In Agrippa, however, he writes in the voice of somebody less given to compromise. The man of the book’s title was one of Rome’s thugs, an enforcer for Octavius. Together, they overcame numerous obstacles.
The key to the novel, Harris feels, was getting the voice right. “Agrippa must have been a tough son of a bitch…he looks like a nightclub bouncer,” he says. (Anyone interested can soon find the bust of Agrippa’s face from 25BC on the web. He does, indeed, look like an uncompromising character.)
The Roman general could be ruthless, explains Harris: “He put down a rebellion in Spain with particular severity.” Yet Harris also notes his subject’s more sophisticated side. Agrippa was the man behind some of Rome’s aquaducts, including the one in the bay of Naples.
“Agrippa was a man of destruction and warfare, but then there’s all this creation,” says Harris. Unlike Cicero, whose speeches were recorded, there are hardly any surviving documents relating to Agrippa, just lots of dates and secondary sources.
This, Harris says, was great news. “For a historical novelist, this is fantastic…an empty slate to write on.”
Octavius was only 18 when he partnered with Agrippa, who was one year older. “Nobody would have given them a chance…they became rulers of the world,” says Harris, who retains objectivity about his characters. “Octavius was not a pleasant person. He is said to have gouged out the eyes of people. He was also a hypocrite. He had a lot of affairs with wives of his soldiers, at the same time he brought in strict moral laws about adultery.”
Harris has entered this world before. His highly successful Cicero trilogy explored the world of Ancient Rome with a focus on the machinations of power. The leaders were power-mad thugs. The books were not that far away from The Sopranos. Both have an Italian influence, if not the same weapons. Caesar, who appears in the new novel, was, says Harris “sinister and glamorous at the same time”.
Harris mentions powerful women and there’s a brief allusion to Sarah Netanyahu and the “demonic energy behind the scenes”. He seems to regret this comment. Naturally, I scribble it down.
The new book comes at a time when strong-arm politics are in force. Might is right. Agrippa,like Donald Trump, does what he wants, knowing he can rely on strongman tactics. Harris speaks about this, laughing a little at Trump’s recent enjoyment of gladiators on the White House lawn.
The novelist can sometimes be lacerating. When David Cameron’s autobiography came out in September 2019, Harris wrote a scathing review in The Sunday Times, lamenting Cameron’s arrogance and the tragedy-farce of Brexit. “It would be better,” he wrote, ‘if Cameron hadn’t been born.”
From the safety of his home in the Home Counties, Harris conjurs up whole worlds. In York, he spoke with relish about writing battle scenes. “When the blood is being spilled and you’re at a desk in Berkshire, it’s the best place to be.” His humour is enjoyable – the audience laughs several times.
Robert Harris did not come from grand origins. Born in 1957, he grew up on a council estate in Nottingham. It seems he was precocious. At the age of six wrote an essay entitled “Why me and my Dad don’t like Sir Alec Douglas-Home”. (Harris’s father was very engaged in politics, heckling Douglas-Home when the politician visited Nottingham market square.)
At school Harris wrote plays, getting his friends to act in performances, and edited the school magazine. He later went to Cambridge, the first person of his family to attend university, and was elected president of the Cambridge Union. His time there lent him confidence; he became the editor ofVarsity, the Cambridge student newspaper.
After Cambridge, he worked in journalism, contributing to Panorama, Newsnight, The Sunday Times and Observer between 1978 and 1992. His television work led to a close friendship with Jeremy Paxman. He wrote several non-fiction books, including Good And Faithful Servant, a profile of Margaret Thatcher’s press secretary, Bernard Ingham. Selling Hitler was about the fake Hitler diaries that caused a sensation in the early 1980s.
When he sat down in 1989 to write the opening lines of Fatherland, his first novel, he found the moment exhilarating. “I had to go and lie down,” he tells the York audience, who chuckle with amusement.
The contrast between non-fiction and fiction was intoxicating. “It was the difference between riding a bicycle and flying a helicopter,” he says. Fatherland imagined a world in which Germany triumphed in the Second World War. The novel was so appealing to publishers that a bidding war ensued. The advance was sizeable and led to Harris acquiring anice place in Berkshire that has sometimes been called sometimes been called “The House That Hitler Built”. The house is very grand and, according to one interviewer “…triggers little stabs of envy in the hearts of all the journalists who go and interview Harris”.
Some of his books emerge after a long time. Precipice, about the relationship between Prime Minister Asquith and Venetia, was published in 2024, four decades after Harris first read a book about their clandestine correspondence. The Ghost took 15 years to come to fruition. With Agrippa, there was also a sense of waiting. “I wanted to write about Agrippa for a long time,”says the author.
At the end of the reading and Q and A, he poses for photographs with fans. One senses he is a remarkable person, totally committed to his craft as a writer who entertains. I’ve read 11 of his books. They are always enjoyable, even if one or two had a dip in quality (The Second Sleep was not so hot, even if the idea was interesting). But that laser-like focus: 800 words a day. That’s really something.
Agrippa by Robert Harris is out now, published by Hutchinson Heinemann.
MILES Salter is a writer and musician based in York. He writes regularly for York Calling. His book about The Pretenders, A Dangerous Band, will be published on November 1. He fronts the band Miles and The Chain Gang.
