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More Things To Do in York and beyond, and not still bedded down in the home bunker. List No. 31, courtesy of The Press, York

Let Ian Massie take you to Another Place in his Northern Soul show at Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole from May 17

NO mention of home entertainment here, as Charles Hutchinson decides to cast fears aside – albeit while acting responsibly – as he looks forward to theatres, bars, galleries, museums and music venues opening their doors once more.

Cupid, draw back your bow and let the beer flow, straight to the York Theatre Royal patio

LOVE is in the Step 2 air, and soon on the York Theatre Royal stage too for The Love Season from May 17.

Cupid’s Bar: Follow the arrow to the York Theatre Royal patio. Picture: Livy Potter

Perfect timing to launch Cupid’s Bar for five weeks on the Theatre Royal patio, where the bar will run from midday to 9.30pm every Thursday to Sunday, providing an outdoor space in the heart of the city for residents and visitors to socialise safely.

Working with regional suppliers, Cupid’s Bar will offer a range of drink options, such as draught beer from Black Sheep Brewery, Masham, and York Gin from, er, York.

Ian Scott Massie: Finding Northern Soul in his landscape watercolours and screenprints. Picture: Steve Christian

Exhibition of the month ahead outside York: Ian Scott Massie, Northern Soul, Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole, North York Moors National Park, May 17 to July 11

MASHAM artist Ian Scott Massie’s Northern Soul show of 50 watercolours and screenprints represents his personal journey of living in the north for 45 years.

“The north is the truth of England, where all things are seen clearly,” he says. “The incomparable beauty of the landscape; the harsh ugliness left by industry; the great wealth of the aristocracy; the miserable housing of the poor; the civic pride of the mill towns and a people as likely to be mobilised by political oratory as by a comedian with a ukulele.”

The Waterfall Of Nikko-Zan In Shimotsuke Province, by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1853, from York Art Gallery’s show of rarely seen Japanese prints, Pictures Of The Floating World. Image courtesy of York Museums Trust

Reopening exhibition of the month ahead in York: Pictures Of The Floating World: Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints, York Art Gallery, from May 28

YORK Art Gallery’s display of rarely seen Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, complemented by much-loved paintings from the gallery collection, will go on show in a new Spotlight Series.

Marking next month’s gallery reopening with Covid-secure measures, Pictures Of The Floating World will feature prints by prominent Ukiyo-e artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige, along with works by those influenced by Japanese art, York artist Albert Moore and Walter Greaves among them.

This free-to-visit exhibition will highlight the significant impact of Japanese art on the western world and the consequential rise of the artistic movements of Aestheticism and Art Nouveau.”

Van the manoeuvre: Morrison’s York Barbican gigs put back to July

On the move: Van Morrison’s York Barbican shows

NO reopening date has yet been announced for York Barbican, but Irish veteran Van Morrison’s shows are being moved from May 25 and 26 to July 20 and 21.

“Please keep hold of your tickets as they will be valid for the new date,” says the Barbican website, where seats for Van The Man are on sale without social distancing, in line with Step 4 of the Government’s pandemic Roadmap to Recovery, whereby all legal limits on social contact are potentially to be removed from June 21.

Morrison, 75, will release his 42nd album, Latest Record Project: Volume 1, a 28-track delve into his ongoing love of blues, R&B, jazz and soul, on May 7 on Exile/BMG.

Lockdown love story: The taster poster for Alan Ayckbourn’s new play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre

New play of the summer: Alan Ayckbourn’s The Girl Next Door, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, June 4 to July 3

AFTER the 2020 world premiere of his virus play Truth Will Out lost out to the Covid pandemic restrictions, director emeritus Alan Ayckbourn returns to the Stephen Joseph Theatre to direct his 85th play, The Girl Next Door, in the summer season.

“I wrote it back in Spring 2020. I like to think of it as a lockdown love story,” says Ayckbourn, introducing his touching, tender and funny reflection on the ability of love to rise above adversity and reach across the years.

Influenced by his own experiences in two “lockdowns”, one in wartime London in childhood, the other in the on-going pandemic in Scarborough, Ayckbourn will play with time in a plot moving back and forth between 2021 and 1941. Box office: sjt.uk.com.

May and April in tandem: York Barbican date for Imelda next spring on her first tour in five years

Gig announcement of the week in York: Imelda May, York Barbican, April 6 2022

IRISH singer-songwriter Imelda May will play York Barbican next April in the only Yorkshire show of her Made To Love tour, her first in more than five years.

“I cannot wait to see you all again, to dance and sing together, to connect and feel the sparkle in a room where music makes us feel alive and elevated for a while,” says May. “Let’s go!”

Last Friday, the 46-year-old Dubliner released her sixth studio album, 11 Past The Hour. The box office opens tomorrow at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Dance like Fred Astaire…or more likely like Tim Booth as James end the summer at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

Gig announcement of the week outside York: James, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, September 9

WHERE better for James to announce a summer show in the week they release new single Beautiful Beaches than at Scarborough Open Air Theatre?

The Manchester legends will play on the East Coast in the wake of launching their new album, All The Colours Of You, on June 4. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (23/4/2021) at 9am at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

This will be the third that James, led by Clifford-born Tim Booth, have played Scarborough OAT after shows in 2015 and 2018.

The writers, actors, directors and organisers in a Zoom gathering for Next Door But One’s Yorkshire Trios at The Gillygate pub, York

And what about?

GOOD news: Live theatre bursts into life in York for the first time since December 30 when York community arts collective Next Door But One presents Yorkshire Trios in The Gillygate pub’s new outdoor seating area tomorrow and on Saturday.

Themed around Moments Yet To Happen, trios of actors, directors and writers will bring to theatre-starved York a quintet of short stories of laughter, strength, dreams and everything in between: a neighbour with a secret; a delivery driver full of wanderlust; an optimistic carousel operator; a poet inviting us into her world and a Jane McDonald fan on a soapbox.

Bad news for tardy readers? The 7.30pm shows have sold out.

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James to complete hattrick of Scarborough Open Air Theatre gigs on September 9

The poster for James’s return to Scarborough Open Air Theatre in September

WHERE better for James to announce a summer show on the day they release new single Beautiful Beaches than at Scarborough Open Air Theatre?

The Manchester legends will play on the East Coast on Thursday, September 9 in the wake of launching their new album, All The Colours Of You, on June 4. Tickets will go on sale on Friday (23/4/2021) at 9am at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

This will be the third that James, led by Clifford-born Tim Booth, have played Scarborough OAT after shows on May 22 2015 in the venue’s hindersome moat days and post-moat redesign on August 18 2018.

Bassist Jim Glennie says: “We always have a great night there – even back in the days when you had to cross the old moat to get to the audience! We’re looking forward to another very special night on the Yorkshire coast.”

“After all these years, we are still challenging ourselves and our fans,” says bassist Jim Glennie of James’s new album. “Enjoy.”

Peter Taylor, venue programmer for Scarborough OAT promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “We are absolutely delighted James are returning here this summer. They continue to be one of the UK’s most relevant and influential bands – pioneers of the Manchester music scene since the 1980s – and a must-see live act. Roll on September 9. It’s going to be an amazing night.”            

New single Beautiful Beaches was written by Tim Booth in response to climate change migrations and the subsequent increasingly regular Californian fires bringing devastation to the community where he lived before moving to Costa Rica.

All The Colours Of You, James’ “sweet 16th” studio album, follows last December’s release of Live In Extraordinary Times, a double-CD and DVD concert recording built around their last studio album, 2018’s Living In Extraordinary Times.

Recorded in part before the Covid pandemic struck, All The Colours Of You was produced by Booth’s neighbour in Topanga Canyon, the Grammy award-winning Jacknife Lee, who has worked previously with U2, REM, Taylor Swift, Snow Patrol and The Killers.

Surfing in Scarborough? How can Tim Booth resist on September 9?

On production duties with James for the first time, Lee has bought a fresh approach to their sound, working remotely from his studio as he liaised with Booth and Glennie, reimagining, deconstructing and reassembling their demos and capturing a band in all their virtual glory.

Reflecting on the album’s creation, Booth says: “With all the s**t that went down in 2020, this was a miraculous conception and another big jump forward for us on the back of the last three albums. I hope it reflects the colours of these crazy times. Sweet sixteen is a proper album, no fillers and is up there with our best. With love, Tim.”

Glennie is pleased, proud and surprised by the record in equal measure. “Jacknife has pushed us and the songs somewhere new and it’s very exciting,” he says. “After all these years, we are still challenging ourselves and our fans. Enjoy.”

The track listing on James’s first album on Virgin Music will be: ZERO; All The Colours Of You; Recover; Beautiful Beaches; Wherever It Takes Us; Hush; Miss America; Getting Myself Into; Magic Bus; Isabella and XYST.

The artwork for James’s “sweet 16th” studio album, All The Colours Of You, out on June 4

Looking ahead, James will open their seven-date 2021 tour at Leeds First Direct Arena on November 25, supported by fellow Manchester maverick institution Happy Mondays. “Soo looking forward to seeing you,” said Booth, when announcing the gigs last November on Twitter and at wearejames.com. 

“We’re playing with the brilliant Happy Mondays. Last played with them in 1988, hopefully this time they won’t steal our rider or try and spike my drink…”

The tour has sold faster than any previous James tour, chalking up 60,000 ticket sales for shows in Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester and London. Remaining tickets are available at: https://wearejames.com/live/

In the summer, James will play a second North Yorkshire outdoor gig, headlining the Saturday bill at Deer Shed Festival 11, confirmed to run from July 30 to August 1 at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, near Thirsk.

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Stereophonics to have a nice day on East Coast at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

STEREOPHONICS are to return to the Yorkshire coast this summer for a July 28 concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre.

Kelly Jones’s Welsh four-piece last played Britain’s largest outdoor concert arena on a sold-out July 19 2018. Tickets go on sale via ticketmaster.co.uk at 9am on Friday, April 2.

Promoter Peter Taylor, of Scarborough OAT programmers Cuffe and Taylor, says: “Stereophonics’ show here in 2018 has to go down as one of the best-ever at the venue. Fans have been demanding their return ever since; we are absolutely delighted to be welcoming them back this summer for what is going to be another legendary night.”

Formed in 1992 in the village of Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, Wales, Stereophonics have accrued seven number one albums, the latest being their 11th studio set, Kind, in 2019. Twenty-five Top 40 singles have been chalked up too, making the summit in 2004 with Dakota.

Kind added the likes of Fly Like An Eagle, Bust This Town, Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day and Hungover For You to a back catalogue of such Jones gems as Local Boy In The Photograph, The Bartender And The Thief, Just Looking, Dakota, Have A Nice Day, Pick A Part That’s New, Maybe Tomorrow, Mr Writer and It Means Nothing.

At Scarborough OAT, founding members Kelly Jones, vocals and guitar, and Richard Jones, bass, will perform alongside Adam Zindani, guitar, Jamie Morrison, drums, and long-term touring keyboardist Tony Kirkham.

Jones last played a North Yorkshire gig at York Barbican in September 2019, introducing songs from Kind ahead of its October release on the Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day tour. In Jones’s words at the time, “this tour is about overcoming things and moving on from obstacles and building strength from that”. Kind duly ascended to number one.

Kelly Jones playing York Barbican in September 2019. Picture: Simon Bartle
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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.”

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UB40’s Ali & Astro move Scarborough Open Air Theatre gig from June to August

UB40, featuring Ali Campbell & Astro: New date for Scarborough show

UB40, featuring Ali Campbell & Astro, is the first concert of the Scarborough Open Air Theatre summer season to be rearranged after the Government’s roadmap roll-out.

The Birmingham reggae-pop stalwarts will play on August 28, switched from June 19, with tickets remaining valid.

Promoters Cuffe & Taylor say: “We now have a roadmap for live shows to return and we cannot wait to welcome audiences back to Scarborough OAT this summer. However, due to new Government guidelines, a number of shows scheduled to take place before June 21 will need to be rescheduled.

“Rest assured we are working with artists to find alternative dates for these shows, so please bear with us and we will announce further details very soon. Take care and stay safe x.”

Should pandemic lockdown-easement measures be lifted fully on June 21, the other concerts now in need of a new date are Crowded House on June 8; Lionel Richie, June 12; The Beach Boys, June 13 and RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq The World, June 20.

In the Scarborough OAT diary for this summer too are Bryan Adams on July 1; Snow Patrol, July 3; Duran Duran, July 7; Keane, July 9; Olly Murs, July 10; Kaiser Chiefs, July 11; Lewis Capaldi, July 25; Westlife, August 17, and Nile Rodgers & Chic August 20.

UB40 founding members Campbell and Astro, re-united seven years ago and will play with a seven-piece band on their second visit to the Yorkshire coast, following their 2017 debut.

They have been active during the pandemic-enforced hiatus, writing songs for their forthcoming album and reassembling their touring band remotely to record a lockdown single, a poignant cover of the late Bill Withers’ Lean On Me, in aid of NHS Charities Together.

Campbell and Astro will return to the road in 2021 with bassist Colin McNeish, guitarist Winston Delandro, keyboardist Michael Martin, drummer Paul Slowly, backing singer Matt Hoy and a brass section of trumpeter Colin Graham and saxophonist Winston Rose.

A handful of new songs will complement multiple UB40 classics, notably King, a hymn to the legacy of American Civil Rights leader Dr Martin Luther King and One In Ten, a paean to the rising tide of unemployment in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, both as resonant today as they were when first sung in 1980 and 1981.

Campbell says: “We wrote King 40 years ago, but it’s still representative of what’s happening in America. It’s depressing that nothing has changed. It’s the same with One In Ten in the UK. With the impact the Coronavirus could have on jobs, we could soon be looking at unemployment figures on a par with the early Eighties.”

Campbell adds: “Those songs will feature in a show we’ve been honing for the past 12 years. We’ll always play the classics, like Red Red Wine and (I Can’t Help) Falling In Love With You, but we like to change the beginning and end of the show.

“We’ll play Lean On Me and maybe add three or four new songs. The band members are all fantastic musicians and we’ve climbed back up to the biggest venues.”

Tickets for the Scarborough OAT season are on sale at scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

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Getting mighty Crowded at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer after Kaiser Chiefs and Bryan Adams confirm dates

Kaiser Chiefs: Never missing a beat at Scarborough Open Air Theatre next July

I PREDICT a trio!

First came Crowded House’s confirmation for June 8, next, Kaiser Chiefs for July 11, and now, this new rising morning, Bryan Adams for July 1, as Scarborough Open Air Theatre announces another burst of big signings for Summer 2021.

New Zealander Neil Finn’s re-grouped Australian band Crowded House will open the British leg of their first European travels in more than a decade on the Yorkshire coast to showcase Dreamers Are Waiting, next year’s fruits of Lockdown labours: their seventh studio album but first since Intriguer in June 2010. The release date is yet to be confirmed.

Leeds lads Kaiser Chiefs promise a “no-holds-barred rock’n’roll celebration” on their much-requested return to Scarborough OAT after their May 27 2017 debut. “We cannot wait to get back to playing live shows again and it will be great to return to this stunning Yorkshire venue,” says frontman Ricky Wilson. “We had a cracking night there in 2017, so roll on July 11!”

Expect a Sunday night of such Yorkshire anthems as Oh My God, I Predict A Riot, Everyday I Love You Less And Less, Ruby, Never Miss A Beat and Hole In My Soul from the Chiefs, whose last album, 2019’s top-five entry Duck, marked their return to their original label, Polydor.

Crowded House: Always take the Scarborough weather with you next June

That summer, they played Leeds United’s stadium, Elland Road, and this summer they were booked in for another open-air headliner at Dalby Forest, near Pickering, until Covid-19 said “No”.

Scarborough OAT venue programmer Peter Taylor, of promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “Ever since their show here in 2017, fans have been asking for us to bring Kaiser Chiefs back to Scarborough OAT.

“We are delighted to oblige, and this is going to be another all-action rock’n’roll show that no fan will want to miss.”

Completing the new additions to Scarborough OAT’s ever-expanding 2021 diary, Canadian singer Bryan Adams will play there as part of his ten-date UK outdoor tour that will conclude at Harewood House, near Leeds, on July 10.

Adams, 61, will be making his second appearance at the Scarborough arena after his sold-out debut on August 8 2016. Once more, he will do Run To You, Cuts Like A Knife, Summer Of ’69, I Do It For You et al for you.  

Bryan Adams: Scarborough return next July after 2016 show

Programmer Taylor says: “Bryan Adams is one of the world’s best-selling artists and an international music legend. We are beyond thrilled he is returning to Scarborough Open Air Theatre next summer.

“Bryan joins an incredible line-up of headliners for 2021 and we cannot wait for the season to start!”

That list now runs to: June 8, Crowded House; June 12, Lionel Richie; June 13, The Beach Boys; June 19, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro; June 20, Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Werq The World; July 1, Bryan Adams; July 3, Snow Patrol; July 7, Duran Duran; July 9, Keane; July 10, Olly Murs; July 11, Kaiser Chiefs; July 25, Lewis Capaldi; August 17, Westlife, and August 20, Nile Rodgers & Chic.

Still more artists and dates are to be confirmed. Meanwhile, tickets for Crowded House, Kaiser Chiefs and Bryan Adams all will go on general sale at 9am on Friday, December 11 via ticketmaster.co.uk and scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Tickets for Adams’s Harewood House show will be available from the same time at ticketmaster.co.uk/bryan-adams-tickets/artist/734390 and aegp.uk/ba2021

Bryan Adams’s poster for his July 1 concert in Scarborough
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Crowded House hope to play to exactly that at Scarborough Open Air Theatre in 2021

Three Finns you should know: Dad Neil and sons Liam and Elroy plus the other two that make up a Crowded House line-up for 2021’s first album and European tour in a decade

DO dream it’s over! Let’s hope Crowded House can live up to their name when Neil Finn’s band play Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Britain’s biggest purpose-built outdoor concert arena, next summer as we pin hopes on the Covid vaccination in the months ahead.

Crowded House, largely the family Finn, will be undertaking their first European tour in more than ten years in 2021, heading to the Yorkshire coast on June 8 for their first UK show. Glasgow, Birmingham, Cardiff and London await.

Tickets will go on general sale via scarboroughopenairtheatre.com at 9am on Friday, December 11.

Formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1985 by New Zealander Neil Finn, they will line up next summer with Finn, fellow founder Nick Seymour, Mitchell Froom and Finn’s sons Liam and Elroy.

Familiar favourites such as Don’t Dream It’s Over, Weather With You, Four Seasons In One Day, Distant Sun and Fall At Your Feet will be bolstered by new material. On October 15, Crowded House released their first single in a decade, Whatever You Want, accompanied by a video directed by Nina Ljeti, starring Mac DeMarco.

Fresh from Finn touring as part of the latest line-up of Fleetwood Mac, he had begun recording a new studio album in Los Angeles in January but once the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed, Finn and co switched to exchanging new songs via online files.

More fruits of those lockdown labours, the album Dreamers Are Waiting, will be released early next year. 

Scarborough OAT venue programmer Peter Taylor, of promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “When we learned Crowded House were touring Europe, we just knew we had to try and bring them to Scarborough OAT. This is a real coup for the venue and the Yorkshire coast.

“Crowded House are regarded as one of the most influential bands of the past 40 years and their fans are utterly devoted. This will be an incredible show.”

To view Crowded House’s single Whatever You Want, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZggTaHMoQYs&feature=youtu.be

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The Beach Boys to seek fun, fun, fun in the Scarborough sun, sun, sun in June 2021

The Beach Boys line-up for their 60th anniversary tour, visiting the Yorkshire coast next summer

WHO better to play Scarborough Open Air Theatre than The Beach Boys as they mark their 60th anniversary next year?

Tickets for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers’ June 13 2021 show will go on general sale on Friday, December 11, at 9am at scarboroughopenairtheatre.co.uk

The Beach Boys formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California, with a line-up of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.

Next summer’s line-up will be led by Mike Love, who, along with long-time member Bruce Johnston, musical director Scott Totten, Brian Eichenberger, Christian Love, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill, Keith Hubacher and Randy Leago, continues the veteran band’s legacy.

Mike Love fronting The Beach Boys at Scarborough Open Air Theatre in 2017

The Scarborough OAT concert will be preceded by Beach Boys shows at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on June 11 and 12. Please note, none will feature Brian Wilson, Al Jardine or David Marks.

The Beach Boys previously played the Scarborough venue on May 24 2017. Once more, the sea air will be filled with Surfin’ USA, Surfer Girl, Fun, Fun, Fun, I Get Around, California Girls, Help Me Rhonda, Barbara Ann, Good Vibrations, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Kokomo and more rays of sunshine besides.

Scarborough OAT programmer Peter Taylor, of promoters Cuffe and Taylor, says: “The Beach Boys are true music legends and we are so excited to be welcoming them back here to the Yorkshire coast.

Fun, fun, fun in the Scarborough sun as The Beach Boys play the Open Air Theatre in 2017

“Since forming in 1961, they have written some of the biggest pop songs of all time, so it’s brilliant their fans will be able to join in their 60th anniversary celebrations here at this wonderful venue. 

“Next year’s Scarborough OAT line-up is already looking amazing and we are delighted to now be adding the amazing Beach Boys to our stellar group of headliners.”

In the diary for 2021 are: June 12, Lionel Richie; June 13, The Beach Boys; June 19, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro; June 20, Ru Paul’s Drag Race: Werq The World; July 3, Snow Patrol; July 7,Duran Duran; July 9, Keane; July 10, Olly Murs; July 25, Lewis Capaldi; August 17, Westlife, and August 20, Nile Rodgers & Chic.

More artists and dates to be confirmed. 

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More Things To Do in York and at home in what’s left of Lockdown 2020 and beyond. List No. 18, courtesy of The Press, York

We face the second wave…but somewhere on the horizon….

AFTER the tiers of a clown, now comes the even greater frustration of Lockdown 2 from today, knocking the growing revival of arts, culture and life in general back into hibernation.

Nevertheless, in one chink of light, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has decreed that theatre companies can continue rehearsing shows in Covid-secure workspaces, behind closed doors, with a view to lockdown being lifted in early December.

Whether that turns out to be a mere fairytale, only time will tell, so please forgive the unpredictability of what may or may not be happening.

Charles Hutchinson picks through the debris of Lockdown 2 to find signs of artistic life for now and the months ahead.

Films, films and yet more films: Aesthetica Short Film Festival has a feast of film to enjoy while being stuck at home in lockdown

It’s started and it won’t finish until November 30: Aesthetica Short Film Festival online

YORK’S tenth anniversary Aesthetica Short Film Festival opened on Tuesday, switching from a spread of historic and modern locations to a digital and live-streamed festival for home entertainment, enlightenment and education on phones, TV sets, tablets and computers.

Films in competition at ASFF 2020 will span animation, documentary, drama, dance, fashion and thriller. This year they will be released in six strands this week, with no fewer than ten programmes per day under the strand titles of Just Another Day On Earth; Humans And Their Environment; Connections: People, Places and Identity; Breaking Down Barriers; Reclaiming Space: Universal And Personal and Keep On The Sunny Side Of Life.

Masterclasses, guest speakers, panel discussions, guest film programmes and an industry market are further highlights of an online festival unimpeded by the new lockdown. Go to asff.co.uk for tickets and to download the full programme.

Kate Bramley’s latest podcast: “Some strange and wonderful goings on at the allotment”

Fighting off the new lockdown blues: Badapple Theatre’s Theatre On Your Desktop podcast

GREEN Hammerton’s Badapple Theatre Company has added a new Kate Bramley play to its Theatre On Your Desktop series as it extends its lockdown season of free podcasts. 

Click on https://badappletheatreonyourdesktop.podbean.com/ for The World Is Still Next Door, artistic director Bramley’s account of some strange and wonderful goings on at the allotment as Mo and her young son search for a place to fight off the lockdown blues.

Set during four sunny days in May in deep lockdown, Bramley’s play seeks to capture the power of soundscapes to inspire imagination. “I got really interested in the idea of creating a new short piece with many voices of varying ages and accents, as well as delving into sound montages that evoke settings from our local Yorkshire all the way to Watamu Beach in Kenya,” says Kate. “With a bit of Badapple signature magic-realism thrown in for good measure.”

All roads lead to…21 York wards for York magician and entertainer Josh Benson in York Theatre Royal’s Travelling Pantomime next month

Travelling Pantomime, not travailing pantomime, as the show must go on…hopefully: York Theatre Royal’s alternative neighbourhood watch

YORK Theatre Royal began rehearsals in the billiards room on Tuesday for associate director Juliet Forster’s Travelling Pantomime production.

It could still be pot luck whether the first collaboration between Evolution Pantomimes and the Theatre Royal will go ahead, everything hanging on Lockdown 2’s fate, but plans are taking rapid shape to cement the itinerary for a tour of 21 York wards from December 3, plus York Theatre Royal performances too.

Just Josh magician and entertainer Josh Benson, Robin Simpson’s Dame Dolly, Anna Soden’s Fairy/Singing Captain, Faye Campbell’s Jack/Dick and Reuben Johnson’s villainous Fleshcreep/Ratticus Flinch will rehearse three pantomimes, Jack And The Beanstalk, Dick Whittington and Snow White, all scripted by Evolution’s Paul Hendy, for each show’s audience to vote for which panto they want to see.  

Bean team: top row, from left, Jordan Fox, May Tether, Ian Stroughair and Livvy Evans; bottom row, Alex Weatherhill, Emily Taylor, Matthew Ives and Danielle Mullan

The other Jack And The Beanstalk in York this Christmas: York Stage at Theatre @41 Monkgate, York, December 11 to 30

YORK Stage are going full team ahead with their inaugural pantomime, to be staged in the Covid-secure John Cooper Studio, where Perspex screens will be in place for the first time for the traverse staging.

Writer-director Nik Briggs has added West End choreographer Gary Lloyd to his production team, proclaiming: We’re taking our West End-worthy panto to the next level with the addition of Gary to our company.”

Jordan Fox, May Tether, Livvy Evans, Alex Weatherhill, Ian Stroughair, Danielle Mullan, Emily Taylor and Matthew Ives will be the cast bringing life to Briggs’s debut panto script.

Yorkshire Pudding Song: Martin Barrass will lead the Song Sheet singing at Bev Jones Music Company’s Strictly Xmas In The Park concert

Barrass is back: Bev Jones Music Company in Strictly Xmas In The Park, Rowntree Park, Amphitheatre, York, December 13, 2pm

MARTIN Barrass will be starring in a York pantomime after all this winter. Dame Berwick’s perennial comic stooge may be missing out on the Covid-cancelled Kaler comeback in Dick Turpin Rides Again at the Grand Opera House, but now he will lead the pantomime section of Strictly Xmas Live In The Park.

As part of Bev Jones Music Company’s Covid-secure, socially distanced, open-air performance, Barrass will tell a few jokes and orchestrate the song-sheet rendition of You Can’t Put A Better Bit Of Batter On Your Platter Than A Good Old Yorkshire Pud.

Barrass will wear black and pink to honour the late Bev’s favourite colour combination.

Helen Charlston: Performing at the York Early Music Christmas Festival

Early notice: York Early Music Christmas Festival, National Centre for Early Music, York, December 4 to 13

AS the NCEM website states: “We are planning for these concerts to go ahead and are still selling tickets. If the situation changes, we will of course be in touch.”

Fingers crossed, then, for a socially distanced festival in St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate, featuring Palisander, The Marian Consort, Illyria Consort, Joglaresa, The York Waits and Bethany Seymour, Helen Charlston, Frederick Long and Peter Seymour.

Among the highlights, on December 9, festival favourites The York Waits will present The Waits’ Wassail: Music for Advent and Christmas: Carols, songs and dance from across medieval and renaissance England and Europe, played on shawms and sackbuts by York’s Renaissance town band.

Duran Duran: Making their Scarborough Open Air Theatre debut next summer

A hat-trick of new shows on the East Coast: Duran Duran, Lewis Capaldi and Snow Patrol at Scarborough Open Air Theatre

IN quick succession, Duran Duran, Lewis Capaldi and Snow Patrol have been confirmed for Cuffe and Taylor’s ever-expanding programme at Britain’s biggest purpose-built outdoor concert arena.

Booked in for July 7, Birmingham glam pop band Duran Duran will introduce their first new material since 2015, alongside such favourites as Save A Prayer, Rio, Girls On Film and The Reflex.

Lewis Capaldi: “Buzzing” to be back at Scarborough Open Air Theatre in 2021

Glaswegian singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi sold out two nights at Scarborough OAT in 2019 and says he is “buzzing” to be returning on July 25 next summer. “It’s a great venue, the crowds there are always unreal and so here’s to another unforgettable night,” he says.

Snow Patrol’s sold-out 2020 Scarborough show had to be scrapped under Covid restrictions but Gary Lightbody’s band are now booked in for July 3 2021. Tickets for all three shows go on sale tomorrow morning at 9am via scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Kate Rusby at Christmas…now online

And what about?

THE Kate Rusby At Christmas tour will not be happening, ruling out her South Yorkshire pub carol concert at York Barbican on December 20.

However, in response to the Covid restrictions, the Barnsley folk nightingale has decided to go online instead, presenting Kate Rusby’s Happy Holly Days on December 12 at 7.30pm (GMT). Expect all the usual Rusby Christmas ingredients: sparkly dress, twinkling lights, her regular folk band, her “brass boys”, Ruby the reindeer and a fancy-dress finale.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (6/11/2020) via https://katerusby.com/happy-holly-day/

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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.