Shed Seven: 23 dates in November and December, including Sheffield, Halifax, Hull and Leeds. Picture: Barnaby Fairley
YORK chart toppers Shed Seven will conclude their 30th anniversary celebrations with a 23-date tour – their biggest ever – in November and December.
Yorkshire gigs on their now traditional biennial “Shedcember” itinerary will kick off with the tour-opening Sheffield Octagon on November 14, followed by Victoria Theatre, Halifax, November 18, Hull City Hall, November 19, and Leeds O2 Academy, November 30.
The tour’s closing night will take the Sheds to Brixton O2 Academy, London, on December 14. Keeping it Yorkshire, the support band at all shows will be The Sherlocks, Kiaran & Brandon Crook’s indie band from Bolton upon Dearne, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Tickets for the 30th Anniversary Tour will go on general sale on Friday (22/3/2024) at gigst.rs/SS24. Fans who sign up to the Shed Seven mailing list at shedseven.com/signup by 12 noon tomorrow (19/3/2024) can access an exclusive presale on Wednesday.
“The tour promises to be our biggest yet, as we revisit cities and towns that have been instrumental in shaping our journey over the past three decades,” says the Sheds’ website. “Each night will see the band deliver a career-spanning set, as well as featuring tracks from our number one album, A Matter Of Time.”
The poster for Shed Seven’s 30th anniversary tour
“Expect some surprise guest appearances along the way too,” they tease. “This tour will be our way of saying thank-you to our incredible fans, both old and new,” says frontman Rick Witter. “So, whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or are just discovering/re-discovering our music, we would love you to join us for what will be an unforgettable celebration of 30 years of Shed Seven.”
The Sheds now line up with stalwarts Witter on vocals, Paul Banks on guitar and Tom Gladwin on bass, joined by 2022 recruits Tim Wills on keyboards and Rob ‘Maxi’ Maxfield, once a member of Banks’s band The Rising, on drums.
The Sheds’ 30th anniversary celebrations kicked off with the maximum bang when sixth studio album A Matter Of Time topped the official UK album charts in January, a feat matched by latest single Let’s Go Dancing in the vinyl, seven-inch, and Scottish singles charts.
Should you be wondering why York is absent from this winter’s tour, the Sheds will be playing two sold-out home-city gigs in the York Museum Gardens on July 19 as part of Futuresound’s four-night outdoor festival, bookended by Anglo-Italian singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti on July 18 and hit-laden London girl band Sugababes on July 21.
ROB Auton, York stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returns north from London with his tenth themed solo show.
After the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds, Rob turns the spotlight on himself, exploring the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis in The Rob Auton Show.
“The first one I ever did was The Yellow Show, though I think I should have done a show called The Rob Auton Show at the start, not when I’m scraping the barrel for a title!” he says, ahead of tonight’s(28/2/2024) gig at The Crescent, York, with further Yorkshire shows this week in Hull tomorrow, Leeds on Friday and Hebden Bridge on Saturday.
“But having done a show about crowds, I thought ‘it’s time to turn the mirror on me’, and I’ve moved far enough on from childhood and university days to have plenty in my rear-view mirror and feel mature enough to look back on.”
Rob built up the show’s content over 35 work-in-progress shows all over Wales and at last summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. “The reason I love doing those shows is you’ve got to get the roughest one out of the way as early as possible, starting out last January. You’re listening for the reaction, for someone to prick a hole in the black piece of paper for the first glint of light to shine through,” he says.
“I was playing Corby, sitting in the dressing room, a bit worried, when suddenly I thought of something, and in the show that became the one moment where they laughed.”
The subject: “Remembering when my family and I went to Lightwater Valley [the adventure park at North Stainley, near Ripon] in 1997…on the day Diana died.”
Rob relishes putting a show together. “I just love the craft, and that’s why I love doing a daily podcast. I like to sit down and work on something, crafting it, rather than having it handed to me on the plate,” he says.
“For the work-in-progress shows I was picking out moments from my childhood: first memory, first girlfriend, first job, and what I’m finding is that when I speak of my first memory, of the footstool in my granny and grandpa’s house, it makes people connect with their own memories. That’s where the gold lies because they can then relax into the show.”
Memories within a family can differ. “I’d say things to my parents that I remembered happening in my life, but they’d say they didn’t recall them!” says Rob, who grew up in Barmby Moor.
Breaking (but not actually) breaking his duck: York comedian Rob Auton making his Edinburgh Fringe debut with The Yellow Show in 2012
What’s more, “there’s that thing with a story that it changes every time you tell it, and then how do you explain what the brain lets in, something that’s said and then stays with you for years?”
Better out, than in, as the saying goes. “Just vocalising all these thoughts that have been rattling around my head for years feels really good – and how strange some of them are,” says Rob.
“Going back to that footstool – made from orange and black plastic weaved material – I don’t know why it’s such a specific memory, but then there are the emotions that go with it, being a grandchild in the room, feeling warm and secure.”
Tapping into emotions is the key, Rob believes. “I’m massively into the ethos that if you can make people feel something, they will remember it. Maybe make them feel optimistic. That’s my goal,” he says.
A graphic designer by training, at Northumbria University, with a past in thinking too far outside the box in the London advertising industry, Rob has a way with a ballpoint pen as much as words, often combining the two in his satirical or surrealist poster prints (on sale at £15 a pop post-show, along with assorted books full of Auton philosophy, poetry and pictures and new I’m Here For The Human Experience T-shirt).
The visual is important to Rob, but so too is the visual in the verbal. “Totally! It’s that thing of painting pictures in words and using words as efficiently as possible, dropping things into people’s heads that aren’t there already, doing that in a specific way and in the exact words that come into my head,” he says.
“Neil Young talks about being like a transistor radio, picking up things like antennae do, and then giving them to the world. You have to be alert to capture it, and I’m definitely in the market for picking up new ideas every day. That’s how I make a living, taking things I hear and working them into the show.”
Coming next from Rob will be the Eyes Open And Shut Show, now being knocked into shape for this summer’s Edinburgh Fringe. “When I start working on something new, it’s like I have a bell in my head that goes off,” he says. “Your brain morphs into something else and becomes alert to what you’re on the lookout for: new things, trying to make something fresh and interesting.
“That’s what’s exciting about doing shows, stepping into that arena where anything can happen. I just try to stay faithful to the fact that people want to see that risk: the knife edge of something being funny or not. I’ll always take that risk.”
Rob Auton, The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28, 7.30pm; Mortimer Suite, Hull City Hall, February 29, 7.30pm; The Wardrobe, Leeds, March 1, 7.30pm; Hebden Bridge Trades Club, March 2, doors 7.30pm, sold out.
Occupation: London-based York cult comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, illustrator and 2014 Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence.
Raised: Barmby Moor.
Educated: Pocklington schooldays; York College; Northumbria University, Newcastle.
First job: “The Crab Cake Kid”/kitchen worker in York restaurant at 16.
First job after university: Graphic designer for advertising firm in London.
First stand-up gig: 2008.
Edinburgh Fringe headline debut: The Yellow Show, 2012.
Shows: The Yellow Show; The Sky Show; The Face Show; The Water Show; The Sleep Show; The Hair Show; The Talk Show; The Time Show; The Crowd Show; The Rob Auton Show (sold-out month-long 2023 Edinburgh Fringe run; Soho Theatre, London, main house, January 22 to 27; now on tour, culminating in Machynlleth Comedy Festival show in Wales on May 6).
Accolade: Won Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe at Edinburgh in August 2013, aged 30. The joke? “I heard a rumour that Cadbury is bringing out an oriental chocolate bar. Could be a Chinese Wispa.”
Appeared on: The End Of The F***ing World (Netflix/Channel 4); Miracle Workers (TBS); The Russell Howard Hour (Sky One); Cold Feet (ITV); Random Acts (Channel 4); Stand-Up Central With Rob Delaney (Comedy Central); Auton clip went viral with more than 11 million views on Facebook alone. Look out for cameo in latest series of Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck (BBC One).
On the radio: Stewart Lee: Unreliable Narrator (BBC Radio 4); Front Row (BBC Radio 4); Sara Cox Show (BBC Radio 2);Jonathan RossShow (BBC Radio 2); Craig Charles (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Afternoon Edition with Nihal Arthanayake (BBC Radio 5 Live).
Poetry collective: Member of Bang Said The Gun, stand-up poetry collective founded by Dan Cockrill and Martin Galton.
Podcast: The Rob Auton Daily Podcast, since 2020. Gold winner for Best Daily Podcast at 2020 British Podcast Awards. Two million listeners.
More podcasting: Chief squirrel correspondent on Shaun Keaveny’s new podcast Daily Grind.
Books: Three collections of writing and drawing, Take Hair, Petrol Honey and In Heaven The Onions Make You Laugh, for Burning Eye Books; I Strongly Believe In Incredible Things, poetic prose, short stories and ballpoint pen drawings detailing and celebrating everyday wonders, for HarperCollins’ Mudlark, 2021.
Spoken word album: At Home With Rob, on Scroobius Pip’s record label Speech Development Records.
Coming next: The Eyes Open And Shut Show, 2024 Edinburgh Fringe, Assembly Roxy, Upstairs, July 31 to August 25, 2.15pm. Box office: assemblyfestival.com.
“This is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut,” says Rob. “With this show I wanted to explore what I could do to myself and others with language when eyes are open and shut. After writing ten shows on specific themes, I wanted to think about what makes me open my eyes and what makes me shut them.”
Deaf comedian Steve Day: Playing on the Hilarity Bites bill at Milton Rooms, Malton
A DEAF comedian and history-charting musicians, a classic thriller and a feminist fairytale, a community choir festival and a prog-rock legend make Charles Hutchinson’s list of upcoming cultural highlights.
Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Steve Day, Ashley Frieze and Carl Jones, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday (23/02/2024), 8pm
THE first Hilarity Bites bill of 2024 will be headlined by Steve Day, who describes himself as “Britain’s only deaf comedian and if there are any others he hasn’t heard them”! Actually, a couple of others have started since he wrote that joke, but it is only a joke after all.
On the bill too are guitar-toting funny man Ashley Frieze, with his charming, daft and warm brand of music-infused stand-up, and Midlands storytelling comedian Carl Jones, a football fanatic who interviews comedy cohorts for his Premier League nostalgia podcast When Football Began Again. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
Chris Green and Sophie Matthews: 600 years of music crammed into 90 minutes at Pocklington Arts Centre
Musical tour of the week: Green Matthews: A Brief History Of Music, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 8pm
STRING player Chris Green and woodwind player Sophie Matthews take in 600 years of musical history in 90 minutes, spanning the Middle Ages to the 20th century in a whistle-stop tour of Western music.
Featuring long-forgotten songs, tunes and jokes too, Green and Matthews paint a vibrant and vivid picture of our musical DNA, mixing the familiar and the obscure, the raucous and the reflective and the courtly and the commonplace. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Skylights: Lighting up York Barbican in November
Gig announcement of the week: Skylights, York Barbican, November 2
YORK band Skylights will play their biggest home-city show yet this autumn, with tickets going on sale on Friday at 10am at ticketmaster.co.uk in a week when latest release Time To Let Things Go has risen to number two in the Official Vinyl Singles Chart.
Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: ‘We’re absolutely over the moon to be headlining the biggest venue in our home city of York, the Barbican. It’s always been a dream of ours to play here, so to headline will be the perfect way to finish what’s going to be a great year. Thanks to everyone for the support. It means the world and we’ll see you all there.”
Rick Wakeman: Return Of The Caped Crusader at York Barbican
Catch him while you can: Rick Wakeman, Return Of The Caped Crusader, York Barbican, Saturday, 7.30pm
PROG-ROCK icon and Yes keyboard wizard Rick Wakeman, 76, is to call time on his one-man shows to concentrate on composing, recording and collaborating, but not before playing York. “I always planned to stop touring by my 77th birthday,” he says. “For those of you who wish to send me a card, it’s 18th May!”
Saturday’s show opens with Wakeman’s new arrangements of Yes material for band and vocalists, followed after the interval by his epic work Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. Box office for returns only: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Jessa Liversidge: Directing Easingwold Community Singers’ performance at the York Community Choir Festival
Choirs galore: York Community Choir Festival 2024, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, February 25, 6pm; February 26 to March 1, 7.30pm; March 2, 2.30pm and 7.30pm
THE 8th York Community Choir Festival spreads 31 choirs across eight concerts over six days at the JoRo. On the opening evening, Easingwold Community Singers will be premiering director Jessa Liversidge’s arrangement of The Secret Of Happiness from the American musical Daddy Long Legs, with permission of composer and lyricist Paul Gordon.
Choirs range from York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir to The Rolling Tones, Sounds Fun Singers to York Military Wives Choir, Selby Youth Choir to Track 29 Ladies Close Harmony Chorus. Six choirs from Huntington School perform next Friday, taking up all the first-half programme. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Todd Boyce, left, and Neil McDermott in Sleuth, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Jack Merriman
Thriller of the week: Sleuth, Grand Opera House, York, Monday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday
TODD Boyce, best known for playing Coronation Street’s notorious baddie Stephen Reid, will be joined by EastEnders soap star Neil McDermott in Anthony Shaffer’s dark psychological thriller about thrillers, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.
What happens? A young man arrives at the impressive home of a famous mystery writer, only to be unwittingly drawn into a tangled web of intrigue and gamesmanship, where nothing is quite as it seems. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
Emma Rice: Writer-director of Wise Children’s Blue Beard, playing York Theatre Royal from next Tuesday
Play of the week: Wise Children in Emma Rice’s Blue Beard, York Theatre Royal, February 27 to March 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm Thursday and 2.30pm Saturday matinees
BLUE Beard meets his match when his young bride discovers his dark and murderous secret. She summons all her rage, all her smarts and all her sisters to bring the curtain down on his tyrannous reign as writer-director Emma Rice brings her own brand of theatrical wonder to this beguiling, disturbing tale.
Applying Rice’s signature sleight of hand, Blue Beard explores curiosity and consent, violence and vengeance, all through an intoxicating lens of music, wit and tender truth. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Rob Auton: Star of The Rob Auton Show, full of firsts, from memories to girlfriends to jobs
Comedy gig(s) of the week: Rob Auton, The Rob Auton Show, Burning Duck Comedy Club, The Crescent, York, February 28, 7.30pm; Mortimer Suite, Hull City Hall, February 29, 7.30pm; The Wardrobe, Leeds, March 1, 7.30pm
ROB Auton, Pocklington-raised stand-up comedian, writer, podcaster, actor, illustrator and former Glastonbury festival poet-in-residence, returns north from London with his self-titled tenth themed solo show.
After the colour yellow, the sky, faces, water, sleep, hair, talking, time and crowds, Auton turns the spotlight on himself, exploring the memories and feelings that create his life on a daily basis. Box office: York, thecrescentyork.seetickets.com; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk; Leeds, brudenellsocialclub.seetickets.com.
Elio Pace at the piano performing The Billy Joel Songbook
ELIO Pace and his band will present “the greatest love letter ever to the genius that is Billy Joel” at York Barbican on March 27 2024.
Further Yorkshire performances of The Billy Joel Songbook tribute show are booked into Sheffield City Hall for March 26 and Hull City Hall for April 4 on the 18-date British and Irish tour.
Tour tickets will go on sale at 10am on Friday at eliopace.com/tours; York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Sheffield, sheffieldcityhall.co.uk or 0114 256 5593; Hull, hulltheatres.co.uk or 01482 300306.
Devised by piano-playing Southampton singer-songwriter, producer and arranger Pace and Matt Daniel-Baker, this homage rounds up more than 30 of Joel’s songs, including The Longest Time, She’s Always A Woman, An Innocent Man, Uptown Girl, Tell Her About It, The River Of Dreams, We Didn’t Start The Fire and Piano Man.
After two sold-out tours, Pace enthuses about next year’s return: “We all get such a buzz touring this show so we absolutely cannot wait to get back out on the road. We have an amazing tour in place, returning to theatres while also visiting some for the first time, and to be starting in my hometown and then ending in London’s West End is going to be pretty incredible.
“The music of Billy Joel is timeless. He is a genius composer and, in my humble opinion, the greatest singer/songwriter of all time. I really do feel humbled that so many people want to see us perform his music.
“We can’t wait to celebrate this incredible music once again and we’ll now look forward to travelling across the country next spring.”
In 2010 Pace was the musical director for BBC Radio 2’s Weekend Wogan, playing as the featured artist on all 35 shows broadcast that year.
He has performed with Brian May, Huey Lewis, Glen Campbell, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Lulu, Mike Rutherford, Don McLean, Tom Chaplin, Debbie Reynolds and Martha Reeves.
His performing skills have taken him to Elstree Studios, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, BBC Radio 2’s Elvis Forever, Proms In The Park, The Bitter End in New York and BBC Radio Theatre in London.
In 2013 and 2014 he was invited to “‘fill Billy Joel’s shoes” by appearing in five reunion concerts in the United States with Joel’s original 1971-72 touring band, whereupon Pace embarked on the debut tour of The Billy Joel Songbook.
In 2018 he released the double CD and DVD The Billy Joel Songbook Live; in June 2019 his concert film of The Billy Joel Songbook Live won an award at the 17th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Overall Long Form Music Video in New York City.
In 2019 he released his second live double CD album and DVD within a year, Elio Pace Presents Elvis Presley: The World Premiere, 16 August 2017.
Did you know?
ELIO Pace featured in Sky Sports’ coverage of the 2015 Ashes cricket series between England and Australia with two specially re-written versions of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire.
Did you know too?
ELIO Pace has appeared on the BBC children’s show ZingZillas as “the greatest boogie woogie player in the land”, turning him into a household name…“well, at least to every CBeebies-loving under five-year-old and their parents”.
Seven Drunken Nights – The Story Of The Dubliners: Matinee and evening performances at Grand Opera House, York next March
SEVEN Drunken Nights – The Story Of The Dubliners will return to Grand Opera House, York for two performances on March 10 2024.
In its sixth year, after a Scandinavian tour, the celebration of the Irish music of Ronnie Drew, Luke Kelly, Barney McKenna, John Sheahan, Ciaran Bourke and Jim McCann will be on the road for 79 British and Irish dates.
Further Yorkshire performances on the biggest ever Seven Drunken Nights tour will be at Sheffield City Hall on March 20, Cast, Doncaster, March 21 and 22, Bridlington Spa, April 6, St George’s Hall, Bradford, April 12, and Hull City Hall, May 15.
Much more than a jukebox musical celebration of The Dubliners, the show is steered by its writer and director Ged Graham, whose narration charts the band’s path from their first gig at legendary Dublin pub O’Donoghue’s in 1962. The Irish Rover, The Leaving Of Liverpool, Belle Of Belfast City, Dirty Old Town, The Banks Of The Rose, Star Of The County Down and The Town I Love So Well and many more Irish favourites will be performed by Graham’s cast of musicians and singers, who last filled the Grand Opera House on April 23 this spring.
Graham is delighted to have received the backing of the families of The Dubliners. “It was very nerve-racking meeting their relatives, as I didn’t know how they would react,” he says. “But meeting Luke Kelly’s brother, Paddy, early on during the first tour was just brilliant.
“He and his family have been so supportive of the show. Likewise, Barney McKenna’s sister came to see the show when we toured Ireland and was very complimentary of how we told the story. Their support means so much to everyone involved with the show.”
In addition to glowing reviews, Seven Drunken Nights has also received praise from the families of The Dubliners. Ged Graham said, “It was very nerve-racking meeting relatives of The Dubliners, as I didn’t know how they would react. But meeting Luke Kelly’s brother, Paddy, early on during the first tour was just brilliant. He and his family have been so supportive of the show.
Likewise, Barney McKenna’s sister came to see the show when we toured Ireland and was very complimentary of how we told the story. Their support means so much to everyone involved with the show.”
Looking ahead, Seven Drunken Nights is set for its record year internationally, performing nearly 300 shows during 42 weeks on the road.
The show’s popularity has been a life-changing experience for Graham, who says: “I can’t quite believe it. Seven Drunken Nights seems to have touched so many people who have become real fans of the show, reigniting their love of The Dubliners.
“It’s had a massive impact on my life, giving me the confidence to write more and be involved in many other productions, including the runaway success Fairytale Of New York. It truly is a great privilege to bring the music of The Dubliners to the stage every night and keep their legacy alive.”
York tickets for the March 10 matinee and evening shows are on sale at atgtickets.com/york. Tickets for all venues on the 2024 tour can be booked at sevendrunkennights.com.
LEEDS comic Leigh Francis, creator of Keith Lemon and Bo’ Selecta, plays York Barbican on March 20 2024 on his debut tour, My First Time.
The BAFTA Award-winning character comedian, 50, has confirmed five more Yorkshire gigs on next spring’s travels, accounting for one third of the 18 dates: Sheffield City Hall, March 15; Halifax Victoria Theatre, March 16; Hull City Hall, March 22; Bradford St George’s Hall, March 23, and a home-city finale at Leeds Grand Theatre, April 6.
Joining Francis as he “brings back all the fun I’ve had over the 00s up to present day” will be his myriad television characters, from Keith Lemon, Bear and Avid Merrion to ‘David Dickinson’, ‘Ant and Dec’ and Myrtle, taking to the stage for the first time in a series of sketches. Expect audience interaction too.
“Hey, really exciting news! Well, exciting for me!” says Francis. “I hope it’s exciting for you! Or at least provokes some sort of interest! I mean, just look how many exclamation marks there is in this quote! It’s definitely news with exciting intent!
“So, what is this exciting news? I’m doing my first ever tour! Never done one before. It’s gonna have masks in it! The Bear, Avid Merrion, Amanda Holden’s Gran, not her actual gran but me playing her.”
Francis goes on: “I’ll also be playing Keith Lemon. I look just like him! It’s me doing all the characters I do that hopefully have the intent to provoke hilarity! So many exclamation marks, and the word ‘intent’ and ‘provoke’ twice! I’m excited!
“Come see me being other people live for the first time! It’ll be your first time and my first time! Hence the title of the tour, My First Time! (There’s another exclamation mark). How exciting!”
“The rule should be, if the audience stops laughing, you have to try something different,” says Sara Pascoe. That’s the beauty of comedy: it’s not pressure, it’s liberating”
HOW does comedian, actor, playwright, author, TV presenter and new mum Sara Pascoe quantify success?
She seeks to provide the answer in her biggest tour yet, Success Story, whose 50 dates in two blocks from November 10 to December 3 2022 and January 26 to April 22 next year take in four Yorkshire gigs: York Barbican on November 24 (7.30pm); Sheffield Octagon, the next night; Hull City Hall, March 17, and Harrogate Royal Hall, April 21.
She is delighted to be returning to the road for the first time since her LadsLadsLads tour of 2018-2019, the one where she contemplated the positive aspects of self-imposed celibacy, exploring love, sex and doing both alone.
This time, expect “name-dropping, personal stories and anecdotes,” says Sara, who will deliver jokes about status, celebrities, plus her new fancy lifestyle versus infertility, her multiple therapists and career failures.
“What I want to explore is how do we define success and when do we define it. Does it change with age? Do we only want things we can’t have? When we attain our goals, do we move the goal posts and become unsatisfied with what we’ve got and want something else instead?
“I’m 41 now and it’s a reflective time; it feels like a very adult age. Looking back on my life to when I was 14, I really wanted to be on television. That’s where I work now but is it what I imagined it to be?”
The trigger for Success Story were her experiences when undergoing IVF after a miscarriage. “When I was going through that with my partner [Australian comedian Steen Raskopoulos], they kept talking about it in terms of success,” says Sara, who became a mum on Valentine’s Day this year at the age of 40.
“I started thinking about success, what I wanted as a child, and then thinking about what makes you happy, or if you’ve set out on a certain path that makes you unhappy, should you do something else?”
“If you’ve set out on a certain path that makes you unhappy, should you do something else?” ponders Sara Pascoe in Success Story
Deciding she wanted to be famous at 14, Dagenham-born Sara would go on to audition for Barrymore, scare Dead Or Alive’s Pete Burns and ruin Hugh Grant’s birthday, but she would also notch a decade in stand-up comedy and pen the feminist Animal: The Autobiography Of A Female Body in 2016 and her exploration of sex through the medium of evolutionary psychology, sex work, and the role of money in modern heterosexual relationships in Sex Power Money in 2019, spawning an accompanying podcast.
Her “big, bold and funny” stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice played York Theatre Royal in October 2017 and she wrote and starred in the October 2020 sitcom Out Of Her Mind on BBC Two. She has presented television shows too, hosting Comedians Giving Lectures on Dave, Guessable on Comedy Central, BBC Two’s Last Woman On Earth and this year’s BBC One series of The Great British Sewing Bee.
“What quite often happens with stand-up comedy, it doesn’t take up a lot of your time, when it’s your main job. You have a lot of time on your hands, when that main job only takes up an evening five times a week.
“You can do other things, like writing a book, where they aren’t looking for gags, whereas you can’t go half an hour without a joke in a stand-up show,” says Sara.
Hence her diversification. “It’s more about thinking, ‘oh, that would be good to have a go at that’, rather than worrying about being found out at one thing,” she reasons.
How do you judge success in comedy? “I’ve noted that some people, once they get to the top, they then plateau, and that can be hard, as not everyone can be a stadium comic,” says Sara.
She enjoys the expectation of having to come up with fresh material for every new tour, whereas the success of a band’s gig is often judged on which hits they played, which they chose to leave out.
“It’s horrible when a gig becomes dead behind the eyes,” says Sara, outlining what to avoid when seeking comedy success
“That’s the added benefit of doing comedy. I was thinking how boring it must be to always have to play songs from 20 years ago when the bands probably hate them by now, whereas comedians have to move on, just as people do when they can’t keep talking about a divorce or an old girlfriend,” says Sara, who switched from the repetition of performing theatre to the freshly squeezed juice of comedy.
“You’re quite often in a different place by the end of a tour and your set reflects that. It’s horrible when a gig becomes dead behind the eyes.
“I remember being told very early in my career how Bill Bailey always had five minutes of new material each night, working it into shape for the next tour, and it’s true that if you try out new bits after the interval, you’re never dead behind the eyes.”
Sara continues: “The rule should be, if the audience stops laughing, you have to try something different. That’s the beauty of comedy: it’s not pressure, it’s liberating. If you have three nights in a row where people aren’t connecting, throw that material in the bin. Actors can’t do that!
“At the end of a show, you don’t want a crowd going ‘yeah, that was fine’. You want them to say, ‘oh god, do you remember that bit?’. You want an audience to be engaged in what you’re saying.”
At the time of this phone interview, Sara was busy writing a book and filming the latest series of The Great British Sewing Bee. She could reveal that those shows would be broadcast on BBC One next spring; she could say rather less, however, about her next venture into print.
“We’ve not done a proper release yet,” she says. “Put something vague… ‘I’m moving into fiction’. It’s a chance to make some things up for a change.” Watch this space.
Tickets for Sara Pascoe’s Success Story tour are on sale at sarapascoe.co.uk/sara-on-tour; for York Barbican at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk.
In her Dreams: Gabrielle’s 30 Years Of Dreaming Tour heads for York, Hull and Halifax in 2023
SOUL queen Gabrielle will play York Barbican on October 21 next year on her 30 Years Of Dreaming Tour 2023.
Next autumn’s 18-date travels will mark the 30th anniversary of the Hackney singer-songwriter’s “era-defining” chart-topping debut single, Dreams, in a career-spanning set likely to feature Rise, Out Of Reach, Sunshine, Give Me A Little More Time, Going Nowhere, When A Woman and Don’t Need The Sun To Shine (To Make Me Smile).
“Going on tour to celebrate 30 years of Dreams is just amazing,” says Gabrielle (full name Louise Gabrielle Bobb, by the way). “I can’t wait to party with everyone and celebrate the record that launched my career three decades ago! Time sure does fly when you’re having fun.”
Gabrielle, who will turn 53 on July 19, last performed at York Barbican on November 10 2021 on her rearranged Rise Again Tour after releasing her seventh studio album, the covers’ set Do It Again, in March last year. She will return to York on September 24 to play the main stage at the Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta 2022 on Knavesmire, next to York Racecourse.
Running from September 23 to 25, the festival will feature more than 50 hot air balloons, including a ship balloon from Europe and new character balloons; live music by Scouting For Girls, Andy And The Odd Socks, fronted by CBeebies’ Andy Day, and York party band Huge, and a Friday night funk and soul DJ set by Craig Charles.
Look out too for a daredevil stunt show; birds of prey displays, the world’s largest inflatable assault course; York’s largest funfair and a Sunday evening firework display finale.
Meanwhile, back to Gabrielle, who will be Adele’s special guest at her sold-out BST Hyde Park concerts in London on July 1 and 2. Adele personally chose Gabrielle for both shows, having revealed on BBC1’s The Graham Norton Show in February that her debut live public performance was a rendition of Gabrielle’s 1999 number one, Rise.
“I’m so thrilled and proud to be part of what will be an incredible day, headlined by an artist I love and adore.,” says Gabrielle. “Adele is a phenomenal singer-songwriter and it is an honour to be asked to join her at British Summer Time”. In turn, Adele has called Gabrielle “one of my favourite artists of all time, who I’ve loved since I was four!”
Tickets for Gabrielle’s 30 Years Of Dreaming Tour 2023 date at York Barbican will go on general sale from 10am on July 8 at yorkbarbican.co.uk, gigsandtours.com,ticketmaster.co.uk and gabrielle.co.uk. Two further Yorkshire dates to note are: Hull City Hall on October 12 and Halifax Victoria Theatre on October 14.
The poster for Gabrielle’s 30 Years Of Dreaming 2023 Tour
In pursuit of success: Sara Pascoe in her new tour show
HOW does comedian, actor, playwright, author, podcaster and TV presenter Sara Pascoe quantify success?
She will seek to provide the answer in her biggest tour yet, Success Story, whose 50 dates in two blocks from November 10 to December 3 2022 and January 26 to April 22 next year will take in four Yorkshire gigs: York Barbican on November 24; Sheffield Octagon, November 25; Hull City Hall, March 17, and Harrogate Royal Hall, April 21.
Expect jokes about status, celebrities, plus Sara’s new fancy lifestyle versus infertility, her multiple therapists and career failures, she forewarns.
“What I want to explore is how do we define success and when do we define it,” she says. “Does it change with age; do we only want things we can’t have? When we attain our goals, do we move the goal posts and become unsatisfied with what we’ve got and want something else instead?
“I’m 41 now and it’s a reflective time; it feels like a very adult age. Looking back on my life to when I was 14, I really wanted to be on television. That’s where I work now but is it what I imagined it to be?”
Deciding she wanted to be famous at 14, Dagenham-born Sara would go on to audition for Barrymore, scare Dead Or Alive’s Pete Burns and ruin Hugh Grant’s birthday, but she would also notch a decade in stand-up comedy and pen the feminist Animal: The Autobiography Of A Female Body in 2016 and her exploration of sex through the medium of evolutionary psychology, sex work, and the role of money in modern heterosexual relationships in Sex Power Money in 2019, spawning an accompanying podcast.
Her “big, bold and funny” stage adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice played York Theatre Royal in October 2017 and she wrote and starred in the October 2020 sitcom Out Of Her Mind on BBC Two. She has presented television shows too, hosting Comedians Giving Lectures on Dave, Guessable on Comedy Central, BBC Two’s Last Woman On Earth and this year’s BBC One series of The Great British Sewing Bee.
“What I want to explore is how do we define success and when do we define it,” says Sara Pascoe
For all those diverse achievements, she underwent a fraught personal chapter that would be deemed contrary to that vision of success. “I was having years of infertility and when we were going through IVF, the word ‘success’ was used a lot about the process,” says Sara, (who does now have a beautiful baby son).
“So, I wanted to contrast that with these other things that are seen as representing successful lives, such as finding someone we love and having a family. There are a lot of areas being covered.”
If this sounds a tad heavy, as a counterbalance, Sara will reach for her raft of daft stories to flesh out her central thesis. Such as the time she terrified Pete Burns, the late figurehead of 1980s’chart-toppers Dead Or Alive and later reality TV star.
“He did a reality show where he was looking for a PA and I was told I would get £50 in cash in an envelope if I kept accosting him in the street. So, outside a coffee shop in Soho, I had to pretend to be a superfan and hug and kiss him and say how much I loved him and see how all these potential Pas would deal with this crazy, neurotic fangirl,” she recalls.
“At the end of that day, he said that I scared him, which just showed how good my acting was. That show is sometimes repeated on an MTV channel, and I’ll get a text or a tweet saying, ‘oh my god, I had no idea you were such a Pete Burns fan’.”
TV exposure on Comedians Giving Lectures and The Great British Sewing Bee has lifted Sara’s profile and given her a fresh perspective on her life in comedy. “Comedians Giving Lectures can be like hosting a stand-up show, and I love it because these very high-status experienced comics are often doing brand new material because they’ve written a lecture for the TV show. For me, it feels like a gig rather than a TV programme,” she says.
“No-one likes to do a mediocre gig, or worse, a flat gig,” says Success-driven Sara
“In Sewing Bee, I occasionally write jokes for the links, but you’re doing a joke for eight people who are really thinking about sewing; they’re not thinking about your pun on the wrap dress.”
Her Success Story travels are still more than five months away, but especially after the mothballing impact of the pandemic lockdowns, Sara is desperate to return to the road for the first time since her LadsLadsLads tour of 2018-2019 – the one where she contemplated the positive aspects of self-imposed celibacy, exploring love, sex and doing both alone.
“Touring can be tiring but when you’re in the dressing room before a show and you hear the hubbub of a busy room, you feel very lucky that people will come and see you at all, never mind in their hundreds or thousands,” she says.
“There’s a description in Alan Davies’s book about how walking out on stage as a comedian is the closest you can get to being a toddler taking your first steps towards your excited parents. That’s the feeling comedians are trying to recreate by getting this huge round of applause from people who like you and are pleased you are there. That’s the side of it that’s addictive and compulsive.”
Sara will not let her own success story go to her head, instead always striving to raise the bar for her comedy hit-rate. “No-one likes to do a mediocre gig, or worse, a flat gig,” she says. “Especially when you’ve earned an audience from TV work, the idea that they might come to see you for the first time and leave disappointed really keeps you going.
“At the end of a show, you don’t want a crowd going ‘yeah, that was fine’. You want them to say ‘oh god, do you remember that bit?’ You want an audience to be engaged in what you’re saying.”
Tickets for Sara Pascoe’s Success Story tour are on sale at sarapascoe.co.uk/sara-on-tour; for York Barbican at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
COMEDIAN Sara Pascoe will play York Barbican on November 24 on her 50-date Success Story tour.
Further Yorkshire performances will follow at Sheffield Octagon on November 25, Hull City Hall on March 17 2023 and Harrogate Royal Hall on April 21. Tickets are on sale at sarapascoe.co.uk/sara-on-tour.
Pascoe, now 40, decided she wanted to be famous at 14 years old. Since then, she has auditioned for Barrymore, scared Dead Or Alive’s Pete Burns and ruined Hugh Grant’s birthday, but look at her now, she says.
Please look, she needs you to look. And clap. And laugh. And then clap again…on her “biggest and best tour of her life, where she will be playing in parts of the UK and Ireland that she hasn’t performed at before”.
Dagenham-born Pascoe’s last nationwide tour, LadsLadsLads, culminated in two London Palladium shows, filmed for a BBC Two stand-up special, Sara Pascoe: LadsLadsLads.
Sara Pascoe: “Examining what it is to be successful, how we define it and how it feels when what we want eludes us”in Success Story
Since then, things have most certainly changed for Pascoe, she says. After contemplating the positive aspects of self-imposed celibacy in LadsLadsLads, Success Story finds Sara, a few years later, happily married with a beautiful baby son.
In her new show, she will examine what it is to be successful, how we define it and how it feels when what we want eludes us. Expect jokes about status, celebrities, plus Sara’s new fancy lifestyle versus infertility, her multiple therapists and career failures.
Comedian, writer and actor Pascoe wrote and starred in the BBC2 sitcom Out Of Her Mind and hosts BBC One’s The Great British Sewing Bee, BBC Two’s Last Woman On Earth, Dave’s Comedians Giving Lectures and Comedy Central’s Guessable.
She has hosted the BBC’s Festival Of Funny and Live At The Apollo’s Christmas Special and appeared as a panellist on Mock The Week, Have I Got News For You and Would I Lie To You?. Later this year, she can be seen in the new Amazon series Katherine Ryan Backstage.
Pascoe has written and performed in the BBC Radio 4 series Modern Monkey and BBC Two’s Sara Pascoe vs Monogamy, a short inspired by her first book, Animal. Her second book, Sex Power Money, was accompanied by a podcast that garnered millions of listens and multiple award nominations.
“Please look. Sara Pascoe needs you to look. And clap. And laugh. And then clap again”
