a-ha, Christina Aguilera and Sam Fender to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre

The sun always shines on a-ha in Scarborough in July

NORWEGIAN synth-pop trio a-ha will head to the East Coast on their 2022 World Tour to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 3.

Forty years since forming in Oslo, vocalist Morten Harket, guitarist Pal Waaktaar-Savoy and keyboardist Magne Furuholmen will be playing Europe, the United States and South America in 2022.

a-ha made their breakthrough in 1985 with the chart-topping Take On Me and The Sun Always Shines On TV from debut album Hunting High And Low, since when they have released ten studio and two live albums, plus an MTV Unplugged album. Take On Me has been viewed 1.4 billion times on YouTube and repeatedly voted into MTV fans’ Top Ten Best Music Videos of all time.

a-ha The Documentary, a film that follows the Scandinavians over four years, will be released in British cinemas on May 27 to coincide with their series of UK arena shows.

a-ha: New album in October

The documentary charts a-ha’s rise to the peak of their popularity, portraying the challenging creative and personal dynamics of three strong individuals who achieved their dreams.

After their world tour, a-ha will not be taking time out. Instead, in October, they will release True North, their first collection of new songs since 2015’s I on their debut for Sony Music/RCA.

True North will be not only an album, but a film too, capturing a-ha while recording the songs over two early November 2021 days in Bodø, the Norwegian city located 25km inside the Arctic Circle, in a project completed with the Norwegian Arctic Philharmonic.

Venue programmer and promoter Peter Taylor, of Cuffe and Taylor, says: “a-ha are true pop pioneers, visionaries and one of the most loved bands of the last 40 years.

“Their 2022 tour sees them headline many huge venues, including the Hollywood Bowl, so we’re delighted to be bringing them to the UK’s very own iconic open-air arena, right here on the beautiful Yorkshire coast.”

Christina Aguilera: Follows Britney and Kylie in playing Scarborough Open Air Theatre

AMERICAN singer, songwriter, producer and entrepreneur Christina Aguilera, 41, will play Scarbrough OAT on August 2 as one of three UK shows this summer, with Liverpool and London to follow on August 3 and 5.

Promoter Peter Taylor says: “Christina Aguilera is a music superstar and true global icon and we’re absolutely thrilled she is coming to Scarborough this summer.

“Christina is only playing a handful of shows in the UK, so to bring her here is another major coup for Scarborough Open Air Theatre and the Yorkshire coast.

“First Britney [Spears], then Kylie [Minogue] and now Christina – three incredible women on the global stage – all headlining this special venue. Roll on August 2; this is going to be one of the must-see shows of the summer.”

More than 20 years after her self-titled debut album, New Yorker Aguilera has sold more than 43 million records worldwide, collected 18 million Spotify listens, received three billion YouTube views and achieved five American number one singles, making her the fourth female artist to top the charts over three consecutive decades (1990s, 2000s, and 2010s).

In 2010, Aguilera received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and she holds the honour of being the only artist under the age of 30 to be included in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest singers of all time.

Aguilera’s British dates follow the release of her single Pa Mis Muchachas, a much anticipated return to her Latin roots in a Spanish-language celebration of Latina sisterhood that features  Latin music superstar Becky G, explosive Argentinian rising star Nicki Nicole and Spain-based songwriter and rapper Nathy Peluso. Expect to hear it alongside Dirrty, Ain’t No Other Man, Fighter and Genie In A Bottle on August 2.

Sam Fender: Opening concert of Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2022 programme

NORTH Shields singer-songwriter Sam Fender will travel down the East Coast to open Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2022 season on May 27 on his biggest ever UK Tour.

The double BRIT Award winner, who turns 28 next Monday, will be airing songs from his two chart-topping albums, last October’s Seventeen Going Under and his 2019 debut, Hypersonic Missiles.

This year he added the Brit Award for Best British Alternative/Rock Act to his 2019 Critics’ Choice Award.

Fender will follow his Scarborough concert with summer headline festival sets at Tramlines, Truck and Victorious and a London outdoor show at Finsbury Park.

Tickets for Scarborough OAT gigs are on sale at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Simply Red to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 22 next summer

“It’s going to be wonderfully inspiring when people can go and see bands again. I can’t wait,” says Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall

SIMPLY Red will head back to Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer for the first time since 2016.

Mick Hucknall’s pop-soul band will play on the East Coast on July 22, with tickets going on sale on Friday at 9am at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Looking forward to his stage return, Hucknall, 61, says: “I’ve spent most of my life going out and singing for people, so it feels strange not to have that. I miss being able to express myself. It’s going to be wonderfully inspiring when people can go and see bands again. I can’t wait.”

Simply Red have notched up more than a billion hits on You Tube and sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, five of them going to number one in the UK: A New Flame in 1989, Stars in 1991, Life in 1995, Greatest Hits in 1996 and Blue in 1998 .

All 12 Simply Red studio albums since 1985 debut Picture Book have made the British top ten; the latest, 2019’s Blue Eyed Soul, peaking at number six.

1991’s Stars was the best-selling album for two years running in Britain and Europe; Holding Back The Years and If You Don’t Know Me By Now both topped the US Billboard singles chart.

Simply Red: Mick Hucknall has retained the same line-up since 2003

Manchester-born Hucknall has been the songwriter and bandleader since Simply Red formed in 1985, working with the present line-up since 2003.

Simply Red join the ever-expanding diary of headliners at Scarborough OAT in 2022:  Lionel Richie, Lewis Capaldi, Bryan Adams, Crowded House and Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

Peter Taylor, of venue programmers Cuffe and Taylor, says: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Simply Red back to Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

“Mick Hucknall is a music legend and he and his band sound as relevant and as fresh today as they did when Simply Red first burst into the public consciousness almost 40 years ago.

“We’ve had so many requests for them to return, so we are delighted to oblige and reveal they will be back at this special venue next summer.”

‘It’s one of those shows that people love,’ says The Damned United actor Luke Dickson as Clough’s tragedy plays York NEWSFLASH…

Not having a ball: Luke Dickson’s splenetic Brian Clough in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s The Damned United

NEWSFLASH!

THE Damned Pandemic curse strikes again as tonight’s (16/6/2021) performance of The Damned United is OFF after one of the actors had an inconclusive lateral flow test. The show has been rearranged for Thursday, July 15, kick-off 7.30pm. Tickets remain valid.

BRIAN Clough lasted all of 44 days as manager of Leeds United in the cauldron of hatred in the summer of 1974.

By comparison, Luke Dickson is in fourth tour of playing Clough in his brief, bruising, self-destructive tenure when Elland Road turns into Helland Road in The Damned United.

“It keeps coming back,” says the Leeds-born actor, whose latest fixture list sends him to York Theatre Royal in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s touring production tomorrow night.

“I think we’ll have done something in excess of the 120-show mark, with me, David Chafer and Jamie Smelt in the cast, and we just keep returning! It’s one of those shows that people love.”

Ah, love. That might explain The Damned United’s otherwise baffling inclusion in The Love Season at York Theatre Royal, given how much spite and loathing, and not one heartbeat of love, pumps through the Leeds chapters of the Clough story.

The truth is more prosaic, as explained by chief executive Tom Bird: Rod Dixon’s show was booked in already when the reopening season’s theme took shape.

The cover to the alternative “War and Peace”, David Peace’s biographical novel The Damned Utd

Enfant terrible Clough despised Don Revie’s “Dirty Leeds” and the feeling was mutual, drawing Dewsbury-born author David Peace to construct a psychodrama inside the life of Brian’s head: the biographical novel The Damned Utd, published in 2006.

Tom Hopper’s film, starring Michael Sheen, ensued in 2009 under the title The Damned United, and Leeds company Red Ladder have since presented various stage manifestations of Anders Lustgarten’s darkly humorous adaptation, built around the double act of Clough and father figure/assistant Peter Taylor.

Heading deep into the tortured mind of a flawed genius, slamming up against his limits, The Damned United brings to life the beauty and brutality of football, the working man’s ballet, in a story of sweat and booze, fury and power battles. 

The performing rights were donated by Peace to Red Ladder for all of £3.68 – a penny for each page in the novel – as a show of support for the Leeds company when it suffered a 100 per cent cut to Arts Council funding.

Red Ladder artistic director Rod Dixon says: “As a story, The Damned United has it all – passion, power struggles, tragedy and a classic anti-hero in Clough – which lends itself brilliantly to theatre.

“Anders’ adaptation captures the grit, poetry and darkness of David Peace’s writing, and by charting the fall of Brian Clough and exposing what made ‘Old Big ’Ea’ tick, audiences are given a fascinating insight into the troubled but brilliant mind of a flawed genius – who, to this day, remains one of the most controversial figures in sporting history.”

“As a story, The Damned United has it all – passion, power struggles, tragedy and a classic anti-hero in Clough,” says Red Ladder artistic director Rod Dixon

Dickson loves author Peace’s definition of his character study of Clough, a figure as divisive yet as indelibly part of British Seventies and Eighties’ life as Margaret Thatcher. “He said it isn’t a photograph; it’s a portrait; it’s interpretative, not merely biographical, but creative, trying to get inside the troubled head of Clough, quite horrifically, but poetically too,” he says.

Raised in Leeds, Dickson supports LUFC, albeit without the dedication of a season-ticket holder, but he knows Clough is the Hamlet of football roles on stage. “I enjoy football, like anyone, and I’m working in a show where everyone is a staunch supporter of a club, more so than me, and everyone has an opinion on Clough, saying, ‘he did this’ or ‘he did that’,” he says.

“I thought, ‘just leave it with me; I need to find my own path to his character, so I read a lot about him, particularly his childhood, his life around football, and what gave him such a big chip on his shoulder, and that aggressive, cruel tendency to lay into people.

“It’s more about the man than the manager, which is where the drama lies, the human condition, in Clough’s story.”

Dickson’s Clough, Chafer’s right-hand man Peter Taylor and Jamie Smelt’s “everyone else” last toured The Damned United two and a half years ago, and while returning to the play in part mirrors climbing back on a bike after a fall, there is more to the revival than that.

“You can definitely play with the nuances, the intonations, to keep it fresh on stage for us as actors, playing a scene a little differently,” says Luke. “David might come up with something different, and I have to react, and we also have to find a way to slow it down, to let it breathe more, when it’s so fast paced, to find the moment.

Double act: David Chafer as Peter Taylor and Luke Dickson as Brian Clough in The Damned United

“We first did it at the Edinburgh Fringe, where everything has to be under an hour, whereas the original incarnation at the West Yorkshire Playhouse was around 75 minutes.

“Our version now runs just over an hour, with no interval apropos of Covid, and the script hasn’t changed from the last tour. I have to say there’s a fun feel to it this time, and once people are in the auditorium, sitting down, all those Covid thoughts wash away, and you’re all just there to enjoy the show.”

How has Dickson dealt with performing to audiences in masks? “Do you know, the masks haven’t affected it. You can still hear people talking during the show, saying ‘I was at that match’, because you’re playing to a football crowd as much as a theatre crowd,” he says. “Funnily enough, there are always people who stand up after 45 minutes, because that’s when it’s normally half-time!

“But back to masks, they’re becoming so commonplace now, it doesn’t really have an impact on me, and even if you can’t hear a smile, you can hear the chatter.”

On a fourth tour, Dickson is still discovering “new things” within The Damned United. “There’s such a lot to this story. How many times has this play been done in Leeds? It must be well into double figures now, but we still get good audiences. I must be eight years older now than Clough was when he was at Leeds, but I’ve still got a good head of hair!”

At the core of The Damned United is the Clough and Taylor double act, with all the highs and lows, the friendship and fall-outs, that go with such partnerships, and now in turn the bond of Dickson and Chafer.

Glory, glory Leeds United…or gory, gory Leeds United? The Don Revie squad, 16 internationals et al, before the arrival of Brian Clough

“We were talking the other day about what we might feel, in a year’s time, if other people were brought into the cast, and it would feel strange now if that happened, because we really need each other on stage,” says Luke.

“Looking at Clough and Taylor, there have been numerous books written about them, and it’s like a platonic male friendship that’s really deep running with all the ups and downs that can go with that, which I recognise from my own friendships that can feel unbreakable.

“But then you’re spending less time with them or you’re not in touch, which happened with Clough and Taylor, but because they had football within their friendship, they had to mix business and pleasure. Clough demanded such loyalty but then he had no compunction in deciding to leave Brighton for Leeds.”

The Damned United has the heightened intensity of a Greek tragedy, albeit leavened by dark humour. “It’s a tragic tale and Anders’ script brilliantly captures the central chapters within that tale in only an hour, which is no mean feat – though he would say he had wonderful source material. It’s a fantastic micro-display of friendship between two men.”

The Damned United tour is playing against the counter attraction of the Euro 2020 tournament, but on the other hand that means football is uppermost in people’s chat. “I’ll have to miss live matches, but that’s a cross I’ll just have to bear,” says Luke.

Red Ladder Theatre Company in The Damned United, The Love Season, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow (16/6/2021), kick-off 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

More Things To Do in York and beyond that Euro football tournament. It’s all kicking off in List No. 36, courtesy of The Press, York

What’s the pecking order here? Twirlywoos Live! at York Theatre Royal

EUROS 2020? What Euro 2020? The sun is out and so is Charles Hutchinson’s diary as he points you in the direction of curious CBeebies favourites, acoustic concerts, a dockyard Romeo & Juliet, a large painting, Clough v Leeds United and more ideas aplenty. 

Children’s show of the week: Twirlywoos Live!, York Theatre Royal, tomorrow at 1.30pm and 4pm; Saturday, Sunday, 10am and 2pm

TOODLOO, Great BigHoo, Chick and Peekaboo set sail for York on board their Big Red Boat for their Theatre Royal theatrical adventure Twirlywoos Live!.

Curious, inquisitive and eager to learn about the world, these small, bird-like characters from the CBeebies television factory will be brought to life with inventive puppetry, mischief, music and plenty of surprises.

Written by Zoe Bourn, the 55-minute show is recommended for ages 1+; babes in arms are welcome too. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Joshua Burnell: York prog-folk musician will perform in a Songs Under Skies double bill on June 14. Picture: Elly Lucas

Outdoor gigs of the week ahead: Songs Under Skies 2, National Centre for Early Music churchyard, York June 14 to 16

SONGS Under Skies returns to the NCEM’s glorious gardens at St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, York, for acoustic double bills by Katie Spencer and Joshua Burnell on June 14, Zak Ford and Alice Simmons, June 15, and Epilogues and Sunflower Thieves, June 16.

As with last September’s debut series, season two of the open-air, Covid-safe concerts is presented by the NCEM in tandem with The Crescent community venue, the Fulford Arms and the Music Venues Alliance.

Gates open at 6.30pm for each 7pm to 8.30pm concert with a 30-minute interval between sets. Tickets must be bought in advance, either in “pods” for family groups or as individuals at tickets.ncem.co.uk.

Art at large: Subterranea Nostalgia, by Corrina Rothwell

Biggest painting of the week award: Corrina Rothwell’s Subterranea Nostalgia, in The Cacophany Of Ages at Pyramid Gallery, York, until July 1

CORRINA Rothwell’s exhibition of abstract works features the largest canvas painting in the near-30 years that Terry Brett has run Pyramid Gallery in York.

“Subterranea Nostalgia measures 1600mm by 1600mm. That was fun, getting it upstairs!” says Terry, whose gallery is housed in a National Trust-owned 15th century building in Stonegate. “The painting has a real impact. If you know anyone with really big walls, it would be perfect for them!”

Nottingham artist Corrina favours mixed media and acrylic on canvas for the paintings, on show at Pyramid and online at pyramidgallery.com.

Not having a ball: Luke Dickson’s Brian Clough goes to hell and back in his 44 days in charge of Leeds United in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s The Damned United

Football, football, football, not on the box but in a theatre: Red Ladder Theatre Company in The Damned United, York Theatre Royal, June 16

THE choice is yours: Italy versus Switzerland at the Euro 2020 on ITV at 8pm or the inner workings of Brian Clough’s troubled mind at Elland Road in 1974 at York Theatre Royal, kick-off 7.30pm.

Adapted from Yorkshireman David Peace’s biographical novel by Anders Lustgarten, The Damned United is a psychodrama that deconstructs Old Big ‘Ead’s 44 days as manager of Leeds United, whose Don Revie-tutored players he despised as much as they loathed him.

The double act of Luke Dickson’s flawed Clough and David Chafer’s avuncular Peter Taylor are joined by Jamie Smelt as everyone else in a story of sweat and booze, fury and power struggles, demons and defeats.

That’s a good idea…

Festival of the month: York Festival of Ideas 2021, running until June 20

THIS year marks the tenth anniversary of York’s bright idea of a festival dedicated to educating, entertaining and inspiring.

Under the banner of Infinite Horizons to reflect the need to adapt to pandemic, the Festival of Ideas is presenting a diverse programme of more than 150 free online and in-person events.

The best idea, when needing more info on the world-class speakers, performances, family activities and walking trails, is to head to yorkfestivalofideas.com/2021/.

You kiss by the dock: Husband and wife Jordan Metcalfe and Laura Elsworthy as Romeo and Juliet in Hull Truck Theatre’s Romeo & Juliet at Hull’s former dry dock

Outdoor play outside York announcement of the month: Hull Truck Theatre in Romeo & Juliet, Stage@The Dock, Hull, July 15 to August 7

AFTER John Godber Company’s Moby Dick completes its run at the converted Hull dry dockyard this Saturday, next comes Hull Truck Theatre’s al-fresco staging of Shakespeare’s tragic love story.

The title roles in Romeo & Juliet will be played by Hull-born husband and wife Jordan Metcalfe and Laura Elsworthy, who appeared in The Hypocrite and The Last Testament Of Lillian Bilocca in 2017 as part of Hull’s year as UK City of Culture celebrations.

Metcalfe and Elsworthy, who married in the summer of 2018 after bonding when working on The Hypocrite, will play a stage couple for the first time, performing on a traverse stage to emphasise Verona’s divided society. Box office: hulltruck.co.uk.

Hitting the Heights: Lucy McCormick’s wild-haired Cathy in the Wise Children poster for Emma Rice’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, bound for York Theatre Royal

Looking ahead to the autumn: Wise Children in Emma Rice’s Wuthering Heights, York Theatre Royal, November 8 to 20

EMMA Rice’s Wise Children company is teaming up with the National Theatre, York Theatre Royal and the Bristol Old Vic for her elemental stage adaptation of Emily Bronte’s Yorkshire moorland story of love, vengeance and redemption.

In an intoxicating revenge tragedy for our time shot through with music, dance, passion and hope, Rice’s company of performers and musicians will be led by Lucy McCormick’s Cathy.

“Emboldened and humbled by the enforced break, I feel truly lucky,” says Rice. “I cannot wait to get back to doing what I love most and to share this thrilling and important piece with the world. It’s time.”

An Evening With Julian Norton, vet, author and now show host, is booked in for Pocklington Arts Centre

Veterinary appointment in 2022: An Evening With Julian Norton, Pocklington Arts Centre, January 18

JULIAN Norton, author, veterinary surgeon and star of Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet, will share amusing anecdotes from his work with animals in North Yorkshire, bringing to life all the drama and humour in the daily routine of a rural vet.

Following in the footsteps of James Herriot author Alf Wight, Norton has spent most of his working life in Thirsk. His latest book, All Creatures: Heart-warming Tales From A Yorkshire Vet, was published in March. Box office: pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

War and Peace as The Damned United plays out Clough’s hatred of Dirty Leeds

Not having a ball: Luke Dickson as embittered, embattled Leeds United manager Brian Clough in Red Ladder Theatre Company’s The Damned United

THERE is much hatred and not a whole lotta love in The Damned United, but nevertheless the story of Brian Clough’s splenetic 44 days as champions Leeds United’s manager in 1974 forms part of The Love Season at York Theatre Royal.

Why so? The truth, as explained by chief executive Tom Bird, is that Rod Dixon’s touring production for Red Ladder Theatre Company was booked in already when the reopening season’s theme took shape.

Enfant terrible Clough despised Don Revie’s “Dirty Leeds” and the feeling was mutual, drawing Dewsbury-born author David Peace to construct a psychodrama inside the life of Brian’s head: the biographical novel The Damned Utd, published in 2006.

Tom Hopper’s film, starring Michael Sheen, ensued in 2009 under the title The Damned United, and Leeds company Red Ladder have since presented various stage manifestations of Anders Lustgarten’s darkly humorous adaptation, built around the double act of Clough and father figure/assistant Peter Taylor.

Heading deep into the tortured mind of a flawed genius, slamming up against his limits, The Damned United brings to life the beauty and brutality of football, the working man’s ballet, in a story of sweat and booze, fury and power struggles. 

The performing rights were donated by Peace to Red Ladder for all of £3.68 – a penny for each page in the novel – as a show of support for the Leeds company when it suffered a 100 per cent cut to Arts Council funding.

Red Ladder artistic director Rod Dixon says: “As a story, The Damned United has it all – passion, power struggles, tragedy and a classic anti-hero in Clough – which lends itself brilliantly to theatre.

The book cover to David Peace’s The Damned Utd

“Anders’ adaptation captures the grit, poetry and darkness of David Peace’s writing, and by charting the fall of Brian Clough and exposing what made ‘Old Big ’Ea’ tick, audiences are given a fascinating insight into the troubled but brilliant mind of a flawed genius – who, to this day, remains one of the most controversial figures in sporting history.”

As Leeds actor Luke Dickson’s Clough and David Chafer’s Taylor head to York next Wednesday, joined by the multi role-playing Jamie Smelt, here comes a tale of War and Peace: a Q&A with author David Peace.

How did this stage adaptation of The Damned United come about?

“The original idea came up one afternoon in the Maypole pub in Ossett, back in the summer of 2014. When Red Ladder lost their Arts Council funding, the project became a bit more concrete and urgent.” 

How closely do you feel Anders Lustgarten’s stage adaptation of The Damned United captures your novel?

“Anders keeps the essential atmosphere and mood of the book, and obviously the plot itself, but he’s also made it something else, something new and something more, and which is what any great adaptation does.”

Double act: David Chafer’s Peter Taylor and Luke Dickson’s Brian Clough in The Damned United

What did you take from watching The Damned United as a stage play?

“More than anything else, for me, it was just a wonderful, humbling and exciting experience to see the original 2016 production at the West Yorkshire Playhouse [now Leeds Playhouse], to see what so many talented people had brought to the work, and then how much the audience loved and appreciated it.”

Are there things that a theatre adaptation can do that a novel or film cannot?

“Very much so, and particularly in this case; football itself, at every level, is drama, theatre and spectacle played out before a living, breathing and usually very partisan audience. This is what I feel Anders, Rod and everybody involved brought to the story which neither the original book nor the film could do.”

What makes Brian Clough such a compelling figure?

“I think we simply recognise him, in ourselves, as human beings, with all his complexities and foibles, his good side and his bad, his triumphs and his defeats.”


Why do you think The Damned United holds so much appeal with non-football audiences as it does fans of the beautiful game? 

“Well, though few of us will sadly ever win the league or the European Cup, I think many of us have found ourselves in a new job with folk who were less than welcoming, and then perhaps not handled the situation as best we might. And then there’s always the mystery: why did Brian Clough put himself in that situation; ,why do we put ourselves in these situations?”

Red Ladder Theatre Company in The Damned United, The Love Season, York Theatre Royal, June 16, kick-off at 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Boy George heads for coast as Culture Club confirm Scarborough Open Air Theatre gig

Clubbing together: Culture Club founder members Boy George, Roy Hay and Mikey Craig will perform at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer

BOY George and Culture Club are off to the Yorkshire seaside to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre on August 14.

Bexleyheath-born frontman and fashion innovator George O’Dowd, who turns 60 on June 14, will perform alongside original band members Roy Hay and Mikey Craig in a “stunning live band”.

Tickets go on sale for the 8,000-capacity show via scarboroughopenairtheatre.com on Friday (21/5/2021) at 9am.

Since their inception in 1981, Culture Club have sold more than 150 million records worldwide, clocking up such hits as Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, fellow chart topper Karma Chameleon, I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, Time (Clock Of The Heart), Church Of The Poison Mind, Victims, It’s A Miracle, The War Song, Move Away and I Just Wanna Be Loved.

Poster Boy: Boy George fronts the artwork for Culture Club’s August 14 concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

In 1984, Culture Club picked up the Grammy Award for Best New Artists and the BRIT Awards for Best British Group and Best British Single.

Boy George’s New Romantic luminaries became the first group since The Beatles to have three top ten hits in the United States from a debut album (1982’s Kissing To Be Clever).

Scarborough Open Air Theatre (OAT) venue programmer Peter Taylor, of promoters Cuffe & Taylor, says: “I’ve wanted to bring Boy George and Culture Club to Scarborough OAT for some time, so I’m delighted we’ve been able to make this happen for this summer.

“George remains one of the most colourful and iconic pop stars in British history, a true music star around the world. Culture Club’s live shows are a true spectacle and this is going to be a really special night.”

For full details of Scarborough OAT’s summer season, go to scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Anne-Marie to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre with Hrvy and Gracey on August 29

Anne-Marie: Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut this summer

ANNE-MARIE will head to the Yorkshire coast on August 29 for a headline concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

The chart-topping Essex singer-songwriter will be joined at her Sunday show that August Bank Holiday weekend by Hrvy and Gracey. Tickets will go on general sale at 9am on Friday, April 2 via ticketmaster.co.uk.

Nine-time BRIT Award nominee Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson, from East Tilbury, near Thurrock, is a former West End child star who has notched four UK top ten singles and 4.5 billion global streams.

Her 2016 breakthrough, Alarm, has been followed by further lead-artist hits Ciao Adios and Friends, with Marshmello, in 2017; 2002, with Ed Sheeran, and Rewrite The Stars, with James Arthur, in 2018, Birthday in 2020 and Don’t Play, a number two success with KSI and Digital this year.

Hrvy: Singing Holiday in Scarborough over August Bank Holiday weekend

Anne-Marie, who will turn 30 on April 7, has been a featured artist, alongside Sean Paul, on Clean Bandit’s 2016 number one, Rockabye; Artists For Grenfell’s 2017 number one, Bridge Over Troubled Water; David Guetta’s Don’t Leave Me Alone in 2018, Live Lounge Allstars’ 2019 chart-topper Times Like These and Rudimental’s Come Over in 2020.

On March 20, millions tuned in to witness Anne-Marie’s debut Grand Final win on ITV’s The Voice UK as she mentored Scotsman Craig Eddie to victory.

Further buoyed last year by his cheeky-chappie performances with Janette Manrara on Strictly Come Dancing, Hrvy already had progressed from singing in his bedroom to signing his first record deal at 15 and achieving hits with Holiday, Phobia, Personal, Me Because Of You and Good Vibes.

After two sell-out British and European tours, Hrvy – real name Harvey Leigh Cantwell – has signed a new global record deal at 22 with BMG.

Gracey: Supporting Anne-Marie at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Gracey, a platinum-selling songwriter since the age of 16, has written for Rita Ora, Olly Murs and Kylie Minogue and had a top ten smash with Don’t Need Love, her 2020 collaboration with 220 Kid.

Gracey – 23-year-old Grace Barker from Brighton – has since released Empty Love, a collaboration with Australian singer Ruel, and her second EP, The Art Of Closure.

Peter Taylor, of Scarborough Open Air Theatre (OAT) promoters, says: “We are absolutely delighted to announce a headline show this summer with Anne-Marie, supported by Hrvy and Gracey.

“Anne-Marie has had hits around the world, and we’ve had so many requests to bring her here to Scarborough OAT. This is not only going to be a very popular announcement but one of the must-see shows of the summer.”

Snow Patrol head to sunny Scarborough Open Air Theatre for July 2021 show

Back on Patrol: Snow Patrol re-book cancelled Scarborough Open Air Theatre gig for July 2021

FIRST Duran Duran, then Lewis Capaldi, now Snow Patrol, as Gary Lightbody’s band completes a hat-trick of new additions in quick succession to next summer’s Scarborough Open Air Theatre programme.

Tickets for Snow Patrol’s July 3 concert will go on general sale at 9am on Friday (6/11/2020) via scarboroughopenairtheatre.com

Snow Patrol were booked to play Scarborough OAT this summer, only for the sold-out July 4 show to be ruled out by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Concert programmer Peter Taylor, of Scarborough OAT promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says:“We were gutted when the 2020 season had to be postponed, so we are delighted to be able to confirm Snow Patrol are heading to Scarborough in 2021.

“They are a hugely successful and influential band who have written and recorded some of the best-loved indie rock anthems of the last 20 years. These special songs are going to sound amazing at this unique venue. It’s going to be an incredible night.”

Gary Lightbody, guitar and vocals, Johnny McDaid, keyboards and guitar, Nathan Connolly, guitar, Paul Wilson, bass and Jonny Quinn, drums, have chalked up 17 million global album sales, one billion global track streams, five UK platinum-selling albums, an Ivor Novello award, and Grammy and Mercury Music Prize nominations.

Formed in Dundee, Snow Patrol broke into the mainstream in 2003 with their Final Straw album, riding high on the top five hit Run.2006’s Eyes Open propelled the Northern Irish-Scottish band to a worldwide audience as Chasing Cars became British radio’s most played song of the 21st century.

After taking time out, Snow Patrol returned in 2018 with Wildness, their first studio album in seven years, followed up with a live tour topped off with a homecoming gig for Lightbody, playing to 35,000 fans in his birthplace of Bangor, Northern Ireland.

During lockdown, Lightbody and co recorded The Fireside Sessions EP with the help of a few thousand friends. The five songs were written by fans during a series of streams on Instagram Live dubbed Saturday Songwrite.

In a nod to this collaboration, the EP was released under the banner of Snow Patrol And The Saturday Songwriters. All proceeds from sales are going to anti-poverty charity The Trussell Trust.

More dates will be added to a Scarborough OAT 2021 concert programme running to ten shows already. Watch this space.

Easy does it as Lionel Richie switches 2020 Scarborough OAT show to next summer

HELLO again, Lionel Richie will play Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer.

The Alabama soul luminary’s June 9 show on the East Coast this summer was ruled out by the Covid-19 lockdown, but now he is booked in for June 12 2021.

This will be 71-year-old Richie’s second appearance at Scarborough OAT, having made his sold-out debut there in 2018.

“I was really excited to be playing at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer as I enjoyed a truly wonderful night there in 2018,” says Richie.

“I was very sad that, like so many things, the show had to be delayed but obviously, everyone’s health and safety comes first. I’m now looking forward to it even more and know we’ll all have such an incredible night of partying together.”

Richie’s set-list will span his early years in The Commodores to the present day, taking in such favourites as Three Times A Lady, Easy, Truly, Dancing On The Ceiling, Say You, Say Me, Running With The Night, Endless Love, Hello and All Night Long.

“I’m now looking forward to it even more and know we’ll all have such an incredible night of partying together,” says Lionel Richie of his re-arranged Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert

The American has sold more than 125 million albums worldwide and has received an Oscar, Golden Globe and four Grammy Awards, along with the Ivor Novello PRS for Music Special International Award. On June 28 2015, he drew a crowd of 200,000 at Glastonbury festival. Last year, he released the concert album Live From Las Vegas.

Programmer Peter Taylor, of Scarborough OAT promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “We are incredibly proud and excited that Lionel Richie – one of the most successful and celebrated music artists of all time – is returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

“His 2018 sold-out show here was just a brilliant night and this is going to be another amazing show by an undoubted global superstar. Roll on June 12 next year. We cannot wait!”

Cuffe and Taylor also booked Richie for the closing concert of their inaugural York Festival at York Sports Club on June 21 this summer, only for Coronavirus to intervene.

Tickets for June 12 2021 will go on sale from 8am on Friday, October 30 at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Westlife go East to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre as only 2021 outdoor north date

Westlife’s poster for next summer’s Scarborough Open Air Theatre concert

IRISH grown-up boy band Westlife will play an exclusive north of England outdoor show at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer.

The top-selling album band of the 21st century should have played both the Yorkshire coast venue and the inaugural York Festival in 2020, but the Covid lockdown enforced their cancellation.

Instead, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Nicky Byrne will perform in Scarborough four days before their headline show at Wembley Stadium.

Westlife’s official statement reads: “Some exciting news! We are delighted to announce that Scarborough Open Air Theatre have invited us to join next year’s line-up on Tuesday, August 17.

“Given the current circumstances, we really are hopeful to announce more shows in the new year and look forward to being back with you all as soon as we can.

Westlife will perform such hits as Swear It Again, You Raise Me Up, My Love, Flying Without Wings, Uptown Girl, Unbreakable, When You’re Looking Like That and World Of Our Own, as well as picks from their chart-topping tenth album, 2019‘s Spectrum, Hello My Love among them.

Venue programmer Peter Taylor, of Scarborough OAT promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “Westlife fans were heartbroken when this summer’s tour was postponed due to the global pandemic, so we are delighted the boys will be coming to Scarborough OAT next summer.

“This is a real exclusive: Westlife’s only outdoor show in the north of England and four days before their headline show at Wembley. It’s going to be a brilliant night here!”

Westlife were booked to play Scarborough OAT on June 17 and York Festival at York Sports Club, Clifton Park, on June 20 as part of their 2020 Summer In The Stadiums tour before summer was scrapped.

Tickets for August 17 will go on sale via scarboroughopenairtheatre.com at 9am on Friday, October 30.

Scarborough Open Air Theatre’s 2021 season so far comprises: June 19, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro; June 20, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq The World; July 9, Keane; July 10, Olly Murs; August 17, Westlife, and August 20, Nile Rodgers & Chic. More concerts will be added; watch this space.

Did you know?

ALL ten of Westlife’s studio albums have reached the top five in the Official UK Albums Chart, five of them peaking at number one. Fourteen of their singles have made the top spot too.