York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

Andy Bell: Showcasing new album Ten Crowns at York Barbican tonight. Picture: Sean Black

ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican tonight on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album.

Comprising ten tracks of dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, Ten Crowns will be available on vinyl (white, oxblood, and picture disc), CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

The track listing is: Breaking Thru The Interstellar; Lies So Deep featuring Sarah Potenza; Heart’s A Liar featuring Debbie Harry; For Today; Dance For Mercy; Don’t Cha Know; Dawn Of Heavens Gate; Godspell; Put Your Empathy On Ice and Thank You.

Bell unites with his ultimate pop heroine, Debbie Harry, for the wistful Heart’s A Liar, having first sang about the Blondie icon in DHDQ – short for “Debbie Harry Drag Queen” on his June 2010 album Non-Stop. “To have Debbie Harry singing with me – you know, I still cant quite believe it,” he says.

The song is Bell’s re-write of a track by English-Italian singer-songwriter and regular Dave Audé collaborator Luciana that Bell imagines being about two lovers who are no good for each other.

“Debbie gives it this gravitas and this coquettishness, but shes still very in command. And she recorded her vocals in the studio on Gay Pride, which I thought when I heard it, ‘oh, trust her’!”

The latest single, Lies So Deep, brings together Bell and The Voice finalist Sarah Potenza for an ode to Whitney Houston. “It’s a futuristic love song about a time where everybody is allowed the freedom to love whoever they want without interference,” he says. “Sarah adds the stunning diva counterpart which tips the song into soul overdrive!”

Bell will be on the road from tonight to May 19, performing a set that will combine new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer, re-mixer and DJ Dave Audé, who opens tonight’s show with a DJ set. 

The album cover artwork for Andy Bell’s Ten Crowns

Bell and close friend Audé collaborated previously on two American dance chart number ones, 2014’s Aftermath (Here We Go) and 2016’s True Original. “We just  kind of carried on writing as an exercise, and after that, Dave moved his family to Nashville because LA [Los Angeles] was so expensive, and so our writing took this kind of gospel-tinged Nashville twist,” says Andy.

Nashville struck him for having a church on every corner. “It reminded me of singing in choirs and cathedral school as a child, where the spirit of the church is imbued in the music,” he says.

Not that Ten Crowns is a sombre, spiritual set, instead being propulsive, electronic, passionate and driven by the need to encounter new emotions and experiences as life races on. 

“I mean, I’ve got everything I could possibly wish for, you know, I really have, but thats not to say Im always fulfilled,” says Andy. “This albums about picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, embracing life – and about taking that feeling on even when youre fighting demons in the world, like homophobia, and fighting demons in yourself. Its about being celebratory and uplifting.”

Travelling into new dimensions and possibilities with gospel in the heart and dancing in the soul, Ten Crowns’ release excites Bell. “It’s my third (sort of) solo record [following 2005s Electric Blue and 2010s Non-Stop] and in Erasure, our third album [1988’s The Innocents] was our most successful out of all that we’ve done, so Im taking that spirit with me!”

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of Bell teaming up with Vince Clarke in Erasure. Good news, the duo has begun work on a new album.

Tickets are still available for tonight’s gig at yorkbarbican.co.uk. Look out for Paul Rhodes’s review for charleshutchpress.co.uk.

What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 18, from Gazette & Herald

Climb every mountain: Rebecca Jackson in the role of Maria in Steve Tearle’s production of The Sound Of Music for NE Theatre York

THE spring weather may be perking up, but Charles Hutchinson still finds reasons aplenty to stay in the dark for cultural satisfaction.

York musical of the week: NE Theatre York in The Sound Of Music, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

IN its centenary year, members of Strensall Women’s Institute have accepted NE Theatre York creative director Steve Tearle’s invitation to play the abbey nuns in this Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

The show brings back special memories for Tearle, who played Kurt Von Trapp at the age of 11 in a professional tour in his first role in any show. This time he plays his favourite part, Max Detweiler. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Cracking the whip: Carrie Hope Fletcher’s Calamity Jane in Calamity Jane, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior

Whip-cracking touring musical of the week: Calamity Jane, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees

WEST End leading lady Carrie Hope Fletcher takes the title role of fearless, gun-slinging Calamity Jane, the biggest mouth in Dakota territory and always up for a fight, in North Yorkshireman Nikolai Foster’s touring production, based on the cherished 1953 Doris Day movie.

When the men of Deadwood fall hard for Chicago stage star Adelaid Adams, Calamity struggles to keep her jealousy holstered. Here come The Deadwood Stage (Whip-Crack-Away), The Black Hills Of Dakota, Just Blew In From The Windy City and Secret Love in this Watermill Theatre production, choreographed by Nick Winston.  Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Got it taped: Gary Oldman with the reel-to-reel tape machine in Krapp’s Last Tape at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Gisele Schmidt

York theatre event of the year: Gary Oldman in Krapp’s Last Tape, York Theatre Royal, until May 17

OSCAR winner Gary Oldman returns to York Theatre Royal, where he made his professional debut in 1979, to perform Samuel Beckett’s melancholic, tragicomic slice of theatre of the absurd Krapp’s Last Tape in his first stage appearance since 1989.

“York, for me, is the completion of a cycle,” says the Slow Horses leading man. “It is the place ‘where it all began’. York, in a very real sense, for me, is coming home. The combination of York and Krapp’s Last Tape is all the more poignant because it is ‘a play about a man returning to his past of 30 years earlier’.” Tickets update: check availability of returns on 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Andy Bell: New songs, solo favourites and Erasure hits at York Barbican tonight

York gig of the week: Andy Bell, Ten Crowns Tour, York Barbican, tonight, 7.30pm

ERASURE singer Andy Bell opens his tour at York Barbican on the eve of Friday’s release of his third solo album, Ten Crowns, ten tracks of  dazzling, joyous pop, produced and polished in Nashville, inspired by the dancefloor and gospel, available on vinyl, CD (standard and 2CD versions), gold cassette and digitally via Crown Recordings.

Bell’s set combines new compositions with favourites from his solo catalogue and Erasure hits aplenty. His band features his principal Ten Crowns collaborator and co-writer, Grammy-winning American producer Dave Audé, who opens tomorrow’s show with a DJ set. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Guitar Legends: Terrific riffs galore at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute show of the week: Guitar Legends, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm,

GUITAR Legends celebrates the music of iconic guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Prince, Gary Moore, Mark Knopfler and Jimi Hendrix.

Through a blend of live music, visuals and anecdotes, the show takes a journey through rock history, showcasing tenor vocal prowess and guitar virtuosity. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Learlike: Greensleeved tell Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear from the distaff side at York International Shakespeare Festival

Festival of the week: York International Shakespeare Festival presents Greensleeved in Learlike, York St John University Creative Centre Auditorium, Saturday, 2pm

GREENSLEEVED, a female-led pan-European ensemble, premiere their show Learlike in York, presenting Shakespeare’s tragedy of King Lear but this time told by his daughters. These tyrant-children are newly in power but old in their ability for manipulation and deceit. Or are they? Even in the most corrupt homes the roots of resistance grow deep.

Greensleeved comprises performers who met at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland: Amber Frances (Belgium), Ariela Nazar-Rosen (Poland/USA), Lucy Doig (Scotland), Julia Vredenberg (Norway) and Cecilia Thoden van Velzen (Netherlands). For the full programme to May 4 and tickets, head to: yorkshakes.co.uk.

Rob Auton: Any eyeful tower of ocular comedy at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

The eyes have it:  Rob Auton: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, Leeds City Varieties Music Hall, Saturday, 7.30pm

“THE Eyes Open And Shut Show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says surrealist Barmby Moor/York comedian, writer, artist, podcaster and actor Rob Auton. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut…thinking about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.” Box office: 0113 243 0808 or leedsheritagetheatres.com.

Scouting For Girls: Heading for York and Leeds in 2026

Gig announcement of the week: Scouting For Girls, York Barbican, March 17 and Leeds O2 Academy, March 24 2026

LONDON trio Scouting For Girls will accompany the 2026 release of a new studio album with a 22-date tour that takes in York Barbican and Leeds O2 Academy next March. General ticket sales open at 10am on Friday  at yorkbarbican.co.uk and academymusicgroup.com.

Roy Stride, vocals, piano and guitar, Greg Churchouse, bass guitar, and James Rowlands, drums, last payed York Barbican in October 2021. Next year’s shows will mark the 15th anniversary of their Everybody Wants To Be On TV album too.