Guitarist Robbie McIntosh, right, leads a workshop during the Acoustic Blues and Roots Weekend at Pocklington Arts Centre earlier this month
POCKLINGTON Arts Centre is celebrating its “biggest and best”
Acoustic Blues and Roots Weekend yet.
Hosted by guitarist Robbie McIntosh and blues slide
guitarist Michael Messer from November 15 to 17, this annual event drew a full
house of students from across Britain and raised £20,000 for the Pocklington
economy.
The students spent the weekend being tutored by McIntosh,
who has toured with Paul McCartney, Norah Jones, and The Pretenders, and fellow
regular host Messer.
The three-day event featured guitar and slide guitar
tuition, jam sessions, student performances and the Acoustic Blues House Party,
when Pocklington Arts Centre opened its doors to the public for a one-off
concert starring Messer and McIntosh.
The opening day was featured in an afternoon live broadcast
on BBC Radio Humberside with presenter Phil White and his crew.
“This year’s Acoustic Blues and Roots Weekend was a
resounding success; in fact it was the most successful one eve,” says Messer. “I’ve
been involved with running this event at Pocklington Arts Centre for 16 years
and I couldn’t hope for a better venue.
“The PAC staff are so helpful, supportive and welcoming that
everyone, participants and tutors, want for nothing.
Guitarists Robbie McIntosh, left, and Michael Messer at this month’s Acoustic Blues and Roots Weekend at Pocklington Arts Centre
“In addition, the various hotels and restaurants around town
all welcomed us and provided us with fantastic service.
“All I can say is, ‘thank
you Pocklington and we very much look forward to next year’s Acoustic Blues and
Roots Weekend’.”
Data collated from surveys conducted by the arts centre have
shown that students attending the weekend spent around £20,000, including
accommodation and visits to pubs, restaurants, cafes and shops.
Arts centre director Janet Farmer says: “We said last year that our Acoustic Blues and Roots Weekend just keeps going from strength to strength, but this year has just blown us away.
“Hosting the event not only fills our auditorium, studio and bar with the incredible sounds of acoustic blues and roots music, but also the average expenditure from every single student also makes for a resoundingly positive experience for everyone involved, including local businesses. We very much look forward to welcoming everyone back again next year.”
The 2020 Acoustic Blues and Roots Weekend will take place from November 13 to 15. Watch this space for confirmation of when tickets will go on sale.
Ebor Players cast members for Mother Goose gather at Bishopthorpe Village Hall
THE Ebor Players mark the
25th anniversary of their first pantomime by staging Mother Goose
from December 2 to 7 at Bishopthorpe Village Hall, near York.
David Rose will play the
title role after “taking a huge break with tradition” last year when, for the
first time in more than 20 years, he switched to the dark side as the villainous
Abanazar in Aladdin.
“Although I thoroughly
enjoyed the change, this year I’m back in frocks for my traditional role as dame,”
he says.
The Ebor Players were formed in 1994 in Bishopthorpe. “The aim was to present a pantomime in the village,” recalls David. “Now, 25 years later, the Players just go from strength to strength.
“Our pantomimes today bear
little resemblance to those early years. The group has evolved to present a
much slicker, more professional-looking show. This year’s show, Mother Goose,
has a cast and crew of more than 40 people and is a riot of colour, music and
laughter, with something for everyone.”
Performances will start at
7.30pm each evening. “Our Saturday night adults-only shows have always been so
popular and oversubscribed, so this year we’ve introduced a Wednesday evening
adults-only – 16 plus – cabaret-style event, but at the same price as our
regular shows” says David. “So you can come along, have a drink and let your
hair down for the evening.”
Tickets cost £8 for adults, £6 for children, at ticketsource.co.uk\ebor-players, on 07591 297221 or via the Ebor Players’ Facebook page.
Olisa Odele: cast as McKay in Pilot Theatre’s Crongton Knights
YORK company Pilot Theatre have assembled
the cast for next year’s world premiere of Crongton Knights.
Adapted for the stage by Emteaz
Hussain from Alex Wheatle’s award-winning novel, Corey Campbell and Esther Richardson’s
co-production will be launched at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from February
8 to 22 before playing York Theatre Royal from February 25 to 29.
In Crongton Knights, life isn’t easy on
the Crongton Estate. McKay and his mates favour keeping their heads down, but
when a friend finds herself in trouble, they set out on a mission that goes
further than any of them imagined.
Katie Donnachie: playing Bushkid in Crongton Knights
Pilot Theatre’s show will take you on a
night of madcap adventure as McKay and his friends, The Magnificent Six, encounter
the dangers and triumphs of a quest gone awry.
The pulse of the city will be alive on
stage, propelled by a soundscape of beatboxing and vocals laid down by the cast
and created by musician Conrad Murray.
Rehearsals will begin in Coventry on January 6 2020. Leading the cast will be Olisa Odele as McKay, having played Ola in Chewing Gum on E4 and PC Merrick in BBC1’s Scarborough, while Kate Donnachie will take the role of Bushkid; Simi Egbejumi-David, Festus; Aimee Powell, Venetia; Khai Shaw, Jonah; Marcel White, Nesta, and Nigar Yeva, Saira.
Khai Shaw: taking the role of Jonah in Crongton Knights
The production team is led by Corey
Campbell, artistic director of Strictly Arts Theatre Company and co-artistic
director of the Belgrade Theatre for 2021, and Esther Richardson, Pilot’s
artistic director. The designer is Simon Kenny; lighting is by Richard G Jones,
who lit The Railway Children at the National Railway Museum, York.
Crongton Knights will be the
second of four co-productions between Pilot Theatre, Derby Theatre,
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and York Theatre Royal, who last year formed a partnership
to develop theatre for younger audiences in tandem with the Mercury Theatre,
Colchester.
Heather Agyepong as Sephy in Pilot Theatre’s Noughts & Crosses at York Theatre Royal in April 2019. Picture: Robert Day
From 2019 to 2022, the
consortium will commission and co-produce an original mid-scale touring production
each year. Each show will play in all the consortium venues, as well as touring
nationally.
The consortium’s first
production, Noughts & Crosses, was seen by more than 30,000
people on tour this year, with 40 per cent of the audience being aged under 20.
After the Coventry and York runs, Crongton Knights will be on tour until May 9, with further Yorkshire performances at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield, from March 31 to April 4. York tickets are on sale on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.
Bah Humbug! Mark Hird as Scrooge in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical. Picture: David Harrison
WHO is your favourite Scrooge? Albert Finney? Tim Curry?
Patrick Stewart? George C Scott? Lionel Barrymore on the radio?
Maybe Michael Caine in The Muppets’ Christmas Carol? Jim Carrey?
Or how about Jim Backus as the voice of Mister Magoo in Mister Magoo’s Christmas
Carol, or even Bill Murray’s Frank Cross in Scrooged?
Mark Hird, who plays Scrooge from tomorrow (November 26) in Pick
Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical at the Grand Opera House, York, has no
hesitation in picking Alastair Sim from Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1951 film,
Scrooge.
“I loved his performance! He was unashamedly nasty, but
there was something in his eyes, that glint, that made you think there’s
something going on there,” says Mark, who is leading Robert Readman’s cast,
fresh from directing this autumn’s Pick Me Up musical, Monster Makers,
at 41 Monkgate.
He now adds Charles Dickens’s
Ebenezer Scrooge to a diverse Pick Me Up CV that includes Captain Mainwaring inDad’s Army, Colonel Pickering inMy Fair Lady and Uncle Fester in
The Addams Family, and he is particularly enjoying performing the songs in Leslie
Bricusse’s musical.
“Maybe we need another Dickens for this age,,” says Mark Hird, who sees the abiding resonance in A Christmas Carol
“The songs really help
in bringing out Scrooge’s thoughts, whether in the 1970 film musical with
Albert Finney or the stage version with six extra songs. You discover new
things every time you do it.” says Mark.
“I’ve had the chance
to play some really cold, nasty characters: there’s nothing redeemable about Inspector
Wormold in Betty Blue Eyes or The Beadle in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of
Fleet Street, but, on the other side, I also get to play all the ridiculously
loveable characters, like Captain Mainwaring, Uncle Fester and Colonel
Pickering.
“So, in many ways,
Scrooge is more interesting because he goes on a journey from one to the other,
and it’s really fun as an actor to make that transition, but also not to make
him black and white. There are reasons in his past for some of the things he’s
doing.”
Time for a quick
refresher course: based on Dickens’s Victorian cautionary tale A Christmas
Carol, Scrooge tells the tale of old miser Ebenezer Scrooge on the night he is
visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come. Here that tale
is told in an “all-singing, all-dancing, all-flying” show.
“I haven’t flown on stage before, but I’m not scared of heights,” says Mark Hird
All-flying, Mark? “Yes, we have some flying in this show.
Scrooge has to fly with Rory Mulvihill’s Ghost of Christmas Present, and Tony
Froud’s Jacob Marley will float above the stage to sing his big number,” says
the Scotsman.
“I haven’t flown on
stage before, but I’m not scared of heights. I love walking the hills in Scotland.”
Joining Mark in the
company will be Alan Park’s Bob Cratchit. “The advantage we have doing the show
at the Grand Opera House, rather than our other home at 41 Micklegate, is that you
can put on a big spectacle, but you can also have intimate scenes too, such as Cratchit
and Tiny Tim’s scenes,” says Alan.
“But the experience
of performing at 41 Micklegate develops that intimate form of acting, which you
can then take into the bigger theatre,” says Mark.
He and Park see the contemporary resonance in Dickens’s story. “It’s amazing to look back at the impact Dickens’s book had on politicians, as well as general readers, concerning the inequality of working conditions for the working classes, and the cruelty Cratchit faces. That strikes a chord today,” says Mark.
” it’s really fun as an actor to make Scrooge’s transition, but also not to make him black and white,” says Mark Hird
“Cratchit thinks ‘this
is my lot; I will make the most of what I have’, and he sees Scrooge as alien
to his world, because that’s how society is,” says Alan.
“No politician will
change Scrooge, but the three Ghosts do have an impact, which makes him change
himself.
“But what’s more
depressing is that if A Christmas Carol were to be played out in modern times,
I’m not sure there would be sympathy for the Bob Cratchits of this world.”
“Maybe we need
another Dickens for this age,” says Mark. “If the Ghost of Christmas Yet To
Come brought Dickens to 2019, I think he would be horrified.”
“You could argue that
we need the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come to visit some of our politicians
right now,” says Alan, as the winter-of-discontent General Election fast approaches.
Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical runs from Tuesday, November 26 to Sunday, December 1 at Grand Opera House, York. Performances: 7.30pm, Tuesday to Sunday; 2.30pm, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.
Milton on a mission elsewhere: Jones adds loads more gigs for next autumn, but not here in Yorkshire. Picture: Aemen Sukkar
MILTON Jones is adding a heap of extra dates next autumn for
his 2020 tour show, Milton: Impossible, but not one of the 34 additions is in
Yorkshire.
Panic not, the shock-haired matador of the piercing one-liner
is booked in already for York Barbican on February 22, Victoria Theatre,
Halifax, February 23, Hull City Hall, March 18 and Leeds Town Hall, March 19,
on his initial January to April travels.
One man. One Mission. Is it possible? “No, not really,” says the Kew comedian, who will be performing 100 shows in total as he reveals the truth behind having once been an international spy, but then being given a somewhat disappointing new identity that forced him to appear on Mock The Week, Live At The Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy and Dave’s One Night Stand.
“This is a love
story with a twist, or at least a really bad sprain,” says Jones. “Is it all
just gloriously daft nonsense, or is there a deeper meaning? Every man has his
price. Sainsbury’s, where good food costs less.”
This adds to an earlier statement by the devotee of particularly bold
Hawaiian shirt designs when he first announced his 2020 mission. “My latest show is called Milton: Impossible and is loosely based on a
Tom Cruise film I saw once called something like Undo-able Task,” he said.
” This is a love story with a twist, or at least a really bad sprain,,” says comedian Milton Jones of his 2020 show, Milton: Impossible
“In it, I
play a Milton who appears to just have a job in Asda, but at night he’s also an
international spy involved in secret things and quite bad situations. But if
daft jokes give you an allergic reaction and send you into a coma, then don’t
come running to me.
“Also, at a
difficult time for our country, I believe there’s a chance this show could
unite the nation. Admittedly quite a small chance.”
Tickets for
York Barbican are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk and on 0203 356 5441; Halifax,
victoriatheatre.co.uk; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, leedstownhall.co.uk.
Those wishing
to travel farther afield on their Milton mission next autumn can find out more
at miltonjones.com, with tickets going on sale from Thursday, November 28.
Jones, 55, has played York many times, both at the Grand Opera House and latterly at the Barbican, where he presented his Milton Jones Is Out There show on September 30 2017.
Snow Patrol: sunshine awaits in Scarborough next summer
SNOW Patrol and Little Mix are the new additions to Scarborough Open Air
Theatre’s ever-expanding summer season for 2020.
Gary Lightbody’s Northern Irish indie rock band will play on July 4;
“the world’s biggest girl band” are booked in for July 21, boosting a line-up
already featuring Mixtape (Marc Almond, Heaven 17 and Living In A Box) on July
10 and McFly on August 14.
Tickets will go on sale for Snow Patrol on Friday (November 29) at 9am,
preceded by Little Mix on Thursday at 9am, at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
This month, Snow Patrol have marked their 25th anniversary by
releasing Reworked, 13 reimagined versions of their back-catalogue peaks,
complemented by three new recordings, Time Won’t Go Slowly, Think Of Home and Made Of Something Different Now.
Next summer’s show is sure to feature the likes
of Run, You’re All I Have, Signal Fire, Called Out In The
Dark and Take Back the City and Chasing Cars, officially British
radio’s most played song of the 21st century. Expect to hear songs too from
2018’s Wildness, their first studio album after a seven-year hiatus.
Peter Taylor, director of Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert promoters
Cuffe and Taylor, says: “Snow Patrol are not only one of the biggest-selling UK
bands of the last 20 years, but they are also one of the most critically
acclaimed live acts. We are delighted to be bringing them to Scarborough for
summer 2020.
“They are behind some of the best-loved indie rock anthems and these
special songs are going to sound amazing at this unique venue. I have
absolutely no doubts this is going to be an incredible night.”
In the Mix: Little Mix confirmed for Scarborough Open Air Theatre return
Little Mix will head to Scarborough on July 21 as part of a 21-date Summer
2020 tour that will take in Hull College Craven Park Stadium, Hull, on July 12.
They played
Scarborough OAT previously in July 2017 and this time will perform such hits as
Woman Like
Me, Touch, Shout Out To My Ex, Black Magic and Wings.
“Performing live is our favourite thing
to do as a band, we love it,” say The X Factor alumni Jade Thirlwall, Perrie
Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson. “Our last summer tour was one of
our favourites ever, so we can’t wait for some more brilliant outdoor shows
next year. We want everyone to come party with us in the sunshine.”
Record sales of 50
million have seen Little Mix notch up four number one singles, four
platinum-selling albums and nine platinum-selling singles in Britain,
surpassing a record previously held by the Spice Girls.
Their 2016 album Glory
Days was the biggest seller by a female group this century in the UK,
alongside being named the longest-reigning Top 40 album for a girl group
ever.
This year, Little Mix have toured
Europe, Australia, Japan and the United States and taken their LM5 Arena Tour
to Britain, Ireland and Europe.
Tickets for both Snow Patrol and Little Mix also will be on sale in person from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre, in Burniston Road, and the Discover Yorkshire Coast Tourism Bureau, Scarborough Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, and on 01723 818111 and 01723 383636. For Little Mix at Scarborough and Hull, visit livenation.co.uk.
Dame Judi Dench in Branagh Theatre’s A Winter’s Tale: part of the Christmas season at City Screen, York, showing on December 4 at 7.30pm
CHRISTMAS comes early to City Screen, York, with The CBeebies ChristmasShow on November 30 and December 1, straight from the theatre stage for a family-friendly feast of fun.
This year’s pantomime is the CBeebies adaptation of the Hansel And Gretel fairytale, screened at 11am on both days.
Dave Taylor, City Screen’s marketing manager, says: “We’re starting in November, I can sense you thinking, but there are so many Christmas shows to fit in. Something for everyone: the traditional films like Miracle On 34th Street, It’s A Wonderful Life and the German classic The Singing Ringing Tree.
“We even have a sing-along Dementia-Friendly Screening of the musical White Christmas on December 16.
“There are the modern favourites like Die Hard, Elf and a Home Alone double bill and, finally, there are Screen Arts recordings of Branagh Theatre: A Winter’s Tale, starring Dame Judi Dench, and Royal Opera House ballets Coppélia and The Nutcracker.”
City Screen’s chef will enter into the Christmas spirit with festive food from the end of November, offering a dozen dishes, some traditional, some vegetarian, one vegan, and one meal for which City Screen will donate £1 from every sale to Picturehouse Cinemas’ chosen charity, Refuge.
“This charity supports women and children against domestic violence, which sadly peaks with the stresses at this time of year,” says Taylor.
Tickets are available for all the Christmas shows at the City Screen box office in Coney Street, on 0871 902 5747 or at picturehouses.com/york.Full details of screening dates and times can be found at picturehouses.com/york.
Dave Parkinson’s Sir Lucius O’Trigger gives Paul Toy’s Bob Acres a duelling lesson for Baron Productions’ The Rivals
YORK
company Baron Productions are to stage Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s Georgian
comedy of manners, The Rivals, next month.
Premiered
at Covent Garden Theatre, London, in January 1775, its latest York production
is being directed by Paul Toy, who also will play bombastic
rival suitor Bob Acres in 7.30pm performances at the Quaker Meeting
House, Pickering, on December 7 and St Mary’s Church, Bishophill Junior, York,
from December 12 to 14.
Company
founder Daniel Wilmot says: “The story of Captain Jack Absolute’s clandestine
courtship of the cynical, yet romantic, Lydia Languish, under the noses of
their respective guardians, blustering Sir Anthony Absolute and hilarious Mrs
Malaprop, is one that has made me smile from the first time I read it.
Baron Productions’ poster for next month’s production of The Rivals
“Given that
it’s in keeping with our company’s tradition of theatre with a ‘thoroughly
dashing edge’ – period settings, witty dialogue, lush costumes, occasional duelling,
sometimes even in character – it seemed the perfect choice to bring a laugh or
two to the winter months after our darker production of Hamlet this summer.”
Wilmot formed
Baron Productions in 2015 to produce and direct the swashbuckling pirate romp Crossed
Swords, since when they have performed Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray
in 2016, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre in 2017 and a Yorkshire tour of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet this year.
“The choice
of The Rivals is a poignant one for me as well,” says Wilmot. “I did the show
back in 2012 as a rehearsed reading at the York Theatre Royal Studio, under the
direction of Edward Pearce, and lovely Ruth Ford was in the cast as well, playing
Mrs Malaprop of course.
Touching moment: Meg Davies as Julia and Daniel Wilmot as Captain Jack Absolute in The Rivals
“Neither of them is still with us. I have a lot of happy memories of working with them, so aside from liking the show, I wanted to do a fully-fledged version dedicated to them and their memories.”
Toy’s cast features Steve Mawson as the domineering Sir Anthony Absolute; Margaret Davey as Mrs Malaprop; Daniel Wilmot as Captain Jack Absolute; Raffy Parker as Lydia Languish and Dave Parkinson as the argumentative Irish baronet Sir Lucius O’Trigger.
Fired up: Molly Ridley’s David panics as Paul Toy’s Bob Acres prepares his pistols in The Rivals
Tyler Cooke will play the hapless lovelorn Faulkland; Meg Davies,
his long-suffering partner Julia; Zoe Glossop, pompous butler Fag; Molly Ridley,
Acres’ terrified servant David, and Amy Fincham, conniving housemaid
Lucy.
Toy has
set the piece at the turn of the 19th century. “This allows for lots
of dashing Poldark-esque costumes, the occasional
wig, and a healthy dose of swaggering and swashbuckling,” says Wilmot. “He’s
also promised a little singing as well.”
Tickets cost £10, concessions £8, under 18s £5, at ticketsource.co.uk/baron-productions or on the door from 7pm each night.
Hello…is that York Festival calling? Lionel Richie says yes to playing at York Sports Club
AMERICAN soul icon Lionel Richie, British ska legends Madness and Irish pop stars Westlife will headline the first ever York Festival next year.
Mounted by Cuffe and Taylor, the three-day music festival will be held at York Sports Club, Clifton Park, Shipton Road, from June 19 to 21 2020.
Three-day passes, giving access to every night, are available at £129 from
today at york-festival.com. Tickets for each night go on sale at £39.50 at 9am on
Thursday.
Opening-night headliners Madness, the Camden Town Nutty Boys with a music-hall
wit and ska roots, will be joined by Ian Broudie’s Lightning Seeds; BBC radio presenter
Craig Charles, for a funk and soul DJ set; Leeds indie rockers Apollo Junction
and rising York act Violet Contours.
Westlife will play York Festival on the Saturday as part of their Stadiums
In The Summer Tour. Billed as “Britain’s top-selling album group of the 21st century”,
they will combine such hits as Swear It Again, Flying Without Wings and You
Raise Me Up with songs from their November 15 album, Spectrum.
Joining Westlife in the June 20 line-up will be All Saints, Sophie Ellis-Bextor,
indie rock band Scouting For Girls and Take That’s Howard Donald for a DJ set.
On the closing night, Lionel Richie, 70, will be the star attraction as the four-time Grammy Award winner performs both solo and Commodores material.
Good sports: Madness sign up to bring the nuttiest sound around to York Festival at York Sports Club
Promoters Cuffe and
Taylor present the Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert programme each summer,
bringing Lionel Richie, Madness and Westlife to the East Coast in past years,
as well as the likes of Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears, Sir Elton John and Dame Kiri
Te Kanawa.
They also staged Rod
Stewart’s York Racecourse concert on June 1 this summer, drawing 35,000 to a
specially erected amphitheatre in the centre of the Knavesmire course.
Director Peter Taylor
says: “This is the very first York Festival, so we wanted to make this a very
special debut year.
“To have Lionel Richie, Westlife and Madness as headliners – alongside many
other brilliant chart-topping artists – is a real coup. We feel this is the
perfect line-up for the first year of what we hope will become a major annual
event in this wonderful and historic city.
“We cannot wait for Friday, June 19 and opening night. This really is
going to be a weekend to remember.”
York Festival will be staged at York Sports Club, the home of York RUFC, York Cricket Club, York Tennis Club and York Squash Club, where The Best Of York Music Festival was held on May 26, The Big Nineties Festival on October 25 and Oktoberfest on October 26.
Nigel Durham, Trustee of York Sports Club and Chairman of York Cricket
Club, said:“We are delighted to be hosting the first York Festival,
a major new event for the city of York.
Full Spectrum: Westlife will perform songs old and new at York Festival next June
“An historic city the size and stature of ours truly deserves a
high-profile music festival like this. And to be attracting such massive stars
as Lionel Richie, Westlife and Madness is just brilliant.
“And with the festival being staged in the heart of the city, right here
at York Sports Club, this really will capture the imagination and be a great
thing for the city, residents, local businesses and visitors.”
Cuffe and Taylor are working closely with City of York Council and Make It
York, whose role is to showcase and promote the city around the world.
Championing the inaugural York Festival, Sean Bullick, managing director
of Make It York, says: “York Festival will be a brilliant addition to the
city’s already busy calendar of summer events for both residents and visitors
to enjoy.
“Welcoming such music legends and chart-topping artists, as well as
showcasing local talent, is another step forward for York’s cultural offer and
we are delighted to help spread the word to audiences.”
In addition to three-day passes and day tickets, a range of VIP offers are available. For more information, go to york-festival.com.
Son of Town Hall’s Ben Parker and David Berkeley at The Cockpit, Pickering
Son Of Town Hall, The Cockpit, Pickering, November 20 2019
WE ARE told organic is best, and here is a case in point. Son Of Town Hall are an itinerant duo, with one stock rooted in Simon & Garfunkel and the other in the Peaky Blinders era.
Ben Parker and David Berkeley’s voices meet somewhere in the mid-Atlantic and it’s a thrilling combination, floating on an intimate, warm bed of acoustic guitars.
The pair sail to Yorkshire most years, and it’s always a welcome return (the recent floods hastened their arrival). The tiny club was full, 30 souls sitting in airline seats to hear water-borne songs of love and loss up close. It’s the perfect den to hear live music.
Destined for bigger halls: Son Of Town Hall at The Cockpit
Son Of Town Hall were touring to promote their first album, Adventures Of Son Of Town Hall. It has been a very long time in gestation by modern standards, supposedly recorded live on the raft they travel on.
Miraculously they chose perfectly still days to record and avoided any gimmicky shellac scratches. It ranks with the best of acoustic music released in 2019 – and by virtue of the genre, therefore any year – perhaps an unnecessary drum roll or two away from perfection. While it is music made for the tavern, the song craft worn on Cobbler’s Hill is breath-taking.
Their playful set covered pretty much their entire recorded output, interwoven with amusing interludes about their friendship. Named after a raft made of junk, it is fitting that their music in turn recycles, but, like a weathered pair of frigatebirds, they have picked the ageless bits that shimmer brightest. Some of the old jokes have gone overboard.
“Simon & Garfunkel meets Peaky Blinders”: Son Of Town Hall’s playful set in Pickering
Highlights included Poseidon, which rang and soared, and the quietly devastating Louise. A couple of older songs were revived, with Snow In Mexico particularly welcome. Winds was the pick of the new material, while St Jerome was less fulfilling, missing a measure of grit.
The concept is wildly original, tunes built to last, and their pleasure in performing them so clear. You just hope they don’t tire of the act just as they reach a deservedly wider audience (with gigs this size, in about ten years…).
