Kaiser Chiefs: Feeling the benefit of 20 years of Employment at Temple Newsam, Leeds, next May
KAISER Chiefs will mark the 20th anniversary of debut album Employment with a home-city concert at Temple Newsam Park, Leeds, on May 31 2025.
Joining the Yorkshire indie band that day will be mid-Noughties peers Razorlight, The Cribs, The Coral and We Are Scientists, plus Hastings trio HotWax and West Yorkshire’s Ellur, “two of the most exciting new indie artists in the UK”. Tickets go on sale today at https://tix.to/KCTempleNewsam.
Released in March 2005, the seven-times platinum and multi-award winning Employment remains the biggest-selling record from a Leeds artist, propelling I Predict A Riot and Oh My God to becoming anthems for the city, forever intertwined with Leeds life, culture, football and more.
To honour that special connection, as well as the 20th anniversary, Kaiser Chiefs will take to one of Leeds’s biggest stages for a celebration of Employment and the city that inspired it.
Kaiser Chiefs, minus Ricky Wilson that day, launching their When All Is Quiet: Kaiser Chiefs in Conversation with York Art Gallery exhibition in December 2018
London quintet Razorlight will perform a special set to mark the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Up All Night; Wakefield band The Cribs celebrate the same anniversary for sophomore album The New Fellas; The Coral, from the Wirral, will dive into their back catalogue, and cult American indie rockers We Are Scientists will highlight the 20th anniversary of their major label debut, With Love And Squalor.
Kaiser Chiefs are “very excited to announce our biggest Leeds gig ever”. “Twenty years since Employment, and 23 years since we last played at Temple Newsam, we are delighted to be back,” say Ricky Wilson (vocals), Simon Rix (bass), Nick “Peanut” Baines (keyboards), Andrew “Whitey” White (guitar) and Vijay Mistry (drums).
“Last time we played there [in their days as Parva], we joked we were on after Guns N’ Roses, who had played the previous night, so it’s been a long wait to finally actually headline the Park.
“We are a band that historically always looked forwards, but after 20 years of people telling us how important Employment is to them and how it soundtracked people’s lives, we felt we had to organise a celebration.
“We’ve managed to get a few of our old touring friends to come and celebrate with us and of course everyone is invited. Come celebrate the 2000s, Employment, When Leeds took over the World. See you all in May.”
Putting it in black and white: from top, Finlay Butler, Kristian Barley, Kit Stroud, Rebecca Butler and Maia Beatrice in NETheatre York’s West Side Story
FROM a musical in black and white to circus skills, outdoor comedy to racecourse music showcases, Charles Hutchinson picks his high-summer highlights.
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
EXPERIENCE the explosive love and rivalry in 1950s’ New York City in Bernstein & Sondheim’s musical re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As romance blossoms between teens from opposing gangs The Sharks and The Jets, the relationship is – spoiler alert – fated to end in tragedy. Steve Tearle’s production for NE Theatre York features a black-and-white design and cultural references from the 1950s to the present day. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Barn Owl, by Bryn Parry CBE, in the Sculpture In The Landscape exhibition at the Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, The Hutts, Grewelthorpe. Picture: Celestine Dubruel
Exhibition of the week: Sculpture In The Landscape, Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park, The Hutts, Grewelthorpe, near Ripon, until November 3
THE 2024 Sculpture In The Landscape exhibition showcases 60 works for sale by artists across the United Kingdom, complementing the permanent sculptures on show at the Himalayan Garden.
Visitors are invited to explore the intricate sculptures set against verdant landscapes. From monumental installations to delicate works of art, each piece offers a perspective on the intersection of creativity and nature. Normal garden entry applies. Tickets: 01765 658009 or himalayangarden.com
Brainfools in Cabaret Cirque Enchanté at Pocklington Arts Centre
Magical and mind-boggling circus feats of the week: BrainFools present Cabaret Cirque Enchanté, Pocklington Arts Centre, Friday, 6pm, and Saturday, 10.30am
BRAINFOOLS’ collective of National Centre for Circus Arts graduates and their friends bring a collaborative imagination to their versatile, immersive and visually enriching performance of enchanted circus, dance and humour.
The ensemble sets an evocative scene, evoking the cabaret flair of the 1920s with a jazz-flavoured musical score and a compere introducing family-friendly acts. In addition, in conjunction with Burnby Hall Gardens, Brainfools will host circus skills workshops for young people tomorrow and Friday. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Kaiser Chiefs: A night at the races in York. Picture: Cal McIntyre
Under starter’s orders: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Kaiser Chiefs, Friday, 8.45pm to 10.30pm, and S Club, Saturday, 5.45pm to 7.30pm
LEEDS indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, who mounted the exhibition When All Is Quiet at York Art Gallery in 2018-2019, return to York on Friday when the emphasis will be on I Predict A Riot, not Quiet. Expect Oh My God, Everyday I Love You Less And Less, Ruby et al, plus songs from this year’s Easy Eighth Album, after the evening race card.
Saturday afternoon’s racing will be followed by British pop favourites S Club, these days featuring Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens. Here come S Club Party, Never Had A Dream Come True, Bring It All Back, Reach, Don’t Stop Movin’, Have You Ever, Two In A Million, Say Goodbye, You’re My Number One, Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You and more besides. Raceday tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
Martin Carthy: Folk trailblazer. Picture: The Press, York
Moorland gig of the week: Martin Carthy, The Band Room, Low Mill, Farndale, Saturday, 7.30pm
“WHAT we like most about Martin Carthy is that to us he’s a local hero who will once again take the high road from Robin Hood’s Bay to Farndale, jewel in the crown of the North York Moors National Park, to renew his acquaintance with The Band Room,” says gig promoter Nigel Burnham.
Carthy, 82, who has enjoyed trailblazing folk partnerships with Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick, wife Norma Waterson and daughter Eliza Carthy, brings to the stage more than half a century of experiences and stories as a ballad singer, groundbreaking acoustic and electric guitarist and insatiably curious interpreter and arranger of other artists’ material and trad songs. Box office: thebandroom.co.uk.
John Watterton: Celebrating the works of Jake Thackray and Les Barker at Milton Rooms, Malton
Unsung legends celebration of the week: John Watterton: An Evening Without Jake Thackray Or Les Barker!, Milton Rooms, Malton, Sunday 7.30pm
YORK guitarist and vocalist John Watterson keeps alive the spirit of Leeds singer-songwriter, poet, humourist and journalist Jake Thackray through his catalogue of songs that he describes as simultaneously “painfully funny, sad, tragic, rude, irreverent, incisive and happy”.
In this new show, Watterton also features the work of another “unsung legend”: Mancunian former accountant Les Barker, who discovered a talent for writing silly poems that he performed at folk clubs. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.
The View: Returning to the concert platform after a five-year hiatus
Return of the week: The View, The Crescent, York, August 2, 7.30pm
RESCHEDULED from June 15, Under The Influence presents Dundee indie-rock returnees The View in a night of Hats Off To Buskers classics, from Same Jeans to Wasted Little DJs and Superstar Tradesma, plus material from their first album in eight years.
Recorded with Grammy Award-winning producer Youth at Space Mountain, Granada, Exorcism Of Youth was released last August on Cooking Vinyl. Five years on from their departing gig at Dundee’s Caird Hall, original members Kyle Falconer (vocals/guitar), Kieran Webster (bass/vocals) and Pete Reilly (guitar) are back on the road. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Bill Bailey: Comedy on the coast on August 2
Coastal gig of the week: Bill Bailey, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 2; gates open at 6pm
COMEDIAN, actor, musician, presenter, Never Mind The Buzzcocks team captain, Black Books sitcom star and 2020 Strictly Come Dancing champion Bill Bailey heads to the East Coast with his surrealist fusion of stories, poetry and wordplay that takes aim at the modern world’s absurdities, as aired in his Thoughtifier arena tour.
A veteran of the UK festival circuit, with appearances at Latitude, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Sonisphere and the Eden Project, Bailey will have his array of weird and wonderful instruments on tap too for playful pastiches of Tom Waits, Kraftwerk et al. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
Chrissie Hynde: The great Pretender will lead her band at York Barbican in October. Picture: Vi Price
Gig announcement of the week: The Pretenders, York Barbican, October 31
THE Pretenders are extending their sold-out British tour, adding a new date in York, in the wake of releasing Relentless, their 14th UK Top 40 entry and highest-charting record in 23 years, last September.
Fronted as ever by Chrissie Hynde, 72, the band is joining Foo Fighters on their American tour in July and August. Tickets for York Barbican go on sale on Friday at 10am at https://www.yorkbarbican.co.uk/whats-on/the-pretenders/.
Shed Seven: 30th anniversary homecoming celebrations continue at York Museum Gardens this evening
OPEN air concerts by Shed Seven, Kaiser Chiefs, S Club and James are the sound of summer as West Side Story and The 39 Steps turn up the heat too in Charles Hutchinson’s picks for the week ahead.
York festival of the week: Futuresound presents Live At York Museum Gardens, Shed Seven, this evening; gates open at 5pm
SHED Seven play the second of their sold-out 30th anniversary homecoming concerts tonight, promising a different set list to Friday’s show, special guests and a choir from Huntington School, Rick Witter and Paul Banks’s old schoolyard.
The Sheds will be on stage from 8.40pm to 10.30pm. Support slots go to Apollo Junction, 5.45pm to 6.15pm; Brooke Combe, 6.35pm to 7.05pm, and The Libertines’ Peter Doherty, 7.25pm to 8.10pm. Sugababes’ festival-closing concert on Sunday was cancelled in April.
Gary Louris: The Jayhawks’ singer, guitarist and songwriter plays solo at The Crescent, York, tonight
American solo act of the week: Gary Louris, of The Jayhawks, supported by Dave Fiddler, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm
OVER three decades, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Gary Louris has co-led Minneapolis country rock supremos The Jayhawks with Mark Olson, as well as being a member of alt.rock supergroup Golden Smog, forming Au Pair with North Carolina artist Django Haskins in 2015 and releasing two solo albums, 2008’s Vagabonds and 2021’s Jump For Joy.
He has recorded with acts as diverse as The Black Crowes, Counting Crows, Uncle Tupelo, Lucinda Williams, Roger McGuinn, Maria McKee, Tift Merritt and The Wallflowers too. As an alternative to the sold-out Sheds on Saturday, look no further than this American rock luminary. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
The Unthanks: Sisters Rachel and Becky perform in an 11-piece line-up at Milton Rooms, Malton
Folk gig of the week: Ryedale Festival, The Unthanks, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 23, 7.30pm to 9.30pm
THE Unthanks bring the rich colours of their 11-piece ensemble to the Ryedale Festival. Blending traditional music from their native North East with the influence of Miles Davis, Steve Reich, Sufjan Stevens, King Crimson and Tom Waits, they stand as the most innovative English folk band in modern history.
Join sisters Rachel and Becky as they display an approach to storytelling that makes easy bedfellows of social commentary and sophisticated harmony, cool minimalism and moving empathy, tradition and adventure. Tickets update: for returns only, contact ryedalefestival.com/event/42-the-unthanks.
Putting it in black and white: from top, Finlay Butler, Kristian Barley, Kit Stroud, Rebecca Butler and Maia Beatrice in NETheatre York’s West Side Story
Musical of the week: NE Theatre York in West Side Story, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 24 to 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee
EXPERIENCE the explosive love and rivalry in 1950s’ New York City in Bernstein & Sondheim’s musical re-telling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. As romance blossoms between teens from opposing gangs The Sharks and The Jets, the relationship is fated to end in tragedy, spoiler alert. Steve Tearle’s production for NE Theatre York will feature a black-and-white design. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
One of Anna Matyus’s works from her exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre
Exhibition of the week: Anna Matyus, Helmsley Arts Centre, until August 9
ANNA Matyus’s work explores the powerful spiritual resonance of historical sacred buildings and their setting in the landscape. Using etching and collagraph printmaking techniques and a colourful palette, she seeks to bring to life the powerful geometry of the often-faded motifs and time- worn patterns and symbols of historic artefacts found in the masonry and ancient tiles of these sacred sites.
“My final prints explore and record the dynamic rhythms of three-dimensional architectural form, layered with their decorative and symbolic adornment in a graphic expression of awe and wonder,” she says.
Safeena Ladha, left, Eugene McCoy, Tom Byrne and Maddie Rice in a scene from The 39 Steps, back on tour at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Mark Senior
Comedy play of the week: The 39 Steps, Grand Opera House, York, July 23 to July 27, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
PATRICK Barlow’s award-garlanded stage adaptation of The 39 Steps has four actors playing 139 roles between them in 100 dashing minutes as they seek to re-create Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 spy thriller while staying true to John Buchan’s 1915 book.
Tom Byrne – Falklands War-era Prince Andrew in The Crown – plays on-the-run handsome hero Richard Hannay, complete with stiff upper-lip, British gung-ho and pencil moustache as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents and devastatingly beautiful women. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
James: Playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time next Friday. Picture: Paul Dixon
Coastal gig of the week: James, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26, gates 6pm
JAMES follow up Scarborough appearances in 2015, 2018 and 2021 by continuing that three-year cycle in 2024, on the heels of releasing the chart-topping Yummy, their 18th studio album, in April.
“I’m very pleased that we will be playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer – our fourth time in fact,” says bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come. It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” Support acts will be Reverend And The Makers, from Sheffield, and Nottingham indie rock trio Girlband!. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/james.
Kaiser Chiefs: A night at the races in York. Picture: Cal McIntyre
Under starter’s orders: York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, Knavesmire, York, Kaiser Chiefs, July 26, 8.45pm to 10.30pm, and S Club, July 27, 5.45pm to 7.30pm
LEEDS indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs, who mounted the exhibition When All Is Quiet at York Art Gallery in 2018-2019, return to York next Friday when the emphasis will be on I Predict A Riot, not Quiet. Expect Oh My God, Everyday I Love You Less And Less, Ruby et al, plus songs from this year’s Easy Eighth Album, after the evening race card.
Next Saturday afternoon’s racing will be followed by British pop favourites S Club, these days featuring Tina Barrett, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O’Meara and Rachel Stevens. Here come S Club Party, Never Had A Dream Come True, Bring It All Back, Reach, Don’t Stop Movin’, Have You Ever, Two In A Million, Say Goodbye, You’re My Number One, Love Ain’t Gonna Wait For You and more besides. Raceday tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
NOT since Paul Weller and Jess Glynne in June 2019 has Forestry England hosted Forest Live concerts at Dalby Forest, near Pickering.
The hiatus that followed the Covid-enforced cancellation of Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs and the double bill of Will Young and James Morrison in 2020 comes to an end this week.
Glory be, the weather forecast looks favourable for Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, back in a forest tonight after the Julien Temple-directed video for 1991’s 16-week chart topper (Everything I Do) I Do It For You from Robin Hood – Prince Of Thieves.
More sunshine over the weekend too when Nile Rodgers & Chic and support act Sophie Ellis-Bextor turn the woodland into a dancefloor on Saturday night and Richard Ashcroft, the two-time Ivor Novello Award-winning Wigan singer, songwriter and frontman of The Verve, completes the line-up on Sunday.
Ashcroft’s set list will draw on his five solo albums, along with The Verve’s anthems Bittersweet Symphony, The Drugs Don’t Work, Lucky Man and Sonnet that night, when Leeds band Apollo Junction will be supporting.
Overseeing the Forest Live programme at not only Dalby Forest, but at Cannock Chase Forest, Delamere Forest, High Lodge, Thetford Forest, Sherwood Pines and Westonbirt Arboretum too, will be Rhodri Jones, Forestry England’s national events programme manager.
Nile Rodgers: Disco delights with CHIC on Saturday night
“After scaling back our operation, for the reintroduction of Forest Live we wanted to make sure we came back in a way that was sustainable after Covid, rather than all guns blazing everywhere, so we returned in a gradual, controlled way,” says Rhodri, who took up his post in 2023 after a decade at Southbank Centre, London, where he became senior producer for all music events and festivals, including Meltdown.
“We’re really glad that Forest Live is back at Dalby Forest this year. We think we have a really good programme, in a really beautiful setting, and with three concerts this time, it gives us the chance to appeal to different people, providing something for everybody.”
This summer’s return to Dalby Forest marks the start of a partnership with Cuffe & Taylor, promoters of the highly successful summer series at Scarborough Open Theatre, where the likes of Tom Jones, Johnny Marr & The Charlatans, Paul Weller, Rick Astley, Fatboy Slim, James, Madness and comedian Bill Bailey will be coast-bound this season.
“It’s brand-new partnership for this year and will be ongoing,” says Rhodri. “We were looking for a partner for a number of reasons. Firstly, Cuffe & Taylor have an amazing track record of attracting artists of the status we want.
“Secondly, we are very proud of Forest Live, and its contribution to making a difference by raising funds for woodland conservation, and by partnering with such big guns as Cuffe & Taylor, who do concerts 365 days a year and, like us, are advocates of sustainability with the Green Nation charter, we can strengthen that.
“It’s essentially an initiative to look at all elements of putting on the events to make them as sustainable as possible, so one of the things we were determined to introduce this year was a shuttle bus service to Dalby Forest, with coaches from Malton, Pickering, Scarborough and York.”
Richard Ashcroft: Sunday’s headline act at Forest Live at Dalby Forest. Picture: Dean Chalkley
He is delighted by the link-up with Cuffe & Taylor. “It’s a 50-50 partnership, and one of the great things is how aligned we are in how we want it to work. They can call on our expertise in staging concerts in beautiful surroundings and we can benefit from their knowledge, such as putting on the shuttle buses.
“Our sites are more remote and often that can be overlooked, with the last thing being thought about being the experience of getting to and from the forest, but we are aware that if it takes ages to get out, it might be the last time someone comes, so we’re addressing that.”
Rhodri highlights a further benefit of the return of Forest Live to Dalby Forest. “The fundamental aim of these concerts is that it’s beautiful to have these amazing musicians there, but it’s also our aim to get people into the forest for the first time and maybe next week they’ll come back to walk their dog or go mountain biking.
“The funds we raise go towards the work we do, whether tree planting or researching the health of trees and the impact of climate change. One of the big things we’re doing is looking at how trees will be sustainable in 50-100 years’ time. We’re always planning something ahead; it could be the next Forest Live or the rest of the team working on the future of the forests.”
Forestry England presents Forest Live at Dalby Forest, near Pickering: tonight, Bryan Adams (9pm to 10.30pm), supported by Cassyette (7.30pm to 8.15pm) and Rocketsmith (6.30pm to 7pm); Saturday, Nile Rodgers & Chic (9pm to 10.30pm), supported by Sophie Ellis-Bextor (7.30pm to 8.15pm), Deco (6.30pm to 7pm) and DJ Sam Flanagan (Demented Disco, 5.45pm to 6.15pm); Sunday, Richard Ashcroft (9pm to 10.30pm), supported by Apollo Junction (7.30pm to 8.15pm) and Tom A Smith (6.30pm to 7pm). Box office: forestlive.com.
Rhodri Jones: National events programme manager at Forestry England
Rhodri Jones: the back story
NATIONAL events programme manager at Forestry England, leading on the national portfolio of forest events including the open-air concert series Forest Live.
Joined Forestry England in 2023 from Southbank Centre, London, where he worked for a decade, becoming the senior producer for all music events and festivals, including Meltdown festival.
Prior to that, he worked for Hay Festivals worldwide, on the flagship event in Wales, along with festivals in Bangladesh, India, Columbia, the Maldives, Spain, and Kenya.
Sugababes in 2024: Mutya Buena, left, Siobhan Donaghy and Keisha Buchanan
SUGABABES will complete Futuresounds’ debut line-up for Live At York Museum Gardens in their second outdoor appearance in the city.
The London girl band’s original line-up of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy will perform on Sunday, July 21, following up their July 23 performance at the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend two summers ago.
They join London singer-songwriter Jack Savoretti on July 18 and chart-topping York titans Shed Seven on July 19 and 20 (both sold out) in the four-night run.
Futuresound Group’s Rachel Hill says: “We are thrilled to finally announce the completed line-up for our first year in the beautiful Museum Gardens with the incredible Sugababes.
Shed Seven: Playing sold-out shows at York Museum Gardens, supported by Peter Doherty, on July 19 and 20. Friday gig will feature Lottery Winners and York band Serotones, fronted by Rick Witter’s son Duke. Picture: Barnaby Fairley
“It’s so exciting to have some genuine icons join us while being able to showcase some of York’s brilliant local artists. With such an eclectic line-up, this will really offer the residents of York a weekend of live music to remember.”
Formed in 1998, Sugababes have topped the singles charts with Freak Like Me (2001), Round Round (2022), Hole In The Head (2003), Push The Button (2005), Walk This Way (with Girls Aloud, 2006) and About You Now (2007), while 2005’s Taller In More Ways and 2007’s Change hit the album chart peak too.
Jack Savoretti: Playing York Museum Gardens on July 18, supported by Foy Vance and York singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich
Top ten hits came their way with Overload (2000), Angels With Dirty Faces (2002), Too Lost In You (2003), In The Middle (2004), Caught In A Moment (2004), Ugly (2005), Red Dress (2005), Easy (2006), Girls (2008), Get Sexy (2009), About A Girl (2009) and Wear My Kiss (2010).
The Sugababes line-up changed three times – Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen joining at various points – before Buena, Buchanan and Donaghy reunited in 2011.
Live At York Museum Gardens is Yorkshire promoters Futuresound’s latest addition to a portfolio that has embraced Live At Leeds, Slum Dunk Festival and Ed Sheeran’s August 16 and 17 2019 performances at Roundhay Park, Leeds.
Futuresounds will present Madness on their C’est La Vie itinerary at Kirkstall Abbey, Kirkstall, Leeds, on July 26, supported by The Zutons. What a Yorkshire panoply of outdoor concerts is in prospect that night when Kaiser Chiefs will play York Racecourse and James will return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre.
Tickets: Madness, https://futuresound.seetickets.com/event/madness/kirkstall-abbey/2835070; Kaiser Chiefs, yorkracecourse.co.uk; James, scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.
The poster announcing the postcode presale for Sugababes’ show at York Museum Gardens
Pilot Theatre’s cast for A Song For Ella Grey at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Topher McGrillis
BEACH encounters with Orpheus, tandem cyclists divided by Brexit, a joyful mess in art, an Eighties rom-com revisited, Ukrainian opera and big summer concerts brighten Charles Hutchinson’s days ahead.
York play of the week: Pilot Theatre in A Song For Ella Grey, York Theatre Royal, February 20 to 24, 7pm plus 1pm, Thursday and 2pm, Saturday; Hull Truck Theatre, March 5 to 9, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Wednesday and Saturday
IN Zoe Cooper’s stage adaptation of David Almond’s novel for York company Pilot Theatre and Newcastle’s Northern Stage, Claire and her best friend, Ella Grey, are ordinary kids from ordinary families in an ordinary world as modern teenagers meet ancient forces.
They and their friends fall in and out of love, play music and dance, stare at the stars, yearn for excitement, and have parties on Northumbrian beaches. One day, a stranger, a musician called Orpheus, appears on the beach and entrances them all, especially Ella. Where has Orpheuscome from and what path will Ella follow in this contemporary re-telling of the ancient Greek myth. Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk; Hull, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk.
Displayful artists Luke Beech, Wendy Galloway, Kate Fox and Liberty Hodes, exhibiting at Scarborough Art Gallery. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Coastal exhibition of the season: Displayful, Scarborough Art Gallery until May 7
DISPLAYFUL celebrates happy accidents and joyful mess, aiming to brighten the winter months by inviting visitors to enjoy uplifting contemporary artistic responses to objects from the collections of Scarborough Museums and Galleries.
The show combines new work by five regional artists, Luke Beech, Kate Fox, Wendy Galloway, Liberty Hodes and Angela Knipe, alongside historical artefacts and asks audiences to consider new possibilities for the lives of objects.
Amber Davies’s Vivian and Oliver Savile’s Edward, centre, in a scene from Pretty Woman The Musical, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York, next week
Musical of the week: Pretty Woman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, February 20 to 24, 7.30pm, plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
BILLED as Hollywood’s ultimate rom-com, live on stage, Pretty Woman: The Musical is set once upon a time in the late 1980s, when Hollywood Boulevard hooker Vivian meets entrepreneur Edward Lewis and her life changes forever.
Amber Davies plays Vivian opposite Oliver Savile’s Edward; 2016 Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba, last seen at this theatre in fishnets in March 2022 as Brad Majors in The Rocky Horror Show, has two roles as hotel manager Barnard Thompson/Happy Man, and Natalie Paris will be Vivian’s wisecracking roommate Kit De Luca. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.
The poster artwork for Dnipro Opera’s Madama Butterfly at York Barbican
Opera of the week: Dnipro Opera in Madama Butterfly, York Barbican, February 20, 7pm
DNIPRO Opera, the Ukrainian National Opera, returns to British shores after last year’s visit to perform Puccini’s favourite work, Madama Butterfly, sung in Italian with English surtitles (CORRECT).
Set in Japan in 1904, this torrid tale of innocent love crushed between two contrasting cultures charts the affair between an American naval officer and his young Japanese bride, whose self-sacrifice and defiance of her family leads to tragedy. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Carly Bednar in rehearsal for her role as Leila Arden in Griffonage Theatre’s Rope at Theatre@41, Monkgate
Thriller of the week: Griffonage Theatre in Rope, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm
HALFWAY through her MA in theatre studies, Katie Leckey directs York company Griffonage Theatre in their Theatre@41 debut in Patrick Hamilton’s thriller Rope, with its invitation to a dinner party like no other.
Set in 1929 against the backdrop of Britain’s flirtation with fascism, this whodunit states exactly who did it, but the mystery is will they be caught? Cue a soiree full of eccentric characters, ticking clocks and hushed arguments. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
An Eiffel and an earful: Don (John Lister) and Carol (Kate Caute) share a cycle but not political views in Paris in 1812 Theatre Company’s Scary Bikers
Ryedale play of the week: 1812 Theatre Company in Scary Bikers, Helmsley Arts Centre, February 21 to 24, 7.30pm
HELMSLEY’S 1812 Theatre Company stage their first John Godber comedy next week, his 2018 two hander Scary Bikers. Outwardly, redundant miner Don (John Lister) and former private school teacher Carol (Kate Caute) have little in common, but beneath the surface their former spouses are buried next to each other. Soon widowed Don and Carol bump into each other.
An innocent coffee leads to a bike ride through the Yorkshire Dales, then a bike tour across Europe to Florence. All looks promising for a budding romance, but their departure date is June 23 2016 and Don and Carol are on the opposite sides of the Brexit fence. Box office: helmsleyarts.co.uk or in person from the arts centre.
S Club: Post-racing party songs at York Racecourse on July 27
Bring it all back: S Club, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 27
JULY 27 will be S Club Party time after the Saturday afternoon race card on the Knavesmire track. Once S Club 7, now the five-piece S Club comprises Jo O’Meara, Rachel Stevens, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett and Bradley McIntosh, following last April’s death of Paul Cattermole from heart complications at 46 and Hannah Spearritt not featuring in 2023’s 25th anniversary tour.
This month finds S Club in the USA playing Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Roll on summertime to enjoy chart toppers Bring It All Back, Never Had A Dream Come True, Don’t Stop Movin’ and Have You Ever, plus You’re My Number One, Reach, Two In A Million, S Club Party et al in York. Tickets: yorkracecourse.co.uk.
James: Returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in July. Picture: Paul Dixon
Yorkshire gig announcement of the week: James, supported by Reverend & The Makers and Girlband!, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 26
MANCHESTER band James play Scarborough Open Air Theatre for the fourth time on July 26, the night when Leeds lads Kaiser Chiefs finish off the evening card at York Races.
“If you haven’t been there before, then make sure you come,” says James bassist and founder member Jim Glennie. “It’s a cracking venue and you can even have a paddle in the sea before the show!” New album Yummy arrives on April 12. Box office: James, ticketmaster.co.uk from 9am on Friday; Kaiser Chiefs, yorkracecourse.co.uk.
The Commitments: The return of Roddy Doyle’s story of an Eighties’ working-class Dublin band driven by Sixties’ soul power at the Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Elllie Kurttz
AS The Commitments return, what other commitments would Charles Hutchinson urge you to put in your diary?
Irish craic of the week: The Commitments, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees
WHEN schoolteacher Roddy Doyle wanted an excuse to bring a bunch of young people together in book form in 1986 to “capture the rhythm of Dublin kids yapping and teasing and bullying”, he decided to find a setting outside school. “That’s when the idea of a band came to me,” he recalls.
Cue a big band with a brass section and backing vocals, playing Sixties’ Motown and Memphis soul “because it felt timeless”. Cue The Commitments, the novel, the Alan Parker film, and the musical, now revived on tour with Corrie’s Nigel Pivaro as Jimmy Rabbitte’s Da and Andrew Linnie in the director’s chair. Box office: 0844 871 b7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
Dave Gorman: Making his stand in Powerpoint To The People
Analytical gig of the week: Dave Gorman, Powerpoint To The People, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm
DAVE Gorman, the comedian behind Dave TV’s show Modern Life Is Goodish, is touring again, determined to demonstrate how a powerpoint presentation need not involve a man in a grey suit standing behind a lectern saying “next slide please”.
“We’ve all had enough of that, so let’s put it all behind us and never speak of it again,” he says. “There are far more important things to analyse.” Well, they are more important in Gorman’s head anyway. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/york.
Oboe player James Turnbull: Performing this evening’s York Late Music concert with pianist Libby Burgess
Power play of the day: York Late Music: Duncan Honybourne, piano, today, 1pm; James Turnbull, oboe, and Libby Burgess, piano, tonight, 7.30pm, St Saviourgate Unitarian Chapel, York
AT lunchtime, pianist Duncan Honeybourne plays David Power’s arrangements of David Bowie (Art Decade) and Bowie & Eno (Warszawa), concluding with Harold Budd/Brian Eno/Power’s Mash Up Remembered. Prokofiev and Satie works feature too.
Power gives a 6.45pm talk tonight ahead of James Turnbull and Libby Burgess’s concert, when his composition Imagine Another receives its world premiere, alongside works by Stravinsky, Tansy Davies, Vaughan Williams, Diana Burrell, Britten and Ravel. Box office: latemusic.org or on the door.
Love’s trials and tribulations: Simon Radford’s Jamie and Claire Pulpher’s Cathy in White Rose Theatre’s musical The Last Five Years
Musical love story of the week, White Rose Theatre in The Last Five Years, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, Wednesday to Saturday, 7.30pm; 2.30pm Saturday matinee
FOR York’s newest stage company, White Rose Theatre, director Claire Pulpher and Simon Radford perform Jason Robert Brown’s emotionally charged American musical, charting the path of two lovers over the course of five years of courting and marriage, trials and tribulations.
Struggling actress Cathy Hiatt’s side of the story starts at the end of the relationship; rising novelist Jamie Wellerstein tells his tale from the beginning, but will they ever meet in the middle? The Last Five Years promises laughter, tears and everything in between in a score of upbeat songs and beautiful ballads. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.
Mark Thomas in Black And White, seeking answers and finding hope
Political points of the week: Mark Thomas: Black And White, The Crescent, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm
BURNING Duck Comedy Club presents political comedy firebrand Mark Thomas on his Black And White tour, promising “creative fun” as he takes down politicians, mucks about, ponders new ideas and finds hope.
Londoner Thomas asks: how did we get here? What are we going to do about it? Who’s up for a sing-song? “After lockdowns and isolation, this show is about the simple act of being in a room together and toppling international capitalism,” he vows. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.
Kaiser Chiefs: All roads lead homewards to Leeds next Saturday. Picture: Edward Cooke
Homecoming of the week: Kaiser Chiefs, plus special guests The Fratellis and The Sherlocks, All Together UK Tour, Leeds First Direct Arena, November 12, 7.30pm
NOW in their 22nd year, Kaiser Chiefs head home to Leeds on their November arena tour, as well as playing Hull Bonus Arena on November 8. “It’s been a while…and we can’t wait to see you all again,” they say. “We’re looking forward to putting on a big KC show. See you there!”
Alongside Yorkshire anthems Oh My God, I Predict A Riot, Everyday I Love You Less And Less and Ruby, listen out for new single How 2 Dance, produced by former Rudimental member Amir Amor as the first taster off their eighth studio album, set for release in 2023 as the follow-up to 2019’s Duck.
“I hope to hear it at weddings, on the radio, and in the last remaining indie discos across the land,” says lead singer Ricky Wilson. “How 2 Dance is about letting go, not worrying about what other people think you should be doing. It may not be the smoothest of journeys, but sometimes you need a bit of turbulence to remind you that you are flying.” Box office: Leeds, firstdirectarena.com; Hull, bonusarenahull.com.
Pulp fact, not fiction: Jarvis Cocker and co’s poster for next year’s comeback shows
Book early for next summer’s comeback: Pulp, Bridlington Spa, May 26 2023, and Scarborough Open Air Theatre, July 9 2023
LET frontman Jarvis Cocker explain why Sheffield’s Pulp have decided to play their first shows since December 2012. “Three months ago, we asked, ‘What exactly do you do for an encore?’. Well…an encore happens when the crowd makes enough noise to bring the band back to the stage,” he says.
“So…we are playing in the UK and Ireland in 2023. Therefore…come along and make some noise. See you there.”. Box office: gigsandtours.com and ticketmaster.co.uk.
Back in action: Ryan Adams to play acoustic solo gig in York next spring. Picture: Andrew Blackstein
York gig announcement of the week: Ryan Adams, York Barbican, April 14 2023
NORTH Carolina singer-songwriter Ryan Adams will play York for the first time since 2011 on his eight-date solo tour next spring, when each night’s set list will be different.
Adams, who visited the Grand Opera House in 2007 and four years later, will perform on acoustic guitar and piano in the style of his spring 2022 run of East Coast American gigs, when he played 168 songs over five nights in shows that averaged 160 minutes.
This year, Adams has released four studio albums: Chris, a tribute to his late brother; Romeo & Juliet; FM, a more traditional rock’n’roll record, and Devolver, given away to fans to mark a year’s sobriety. Box office: ryanadams.ffm.to/tour.OPR and yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Reyahn King: Leaving her post as chief executive of York Museums Trust after seven years . Picture: Richard Kearns
REYAHN King is to step down as chief executive officer of York Museums Trust to be the National Trust for Scotland’s director of heritage properties in a summer return to her birthplace.
Reyahn has been in post since September 2015, leading the independent charity that cares for the City of York’s collections and operates York Castle Museum, Yorkshire Museum, York Museum Gardens, York Art Gallery and York St Mary’s.
As CEO, she has steered York Museums Trust through one of the toughest periods in its history, when facing the need for lockdowns in the Coronavirus pandemic.
During her seven-year tenure, Reyahn has achieved great change for the trust. Under her leadership, she introduced a new vision and mission that puts audiences and communities at the heart of its work, while strengthening the charity’s fundraising activity and generating increased revenue from commercial activities.
York Art Gallery has presented such public exhibitions as the Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years ceramics and chart-topping Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs’ award-winning fusion of art and sound, When All Is Quiet, as well as championing experimentation in Strata- Rock- Dust- Stars.
Alongside this step change in the public programme, Reyahn oversaw the opening of two new permanent galleries: Jurassic Yorkshire at the Yorkshire Museum and Shaping The Body at York Castle Museum.
Cocktail Party, 1989, from last year’s Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years exhibition at York Art Gallery
Reyahn will leave a lasting legacy for York Museums Trust, having overseen the acquisition of the St Mary’s Abbey 13th-century Limoges Figure of Christ and the Ryedale Roman Bronzes, soon to go on display at the Yorkshire Museum in April 2022. She worked with City of York Council, stakeholders and the public to develop a compelling vision for York Castle Museum.
Reyahn has been a leading figure within the museum sector championing inclusion, diversity and equality. She has championed the inclusion of diverse and underrepresented artists within the public programme, with exhibitions such as Sounds Like Her and The Sea Is The Limit. and has led a significant internal inclusion, diversity and anti-racism culture change programme at York Museums Trust.
As chair of the York Cultural Leaders Group, Reyahn led the development of York’s Culture Strategy, which sets out to “create a more collaborative, higher-profile cultural city that truly benefits residents”.
Reyahn says: “It has been a joy and a privilege to lead the amazing staff at York Museums Trust and to be part of York’s cultural scene. I’m thrilled to be joining National Trust for Scotland at a time when NTS is doing such important work for Scottish culture, heritage and nature.”
James Grierson, York Museums Trust’s chair, says: “Reyahn has been a wonderful chief executive, modernising the organisation and culture of York Museums Trust, bringing in some great new talents, enriching our collections and staging some important and inspiring exhibitions.
“She led the leadership team’s highly professional response to the enormous challenges of the last couple of years and, notwithstanding the shadow the pandemic has caused, leaves the trust in good heart.
“The richness of experience she has had in York will, I am sure, be put to very effective use with the National Trust for Scotland and, while my fellow trustees and I will be sorry to lose her, Reyahn leaves behind a significant legacy, and one of the most exciting jobs in the sector, and I’m confident that her successor will be very well placed to take York Museums Trust on the next stage of its journey.”
Kaiser Chiefs band members at the December 2018 launch of their When All Is Quiet: Kaiser Chiefs In Conversation With York Art Gallery exhibition, winner of the Museums + Heritage Award for Partnership of the Year
Phil Long, chief executive of the National Trust for Scotland, says: “The National Trust for Scotland’s portfolio of properties is the foundation of all that we do. Caring for them also means caring for the stories of Scotland and enabling everybody to find out about and be inspired by our shared heritage.
“That’s why Reyahn’s appointment is so important for the trust and, given her track record of success with York Museums Trust and other organisations, we are delighted that she will be joining us to bring to the trust her experience and insight.”
Recruitment for Reyahn King’s successor in York will begin this spring.
Reyahn King: the back story
AS chief executive of York Museums Trust, Reyahn has strategic and operational responsibility for museums, an art gallery, botanic gardens, scheduled monuments and Museums Development Yorkshire.
Before moving to York, Reyahn had been head of the Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands, director of art galleries at National Museums Liverpool and head of interpretation and exhibitions/masterplan at Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery.
Reyahn is an experienced leader who brings people together to develop new visions for culture and heritage. She is on the board of Culture Perth and Kinross and is thrilled to be returning to work in the country of her birth as the National Trust for Scotland’s director of heritage properties from this summer.
Passionate about diversity and equality, Reyahn began her career as a curator and programmer who produced exhibitions notable for their relevance to a wider, more diverse range of audiences, such as curating the ground-breaking Ignatius Sancho: An African Man Of Letters at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Yard Act: Chasing the top spot with their debut album The Overload. Picture: Phoebe Fox
LEEDS! Are you with us, ask Yard Act on Twitter as the spiky Leeds post-punk band chase the top spot with their debut album, The Overload.
“If half of all of you (pop.521,148) download The Overload for just £4.99 by midnight tonight we’ll be number one EASY!”, the Tweet urges, then adding yardact.lnk.to/TheOverloadTW/…All Leeds Aren’t We to their #YardActForNumber1 campaign.
Should Yard Act pull off the feat, they will be the first album chart toppers from Leeds since Kaiser Chiefs’ second number one, Education, Education, Education & War, in 2014.
“Who knows if we’ll make it but we’ve had a laugh trying to get to number one,” say Yard Act. “If we do become the first Leeds band in a generation to get a number one album, it’ll be down to the support of the city, its venues, its culture that’s made us the band and people we are.”
Recorded in the pandemic, The Overload knits together observations from all walks of modern British life in deadpan storytelling songs, delivered with coruscating, dark humour and knowing cynicism by frontman James Smith on such singles as The Trapper’s Pelts, Fixer Upper, Peanuts and Dark Days with echoes of both The Fall and Arctic Monkeys.
Their January 16 gig at The Crescent, York, had to be postponed, but Yard Act are set to play home-city shows at Belgrave Music Hall on February 1, Leeds Brudenell Social Club on February 26 and Leeds Irish Centre on May 20.
The Overload was released on January 21 on Zen F.C./Island Records. “Lyrically, I think it’s a record about the things that we all do,” says Smith. “We’re all so wired into the system of day to day that we don’t really stop and think about the constructs that define us.
The cover artwork for Yard Act’s January 21 album, The Overload
“But beyond that, it’s kind of exciting, because there’s still so much we don’t understand; how a hive mindset is forged, how information spreads, how we agree and presume things without thinking. Some people think more than others, but a lot of this sloganeering – ‘I’m on the left, I’m not wrong’ – doesn’t achieve anything. Gammons, Karens, Snowflakes, whatever – I find it all so boring. I’m just not into that.”
Latest single The Overload serves as an overture to the album. “It’s written from the perspective of someone sitting in a pub overhearing snippets of all these different conversations from different characters and acting as a vessel, a medium even, for their own thoughts and opinions,” says Smith.
“That cut-and-paste approach means it’s hard to decipher where one person’s musings end and another’s statement begins, and that feels like a fairer representation of why human existence is at the point it is right now. Society doesn’t prevail because of the absolute, it struggles on in spite of it. It’s our ability to compromise which helps us to co-exist.”
The title track also sees the return of fictional narrator Graham, the cocksure home renovator from Fixer Upper. “The second verse is dominated entirely by this character called Graham, a man more sure of himself than most,” says Smith. “Maybe it’s both a blessing and a burden that the rest of us can learn to compromise with the Grahams of the world which allows society to stumble on.
“I’ve defended Graham as a harmless relic of the past, struggling to stay relevant in the modern world, but this Graham is a little more vicious than the Graham from Fixer Upper. Maybe it’s the heightened paranoia that’s come with two years living through the pandemic that’s given him a little more edge. He’s still like the rest of us though, no matter how tough he acts.”
Smith adds: “We all succumb to fear most of the time, and it explains a lot about why we make the decisions we do. I imagine the chorus delivered by a Greek chorus; omnipresent, and encompassing the themes of not only this song, but the whole album. That’s what The Overload is essentially. It’s everything happening at once, and it’s our tiny, feeble minds trying to process and cope with it. Good luck.”
If you have read this story all the way to the end, why? Yard Act want you to have bought The Overload by now.
FOR the revelations on Genesis, listen to Episode 59 of arts and culture podcasters Chalmers & Hutch’s Two Big Egos In A Small Car debates.
Under discussion too are: tips on how to judge/not judge Battle of the Bands contests; Scritti Politti’s music-hall act at Leeds City Varieties; why No Time To Die is the longest Bond film; and the Seventies’ sci-fi visions of Michael Moorcock’s The Condition Of Muzak.
