Category: Festivals

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REVIEW: Super Furry Animals, Live At York Museum Gardens, July 11 ****

Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys in Power Rangers-style helmet and high-viz jacket at Live At York Museum Gardens on Saturday. Picture: Devon Chambers

REASONS to be cheerful, one, two, three, as the summer sounds of the city changed from John Smith’s race day on Knavesmire to Live At York Museum Gardens and onwards to the pubs of York once Saturday night turned into Sunday morning’s Hey Jude.

Kick-off time for day three of Live At York Museum Gardens had been moved forward by 30 minutes to accommodate England’s 10pm quarter-final clash with Leeds-born Erling Harland’s Norway.

They may be Dai-hard Welshmen, but headliners Super Furry Animals didn’t share the attitude of set-closing anthem The Man Don’t Give A **** in switching their exit time to 9.55pm, rather than 10.30pm.

Saturday’s bill boasted five acts, one more than for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and Self Esteem’s equally diverse evening line-ups on Thursday and Friday. Three bands from the Land of Song, the Super Furries, fellow seasoned Cardiff combo Los Campesinos! and Pys Melyn, from Pen Llŷn, North Wales, were joined by Nottingham’s Divorce and Buckinghamshire/West London-raised Baxter Dury.

Pys Melyn opening Saturday’s bill at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Devon Chambers

Wistful, harmonious, hazy indie psych-pop five-piece Pys Melyn, whose name translates as ‘Yellow Peas’, took to the stage at 3.55pm, when the day’s temperatures were at their height: weather to turn stressed-out pea pods from green to yellow as the chlorophyll breaks down, as botany boffins would know.

Your reviewer arrived midway through Divorce’s set of confessional indie-folk rock and alt-country songs reminiscent of Mojave 3 and The Broken Family Band, drawn to the fiddle-playing as much as to the double-barrelled duo of bassist Tiger Cohen-Towell and Felix Mackenzie-Barrow alternating lead vocals.

Divorce, by the way, have been living up to their name. On May 12, it was announced that fellow founder members Adam Peter-Smith and Kasper Sandstrom would be leaving the band to “prioritise their personal lives”. Two months later, Saturday’s line-up, showcasing 2025’s debut album Drive To Goldenhammer, looked and sounded happily settled into its new groove.

“Enjoy the rest of the day. Keep drinking water,” advised Mackenzie-Barrow. Messages on the screens to either side of the stage urged the same action: Stay Hydrated, it counselled, highlighting the availability of free water points for re-filling and also of free sun cream in the First Aid tent.

Divorce’s Tiger Cohen-Towell at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Devon Chambers

Such was the roving medical staff’s concern for care in the broiling heat that the sight of your reviewer sitting head bowed, writing notes on a ledge by the Yorkshire Museum walls, attracted the attention of two medics. “Are you OK,” they asked. It spoke volumes of everything about Futuresound and York Museum Trust’s event management being spot-on.

The crowd was yet to peak: the perfect time to take a walk around the site, with its bars and food vendors, First Aid and Wellbeing facilities, multitude of posters for upcoming Futuresound promotions and merchandise stall, offering all manner of Super Furry Animals T-shirts and a lonely brag in the corner, I’m The Sausage Man (which would later form a sizzling high in Baxter Dury’s set).

“Welcome to the rock concert,” announced Los Campesinos! lead singer Gareth David Paisley, drawing attention back to the stage. Billed as “the UK’s first and only emo band”, they specialise in “sleeper hits for weeping dips**ts since 2001”; sleeper hits” in truth that did not awaken memorable hooks on contact with the York air.

Los Campesinos! frontman Gareth David Paisey looks to the skies in his Music Is A Natural High T-shirt at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Devon Chambers

Still favouring emo black attire, albeit in T-shirt and shorts form, they were hard working, earnest, political too in “standing up against the creeping fascism we see around as every day” and Freedom For Palestine banner.

The “Heart Swells” message on their stage backdrop was as much an invocation as the name of their record label, but the songs tended to be laborious, typified by 2008’s We Are Beautiful, We Are  Doomed failing to match the epic promise of its none-more-emo title.

“This is a rare away gig for us,” said Paisley, to the somewhat isolated cheers of Los Campesinos! aficionados, determined to make their presence heard on their big day out, like a non-league club playing at a Premier League big six ground  in the FA Cup third round.

Baxter Dury was in the mood to crack on, his three-piece band taking to the stage two minutes early, to be joined by the front man in yellow shirt and dark suit, strutting like a bull-baiting toreador. Behind him, keyboard player and vocalist Madelaine Hart did much of the melodic heavy-lifting, contrasting with his braggadocio spoken-word outbursts, as he hit you with his rhythm schtick.

Baxter Dury striking a pose in his humorously provocative set at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Devon Chambers

Part-toaster, part-rapper, part jousting court jester, full of jabs and gibes, he was an agent provocateur, like Mark E Smith leading The Fall, or Keith Allen fronting Fat Les’s 1998 World Cup football anthem Vindaloo.

No room for between-song niceties, he built momentum the more his coruscating songs leered and jeered, from Return Of The Sharp Heads, through Allbamone, to the stand-out Baxter (these are my friends). Changing a lyric from “Hotel In Brixton” to “Hotel In York” was a typically sharp touch too.

Super Furry Animals had never played York in 33 years together, but on this year’s return to the concert platform after a ten-year hiatus, what better setting could there be to revive Hello Sunshine (Come Into My Life) than in the botanical York Museum Gardens.

The day’s sunshine had mellowed by the time the Cardiff art-rockers opened with the embracing hug of (Drawing) Rings Around The World at 8.25pm, but their songs are marked as much by an orb of warmth as occasional weird edges, the musical style duly altering as often as frontman Gruff Rhys changed guitars.

Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys chewing celery in Receptacle For the Respectable at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Devon Chambers

As with OMD’s set on Thursday, fast-moving video projections accompanied each number, mixing with live footage of Gruff in shades and peaked cap and linear stage lighting in colours to complement each song’s mood and the imagery on screen.

This was an exemplary outdoor gig, stuffed with SFA highs such as Juxtaposed With U, Northern Lites and God! Show Me Magic, and the Welsh-language wonder of Ymaelodi â’r Ymylon.

Then add the humorously quirky visual flourishes, as impactful as in David Byrne’s shows, such as Rhys’s sign board switching from Applause to Louder And Ape Sh*t! or suddenly sporting a high-viz jacket and Power Rangers-style helmet or chewing on a celery in Receptacle For the Respectable in an homage to Paul McCartney’s “vegetable percussion on The Beach Boys’ 1967 curio Vegetables.

How else could they finish than with the magnificent mayhem of The Man Don’t Give A ***, climaxing with a fantastical return to the stage in long-haired furry animal costumes. Something spectacularly blissful for 4 the weekend indeed.

The Man Don’t Give A **** finale to Super Furry Animals’s set at York Museum Gardens, ending at 9.53pm, well in time for England v Norway’s kick-off. Picture: Devon Chambers

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REVIEW: Self Esteem, The Big Moon, Moonchild Sanelly and Joshua Idehen, Live At York Museum Gardens, July 10 ****1/2

Self Esteem, right, performing with her choir at Live At York Museum Gardens on Friday. Picture: Paul Rhodes 

SELF ESTEEM is a pop queen to many and her York Museum Gardens garden party was a special evening. 

Rebecca Lucy Taylor really believes in her material, which appears ripped from within her. Her candid accounts of what it feels like to be a modern woman, powerful but exhausted, desiring and often despairing, have a rare ability to turn individual experience into something universal. We saw that power in full force on Friday, which was thankfully a little cooler than the evening before.

Yet something seemed to be the matter when Taylor first walked on. Dressed in the same devotional costume she wears on her latest album, 2025’s A Complicated Woman, she had been crying and was still holding back sobs as the eight-strong choir began I Do And I Don’t Care. 

We will never know, but Taylor talked a few times of this being a crazy day. She is clearly someone who feels deeply, and her audience responds to that. In a short time, there was a reassuring hand from one of her troupe, who then returned to singing beautifully and dancing with sometimes alarming intensity.

British-Nigerian poet and electronic artist Joshua Idehen opening Friday’s bill at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Paul Rhodes  

Taylor’s latest songs were driven more by message than melody. The voices, choreography and stark group formations made it theatrical, but they also operated like a musical family, and we were drawn in. It really worked, despite the sometimes dim lighting. But at least we had screens this year, positioned sensitively to the sides.

Redemption had already arrived – at least for the few – thanks to opener Joshua Idehen, a British-Nigerian poet and electronic artist whose work combines poetry, house music and messages of hope, resilience and renewal. He turned out to have a masterful command of the crowd. Believing in second chances, he gave us a better chance to engage our shoulders and get off on the right foot. 

Like Self Esteem, his words mattered deeply too, and he brought many of the newcomers to tears. The groove was also important as the extra element to lift half-spoken, half-rapped words. There was something of Gil Scott-Heron in the combination of social observation, humour, poetry and rhythm, but Idehen is very much a man of his own time. His signature song, Mum Does The Washing, has grabbed a wider audience online, and while that number was surprisingly absent, we were also caught up in his world.

South African singer and “future ghetto punk”  Moonchild Sanelly. Picture: Paul Rhodes 

Above all, this was a night about connection. Female friends, mums and daughters, young families gathering around music while spending time close to those we loved. It made for a lovely, all-age atmosphere under a cloudless sky.

It was harder to get close to Moonchild Sanelly, the South African singer and self-styled “future ghetto punk” artist known for mixing electronic pop, dance music and South African rhythms with sexually candid, fiercely independent lyrics. She brought a more confrontational energy. With vivid green hair and a bold stage presence, she was defiant, spiky, frequently taking aim at former partners foolish enough to reject her, as on Demon.

There was plenty of indie-energy in third support act The Big Moon, a Mercury-nominated London indie-rock four-piece whose melodic guitar pop has expanded to take on motherhood, relationships, body change and, on their newest material, hearing loss. This was the only traditional band performance of the night and a clever shift in tone.

Juliette Jackson leading The Big Moon at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Paul Rhodes

Their Museum Gardens set was a fascinating mixture. The songs had strong melodic foundations and choruses, underpinned by particularly impressive bass playing. There was even a singalong to Fatboy Slim’s Praise You.

Headliner Self Esteem was not polished. She said later that costume changes had been missed and her hair had not been done. The audience loved her more for this, not less.

She didn’t forget to make the evening fun and tuneful. Her numbers from Prioritise Pleasure were more danceable and got the crowd moving. Once the opening emotional storm had passed, the performance became looser and more playful. Some of the crowd looked like they were unsure how much they were allowed to enjoy the image-rich 69. She did give a parental warning, but there was no time to look away.

Self Esteem in devotional costume, as worn in the artwork for 2025 album A Complicated Woman, at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Paul Rhodes 

Towards the end of her 90 minutes, Taylor spoke emotionally, not to seek praise, but to say thank you. She was met by a huge wave of applause and support. Like Adele, her troubles were our troubles.

After the nostalgic full house for Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark the night before, Self Esteem was a bolder programming choice by event promoters Futuresound: a younger, messier and more varied bill. The artists selected worked well together – for my money, more fun than, say, three and a half hours of Guns N’Roses. 

This was music for people still working things out, performed by artists willing to open themselves up for us, on a striking, memorable Friday night spent with people we care about. It turns out it’s OK to just be together, the deep blue OK or not.

Review by Paul Rhodes

 Fans watching Self Esteem on a “striking, memorable Friday night spent with people we care about”. Picture: Paul Rhodes

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as music & comedy festival season blooms. Hutch’s List No. 28, from The York Press

Super Furry Animals: Flower power in the botanical gardens at Live At York Museum Gardens. Picture: Ryan Eddleston

NINE comedians on one day in a garden, a mythical tale of a goddess and the dark side of the moon, a near-future re-spinning of the selkie myth and a bothersome briefcase in a love story keep Charles Hutchinson’s head spinning with artistic possibilities.  

Rock gig of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Super Furry Animals, today, gates 4pm

FUTURESOUND’S third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts climaxes today with Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals’ headline set. On the bill too are  singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn.  Box office: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey 1 at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm at Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills

Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, until July 26

RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, The Gesualdo Six, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.

Taking part too are tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Christopher Glynn, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, soprano Erika Baikoff, cellist Laura van der Heijden, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.

Cutting a dash: Russell Kane’s 7.10pm set will last 25 minutes at York Comedy Festival tomorrow

Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live At York Museum Gardens, York, tomorrow, gates 3pm

TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm) and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.

In tomorrow’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Alex Lowe’s 82-year-old comic creation Barry From Watford (5.45pm); cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm)  and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jarred Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.

Megan Drury in Wright & Grainger’s SELENE, part of Theatre@41’s Halfway To Edinburgh Season

Radical myth revamp of the week: Wright & Grainger and Theatre@41 present Megan Drury in SELENE, Halfway To Edinburgh Season, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, July 15, now 7pm; July 16, 8.30pm

AUSTRALIAN actor Megan Drury stars in Easingwold duo Phil Grainger and Alexander Flanagan Wright’s tale of the goddess and the dark side of the moon in a radical explosion of an ancient myth.

A young girl watches the moon landings on repeat. A teenager makes a list of all the things they are not. A young adult starts to discover who they are. Expect a story addressing the light sides of us, the dark sides of us, the things orbiting around us as we grow up and not least the wild stuff inside us. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

UPDATE: 13/7/2026

STATEMENT from Team 41: “As you may have noticed the show now partially clashes with England’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

“To allow people to catch as much of the match as possible, we’ve moved the start time for Wright & Grainger’s SELENE to 19:00. 

“The show is 70 minutes long, so you’ll hopefully be able to enjoy Wright & Grainger’s SELENE and then see the match from the first Hydration Break.

“There is another performance of SELENE on Thursday at 8.30pm, so if you would prefer to move to that show, send an email to boxoffice@41monkgate.co.uk.” 

Silence is golden: Rowan Armitt-Brewster’s Thomas in A Brief Case Of Crazy at York Theatre Royal Studio

Silent love story of the week: Skedaddle Theatre & Shoddy Theatre present A Brief Case Of Crazy, York Theatre Royal Studio, July 16 to 18, 7pm plus 2pm Saturday matinee

INSPIRED by the timeless genius of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mr Bean,Rowan Armitt-Brewster, Samuel Cunningham and Lennie Longworth’s physical comedy A Brief Case Of Crazy is a silent love story with a very loud heart, told through slick choreography, mime, clowning and puppetry.

Meet Thomas, an awkward, introverted office worker with a quiet crush on his equally shy colleague, Daisy. His quest for love must contend with a boisterous boss named Simon and a rather bothersome briefcase that drags an awkward introvert into extraordinary events. Will his quest for love fail? Or will he discover that what’s on the inside counts most? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk. Age guidance: Five upwards.

Hannah Davies & Jack Woods: Performing The Ballad Of Blea Wyke at Helmsley Arts Centre on July 17. Picture: Matt Jopling

Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm

IN North Yorkshire writer and storyteller Hannah Davies and musician Jack Woods’ dystopian re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future, a young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore. 

On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Dominic Goodwin in a triptych of three of his multiple roles in Twice Nightly at Friargate Theatre

Recalling variety’s golden days: Pyramus and Thisbe Productions present Dominic Goodwin in Twice Nightly, Friargate Theatre, York, July 17 & 18, 7.30pm

RYEDALE writer, performer and pantomime dame Dominic Goodwin is touring his first one-man comedy show, directed by York director and actor Thomas Frere.

Twice Nightly follows the story of struggling comedian Freddie Francis in 1956 as the final curtain hovers over variety. Many acts of the time are highlighted, including Norman “Over The Garden Wall” Evans (said to be an influence on Les Dawson) Stockton comic Jimmy James, wartime star Robb Wilton and the iconic Max Miller. Box office: York, 01904 655317 or ridinglights.org/friargatetheatre.

Turning up the heat: North Yorkshire chef Tommy Banks

Culinary event of the week:  An Evening with Tommy Banks: Spinning Plates: Live, York Theatre Royal, July 17, 7.30pm

MICHELIN-STARRED chef, restaurateur and hospitality leader Tommy Banks makes the trip from his Oldstead family farm to York Theatre Royal to bring his extraordinary story to the stage for the first and only time. Told across three intersecting timelines – the past 25 years, the defining 12 months and the opening night for his latest pub —each moment teeters on a knife-edge.

Banks runs the Black Swan at Oldstead (head chef since June 2013), Roots York, in Marygate, York (since 2018) , and the Abbey Inn at Byland (since 2023), as well as co-founding Jeopardy Hospitality, whose first venture is the General Tarleton at Ferrensby, Knaresborough, in 2025.

His debut cookbook, Roots, was published by Orion in April 2018. He set up the food box business Made In Oldstead in 2020, Banks Brothers canned wine company in 2021, Tommy’s Pie Shop in 2024 and Tommy Banks Hospitality, for large-scale events, stadia catering and corporate hospitality nationwide, in 2025.

In 2019, Banks became resident chef at Lord’s Cricket Ground; in 2022, chef partner of Twickenham Stadium; in 2025, chef partner of Sunderland AFC. A lifelong Sunderland supporter, he now leads the culinary offering at Banks on the Wear and oversees corporate hospitality at the football ground.

Exemplified by the three-acre kitchen garden by the Black Swan, sustainability sits at the heart of everything Banks does. His field-to-fork commitment to responsible growing, foraging and low-impact cooking has been recognised with a Michelin Green Star, while his dedication to nurturing future talent continues through apprenticeship programmes and industry partnerships.

For one night only, he combines storytelling and immersive cinema to lift the lid on hospitality service at its most intense, reflecting on a lifetime of ambition, vulnerability, risk and pressure (cookers). 

Set against a turbulent backdrop, where soaring business rates and crushing VAT force three pubs to close every week, Banks exposes the brutal reality of keeping the doors open while revealing the plate-spinning demands of leadership and what it takes to pursue excellence.

Along the way, discover the community of talent he has built in the once-sleepy village of Oldstead, firmly rooted in camaraderie, resilience and Yorkshire grit. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

This Is Torture for Sean Walsh: Anxiety levels rising at Harrogate Theatre, York Theatre Royal and the SJT, Scarborough. Picture: Jiksaw

Gig announcement of the week: Sean Walsh, This Is Torture, Harrogate Theatre, October 6, and York Theatre Royal, November 6, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, April 14 2027

I’M A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2022 series survivor Sean Walsh has decided to name his latest stand-up tour show after the phrase he says the most: “This Is Torture”.  The dishevelled Camden comedian will be bringing his signature blend of chaos and charm to Harrogate, York and the newly added Scarborough to put himself through an anxiety filled-hour, as he indeed will on no fewer than 71 occasions on a tour now extended by 37 dates.

The ever-observant Walsh’s podcasting portfolio takes in co-hosting Oh My Dog! with Jack Dee, where guests discuss their special canine bonds, and What’s Upset You Now?, putting the world to rights in cathartic trips to the pub with Paul McCaffrey. In addition, on Class Clown, he sits down with the boldest rule-breakers in entertainment to explore the personal battles that shaped them.

In 2024, he made his Shakespearean debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at Stafford Gatehouse, then played Yvan in a tour of Yasmina Reza’s Art. Tickets: www.seannwalsh.com; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Scarborough,01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

In Focus: Navigators Art presents Moss Glow And Shadow Bloom, The Basement, City Screen Picturehouse, York, tonight 7.45pm

York singer Gabriella Hunzinger

YORK arts collective Navigators Art’s final gig before a summer break brings together four Yorkshire performers whose work conjures unique worlds up in a magical programme of electronic, acoustic and vocal sounds, influenced by folk traditions and environmental awareness.

Combining ancient and modern iconography, art, poetry and music, the bill features York singer Gabriella Hunzinger, No Spinoza, previewing forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, Sheffield experimental songwriter Pefkin and Things Found And Made’s lost cinematic folk-tales.

No Spinoza’s Thomas Pearson

GABRIELLA HUNZINGER: Her songs take wisdom from nature’s seasonal cycles and explore connections between ourselves, the earth and what lies beyond our conscious experience. Accompanied by cellist Filipe Massumi and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Webster.


NO SPINOZA: Welcome to the thematic universe of forthcoming album Jupiter’s Great Hurricane, where Thomas Pearson’s songs bridge history and legend, ancient and modern. Featured in session on BBC Introducing.

Pefkin

PEFKIN: Sheffield performing and recording artist. Multi-instrumentalist and experimental songwriter of slowly unfolding psychedelic hymnals, inspired by nature.

THINGS FOUND AND MADE: Lost cinematic folk-tales: imagined histories, half remembered rituals of sound and nature, from York.

Tickets:  https://www.ticketsource.com/navigators-art-performance or on the door.

Things Found And Made

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REVIEW: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Summer Of Hits, Live At York Museum Gardens, July 9 ****

Andy McCluskey leading Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark on the first night of Live At York Museum Gardens. All pictures: Devon Chambers

ORCHESTRAL Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Summer Of Hits opened this Summer of Hot’s trio of concerts in Futuresound’s third Live At York Museum Gardens season.

Oh yes, it was hot, absurdly hot, hot enough to bake a pizza on the Yorkshire Museum walls, if you could cook a pizza sideways, as if in a Salvador Dali painting.

There will be no respite for Self Esteem’s Friday bill or today for Super Furry Animals (not a state of fur coverage any would want right now), so come prepared. Spray on Factor 50 sun cream, advises Futuresound project manager Rachel Hill. Look out for the water stations too to top up bottles.

The site lay-out changed from the first festival to the second, when the stage switched architectural backdrop from the Yorkshire Museum to the St Mary’s Abbey ruins, and further changes have come into play for 2026:  a sure sign that Futuresound and York Museums Trust respond positively to suggestions.

Andrew Cushin, in retro football shirt, kicking off day one of Live At York Museum Gardens

Large screens have been placed to either side to enhance the viewing experience (last year, standing at the back, your reviewer struggled to see a head let alone Elbow, before being accommodated most kindly in the Ambulant seated area for Richard Hawley).

The Premium ticket experience has improved vastly too:  separate entry via Exhibition Square; commodious bar (well stocked but no gin, presumably deemed too depressive for a festival) ; Indian and bao bun food vendors; seats and bean bags dotted around the gardens, away from the stage but within hearing range.

The Premium viewing area has expanded too, still by the Yorkshire Museum, still with reserved Ambulant seating, but now with a steeped bank of terracing, like the most spacious football Kop  ever. Out-standing improvement, indeed.

Futuresound make good decisions: first in setting up Live At York Museum Gardens, then adding a Sunday comedy festival, then bettering the festivalgoer’s experience. The Leeds event promoters also pick the headline acts really well, whether home-crowd favourites Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary celebrations and Jack Savoretti in 2024 or Elbow, Hawley and Nile Rodgers & Chic last summer.

China Crisis frontman Gary Daly, dressed for the beach, at Live At York Museum Gardens

In 2026, headliners OMD, Self Esteem and Super Furry Animals each will appeal to a different pop/ rock demographic – Eighties, Gen Z and Nineties respectively – and the supporting bills offer enticement aplenty to arrive well before the 8.30pm last entry.

Andrew Cushin, Newcastle’s latest singer-songwriter protégé, came and went before your reviewer  settled in by the museum wall to see China Crisis lead singer Gary Daly dressed appropriately for the weather: white T-shirt and green shorts (the de rigueur dress code for the men in the crowd too).

The Kirkby synth-poppers would be playing for only 30 minutes, so he would cut “the chat”, said the normally notoriously loquacious Daly after only two songs in the opening ten. Christian, “Jeremy Vine favourite” Arizona Sky, Black Man Ray, Wishful Thinking and King In A Catholic Sky were all reminders of how the Liverpool School of Melody DNA passed through them so delightfully.

We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang T-shirts (without the brackets of the song title) heralded the presence of Heaven 17 devotees in the sold-out crowd. One, called Sumo, had been to 217 gigs (one more than lead singer Glenn Gregory, Glenn revealed, after Sumo turned up for a show in Canada but illness had put paid to the Sheffield electronic pioneers’ appearance).

Heaven 17 fans wearing We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang T-shirts at the front of Friday’s sold-out crowd

Like Daly, Gregory likes to talk, to tell stories, as sharp of tongue as his tailoring in white suit, blue shirt and shades. Keyboardist Martyn Ware favoured sparkling hat and jacket, joined on stage by a drummer and Carrie, Rachel and Florence (keyboards and backing vocals).

We Don’t Need This Fascist Groove Thang, the first song Heaven 17 wrote after Ware and Ian Craig Marsh split from Heaven 17 in 1981, was given a 2026 re-boot, with ‘Trump’ replacing ‘Reagan’ in the lyrics. “We don’t need this Farage groove thang,” Gregory said afterwards, urging support for Count Binface in the Clacton by-election.

Introduced as “Kim Wilde walked down the aisle to this one”, Come Love With Me Come was a particular joy, while the “Giorgio Moroder tribute”,  I’m Your Money, was segued with Donna Summer’s I Feel Love. Gregory and co then went the full cover-version hog on David  Bowie’s Let Dance, rivalled only by the climactic Temptation for impact.

“Enjoy Orchestral Manoeuvres, I know I will,” enthused Gregory, later to be spotted in the crowd doing exactly that. It still wasn’t dark when OMD emerged on stage after a futuristic film projection, and nor would there be any “orchestral manoeuvres”, but all dressed in black (ah, there’s the dark), frontman Andy McCluskey  and keyboardist Paul Humphreys (in specs) were joined by Martin Cooper on keys and saxophone and Stuart Kershaw on drums.

Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17: Still playing to win after 45 years together at Live At York Museum Gardens

In this digital age, OMD can replicate their recorded electronic sound to perfection, says McCluskey, although there was still room for him to forget the same words twice in one song, met with an invitation to the audience to jump.

Imagery ran throughout their set on a screen that spanned the whole of the stage, changing for each song, switching between colour and black and white, much in the manner of Public Service Broadcasting’s concerts.

True to their billing, the Summer Of Hits meant playing all, not some of their hits, with the oh-so-familiar standouts of the brace of Joan Of Arcs, Souvenir, Forever Live And Die and Sailing On The Seven Seas,  plenty of peaks, the occasional trough, and a magnificent version of Enola Gay, to the haunting accompaniment of atomic bomb footage.

Walking On The Milky Way was ruefully reflective, if defiant, of the passage of time and what else but Electricity could crackle through the night sky to meet the 10.30pm curfew bang on.

The crowd watching the climax to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s set as darkness descends on Live At York Museum Gardens

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Festival of the week: Futuresound’s Live At York Museum Gardens, July 9 to 12

SATURDAY UPDATE: EARLIER START

SUPER Furry Animals may be Dai-hard Welshman, but in an act of supreme consideration to England versus Norway kicking off at 10pm in the World Cup quarter final, everything today at Live At York Museum Gardens will kick off earlier to boot. Gates open at 3.30pm; last entry is at 8pm.

Saturday’s bill: Pys Melyn (3.55pm to 4.25pm); Divorce (4.45pm to 5.25pm); Los Campesinos! (5.55pm to 6.40pm); Baxter Dury (7.10pm to 7.55pm); headliners Super Furry Animals (8.25pm to 9.55pm.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits concert at Live At York Museum Gardens tonight

LIVE At York Museum Gardens returns for its third festival of outdoor concerts from today to Saturday and second York Comedy Festival on Sunday, organised by Leeds event promoters Futuresound Group.

 “We’re so proud of how Live at York Museum Gardens has grown, and we’re looking forward to seeing the changes we’ve made to the site this year, ensuring that everyone enjoys their time in such a beautiful space,” says Rachel Hill, Futuresound’s project manager, who lives in York, by the way.

The map of the Live At York Museum Gardens site for July 9 to 11

“None of this would have been possible without the continued collaboration, trust and support of the team at York Museums Trust; the opportunity to put together such an incredible bill for the summer makes us excited for the future of our partnership.”

Today’s bill: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Summer of Hits (9pm), with Heaven 17 (7.30pm), China Crisis (6.30pm) and Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin (5.30pm) in support. Gates open at 5pm; last admission 8.30pm. SOLD OUT.

Friday’s bill: Self Esteem (Rotherham’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor), supported  by The Big Moon, Moonchild Sanelly and Joshua Idehen. Gates, 5pm; last entry, 8.30pm.

Super Furry Animals: Flower power in the botanical gardens at Live At York Museum Gardens on Saturday. Picture: Ryan Eddleston

Saturday’s bill: PLEASE NOTE: NOW STARTING and ENDING EARLIER. Super Furry Animals (8.25pm to 9.55pm), plus Baxter Dury (7.10pm to 7.55pm). Los Campesinos! (5.55pm to 6.40pm), Divorce (4.45pm to 5.25pm) and Pys Melyn (3.55pm to 4.25pm). Gates, 3.30pm; last entry, 8pm.

Event curfew for each concert: 10.30pm.

Check Live At York Museum Gardens social media channels on the day, where set times will be published ahead of time. NO  readmittance to Live At York Museum Gardens; once you leave the site, you will not be allowed to re-enter.

Sunday’s comedy bill: Nabil Abdulrashid, 4:20pm to 4:45pm; Jeff  Innocent, 4.50pm to 5.15pm; Barry from Watford, 5.45pm to 6.10pm; Suzi Ruffell, 6.15pm to 6.40pm; Russell Kane, 7.10pm to 7.35pm; Joanne McNally, 7.40pm to 8.05pm; Ross Noble, 8.35pm to 9.05pm and Russell Howard, 9.30pm to 10pm, hosted by Jarred Christmas. Gates, 3pm; last entry, 8.15pm. .   

The map for the Live At York Museum Gardens site for Sunday’s York Comedy Festival

Map: Futuresound, the team behind Live at York Museum Gardens, have come to know the site well and, in tandem with York Museums Trust, have “refined how the event fits and feels within the garden walls”. Downloadable site maps can be found at the Live at York Museum Gardens FAQ page with other relevant information.

Box office:  Located adjacent to General Admission entrance via Museum Street while the newly situated Premium Ticket entrance is via Exhibition Square.

New features: The Live at York Museum Gardens Premium Area has been moved to a new location closer to the action with a Hang Out Area featuring seating, premium facilities and exclusive food vendors, along with access to a new first-come, first-served, free-flowing Premium Standing Platform with an unparalleled view of the stage.

Significantly, this year’s event will feature large-format, high-definition screens either side of the main stage for the first time, “significantly improving audiences ability to see and appreciate the performances”.

Cutting a dash: Russell Kane will play a 25-minute set at Sunday’s York Comedy Festival at 7.10pm

Gardens facts: Founded in the 1830s, York Museum Gardens span more than ten acres of botanical gardens, set against the backdrop of the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey and also house the Yorkshire Museum and Hospitium. The gardens welcome 1.3 million visitors a year as a space to relax and enjoy.

Weather forecast: Phew, what a scorcher, all weekend.

Rachel Hill’s advice: Make sure to apply Factor 50 sun cream.  

For more information, visit: https://www.futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events

Interview with Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey:

Orchestral Manoeuvres look forward to playing not-so-dark in Museum Gardens

 Interview with Super Furry Animals’ Huw Bunford:

Super Furry Animals make York debut after 33 years at Museum Gardens on Saturday

Alas, Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor was not available for an interview.

Self Esteem’s Rebecca Lucy Taylor

Who is Self Esteem? Fact file

Born: Rotherham, South Yorkshire, October 15 1986.

Name: Rebecca Lucy Taylor.

Age: 39.

Parents’ occupations:  Father, health & safety advisor and amateur musician; mother, secretary.

Education: Wales High School in Rotherham, where she was a “choir nerd”.

Occupation: Singer, songwriter, musician and actress.

Style: Experimental pop, R&B and electronica, delivered with theatrical stage presence.

Content: Known for bold, emotionally honest, witty, genre-defying pop music with feminist themes, addressing gender politics, women’s rights, female autonomy, mental health, liberation, modern identity and self-empowerment, challenging societal norms.

First band: The Lonely Hearts, featuring Taylor on drums.

Second band: On vocals, drums, guitar and percussion, she was one half of folk-indie/country soul duo Slow Club, formed in Sheffield in 2006 with fellow former Lonely Heart Charles Watson (vocals, guitar, piano)

Albums: Yeah So, 2009; Paradise, 2011; Complete Surrender, 2014; All Of This Won’t Matter Anymore, 2016.

Played here:  The Basement (City Screen Picturehouse), The Duchess and The Crescent in York; Pocklington Arts Centre.

The first poster for Self Esteem at Live At York Museum Gardens

Documentary: Our Most Brilliant Friends, directed by Piers Dennis, released in 2018, charting Slow Club’s final tour in Winter 2016 and the “unfulfilled” Taylor’s rising dissatisfaction with the band.

Did you know? Guillemots’ Fyfe Dangerfield occasionally joined the duo on stage on tour.

Rebranded as Self Esteem: 2017, preceded by using that name for artistic projects such as a painting and print exhibition.

Albums: Compliments Please, 2019; Prioritise Pleasure, 2021; A Complicated Woman, April 25 2025.

Best-known song: Spoken-word anthem I Do This All the Time, 2021.

Acting roles: On TV, I Hate Suzie Too (Sky) and Smothered (Sky). Film: Layla, playing Emily in writer-director Amrou Al-Kadhi’s 2024 debut British romance.

Theatre: Sally Bowles in Cabaret, at Kit Kat Club, Playhouse Theatre, West End, London, September 2023 to March 2024; Maggie Frisby in 50th anniversary West End revival of David Hare’s Teeth’n’Smiles, Duke of York’s Theatre, March 13 to June 6 2026 (playing lead role originated by Helen Mirren)

On stage too: Created and starred in A Complicated Woman Live, a specially conceived theatrical live performance at Duke of York’s Theatre, London, in 2025.

Awards: Visionary Award at 2025 Ivor Novello Awards; Album of the Year for Proritise Pleasure in the Guardian and Sunday Times Culture; Attitude magazine’s Music Award, 2021; BBC Introducing Artist of the Year, 2022. Nominated for Mercury Prize, BRIT Awards, Sky Arts Awards and NME Awards.

Did you know too? Self Esteem composed the soundtrack for Suzie Miller’s one-woman play Prima Facie, starring Jodie Comer in the West End, on Broadway and on tour at Grand Opera House, York, in February 2026.

Debut book: A Complicated Woman, published on October 30 2025. Co-curated London Literature Festival at Southbank to mark its release.

When is Self Esteem playing York? Live At York Museum Gardens, July 10. Box office: https://www.futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events

The second poster for Self Esteem at Live At York Museum Gardens

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 28, from Gazette & Herald

Becca Magson’s Rita and Joe Gregory’s Frank in 1812 Theatre Company’s Educating Rita. Picture: Lauren Wyeth

RYEDALE Festival and 1812 Theatre’s Educating Rita, compact Shakespeare and Live At York Museum Gardens are uppermost in Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations amid the July heatwave.

Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Educating Rita, Helmsley Arts Centre, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm

SAMANTHA Hughes directs Helmsley Arts Centre resident troupe 1812 Theatre Company in Willy Russell’s comedy Educating Rita, wherein Frank (Joe Gregory) is a tutor of English Literature in his 50s whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and bury himself in his books.  

Enter Rita (Becca Magson), a forthright 26-year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn. After weeks of cajoling, she slowly wins over the hesitant Frank with her highly original insights and refusal to accept “No” for an answer. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk. Picture: Lauren Wyeth.

Michael Flatley’s Irish dancers in the 30th anniversary tour of Lord Of The Dance, in action at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Brian Doherty

Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance30th Anniversary Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.45pm

THE 30th anniversary tour of Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance promises a grand celebration of the revolutionary Irish dance production’s legacy, after captivating more than 60 million fans in 60 countries since its 1996 debut.

The 30 Years of Standing Ovations tour features “brand-new choreography, stunning costumes, state-of-the-art special effects and cutting-edge lighting, ensuring that the production continues to push boundaries and deliver an unforgettable experience”.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/lord-of-the-dance-30th-anniversary/.

Clive Francis’s Sir Humphrey Appleby in I’m Sorry, Prime Minister. Picture: Johan Persson

Political drama of the week: I’m Sorry, Prime Minister, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees

JIM Hacker is back, older, but perhaps not wiser, and still utterly baffled by the real world. Hoping for a quiet retirement from government as the master of Hacker College, Oxford, Jim (Robert Kitson, replacing the indisposed Simon Rouse) instead finds himself facing the ultimate modern crisis: cancelled by the college committee. Enter Sir Humphrey Appleby (Clive Francis), who has lost none of his love for bureaucracy, Latin phrases and well-timed obstruction.

Can Humphrey and Jim outmanoeuvre the hostile students, the Fellows and reality itself? Or is it finally time to say “I’m Sorry, Prime Minister”? Brimming with wit, nostalgia and more double-speak than a press briefing, the final chapter in the evergreen comedy series is written and directed by Jonathan Lynn,co-directed byMichael Gyngell and presented by The Barn Theatre, Cirencester. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour cast for The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), squeezing into York Theatre Royal this week

Shakespeare shake-up of the week: Reduced Shakespeare Company in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), York Theatre Royal, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees

MARKING 30 years of performances in the UK, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s 2026 tour company of Efé Agwele, Woogie Jung, Tom Pavey and Kiran Raywilliams presents Hamlet told backwards, a micro-condensed Othello scored to a ukulele, a carnage-filled Titus Andronicus presented as a YouTube cookery tutorial and the History Plays as a manic football game, passing the crown from king to king.

Californian co-founders Adam Long,  Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield have re-booted, re-imagined, reinvented and updated the restless comedy for a new generation to undertake a rollercoaster ride through all 37 of the Bard’s First Folio of plays. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Stephen Smith’s Claude Monet in A Montage Of Monet at York Medical Society. Picture: Amie Barton-Young

Storytelling actor of the week: Threedumb Theatre presents Stephen Smith in A Montage Of Monet, York Medical Society, Stonegate, York, tonight, 7.30pm and July 11, 3pm; One  Man Poe world premiere, July 11, 7.30pm

THREEDUMB Theatre artistic director and actor Stephen Smith performs Joan Greening’s new play exploring French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s life and loves: his two marriages, his first wife’s devastating death, his lover’s erratic behaviour, his suicide attempt, his thoughts on fellow Impressionists and the torment of his failing eyesight. The 55-minute Monet montage combines projection design and Joe Furey’s music with Smith’s storytelling in  two York performances.

Smith also presents the world premiere of his latest Poe double bill (The Business Man and The Case of M. Valdemar) ahead of his Edinburgh Fringe residency. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’s Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys: Summer of Hits concert at Live At York Museum Gardens

Rock and pop festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, tomorrow, gates 5pm; Self Esteem, Friday, gates 5pm, and Super Furry Animals, Saturday, gates 4pm

WIRRAL synth-pop pioneers Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark open Futuresound’s third season of Live At York Museum Gardens concerts tomorrow with a Summer of Hits bill featuring Heaven 17, China Crisis and rising Newcastle singer-songwriter Andrew Cushin.

Mercury Prize nominee Self Esteem, aka Rotherham singer, songwriter and actress Rebecca Lucy Taylor, tops Friday’s line-up, featuring London indie group The Big Moon, South African ghetto funk musician Moonchild Sanelly and Nigerian-born musician and spoken-word artist Joshia Idehen.

Welsh psychedelic rock band Super Furry Animals are Saturday’s headliners, joined by singer-songwriter Baxter Dury, indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, Nottingham alt-country band Divorce and North Wales psychedelic act Pys Melyn.  Box office for July 10 and 11: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-events.

Ross Noble: Playing York Comedy Festival at Live At York Museum Gardens on Sunday

Comedy event of the week: Futuresound presents York Comedy Festival, Live at York Museum Gardens, York, Sunday, gates 3pm

TOPICAL comedian Russell Howard (9.30pm), from Russell Howard’s Good News, and Geordie surrealist Ross Noble (8.35pm) take top billing at the second open-air York Comedy Festival, promoted by Futuresound.

In Sunday’s line-up too will be Irish stand-up and podcast sensation Joanne McNally (7.40pm); stand-up and presenter Russell Kane (7.10pm); Big Kick Energy podcaster and comedian Suzi Ruffell (6.15pm); Barry From Watford (5.45pm), the 82-year-old comic creation of Alex Lowe; cult stand-up hero and viral sensation Jeff Innocent (4.50pm)  and Britain’s Got Talent finalist Nabil Abdulrashid (4.20pm), all hosted by Jared Christmas. Box office: yorkcomedyfestival.com.

The Gesualdo Six: Performing Wishing Tree: A Choral Journey at St Lawrence’s Church, York, on July 14 at 3pm as part of Ryedale Festival. Picture: Ash Mills

Festival of the week: Ryedale Festival, July 10 to 26

RYEDALE Festival presents 60 events this month in 40 different venues, including Tenebrae, pianist Junyan Chen, The Gesualdo Six, Dunedin Consort, John Wilson & Sinfonia of London’s An English Summer, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Opera North.

Taking part too are tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Christopher Glynn, Sheku & Isata Kanneh-Mason, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, Eliza Carthy and The Restitution, soprano Erika Baikoff, cellist Laura van der Heijden, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists and Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band. For the full festival programme and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.

Hannah Davies and Jack Woods: Re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future in The Ballad Of Blea Wyke. Picture: Matt Jopling

Dystopian vision of the week: Hannah Davies & Jack Woods in The Ballad of Blea Wyke, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, York, July 10, 8.30pm; Helmsley Arts Centre, July 17, 7.30pm

IN North Yorkshire writer and storyteller Hannah Davies and musician Jack Woods’ dystopian re-imagining of the selkie myth in a not-too-distant future, a young woman wants to see the sea. A stranger stands on a cliff. The last grey seal swims towards the shore. 

On her 18th birthday, tough care-leaver Cerys breaks the city’s lockdown and travels to the coastal cliffs that birthed her, the crumbling landscape drawing her back to her mythic past. Cue a haunting interweaving of story, music, poetry and song. Box office: York, https://bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

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REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on Contre le Temps, York Early Music Festival, National Centre for Early Music, York, July 5

Contre le Temps: NCEM Platform Artists

CONTRE le Temps’s Le Baiser de la Rose has to be one of the more unusual and immersive concerts I have ever experienced.

 The pervading atmosphere was one of intimacy – the storytelling was deeply personal. The quartet of singers wove a magical musical spell.

This was creatively varied through solo, duet, trio and quartet singing, spatial arrangement and, most significantly, the use of subtly dramatic text to bring both context and focus.

The programme is built around two of the great literary works of medieval France: Le Roman de la Rose, the allegorical love story by Guillaume de Lorris, and Le Remède de Fortune, a narrative with songs by Guillaume de Machaut.

So, rather than simply presenting a sequence of songs, Contre le Temps wove together spoken poetry and music, telling the story of the Lover, who falls in love with the Rose – a symbol representing the object of desire – and, in so doing, retells the medieval tradition of courtly love.

The Springtime prose opens with the most poetic of intentions:  “…The earth becomes so proud that she wishes to wear a new dress…”

The anonymous Venez ouïr les vrais amoureus took the form of a lively conversational invitation or welcome. It was quite delightful. This was followed by the complex monophonic song Qui n’aroit autre deport by Guillaume de Machaut, with contrasting sections reflecting the changing emotions of the text.

The drama was enhanced by the answering vocal calls, presumably an arrangement by the performers. Whatever the case, it was highly effective.

The anonymous chanson Contre le Temps, from which the ensemble takes its name, was more than simply a programme item, linking the performers’ identity with their exploration of medieval song. The singing was so seductive, so delicious.

Accompanying the section Entry into the Dream, we were treated to a trio singing with such elegance and poise in Guillaume Dufay’s Je me complains. The voices were equal, with finely judged imitative interplay, weaving a continuous musical web of sound.

Responding to the most poetic imagery in The Wonders in the Garden (“…flowers of extraordinary whiteness, yellow blossoms, and crimson ones with exquisite scents”), we were treated to a beautiful, flowing performance of Machaut’s Et pour ce engendrée s’est douce pensée. The long, aching phrases suggested a meditative, inward quality. The singing also possessed a timeless quality – I certainly could not discern a pulse.

Accompanying the text Cupid and the Rose, there was a change in style in the anonymous En remirant vos douce portraiture. Here we had an elegant four-voice ballade, with all four voices contributing to the texture. Each individual line emerged with remarkable clarity.

One of the many highlights was the anonymous Qui n’a le cuer, which followed The Pain of the Lover. The duet had a touching intimacy and lyrical grace.

The programme closed with Dufay’s Ma belle dame souveraine. Here all four singers clearly relished the richness and elegance of Dufay’s four-part texture. The closing cadence was deeply satisfying.

Contre le Temps’s Le Baiser de la Rose was a thoughtfully conceived and rewarding programme. The contrasts between solo chant and polyphony were superbly judged.

The rhythm of the medieval music was so complex that I often felt the melodies were floating freely, making the moments when the voices came together and locked into place all the more satisfying. Above all, it was the transparent purity of sound that lingered long after the final cadence.

Contre le Temps: Cécile Walch, soprano;  Karin Weston, soprano;  Amy Farnell, mezzo-soprano, and Julia Marty , mezzo-soprano.

Review by Steve Crowther

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REVIEW: Steve Crowther’s verdict on Imago Mundi: Tears Into Light, York Early Music Festival 2026, National Centre for Early Music, York, July 6

Sofie Vanden Eynde: Artistic direction and lute for Imago Mundi’s Tears Into Light concert at York Early Music Festival

DESCRIBED in the festival programme as “a contemporary reimagining of John Dowland’s Lachrimae”, Imago Mundi’s Tears Into Light uses Seven Tears as the point of departure for a contemporary meditation in which Renaissance song, Armenian tradition, newly composed music by Vladimir Gorlinsky and spoken reflections become successive stages of a journey from melancholy towards hope.

The spoken narrative, by Fleur Pierets, functions as a series of meditations drawn from conversations with residents of a Belgian care home and palliative day centre.

They become a sequence of poetic monologues – intimate reflections on ageing, memory, regret, companionship and death:

I walk through cities made of memories,

where echoes whisper, soft and low.

Each breath is heavy with remembering,

each step moves tides I cannot slow.

There is a sound the dark remembers

a hum that aches beneath my bones.

– The Distant Light (dark to horizon)

Although there are echoes of Sufi imagery – I walk (journey); a hum that aches beneath my bones (listening from within); memory as spiritual experience – I was more affected, however, by the personalisation of these texts: We; Eli; Carlos; Eric; Danielle; Frédéric and Rose-Marie – they are almost certainly the individuals at the care home and palliative centre.

It was obvious that these spoken texts were repeated in close imitation. This subtly reinforced the theme of echo and memory; the individual transforming into collective – repeated entries blurring the identity of the individual speaker and creating a bridge between speech and music. Canon, based on exact imitation, is one of the simplest and most recognisable musical devices that can be applied to speech.

So, rather than interrupting the music, these meditations broadened its emotional landscape, perhaps suggesting that Dowland’s melancholy remains as resonant today as four centuries ago.

Another fascinating aspect of Tears Into Light was the inclusion of the Armenian duduk. At first glance, Dowland and Armenian traditional music seemed an unlikely pairing. Yet the duduk, long associated in Armenian culture with remembrance, lamentation and funeral rites, proved a natural companion to Dowland’s world of melancholy.

Its warm, breath-infused tone carried an unmistakable sense of grief and longing, while Vardan Hovanissian’s subtle and deeply expressive playing was illuminating, revealing just how naturally the instrument could inhabit Dowland’s emotional landscape.

Although the programme credited visual artist Ria Verhaeghe as a collaborator, the performance itself was experienced principally as a dialogue between music and spoken word. I assumed the visual contribution was deliberately understated.

Rather than projected imagery unfolding alongside the performance, what seemed to be a single image remained behind the performers throughout. Maybe I simply missed it.

As far as I could tell, the Dowland pavan and songs remained recognisable and largely intact, whilst Vladimir Gorlinsky contributed new pieces, transitions and soundscapes around it, rather than rewriting the Renaissance music itself.

His music featured sustained sonorities, drones, sparse textures, slow-moving harmonic fields and, tellingly, moments where electronic sound blends almost imperceptibly with acoustic instruments.

Without his music the programme would probably have felt episodic – song, speech, song, speech. His contributions helped to make it feel like a single, continuous journey. This leads nicely to his Rumi’s meditation – Rumi being one of the most significant Sufi poets; the mystical tradition within Islam.

To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it: a gentle, reflective minimalist pattern interrupted by an anguished cry of despair before gradually finding a measure of resolution.

The performance of Sorrow was quite simply a thing of beauty. Eugénie De Mey’s singing had a gorgeous, seductive tone and was gently amplified and supported by Sofie Vanden Eynde’s subtle lute accompaniment.

Like Vardan Hovanissian, Eugénie De Mey (mezzo-soprano) and Sofie Vanden Eynde (lute) were a joy throughout. Ms De Mey’s singing was so immersed in the performance, her tone had a velvety-rich quality. She focused on intimacy and textual clarity – particularly noticeable in the lower register – which suited the reflective atmosphere of the work and allowed the spoken texts and songs to coexist naturally.

Ms Vanden Eynde’s lute playing struck me as invariably understated and yet quietly authoritative. I admired the refinement of her lute playing and beautifully shaped phrasing. She was the performance’s anchor, allowing Dowland’s music to breathe without becoming an exercise in historical reconstruction.

Finally, I was impressed by Sofie Vanden Eynde’s curatorial approach: this included imaginative programming and willingness to rethink what an early music concert can be.

Eugénie De Mey,  voice;  Vardan Hovanissian , duduk; Sofie Vanden Eynde,  artistic direction & lute; Jo Thielemans, sound engineer. Texts, Fleur Pierets; music, John Dowland & Vladimir Gorlinsky (composition & arrangements); visuals, Ria Verhaeghe.

Review by Steve Crowther

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Super Furry Animals make York debut after 33 years at Museum Gardens on Saturday

Super Furry Animals: Flower power amid the botanical gardens of Live At York Museum Gardens on Saturday

WELSH art-rock band Super Furry Animals headline day three of Futuresound’s third season of Live at York Museum Gardens concerts on Saturday.

The botanical gardens are a suitable setting for such a psychedelic act, who have returned to the concert platform after a ten-year hiatus, and will draw on the nine albums recorded since forming in Cardiff in 1993 (originally with Notting Hill and Star City actor Rhys Ifans as their frontman, by the way). 

Expect a choice selection of “ageless multicolour hits and off-piste deep cuts, all lovingly handpicked from an incredible catalogue”.

Joining Super Furry Aniamls in Museum Gardens will be four special guests: unconventional kindred spirit Baxter Dury, compatriot indie-pop septet Los Campesinos!, fast-rising Nottingham alt-country group Divorce and the Welsh Music Prize-nominated woozy, Sixties-inspired psychedelia band Pys Melyn (whose name translates as Yellow Peas, should you be wondering).

“I’m pretty sure we haven’t ever played York before,” says lead guitarist, pedal steel guitarist and cellist Huw Bunford, who will be joined as ever by Cian Ciarán, Daf Ieuan, Guto Pryce and Gruff Rhys.

The Futuresound press release stated that “until now SFA had no plans to reunite live”. Huw puts the flesh on those bones: “We got asked every so often over the past ten years if we’d be playing again. People approached us to do shows, and I think it was more to do with marking 30 years that brought us together again. It seemed like the usual stars aligned and that happened to be at a time when the rest of the band was available to get together.

Super Furry Animals’ poster for Live At York Museum Gardens

“Initially, we had pencilled in about six gigs, going around the UK and Ireland on the Supacabra Tour, but then I think we added a couple more, York and Bristol, so in May we did indoor gigs and the rest of the summer will be outdoor shows.”

Open-air concerts are a “completely different beast”, says Huw. “There’s something about it that’s nice to do outdoor gigs, where you get a cross section of fans and even people who have never seen us before. Whenever we do things like festivals, you know you have a certain amount of time to play, so at certain songs we’ll check the time!”

After signing to era-defining label Creation Records – the home of Oasis – in 1995, Super Furry Animals turned heads with their unorthodox approach to promotion from the famous Super Furry Animals Tank to a suite of bespoke Yeti costumes. In 1996, debut album Fuzzy Logic broke the familiar guitar music mould with a heady mix of literary, musical and narcotic influences before 1997 follow-up Radiator gave them their first UK Top Ten album.

“Welsh band with a weird edge” was one phrase coined to describe their distinctive indie psych-pop sound, not least because they recorded in the Welsh language too. “Maybe a bit of alliteration there, getting excited with that,” says Huw, on hearing that description down the phone line. “I wouldn’t say we were particularly weird. It’s just weird that a reviewer would say that. I’d throw it back at them!”

The rock history books say that label boss Alan McGee signed Super Furry Animals to Creation on the spot after watching their Camden Monarch club gig in London, maybe with expectations of matching the rise of Oasis. “The whole thing of Alan McGee seeing potential, but in the wrong way…but he still saw potential…and he then realised, and maybe over the years, it’s helped, that we’ve never been able to be pigeonholed,” says Huw.

Super Furry Animals will include Welsh-language songs in next Saturday’s set. “We’ve got three or four Welsh songs in the squad,” says Huw, recalling the days 30 years ago when they played a venue with a Welsh-language-only policy. “At that time, we whistled our English songs and gave lyric sheets to the audience!”

“I wouldn’t say we were particularly weird,” says Super Furry Animals’ guitarist, Huw Bunford

Looking ahead to next weekend’s York debut, he says:  “We like to change one or two songs each show. In the festival shows, it depends on how much time we’re playing for, but we always try to play one or two Welsh songs wherever we play.”

Returning to the rehearsal studio for this spring and summer’s shows, “after the first week, there was a bit of muscle memory kicking in and actually it was the same with the energy levels as well,” says Huw. “But it’s one of those weird things in rehearsals that you don’t feel like you’ve ‘got it’, but then you get under the lights.

“The audiences have been amazing so far, like super fans, and very forgiving as well! It’s an amazing thing to see the band back.”

Reflecting on Super Furry Animals’ career path, Huw says: “We don’t do things in a formulaic way, so it’s almost like each album is a reaction to the one before. We take it as being like a craft and we’re blessed that we’re good songwriters. I think the production on the albums stands the test of time as well, which we take to be an important thing, always making sure that the content is good.”

Riding on the wave of Super Furry Animals reuniting for the 2026 series of concerts, could they return to the recording studio too? “If it happens, it happens,” says Huw. “We never say never, but at the moment it’s just a joy to be playing together again.”

Futuresound presents Super Furry Animals, Baxter Dury, Los Campesinos!, Divorce and Pys Melyn at Live At York Museum Gardens, July 11. Gates open at 4pm; last entry, 8.30pm. Tickets: futuresoundgroup.com/york-museum-gardens-info.

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View from the frontline of AcombFest. How are the murals progressing as of 4/7/2026?

Australian artist SMUG at work on What Flies Around. All pictures: Celestine Dubruel

AT the heart of Art of Protest is “placemaking”, explains artistic director and AcombFest curator Jeff Clark, whose inaugural international street art festival in York has the theme of ‘Returning to Nature’, bring together art, nature and communities.

“Every day we are changing the world, and our actions create ripples around us, making waves for others in the future,” he says. “I have found that nature has a funny way of connecting and reminding us that whatever we feel (an issue or a stress) can be re-grounded by a returning spring, the simple buzz of a bee and the sound of a tweeting bird.

“Art of Protest have curated the artist briefs, each themed on how nature interacts with us on a day-to-day basis.”

CharlesHutchPress took a stroll through Acomb on Saturday afternoon to gauge how the four principal murals were taking shape.

Curtis Hylton’s What Flies Above Us on Acomb Post Office in Acomb Road for AcombFest

READING muralist Curtis Hylton is skilled in the art of creating large-scale murals using spray paint. His trademark work incorporates a fusion of nature with bird life and can be seen across the UK, Europe and beyond. Find out more at curtis-hylton. com

Doing the can-can: SledOne spray-painting What Walks Amongst Us betwixt Front Street and The Green, Acomb

NOW based in Bristol, but with Acomb roots, SledOne focuses on surreal characters or vibrant murals married with realistic elements.

He often draws from his surroundings and nature and uses animals as a vehicle. While some elements of his work may be humorous, others are created for the sheer joy of his craft. Visit sledone.org to learn more.

Peachzz’s What Walked Amongst Us on Front Street, Acomb

SHEFFIELD street artist and muralist is recognised for her large-scale, vibrant, nature-inspired murals, peppered with hints of realism.

She has painted globally across Europe, the United States of America, Colombia, Mexico and the Middle East, winning accolades including Street Art Cities’ Best Street Art prize in June 2024. Discover more at peachzz.co.uk.

A group of magpies is known as a mischief. How apt for SMUG’s mural What Flies Around Us betwixt Front Street and The Green, Acomb

Australian artist SMUG is known for realistic, large-scale mural installations. He takes inspiration from people and nature, employing a trademark understanding of light and shadow – which he thinks of as “stylised realism” – to explore both the harmonies and juxtapositions, whether inherent or subtle. Take a look at his Instgram site at @smugone.

AcombFest continues today. Find the full details at acombfest.co.uk.