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Re-grouped and refreshed, McFly are ready to rock York Racecourse gig on Saturday

McFly: McFlying out of the starting stalls at York Racecourse on Saturday

THE glorious summer weather may be on the downturn by the weekend, but McFly’s Danny Jones will be hoping for more clement conditions than on one past visit to North Yorkshire.

“When we played Dalby Forest [June 26 2009], if I remember right, there was a huge, thick fog all around us that night, and people at the back could hardly see a thing,” recalls the re-grouped London band’s lead guitarist and co-lead vocalist, ahead of Saturday’s post-racing concert at York Racecourse: their first show in 18 months.

McFly, the boy band formed in 2003 by Bolton-born Jones, Tom Fletcher, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd, returned last year with album number six, Young Dumb Thrills, after a ten-year gap and a detour into boy-band supergroup McBusted.

Why “Young Dumb Thrills” when Danny, for example, is 35? “I think it’s partly about reminiscing, but you know what, we always say ‘what do we want to do, where do we want to go with our music’, just as we did when I was 17 when I moved down to London, and Dougie was 15, and we thought we knew it all,” he says.

“But when we-reformed and we were making the album, I said, ‘Guys, we’re still young; we could still be a young band starting out’.”

McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones performing at the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend concert in July 2012

Danny never doubted McFly would return one day from their hiatus that began in 2016. “I knew it was never going to stop. We just needed a holiday; after 13 years you need a break, after 13 years of carnage, you really do, but this way we can come back for 15 more years,” he says.

In the boy-band 2000s, McFly flew to the pop peaks regularly, making chart history as the youngest ever band to have a debut album go straight to number one in the UK, when July 2004’s Room On The 3rd Floor beat The Beatles’ long-standing record, set with Please Please Me in March 1963.

They have chalked up seven number one singles and ten million album sales, and their high-energy York Racecourse set could parade 5 Colours In Their Hair, Obviously, That Girl, All About You, You’ve Got A Friend, I’ll Be OK, I Wanna Hold You, Don’t Stop Me Now, Please, Please, Star Girl, Baby’s Coming Back, Transylvania and One For The Radio.

Saturday’s set definitely will combine past and present, after their 2020 renaissance with the singles Happiness, Tonight Is The Night and You’re Not Special from the number two-charting album Young Dumb Thrills.

They are busy recording again. “Young Dumb Thrills was more ‘one song is this, one song is that’ stylistically; it wasn’t sonically together, but now I’m finding the new album we’re working on is more collective sonically,” says Danny.

Bridegroom Danny Jones leaves St Mary’s Priory Church, Old Malton, on his wedding day after marrying Malton model Georgia Horsley in August 2014

“It’s still in the really early stages. We’ve built this amazing studio in West London, where we used to rehearse downstairs, and after the business run by the guy who owned the building didn’t survive, we’ve taken over the rehearsal room to make a recording studio down there with a hang-out space upstairs.

“We’re working with friends and new people to find our new identity for the new record, and it’s kind of ’70s and ‘80s’ rock.”

Why draw on ’70s and ’80s rock, Danny? “We’re working on that line of ‘where do guitars belong in the pop world now?’, and we thought we should be influenced by pop bands who do ‘rock’ really well, like The Who and Oasis, because though we all have such different musical influences, we can agree to pull on Springsteen, Bryan Adams and Van Halen,” he says.

McFly, who had to forego playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre last July in the first Covid-crocked summer, will be returning to York Racecourse after their previous Music Showcase Weekend show in July 2012, having played York Barbican already that April.

Lancastrian Jones is no stranger to the Broad Acres of Yorkshire. “My sister Vicky lives in Leeds and my in-laws are in Malton,” he says.

Rick Astley: Opening the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend tomorrow evening post-racing

Should you need reminding, he is married to Malton model Georgia Horsley, a former Miss England, their wedding ceremony having been held at St Mary’s Priory Church, Old Malton, on August 2 2014.

Malton, of course, is synonymous with racing or, more precisely, racing stables. “Behind my in-laws’ house are the stables of a really well-known Irish trainer [although the name escaped Danny’s recollection,” he says. “I’d never seen a racehorse before or seen the veins on a horse close up. Amazing!”

Don’t bet on Danny having a bet on Saturday afternoon. “I’m just not a fan of losing!” he says, but McFly fans will be on to a winner. “You give them what they want. We’re not self-indulgent. If they’re not having a good time, we’re not having a good time, and vice versa.”

That rules out any colts bolting out from the latest studio sessions but guarantees plenty of favourites coming home triumphantly.

Rick Astley plays York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend tomorrow evening post-racing; McFly, Saturday late-afternoon, post-racing.

Tickets for these combined racing-and-concert events are on sale at yorkracecourse.co.uk. As well as free car parking, no booking fees apply, but please note, admission is not available on a concert-only basis; the gates will be closed at the time of the last race.

UPDATE: 24/7/2021 McFly arrive at York Racecourse, ready to play to more than 30,000 racegoers after the Saturday race card.

Copyright of The Press, York

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Albion String Band/Hannah Roberts, Ryedale Festival, 19/7/2021

Albion String Quartet: Five concerts in one long weekend at 2021 Ryedale Festival

Ryedale Festival: Albion String Quartet/Hannah Roberts, St Olave’s Church, York, July 19

THE Albions spent a long weekend in residence for the festival’s opening, giving no less than five concerts. Three of these involved Schubert’s String Quintet in C, the last of them a mid-morning event marking the festival’s only venture into York this year.

They could hardly have chosen a better second cellist than Hannah Roberts: she blended superbly right from the start, while making her presence felt, the perfect combination. The proof here lay in the way all five voices jointly swelled and subsided, as if breathing together.

For many, this extraordinary work is a pinnacle of western music. What makes it additionally remarkable is that it came from the pen of a man who knew his end was near. So many of its apparently unruffled surfaces crack under the strain of this knowledge. It rarely settles – and is unsettling for the listener despite its many charms. For a performance to succeed, it needs to be uncomfortable.

Second cellist Hannah Roberts: “Blended superbly right from the start”

The heart of the work is its Adagio. Its outer sections hover, as the three central voices barely move and the outer two offer plucked comments; these at first lacked definition. After the bleak diversion into the minor key, first violin and second cello were much more distinct in their wanderings and we were transported into another world. It was a telling moment.

The first movement had gained urgency on the repeat of the exposition, and this was nicely sustained throughout the development. The attacks in the Scherzo gave it delightfully rustic implications, heightening the contrast with its ghostly Trio.

In the finale, all bright and cheery on the surface, we were made aware of the sinister implications of the last two notes. Indeed, the whole performance struck a superb balance between the light and the dark that pervades this incomparable score: a rewarding experience.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton, Ryedale Festival, 17/7/2021

Carolyn Sampson: Ryedale Festival concert was “Elysium indeed, however you define it”. Picture: Marco Borggeve

Ryedale Festival: Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton, St Peter and St Paul Church, Pickering, July 17

THE name Elysium covers a multitude of … well, pleasures. To the ancient Greeks, it was where the blessed, especially heroes, decamped after death. For the rest of us, it means paradise, with a small or large ‘p’.

Either way, it was the umbrella for soprano Carolyn Sampson’s late-night Schubert recital; she had also given it in the afternoon. Joseph Middleton was her piano partner, a top-notch combination. How typical of artistic director Christopher Glynn to bring in big names right at the start of the festival.

Schubert had a Damoclean sword of disease hanging over the last third of his life, so thoughts of the afterlife cannot have been far from his mind. Perhaps, like the young nun, he looked forward to peace after life’s storms, exquisitely encapsulated in Sampson’s pianissimo Alleluias at the end of Die Junge Nonne, without vibrato.

There again, Elysium is doubtless a place of endless melody, prefigured by Goethe’s Ganymede, where little tunes keep bursting out as he soars upward and we felt his excitement at what lay ahead.

Romantic poets often use moon and stars as stand-ins for heavenly realms. The opening of Beethoven’s Moonlight sonata colours the setting of Holty’s first An Den Mond (To The Moon). There is melancholy, too, in Goethe’s poem of the same name. Both here conveyed the idea of the voice as the reflection of the soul.

The brisker dactyls of Die Sterne (The Stars) showed a happier side to starlight, contrasting with the wonderful stillness this duo delivered in Nacht Und Träume’ (Night And Dreams) where moonlight gleams gently. There was a wonderful delicacy in Sampson’s tone for Der Liebliche Stern (The Lovely Star), tinged with sadness as the star contemplated its own reflection.

There was sunlight in the programme too. In Auf Dem Wasser Zu Singen (To Be Sung On The Water), it glinted on the waters of Middleton’s piano, eventually evoking escape from the passage of time.

A thrillingly rapid account of Der Musensohn (The Son Of The Muses) really danced with glee. In total contrast, Du Bist Die Ruh (You Are Peace) was consummately sustained by Sampson. Similarly, Middleton had tinted in little details of the nightingale’s twitterings with delicacy.

So to Schubert’s setting of Schiller’s Elysium, virtually a cantata, where rapid changes of mood require a chameleon-like approach. This duo was more than equal to its demands: light and shade, sun and storm and eventually an endless wedding feast, a heaven to die for, certainly.

Even more of a rarity was Schubert’s only song as a melodrama, Abschied Von Der Erde (Farewell To The World), given as an encore – pure delight, and filled with the reconciliation the composer undoubtedly achieved near his end. Elysium indeed, however you define it.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Miles and his band are so glad to be back on the Chain Gang for Fulford Arms concert

Ganging up again: Miles And The Chain Gang return to the concert platform next week in York. Picture: Jim Poyner

AFTER an 18-month hiatus, Miles Salter’s York band are back on the Chain Gang, tooled up with new material to play The Fulford Arms, York, on July 29.

In the line-up are singer, songwriter, storyteller, published poet and radio presenter Salter, on guitar and vocals; Billy Hickling, from the hit show Stomp!, on drums and percussion; The Bogus Brothers and Goosehorns’ stalwart, Tim Bruce, on bass, and Alan Dawson, on lead guitar, augmented for this gig by Fay Donaldson’s flute and saxophone and Bernard Scarcliffe’s keyboards.

Miles And The Chain Gang have been working on a debut album since September 2019, recording first with Hairul Hasnan at University of York Studio, then with Jonny Hooker at Young Thugs Studios, in Ovington Terrace, York. “It’s not quite finished yet, but it’s sounding great,” says Miles. 

“We were just about to start a run of gigs in the spring of 2020 when Covid struck. Instead, we focused on recording and making videos, releasing three well-received download singles across 18 months.”

The latest was All Of Our Lives, a cover of a late-1990s’ Syd Egan song, recorded by the band in January and February, when Sam Pirt and Karl Mullen added accordion and piano respectively.

“We’ve had lots of airplay over the last year or so, on Jorvik Radio and YO1 Radio; it’s been great to hear our songs on these stations. We’ve done well, under the circumstances, but after a really long time away from playing, it’s great to get back to live sets again,” says Miles. “We’d love to see you, so do come along if you can. We have new songs and a new band member in the very talented Fay Donaldson.

“Support will come from North Yorkshire’s purveyors of hillbilly, King Courgette, who featured at our last show, way back in December 2019.” 

Tickets for next Thursday’s 8pm concert cost £7 at thefulfordarms.co.uk or £8 on the door. 

No time for vegetating: King Courgette are back in action as special guests at the July 29 gig
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Cato! Watch out for The Trials Of Cato at Primrose Wood Acoustics on August 5

The Trials Of Cato’s Tomos Williams and Robin Jones with new addition Polly Bolton

BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners The Trials Of Cato will headline the third Primrose Wood Acoustics session in Pocklington on August 5.

Organised by Pocklington Arts Centre (PAC), the outdoor concert series will complete its summer hattrick by popular demand after sold-out sylvan shows on July 1 and 8.

Scunthorpe-born virtuoso guitarist, singer and songwriter Martin Simpson and East Yorkshire singer-songwriter Katie Spencer played the first night; Leeds indie-folk/Americana band The Dunwells and York singer-songwriter Rachel Croft, the second.

The third 7pm event will once again “fuse nature’s soundtrack, background birdsong and transcendent live music under a natural canopy of trees to create a truly enchanting open-air experience for audiences”.

PAC director Janet Farmer says: “Primrose Wood Acoustics is a new concept for Pocklington Arts Centre, with this being the first time we have taken live music not only outdoors but also into a woodland setting.

The Dunwells performing at the second Primrose Wood Acoustics in Pocklington on July 8

“Our first two events have proved so popular, selling out on both occasions and attracting such positive, uplifting feedback, that we just had to do another one.

“This time we have The Trials Of Cato headlining, which is a perfect fit for such a charming woodland setting. When nature and live music collide something really wonderful happens and we know this is going to be no exception.”

Hailed by Mark Radcliffe, The Folk Show host on BBC Radio 2, as “one of the real discoveries on the folk circuit in recent times”, The Trials Of Cato won Best Album at the 2019 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for their debut, Hide And Hair.

Formed in Beirut, when Tomos Williams, Will Addison and Robin Jones were working in Lebanon as English teachers, the trio had returned to Britain in 2016, Here, they set about performing tirelessly up and down the country with their stomping tunes and captivating stories that paid homage to the tradition while twisting old bones into something more febrile and modern.

Bolton wanderer: Polly Bolton, solo singer-songwriter, member of The Magpies and now part of the folk trio The Trials Of Cato

Hide And Hair’s release in November 2018 was greeted with airplay on BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 and thumbs-up coverage in national publications, while mastering engineer John Davis, who worked with Jimmy Page on the Led Zeppelin remasters, memorably dubbed them “The Sex Pistols of folk”.

After a year of wall-to-wall touring across the UK, Europe and North America, however, the band’s march was halted by the stultifying silence of the global pandemic, but now they are emerging anew from their transformative chrysalis.

“The Trials continue,” they say, but this time, after Addison’s departure, Williams and Jones are joined by Leamington Spa multi-instrumentalist and singer Polly Bolton, from The Magpies, for their hotly anticipated second album.

Set for release later this year (precise date yet to be confirmed), Gog Magog is named both after the mythical giant of Arthurian legend and the Cambridgeshire hilltop, where the new album was birthed over lockdown.

The support act for August 5 will be announced shortly. Tickets cost £14 on 01759 301547 or at pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

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Home, I’m Darling turns into Darling, I’m Home for ten days as Covid stops play

Everything stops for tea…and now Covid alas. Sandy Foster and Tom Kanji in Home, I’m Darling, Laura Wade’s comedy where nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, on hold for ten days at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Picture: Ellie Kurttz

HOME, I’m Darling has turned into Darling, I’m Home for ten days after a company member at the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, tested positive for Covid-19.

All performances of Laura Wade’s 1950s-meets-the 21st century comedy are cancelled until after the 7.30pm show on Tuesday, July 27

A statement on the SJT website says: “We’d like to reassure you that the person who has tested positive has not come into direct contact with any members of the public inside our building, and any members of our team that they have come into contact with are also isolating.

“If you have a ticket for one of the cancelled shows, our box office will be in touch soon to organise either a different date for you, a refund or a credit. We’d be grateful if you could wait for our box office to contact you rather than calling them if possible – they’re going to have to make many phone calls and emails over the next few days, and the faster they can do that, the sooner they’ll get to you.”

Home, I’m Darling, an SJT co-production with Theatre by the Lake, Keswick, and the Bolton Octagon Theatre, will run until August 14, once clearance to resume is given.

In the meantime, box-office staff will be running through the cancelled shows in chronological order, so those with a booking for a later show “may not hear from them for a few days – but we promise they’ll be in touch soon,” says the SJT.

“Please be assured that our [socially distanced] Covid security measures within the building will remain as rigorous as ever. In all other respects (our cinema, Eat Me Café, shop, play readings), we will be operating as normal.”

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When “pingdemic” rules out Rachel Podger, up steps Bojan Cicic at three hours’ notice… to perform exactly the same repertoire!

Rachel Podger: Had to self-isolate after being pinged

QUICK thinking by York Early Music Festival director Delma Tomlin saved the day when violinist Rachel Podger fell victim to the dreaded “pingdemic”.

Rachel had to self-isolate at the last minute, foregoing her 9.15pm live performance of The Violinist Speaks at St Lawrence’s Church, Hull Road, on July 13.

In a flash, Delma asked Croatian-born Baroque violinist Bojan Cicic to step into the breach, as he had arrived in York already to perform with Florilegium at the National Centre for Early Music the following night.

Bojan Cicic: Took over solo concert programme at three hours’ notice

Not only did he say ‘Yes’ at only three hours’ notice, but also he played the very same repertoire that Rachel had selected: JS Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G major; Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in B minor; Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Passacaglia in G minor, for solo violin, and Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor, for solo violin.

Nothing was announced on social media beforehand by the festival organisers; only the audience was alerted of the late change by email, whereupon Bojan duly “wowed” his socially distanced crowd.

Rachel subsequently recorded The Violinist Speaks without an audience at the NCEM for a digital livestream premiere at 7.30pm last Saturday. Her online concert is now available on demand until August 13; on sale until August 9 at:  ncem.co.uk/events/rachel-podger-online/ncem.co.uk

Quick thinking: York Early Music Festival director Delma Tomlin
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Ruth Claydon’s Free Spirit jewellery collection goes on show at Kentmere House Gallery from Thursday evening

Bridge Over Troubled Water, jewellery, by Ruth Claydon

IN a new venture at Kentmere House Gallery, York, Ruth Claydon’s jewellery show will be launched on Thursday (22/7/2021) from 6pm to 9pm.

York designer Claydon’s Free Spirit collection will be complemented by the sensitive and intricate paintings of York Minster by Susan Brown, the gallery’s resident artist from West Yorkshire.

On display too will be work by the regular stable of artists at Ann Petherick’s gallery in Scarcroft Hill, as well as artists’ prints.

“It’s the perfect match for a gallery selling original art, as each of Ruth’s pieces is completely unique, made using mud-larking finds and interesting artefacts, along with her own vintage and pre-loved jewellery gathered over the years,” says Ann.

York Minster, window detail, mixed media, by Susan Brown

Claydon’s Free Spirit collection is a creative collaboration with Conscious Apparel, an ethical clothing brand launched in York last year. Prices for her jewellery range from £38 to £128.

“I’ve always wanted to design in response to a clothing range,” says Ruth. “What makes this such an appropriate match is that all of the clothing is ethically produced, and some of their dresses are also crafted from upcycled sari fabric and thus completely unique.”

“At Thursday’s launch, customers have a chance to view and try on the jewellery at the same time as seeing the gallery’s range of original art, with prices from £150,” says Ann. “And with Simon & Garfunkel playing, in a nod to one of Ruth’s paintings being called Bridge Over Troubled Water, what could make for a better evening?!”

Regular opening hours at Kentmere House Gallery, 53, Scarcroft Hill, York, are: every Thursday, 6pm to 9pm; first weekend of each month, Saturday and Sunday, 11am to 5pm. “But we are happy to be open anytime, although we suggest ringing in advance, on 01904 656507 or 07801 810825, if you are travelling any distance. Or you can take a chance on ringing the bell if you are passing.”

Cluster, jewellery, by Ruth Claydon
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What can the arts learn from England at Euro 2020? We’re not talking tactics…

CHALMERS & Hutch apply Southgate’s template for an all-inclusive future in the latest Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcast.

Under discussion too are Nadine Shah and the streaming dilemma; Alan Ayckbourn vs Harold Pinter; why British avant-garde novelists fall behind their progressive counterparts, and the future of York’s Pop Up Piccadilly artists.

To listen, head to: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/8875394

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Ayckbourn’s The Girl Next Door to move back in for four days at SJT in September

Wartime reunion: Naomi Petersen as Lily and Linford Johnson as Alf in Alan Ayckbourn’s The GIrl Next Door. All pictures: Tony Bartholomew

ALAN Ayckbourn’s premiere of his 85th play, The Girl Next Door, will return to Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre in September for a limited run of only six performances.

The SJT resumption from September 1 to 4 will be followed by a touring run at the New Vic Theatre, the SJT’s fellow theatre in the round in Newcastle-under-Lyme, from September 7 to 18.

Directed by Ayckbourn, The Girl Next Door received its world premiere in Scarborough from June 4 to July 3, performed by two alternate casts to protect against Covid-19.

Lolling around in lockdown: Bill Champion as jaded and jaundiced actor Rob in The Girl Next Door

September’s returning cast will be Bill Champion, Linford Johnson, Alexandra Mathie and Naomi Petersen, who performed the bulk of the shows in the original summer run.

Written by Ayckbourn in lockdown, The Girl Next Door finds veteran actor Rob Hathaway stuck at home during the summer of 2020, with only his sensible, Government mandarin older sister for company.

Rob has little to do but relive his glory days when, as the star of the nation’s favourite television period drama National Fire Service, he ruled the roost as George ‘Tiger’ Jennings: wartime hero and living legend among firefighters.

Alan Ayckbourn in his garden in Scarborough in May 2020 during the first lockdown

One day, Rob spots a stranger hanging out the washing in the adjoining garden. Strange, he thinks, because the neighbours have not been around for months. Just who is the mysterious girl next door, and why is she wearing 1940s’ clothing?

“I was born in 1939, so my earliest memories are of a sort of lockdown: of crowding into Anderson shelters or subway stations; of sleeping in deckchairs or on my mother’s lap. Things have come full circle for me,” says Ayckbourn, 82.

“The Girl Next Door is an affirmation of love across the generations – I hope it’s positive and hopeful for those today crawling out of their metaphorical Anderson shelters blinking into the light.”

Dressed for a Zoom meeting: Alexandra Mathie as Alex in The Girl Next Door at the SJT

For a time-hopping story divided by 78 years but only a hedge, Ayckbourn is joined in the production team by the SJT’s departing associate director, Chelsey Gillard, designer Kevin Jenkins and lighting designer Jason Taylor.

The Girl Next Door can be seen in the Round at the SJT on Wednesday, September 1 at 7.30pm; September 2, 1.30pm and 7.30pm; September 3, 7.30pm, and September 4, 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets are on sale at £10 upwards on 01723 370541 and at sjt.uk.com. Prompt booking is advised.

The girl next door in The Girl Next Door: Naomi Petersen as Lily