Tag: Natasha Bedingfield

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as Rowntree report makes dramatic impact. Hutch’s List No. 32 from The York Press

Amelia Donkor and Antony Jardine: Playing Gulie Harlock and Seebohm Rowntree respectively alongside 100-strong community ensemble in His Last Report at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Millie Stephens

YORK Theatre Royal’s community play takes top billing in Charles Hutchinson’s selections for summer satisfaction.

Community play of the week: York Theatre Royal and Riding Lights Theatre Company present His Last Report, York Theatre Royal, today to August 3  

FOCUSING on pioneering York social reformer Seebohm Rowntree and his groundbreaking investigation into the harsh realities of poverty, Misha Duncan-Barry and Bridget Foreman’s play will be told through the voices of York’s residents, past and present.

Seebohm’s findings illuminate the struggles of the working class, laying the foundation for the welfare state and sparking a movement that will redefine life as we know it. However, when fast forwarding to present-day York, what is Seebohm’s real legacy as the Ministry begins to dismantle the very structures he championed in His Last Report’s York story with a national impact? Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Bean there, done that: “Appetite For Destruction” artist Lincoln Lightfoot takes his spay can to York’s iconic Bile Beans mural advert at VandalFest

Street art takeover of the summer: Vandals At Work present VandalFest, today, Sunday, then July 25 to 27, 11am to 6pm

VANDALS At Work reunite with youth homelessness charity Safe and Sound Homes (SASH) for VandalFest, the immersive street art takeover of a disused office block with a 2025 theme of the playful, cheeky, witty and mischievous.

Among more than 30 artists from the UK and beyond are Bristol graffiti pioneer Inkie, subversive stencilist Dotmasters, inflatable prankster Filthy Luker, master of optical illusions Chu, rooftop renegade Rowdy and York’s own Sharon McDonagh, Lincoln Lightfoot and Boxxhead. Entry is free, with a suggested £3 donation to SASH.

Craig David: In party mood at Scarborough Open Air Theatre today

Coastal gigs of the week: TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Craig David TS5 Show plus special guest Patrick Nazemi, today; Judas Priest, July 23. Gates open at 6pm

SOUTHAMPTON rhythm & blues musician Craig David parades his triple threat as singer, MC and DJ at his TS5 party night – patented at his Miami penthouse – on the East Coast this weekend. On the 25th anniversary of debut album Born To Do It, expect a set combining old skool anthems from R&B to Swing Beat, Garage to Bashment, while merging chart-topping House hits too.

Judas  Priest, formed in Birmingham in 1969, are still receiving a Grammy nomination in 2025 for Best Metal Performance, on top of being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, appointed by shock rocker Alice Cooper, in 2022. Their 19th studio album, Invincible Shield, was released in March 2024. Wednesday’s support act will be Phil Campbell & The B**stard Sons. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Heather Leech in Gleowit Productions’ King Harold’s Mother at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre

Historical solo show of the week: Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm

IN 1066, a mother loses four sons; three killed at the Battle of Hastings, one branded as a traitor. However, these are times of turmoil, where crowns on the head go with swords in the hand, and this mother has lost everything.

Two years later in Exeter, King Harold’s mother, Gytha Thorkelsdottir, makes her last stand against the might of the new king, William. She is forced to face the consequences of her own actions, to accept the overwhelming might of the Conqueror. Is nothing all she is left with? Is nothing better than this, asks Gleowit Productions in King Harold’s Mother, written and performed by Heather Leech. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Dame Harriet Walter: Pride And Prejudice celebration at Wesley Centre, Malton

Ryedale Festival theatre event of the week: Pride And Prejudice, Dame Harriet Walter, Melvyn Tan and Madeleine Easton, Wesley Centre, Malton, Sunday, 7pm

THIS theatrical retelling of Pride And Prejudice by novelist and Austen biographer Gill Hornby marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Star of stage and screen Dame Harriet Walter brings the romance of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to life in an intimate drawing-room setting, in much the same way that Jane herself first read the story aloud to family and friends.

Carl David’s score for the 1995 BBC television adaptation will be performed by pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Madeleine Easton. The festival runs until July 27; full details and tickets at ryedalefestival.com. Box office: 01751 475777.

The Wedding Present’s David Gedge, left, and Reception writer-director Matt Aston, pictured walking through Leeds, will be teaming up for a chat at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, on Sunday

Gig and chat show the week: An Evening of Conversation and Music with David Gedge from The Wedding Present, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, Sunday, 8pm, doors 7pm

DAVID Gedge, long-time leader of The Wedding Present, discusses his “semi-legendary” Leeds indie band’s 40-year-career and his life in the music industry, in conversation with Amanda Cook. York writer/director Matt Aston joins him too on the eve of rehearsals for Reception – The Wedding Present Musical, ahead of its premiere at Slung Low, The Warehouse, Holbeck, Leeds, from August 22 to September 6.  

Sunday’s event concludes with Gedge’s 20-minute acoustic set drawn from The Wedding Present’s cornucopia of arch, romantic yet perennially disappointed songs of love, life’s high hopes and woes, chance and no chance. Box office: eventbrite.com.

Listen to David Gedge discuss 40 years Of The Wedding Present, the Reception musical and his Rise@Bluebird Bakery show with Two Big Egos In A Small Car podcasters Charles Hutchinson and Graham Chalmers at:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1187561/episodes/17507606-episode-233-interview-special-with-david-gedge-from-the-wedding-present

Out with the old, in with New: Harvey Stevens’ Jamie, front left, with his Sheffield school classmates in Pick Me Up Theatre’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie

Musical of the week: Pick Me Up Theatre in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, July 22 to 26, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee

AT 16, Sheffield schoolboy Jamie New is terrified of  the future and has no interest in pursuing a traditional career. He wants to be a drag queen. He knows he can be a sensation. Supported by his loving mum and encouraged by friends, can Jamie overcome prejudice, beat the bullies and step out of the darkness, into the spotlight?

Written by Tom MacRae and The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells, this joyous underdog story is staged by York company Pick Me Up Theatre with Harvey Stevens, 15, and Gemma McDonald leading the cast. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

The poster for Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, on tour at the Grand Opera House, York

Jukebox show of the week: Steve Steinman’s Love Hurts, Power Ballads & Anthems!, Grand Opera House, York, July 24, 7.30pm

FROM the producers of Anything For Love and Vampires Rock comes the latest Steve Steinman venture, this one built around power ballads and anthems performed by a powerhouse cast of singers and a seven-piece band.

Love Hurts embraces Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Whitesnake, Billy Idol, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Cutting Crew, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon, Rainbow, Van Halen, Europe, Air Supply and more. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On course for Knavesmire

Dancefloor double bill of the week: Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 25.Gates, 4pm; first race, 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm

AT the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, kitchen disco queen Sophie Ellis-Bextor and fellow Londoner Natasha Bedingfield each play a set after the seven-race sporting action.

Ellis-Bextor, 46, will draw on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles, such as Murder On The Dancefloor and Take Me Home, from a pop career now stretching beyond 25 years. Bedingfield , 43, has the hits Unwritten, Single, These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies and Soulmate to her name. For race-day tickets, go to: yorkracecourse.co.uk. 

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Life’s a rollercoaster ride out at York Racecourse for Ronan Keating at Music Showcase Weekend on July 26

Ronan Keating: On track for York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend

RONAN Keating returns to the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend on July 26, back on the Knavesmire track where he performed with Boyzone in July 2018.

“I’ve been to York numerous times,” says the 48-year-old Dubliner. “My manager lives in York. He knows the good places to go, like the Star Inn The City.”

Ronan also played solo shows at York Barbican on his Time Of My Life Tour in September 2016 and on his thrice-rearranged Twenty Twenty Tour in July 2022 (first booked for June 2020, then January 2021, then January 2022, in Covid-enforced changes).

“York audiences are always up for a good time,” he says as he looks forward to performing after a Saturday race card featuring the prestigious Group 2 Sky Bet York Stakes.

When playing in the open air, “the only thing is the sound issue for the artists and you get that at all outdoor gigs, whereas somewhere like the [York] Barbican is acoustically fantastic and is always going to sound better. You learn a lot from it,” says Ronan who will draw on his experience of playing to large al-fresco crowds at next weekend’s concert.

That applies to choosing his set list too, eschewing album tracks. “If you’re going to a festival or a racecourse, you have to give the people what they want, what they’re expecting, and because of the Boyzone documentary [Sky Original’s Boyzone: No Matter What] that’s on Sky and NOW TV, I’ll be doing more Boyzone hits than normal this time.

“It’s been Sky Documentaries’ most successful documentary. It’s been word of mouth. No-one knew what was coming. We were in the thick of making our own film – we had to say ‘No’ to Louis Theroux – when there was the Backstreet Boys one  [Larger Than Life on Paramount+], so we could fallen through the cracks.

“It’s surprised everybody. Our story is unbelievable, not normal, and it was hard to hear each of us talk about each other. It was tough, it was hard-hitting.”

“I never saw it as ambition,” says Ronan Keating. “My dad was a football coach and I had a belief in graft that came from him”

Each band member, Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham, filmed 15 hours of footage individually over “three long days”. “We produced the film, but Curious Films made it, and they interviewed some people from the Nineties’ tabloid press and ex-manager Louis [Walsh].”

Therapy before the documentary had helped Ronan to “learn about myself”. Had he been ambitious, he reflected? “I never saw it as ambition. My dad was a football coach and I had a belief in graft that came from him. I just worked my a**e off, and it was rewarding because we kept getting accolades, and then I get offered the chance to make a song on my own for the film Notting Hill [his chart-topping debut single in 2000, When You Say Nothing At All] – and that’s seen as ambitious but anyone else would do that.”

From boy band to men in adulthood, “some members in the band are not as close as they used to be, but I’m talking to all of them,” says Ronan. Given the documentary’s success, could Boyzone re-form for the first time since  their “Thank You & Goodnight” farewell tour in 2019? “I’m saying nothing!” he says.

Ronan’s career has taken him into presenting duties. “I was asked to host Eurovision in 1997 [in Dublin] and the MTV Award in Europe, so I started doing that ‘on the side’. I knew I could do it, but I didn’t think it was really me, but then Magic Radio came to me offer me the Breakfast show with  Harriet [Scott], and though I didn’t enjoy the early hours, I loved doing radio. It was everything. People felt we were in their house with them.”

Ronan has been a fixture on the BBC’s The One Show too, co-presenting with Alex Jones. “The One Show is a powerful show, and I love working with Alex. She’s a superstar,” he says. “I’ve been lucky and have chosen shows pretty well,” now adding The Voice Australia 2025 to that list.

If life has indeed been a rollercoaster, then Ronan’s abiding popularity has prompted York Racecourse head of marketing and sponsorship James Brennan to say ahead of next weekend’s performance: “Ronan has felt like part of the family for the best part of 30 years, whether it is entertaining with his friends in the band or as a solo artist, charity campaigner or breakfast show host. I’m looking forward to an event that music and racing fans will treasure as a memory.” Spot on , sir.

Looking ahead, Ronan is working on new music. “I’m making a duet that will be out in late July or early August,” he says. Who with? “He’s a very good friend of mine in the industry. It’s quite a big deal for us.” Watch this space.

Ronan Keating, York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend, July 26: gates open at 11.15am; first race, 1.25pm; last race, 5pm. Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield perform post-racing on July 25: gates, 4pm, first race; 5.30pm; last race, 8.23pm.

Please note, these race days are integrated racing and music events and admission is not available on a “concert only” basis. At each meeting, the gates will be closed at the time of the last race. For race day tickets, go to: www.yorkracecourse.co.uk.

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Sophie Ellis-Bextor & Natasha Bedingfield to perform on Music Showcase bill at York Racecourse after racing on July 25

Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield : A brace of London pop acts bound for York Racecourse

SOPHIE Ellis-Bextor and a special guest appearance by Natasha Bedingfield will form the dancefloor-filling double bill for the York Racecourse Music Showcase Weekend on July 25.

At the only evening meeting of the Knavesmire racing calendar, they each will play a set after the seven-race sporting action.

Kitchen Disco queen Ellis-Bextor, 45, will draw on her five top ten albums and eight top ten singles from a pop career now stretching beyond 25 years. Expect Murder On The Dancefloor, Take Me Home, Get Over You, Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer) and latest single Freedom Of The Night.

After featuring in the epic final scene of Emerald Fennell’s November 2023 dark comedy Saltburn, Ellis’s 2001 hit Murder On The Dancefloor enjoyed a resurgence, charting at number two for a second time in the UK Singles Chart and at number 58 in the Billboard Top 100, while reaching more than 11 billion global streams across all streaming and social platforms.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Last played York in December 2023 on her Christmas Kitchen Disco tour at York Barbican.

Natasha Bedingfield, 43, has sold more than ten million albums and received multiple award nominations, including a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. ​Her 2004 hit Unwritten re-entered the UK Top 20 last years and was inducted into the Spotify Billions Club.

Bedingfield also made the top ten with Single, the chart-topping These Words, I Wanna Have Your Babies, Soulmate and Alibi (The Other Girl Version) with Ella Henderson and Rudimental last year.

Racing and music fans can take advantage of a range of deals on General Admission, meaning entrance to the main Grandstand and Paddock enclosure starts at £40 per person for a group of six.  As well as free car parking, there are no booking fees. To book, visit yorkracecourse.co.uk. 

On the track, the seven thoroughbred contests will include the Listed EBF Lyric Stakes, worth £70,000 in prize money.

Ronan Keating: Boyzone singer to play solo show at York Racecourse on July 26

Post-racing on the next day (July 26), Ronan Keating will take to the Music Showcase Weekend stage. Earlier in the season, on a new race day on Saturday, June 28, Olly Murs will perform.

James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship, says: “A summer evening on the Knavesmire is all about having fun and enjoying yourself, and you can’t get better sounds of the summer than those performed by Sophie and Natasha. I’m looking forward to an event that music and racing fans will remember with real fondness.”

Please note, these race days are integrated racing and music events and admission is not available on a “concert only” basis. At each meeting, the gates will be closed at the time of the last race.

Olly Murs: On track for York Racecourse on June 28