Lionel Richie, Madness and Westlife are “perfect line-up” for first ever York Festival

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.

Charles Hutchinson

REVIEW: Son Of Town Hall, The Cockpit, Pickering

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…).

Review by Paul Rhodes

Country hotshots The Shires to play York Barbican next spring

The Shires: heading for Yorkshire

THE Shires, Britain’s biggest-selling country act, will return to York Barbican on May 20 2020.

The announcement coincides with today’s release of New Year, a taster single from their upcoming fourth album, Good Years, a title whose sentiment reflects on the impact of Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes’ two gold-certified albums and three top ten singles.

The Shires will be playing 25 dates, with York as the only Yorkshire destination, having last performed at the Barbican in May 2018.

As with 2015’s Brave, 2016’s My Universe and 2018’s Accidentally On Purpose, Good Years was recorded in the home of country music, Nashville.

Earle and Rhodes describe it as a poignant project after becoming the first British artists to win Best International Act at the CMA Awards.

“We’re so excited to be releasing Good Years, our fourth album recorded in Nashville, and also to announce our next UK tour,” say the duo, who played this July’s Platform Festival in Pocklington. “Honesty and storytelling have always been such an important part of our songwriting. We’ve poured some of the incredible experiences and life we’ve lived into these songs.

“We can’t wait to hit the road next year and play them live across the country. The songs mean so much to us personally, but there really is nothing like looking out at our fans in the crowd and seeing how much of an impact they can have in someone else’s life. It’s truly a very special thing.”

Tickets will go on sale on Friday, November 29 at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk, on 0203 356 5441 or in person from the Barbican box office.  

Good Years will be released on March 13 next year. In the meantime, you can listen to New Year at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqUWBPJ83EQ

Rick Astley under starter’s orders at York Racecourse

Rick Astley: the first name to be confirmed for next summer’s concerts on Knavesmire

EIGHTIES’ pop icon Rick Astley is the first headliner to be confirmed for next summer’s Music Showcase Weekend at York Racecourse.

The Lancastrian crooner, 53, will perform after the seven-race card on Saturday, July 25, in his return to the North Yorkshire open air after his Dalby Forest concert on June 23 2017.

Tickets for the Astley and racing double bill go on sale today at yorkracecourse.co.uk and on 01904 620911.

Astley, from Newton-le-Willows, topped the charts in 25 countries in 1987 with Never Gonna Give You Up, setting in motion a career that brought him eight consecutive British top ten hits and 40 million sales.

After stepping aside to focus on his family, he returned from his long hiatus in 2016 with his third platinum seller, 50, a number one album on which he played all the instruments, as well as writing and producing it.

He repeated that creative process for 2018’s Beautiful Life, and last month he released the career-spanning compilation The Best Of Me, a double disc that included an independently recorded set of reimagined interpretations of his songs, old and new.

This year, Astley joined Take That’s 38-date stadium tour as their special guest, playing to more than 500,000 people. In the summer too, he graced Reading Festival’s main stage, performing Never Gonna Give You Up with Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters, no less.

Since releasing 50, he has sold more than 100,000 tickets to his own British headline shows, including Leeds First Direct Arena last year, and his forthcoming tour dates take in gigs in Australia and Japan, plus his New Zealand debut, before arriving at York Racecourse next July.

James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship at York Racecourse, says: “Everyone at the course is really excited that a northern boy is set to play York. Add in the spectacle of the racing itself and we hope it will prove a summer day to savour.”
 
Astley’s show will be one of three race-day concerts on the Knavesmire course next summer, with further acts to be announced for Saturday, June 27 and the evening meeting on  Friday, July 24.

Charles Hutchinson

Meet the new Jesus in Superstar show

John Whitney as Jesus and Marlena Kelli as Mary Magdalene in York Musical Theatre Company’s Jesus Christ Superstar

YORK Musical Theatre Company will stage Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar from November 27 to 30 at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

Company newcomer John Whitney will lead director Paul Laidlaw’s cast for this 1972 rock opera, a “musical phenomenon” that follows the last week of Jesus’s life through the eyes of Judas Iscariot, exploring the struggles and personal relationships between his followers and disciples. 

For this gritty and touching emotional rollercoaster ride, Lloyd Webber and Rice’s score parades such favourites as Superstar, Everything’s Alright and I Don’t Know How To Love Him.

Laidlaw is joined in the creative team by musical director John Atkin, overseeing a cast led by Whitney’s Jesus, Marlena Kelli’s Mary Magdalene, Peter Wookie as Pilate and Chris Mooney as Judas.

“We were thrilled to have such a great response to auditions, particularly from so many new faces to the company,” says Laidlaw. “We’ve always been proud of the fact that we welcome any new people to join any show that we do, and if you’re new, you can walk into lead roles, and that’s what’s happened.

“Our actors playing Jesus, Judas, Pilate and Mary Magdalene are all new to the company and it’s really encouraging to see. The strength in the singing is staggering and is going to sound just fantastic on stage. We really can’t wait to show York audiences all our hard work.”

Further principal roles go to John Haigh as Herod; Chris Haygard as Simon Zealotes; Martin Harvey, Caiphas; Matthew Clare, Annas; Simon Trow and Malcolm Poole, Priests; David Martin, Apostle Peter, and Heather Richmond, Maid.

In the ensemble will be Helen Barugh; Victoria Hughes; Helen Goodwill; Samantha Hindman; Jane Holiday; Elly-Mai Mawson; Karen Mawson; Jennifer Page; Amie Stone; Holly Inch; Amy Lacy; Paula Stainton; Charlotte Wetherell; Matthew Ainsworth; Derek McMahon and Andrew Pilot.

Tickets for the 7.30pm evening shows and 2.30pm Saturday matinee are on sale at £18, concessions £16, at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or on 01904 501935.

Charles Hutchinson

Marc Almond, Heaven 17 and who else are off to Scarborough next summer?

Marc Almond: playing Mixtape night at Scarborough Open Air Theatre



MARC Almond, Heaven 17 and Living In A Box will lead the Mixtape line-up of Eighties and Nineties acts at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 10 next summer.

Tickets will go on sale tomorrow (November 22) at 9am for the second SOAT show to be confirmed for 2020 after McFly were booked in for August 14.
Peter Taylor, directorof venue programmers Cuffe and Taylor, says: “We are delighted to announce Mixtape, the much-requested return of an ‘80s and ‘90s night to Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

Martyn Ware and Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17


“Previous shows have always been a big party night and, since the last ‘80s and ‘90s night here in 2017, we’ve been repeatedly asked for another one. We’ve listened, and Mixtape is here for summer 2020.
“Marc Almond, Heaven 17 and Living In A Box are not only three great artists with a string of major hits between them, but they all have such a strong local connection. We feel sure this will be another great night on the stunning Yorkshire coast.”
Lancashire-born Marc Almond first made his mark as frontman of chart-topping Leeds synthpop duo Soft Cell before branching out into a diverse solo career.
He was awarded an OBE for services to music and the arts, an Ivor Novello Inspiration Award, an Icon Award by Attitude Magazine and a Mojo Magazine Inspiration Award, as well as receiving an Honorary Fellowship from Leeds College of Music. 

Living In A Bx…now featuring Kenny Thomas

Sheffield electronic stalwarts Heaven 17 will celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2020. Born out of the schism in the original Human League, they still feature Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware, makers of such hits as Temptation and Come Live With Me and the albums Penthouse And Pavement and The Luxury Gap.

Fellow Sheffield band Living In A Box have joined forces with double BRIT nominee Kenny Thomas, the Nineties’ soul singer, who has taken over the lead vocals.

Tickets will be on sale at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com, in person from the SOAT box office, in Burniston Road, or the Discover Yorkshire Coast Tourism Bureau, in Scarborough Town Hall, St Nicholas Street, or on 01723 818111 and 01723 383636.

Charles Hutchinson

Scrooge heralds Christmas at Grand Opera House…in November

Bah Humbug: Mark Hird plays Ebenezer Scrooge in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical. Picture: David Harrison

BAH Humbug! The Christmas spirit is taking over the Grand Opera House, York, from Tuesday and not even Ebenezer Scrooge can stop it.

York company Pick Me Up Theatre are presenting their big winter show, Scrooge The Musical, directed by Robert Readman, with choreography by Iain Harvey and musical direction by Sam Johnson.

Quick refresher course: based on Charles 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.

Can he be turned from sourpuss to saint? What will happen to Tiny Tim? Will everyone have a merry Christmas after all? “Come and find out in this all-singing, all-dancing, all-flying show,” invites Robert.

His cast will be led by Pick Me Up regular Mark Hird, fresh from directing this autumn’s musical, Monster Makers, at 41 Monkgate. He now adds Scrooge to a diverse CV that includes Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army, Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady and Uncle Fester in The Addams Family.

Further leading roles go to Rory Mulvihill as the jolly Ghost of Christmas Present and Alan Park as Scrooge’s long-suffering clerk Bob Cratchit.

“It started out as a film musical in 1970, adapted for the screen by Leslie Bricusse, with Albert Finney as Scrooge,” recalls Mark. “But it was one of those musicals that landed at an unlucky time just as film musicals went out of fashion.

“Everyone thought it was an absolute banker, but times and tastes change, but now, when you go back to it, it’s actually a really good film.

“So, 22 years later, Leslie Bricusse decided to turn it into a stage musical, wrote half a dozen new songs, written specially for Anthony Newley’s Scrooge, and it went down incredibly well.”

Alan Park chips in: “Then it became a vehicle for Tommy Steele for many years in Bill Kenwright’s productions. Each year, Robert Readman put in a request for the performing rights, and at last, this year he got a ‘Yes’.

“So, this must be the first time it will have been done in a theatre of this size without it being a Bill Kenwright show.”

Park and Hird believe that Bricusse’s songs are vital to the show’s success. “They provide the vehicle for you to discover more about the characters beyond Scrooge, like Bob, so that by the end of a song you know more about them,” says Alan.

“You get the inner thoughts of the characters in the songs, so you get more than 2D characters,” suggests Mark. “You really see Scrooge’s progression, through his songs, for example.

“There’s probably no better show to put you in a good mood for Christmas,” says Mark Hird

“You’re also quite surprised by the sheer variety of the songs and the music, with some big set-pieces.”

“There are some proper Cockney knees-up songs,” says Alan.

“But also some lovely ballads, like when Scrooge sees the only girl he ever loved as a young man, Isabel, his fiancée,” rejoins Mark. You go back in time   and you hear her singing this gorgeous ballad with Young Scrooge called Happiness, as old Scrooge looks on.”

“The way Robert has staged it, you have Young Scrooge and old Scrooge mirroring each other’s actions, so you kind of feel like Isabel is singing it to old Scrooge,” says Alan.

Picking up his earlier point about Scrooge’s character progression, Mark says: “Through his songs, Scrooge goes from his position of denial, saying how he hates Christmas, to feeling ‘it’s not my fault, fate has done this to me’, when confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Past.

“Then, with the Ghost Of Christmas Present, he starts to think, ‘Could there be a better life?’, so it’s a fantastic story arc and a fantastic set of songs, with one of the most perfect stories ever written to hang it all together.”

A Christmas Carol has been interpreted in myriad ways on screen and stage, even by The Muppets puppets in 1992 in The Muppet Christmas Carol “My five-year-old daughter is still convinced I’m playing a frog in Scrooge, because her exposure to A Christmas Carol is seeing Kermit playing Bob Cratchit in the Muppets’ movie!” says Alan.

Assessing the abiding popularity of Dickens’ tale, Alan says: “It’s not just about redemption. We all reflect on moments in our life, wishing we could have done things differently, and the story also taps into nostalgia and regret and worrying about things.

“Watching this story unfold, it can change your perspective on the world and who you are.”

Mark adds: “It also says it’s never too late to turn over a new leaf and never too late to start again.”

“The story is full of joyful moments that are infectious, even infecting Scrooge, so I do feel it’s a feelgood show,” says Alan. “If you’re looking at a wider point, we all tend to focus on what’s getting us down, but this story lets us step out and think about all the joyful things of Christmas.”

Mark concludes: “There’s probably no better show to put you in a good mood for Christmas.”

Pick Me Up Theatre’s Scrooge The Musical runs from November 26 to December 1 at Grand Opera House, York. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york.

Copyright of The Press, York

Kim to go Wilde at York Barbican on Greatest Hits tour

Kim Wilde’s poster for next year’s Greatest Hits tour

EIGHTIES’ pop star Kim Wilde will play York Barbican on September 17 next year on her Greatest Hits 2020 Tour.

Wilde, 59, last performed there on her Here Come The Aliens tour in April 2018, her first on home soil in almost 30 years, after releasing a studio album that year inspired by a real-life close encounter in the gardening expert’s back garden in 2009.

Wilde subsequently released the live album Aliens Live, and next year she will be marking her 40 years in pop that began as “the voice of a generation of rebellious youth” with Kids In America.

Her Greatest Hits Tour will take in further hits such as Chequered Love, Water On Glass, View From A Bridge, You Keep Me Hangin’ On, Cambodia, You Came, Never Trust A Stranger and Four Letter Worn, complemented the less often aired A Million Miles Away and Love Is Holy. As in 2018, her band will include two drummers.

Her special guests will be fellow Eighties’ chart act China Crisis, best known for Wishful Thinking, King In A Catholic Style, Black Man Ray and African And White.

Tickets go on sale from Friday at 9am on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or from the Barbican box office in person.

Iranian musicians join Northern Broadsides’ Christmas fundraiser for refugee support

Amir Beymanesh and Kamran Hoss: Iranian musicians now settled in Yorkshire . Picture: Jess Rooney

NORTHERN Broadsides will stage a festive fundraiser, Christmas Broadsides, at The Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough. Halifax, from December 13 to 15.

This concert is based around Broadside Ballads; song lyrics published from the 1600s onwards, featuring popular songs of scurrilous dealings, thwarted love and ginormous geese.

For this combination of folk song and storytelling, Amir Beymanesh and Kamran Hoss, two Iranian musicians who arrived in Yorkshire recently, will join Ripponden folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Alice Jones.

West Yorkshire actors Catherine Kinsella and Tom Shaw complete the Halifax company’s line-up for this celebration of festive cheer and reflection on Christmases past, present and future.

Alice Jones: taking part in Northern Broadsides’ festive fundraiser

Broadsides’ artistic director, Laurie Sansom, says: “We are thrilled to be celebrating this Christmas with old friends and new, welcoming Amir and Kamaran to Halifax in this extraordinary collaboration with the multi-talented Alice Jones.

“It’s a chance to share together ridiculous festive songs of comic extravagance, whilst also thinking of those who may be far from home this Christmas.

“We look forward to welcoming regular supporters and new friends who want to support the work of their local theatre company, and our collaborators at St Augustine’s Centre, who support refugees and asylum seekers.”

Looking ahead to 2020, Sansom’s debut production as Broadsides’ artistic director, a new take on J.M. Barrie’s regency romantic comedy Quality Street, will open at Dean Clough from February 14 to 22.

Catherine Kinsella: performing at Christmas Broadsides

Broadsides will collaborate with workers from the Halifax Quality Street chocolates factory by developing contemporary tales of hapless love that will frame the action of Barrie’s tale.

Barrie’s play was so popular in its day that it gave the chocolates their name. Its story revolves around Phoebe Throssel, who lives on Quality Street, the bustling hub of a quaint northern town where she runs a school for unruly children.

Ten years since a tearful goodbye, an old flame returns from fighting Napoleon, but the look of disappointment on Captain Valentine’s face when he greets a more mature, less glamorous Phoebe, spurs the determined heroine to action.

She becomes the wild and sparkling Miss Livy, a younger alter-ego who soon entraps the clueless Captain. As their romance is rekindled, can she juggle both personas? Or will her deception scandalise the town and wreck any future with the man she loves?

Tom Shaw: part of the company for Christmas Broadsides

Now, as well as providing a modern lens through which to view Barrie’s story, Broadsides also aims to build long-lasting relationships between the Halifax employees and their local theatre company.

Broadsides’ tour of Quality Street will take in Leeds Playhouse from April 21 to 25; Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, May 12 to 16; Harrogate Theatre, May 19 to 23; Hull Truck Theatre, June 2 to 6, and last stop York Theatre Royal, June 9 to 13.

Christmas Broadsides will be performed at The Viaduct Theatre, Dean Clough, Halifax, at 7pm on December 13 and 3pm and 6pm on December 14 and 15. Tickets are on sale on 01422 849227 or at northern-broadsides.co.uk.

Charles Hutchinson

Yes to play York Barbican? Yes, they are…and it’s this Yes, not that Yes

Yes: lining up to play Relayer and Yes classics at York Barbican next May

YES are to play York Barbican next spring, but no, not the ‘Yes’ that performed there in June 29018 under the name Yes featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman, as they now have to call themselves.

No, this Yes is the one that officially tours as Yes, with Steve Howe on guitars, Alan White on drums, Geoff Downes on keyboards, Billy Sherwood on bass guitar and backing vocals, Jon Davison on vocals and Jay Schellen on additional drums and percussion.

This Yes are booked into the Barbican for May 29 2020 as part of an eight-date May and June itinerary for The Album Series 2020 Tour, when the prog-rock veterans will perform 1974’s Relayer in its entirety, preceded by a set of Yes classic cuts. Expect “full production and a high definition video wall”.

Released on Atlantic Records in late 1974, Yes’s seventh studio album marked a slight change in direction as Patrick Moraz replaced Rick Wakeman on keyboards, bringing “an edgier, avant-garde feel” to the recordings.

The opening Gates Of Delirium, almost 22 minutes in length, battle scene et al, featured Moraz’s keyboard jousting with Howe’s guitar before the battle gave way to the ballad Soon, a prayer for peace and hope.

Further highlights on an album that reached number four in the British chart and number five in the US Billboard chart were Sound Chaser, a prog rock/jazz fusion experiment heavily influenced by Moraz’s style, and To Be Over, the calm and gentle closer, based on a Howe melody.

Yes’s poster for The Album Series Tour 2020

“We’re really looking forward to playing all of the Relayer album,” says Howe. “Having premiered The Gates Of Delirium this year, we continue by expanding our Album Series with all the tracks: The Gates Of Delirium, Sound Chaser and To Be Over.”

Howe adds: “During the first half of the evening, we’ll be performing a refined selection from Yes’s enormous 50-year repertoire. See you there.”

Drummer Alan White says: “I always enjoy coming home to England, so I’m especially looking forward to Yes’s upcoming Album Series 2020 tour. Relayer, I believe, is one of the most creative and interesting musical compilations in the band’s repertoire.

“Challenging and extremely enjoyable to play, I’m happy to be bringing this music back to live stages throughout Europe. I hope all who attend our shows will enjoy these cuts as much as we like performing them for our audiences.”

Tickets for Yes’s 8pm show are on sale on 0203 356 5441, at yorkbarbican.co.uk or in person from the Barbican box office.

Did you know?

ROGER Dean, designer of Yes’s iconic album artwork, will attend every show of the 2020 British and European dates. An exhibition of his work will be on show, and Dean will be available to chat with fans front of house, sign merchandise and take part in VIP meet and greets.

Charles Hutchinson