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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.

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Keane’s second wave rolls into Scarborough Open Air Theatre for seaside summer show

Keaner than ever: Keane are back after a six-year hiatus

KEANE, the rejuvenated East Sussex chart toppers, are off to the East Coast for a  Friday night out at Scarborough Open Air Theatre this summer.

Tickets for their July 17 gig go on general sale on Friday at 9am at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Singer Tom Chaplin, sparring partner Tim Rice-Oxley, bassist Jesse Quin and drummer Richard Hughes returned from a six-year hiatus last September with the album Cause And Effect.

The birth of their fifth studio album came as a surprise even to the band from Battle. Chaplin had released two solo albums, 2016’s The Wave and 2017’s Twelve Tales Of Christmas, but nevertheless missed working with Rice-Oxley. 

So, when Chaplin, Quin and Hughes heard the songs Rice-Oxley had been composing, they were immediately drawn to them, both sonically and lyrically, and Keane were reborn. “We’re not some heritage act,” says Rice-Oxley. “We’ve got a lot of great music in us.”

Ahead of Cause And Effect’s release, Keane returned to the stage last summer with a string of live shows, not least two nights at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

The comeback album peaked at number two last autumn, adding to the success of a career that had chalked up 13 million album sales, four number one albums, two BRIT awards and one Ivor Novello award before coming to a halt in 2013 with The Best Of Keane compilation.

Their 2004 debut, Hopes And Fears, elicited the hits Somewhere Only We Know, Everybody’s Changing, This Is The Last Time and Bedshaped en route to being ranked among Britain’s 40 best-selling albums of all time. Next came Under The Iron Sea in 2006, Perfect Symmetry in 2008 and Strangeland in 2012.

Promoters Cuffe and Taylor are delighted to have added Keane to this summer’s Scarborough OAT programme. “As soon as Keane announced last year they were back and ready to take to the stage again, we knew we had to bring them to Scarborough,” says director Peter Taylor.

“This special arena was created for artists like Keane. Their songs are beautiful, anthemic, the soundtrack to many people’s lives over the last 20 years, and I’m sure their army of fans cannot wait to see these songs played live here. I know I certainly can’t.

“Keane are an incredible live band and this is unquestionably going to be one of the gigs of the summer.” 

Tickets for this summer’s shows can be booked in person from the Scarborough Open Air Theatre box office, Burniston Road, and the Discover Yorkshire Coast Tourism Bureau, Scarborough Town Hall, St Nicholas Street; on 01723 818111 and 01723 383636, as well as at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com. 

SCARBOROUGH OPEN AIR THEATRE: 2020 LINE-UP

  • Tuesday June 9 – Lionel Richie 
  • Wednesday June 17 – Westlife
  • Saturday June 20 – Supergrass
  • Saturday July 4 – Snow Patrol
  • Friday July 10 – Mixtape (starring Marc Almond, Heaven 17 and Living in a Box featuring Kenny Thomas)
  • Friday July 17 – Keane
  • Tuesday July 21 – Little Mix
  • Friday August 14 – McFly 

More artists are to be announced.