Tag: Tony Blackburn

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More Things To Do in York and beyond when circuses at the double pitch up. Here’s Hutch’s List No. 39 from The York Press

Bread & Circuses, by Sarah Hall Baqai, from her exhibition at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb

FROM the terrors of Paranormal Activity to circus art and entertainment, Tony Blackburn’s Sixties’ celebration to the debut York Jazz Fest, Charles Hutchinson heads into a fruitful autumn.

Exhibition opening of the week: Sarah Hall Baqai, Bread & Circuses, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, until November 19

YORK artist Sarah Hall Baqai’s new collection of artworks has the theme of Bread & Circuses, a phrase taken from Roman poet Juvenal’s work Satire X, written in 100AD. In a nutshell, “give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt”, on account of being distracted.

Distraction does not come brighter and more entertaining visually than Sarah’s paintings inspired by life behind the scenes at the circus (from her work with Gifford’s Circus and Fools Delight Circus at Ham Court, Bampton), complemented by lettering and graphic work celebrating York Minster and willow lanterns in the shape of jugglers’ sticks.

Russells International Circus: Intent on delivering in-tent entertainment on Knavesmire this weekend

While on the subject of circuses: Russells International Circus, Knavesmire, York, today, 3pm and 6pm, and tomorrow, 12 noon

ROLL up, roll up, as Russells International Circus, voted Britain’s best circus six years running, brings its new show for 2026 to York. Each two-hour performance is jam-packed with mesmerising aerial displays, jaw-dropping stunts, comedy and more besides. Box office: russellscircus.co.uk.

The Jake Leg Jug Band: Songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption at Kirk Theatre, Pickering 

Ragtime gig of the week: The Jake Leg Jug Band, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, tonight, 7.30pm 

THE Jake Leg Jug Band delivers the authentic sounds of 1920s and 1930s’ America – jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel – in songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption.

Since self-releasing debut album Cotton Mouth, Duncan Wilcox, vocals and double bass, and Warren James,  vocals, guitar and banjo, have released a further eight albums in 12 years, among them Next Stop!, Everythin’s Jake, Break A Leg, Fifth Avenue, Goodbye Booze, Hello Central and 2024’s spirituals collection Some Glad Morning. Box office: kirktheatre.co.uk.

Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey: Heading to York Barbican tonight

Eighties’ double bill of the week: Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey and Blancmange, York Barbican, tonight, doors 6.30pm

REMEMBER the Thompson Twins, makers of such 1980s’ hits as Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor, In the Name Of Love, Love On Your Side, If You Were Here, Lies, Lay Your Hands On Me and King For A Day? Tom Bailey, the Sheffield-founded group’s lead vocalist and instrumentalist, now performs under the name Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, revisiting his past and showcasing debut solo album Science Fiction.

Tonight he closes his autumn tour at York Barbican, the only Yorkshire location on his 14-date itinerary, when fellow 1980s’ chart act Blancmange support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Hannah Sinclair Robinson’s Lou and James Bye’s James on terror alert on the stairs in Paranormal Activity, on tour at Grand Opera House, York. Picture: Johan Persson Credit: Johan Persson

Psychological thriller of the week: Paranormal Activity, Grand Opera House, York, September 29 to October 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

IN a new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett and written by Levi Holloway, the playwright behind Broadway hit Grey House.

When James (James Bye) and Lou (Hannah Sinclair Robinson) move from Chicago to London to escape their past, soon they discover that places are not haunted, but people are. Can you hold your nerve in the face of this chilling production on its first British and Irish tour? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Sounds Of The 60’s Live: Sensational Sixties show at York Barbican

Sixties’ celebration of the week: Sounds Of The 60’s Live, hosted by Tony Blackburn, York Barbican, September 29, 7.30pm

BBC Radio 2 presenter Tony Blackburn hosts an evening of stories and songs from “perhaps the most iconic ten years in music, fashion and popular culture” on the Sounds Of The 60’s tour, 62 years since his first broadcast on pirate radio station Radio Caroline South in 1964.

The Sounds Of The 60’s All Star Band and Singers perform hits by The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, a Rolling Stones medley, The Walker Brothers, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and more besides. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Roham Bayat’s poster design for the four-day York Jazz Fest

Festival of the week: York Jazz Fest, October 1 to 4

BEPPE Lombardo, soprano saxophone player in his Italian teenage days and supremo of Trinicria Sicilian Ristorante in Bishopthorpe Road for 15 years, is running the inaugural York Jazz Fest with funding from York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Mayor David Skaith.

Angel On The Green, York Arts Barge, Young Thugs Studio, the Phoenix Inn and The Winning Post play host to concerts on the first three days, culminating in the Bishopthorpe Road Car Park Finale next Sunday, topped off by sets by Dennis Rollins’ Funky-Funk and Ian Chalk. For full listings and tickets, go to: yorkjazzfestival.com.

Katy Cawkwell in the poster for Lilith at Rise@Bluebird Bakery

“Shocking, seductive and entertaining” show of the week: Katy Cawkwell in Lilith, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb, York, October 1, 8.30pm

BEFORE Eve, there was Lilith, as revealed in Katy Cawkwell’s uplifting one-woman storytelling showin an exploration and celebration of female power through the mythological figure of Adam’s first wife.

Lilith was not prepared to lie down and accept what was given to her. Thrown out of Eden, she slithered back in to take her revenge and wake up Eve to what her body could do.

“Viewed as a demon, worshipped as a goddess, adored as the Queen of Sheba, Lilith slips out of the Bible, reclaims the narrative and is dancing with us still, forever free,” says Cawkwell, who mixes myth from Arabia, Ethiopia, Mesopotamia and Jewish tradition with a dash of feminist flavouring and a large dollop of her own wild dreaming. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise.

Ben Portsmouth: Presenting This Is Elvis with the Taking Care Of Elvis Band at York Barbican

Tribute gig of the week: Ben Portsmouth: This Is Elvis, York Barbican,  October 2, 7.30pm

REGARDED as the “closest living performer to the legendary Elvis Presley”, Ben Portsmouth has enjoyed success in more than 20 countries and became the first European to be crowned by Elvis Presley Enterprises as the Worldwide Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist in Memphis in 2012.

This Is Elvis takes an immersive journey through Presley’s greatest hits from his rockabilly roots to the dazzling Las Vegas years in the company of Portsmouth and the Taking Care Of Elvis Band.  Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

In Focus: Say Owt Slam, featuring Kirsty Taylor and KG, The Crescent, York, tonight, 7.30pm to 10pm

Bradford writer and educator Kirsty Taylor. Picture: Carolyn Mendelsohn

SAY Owt, York’s loveable gang of loveable gang of performance poets, brings the best working-class poets and rappers from Bradford tonight to complement the Say Owt Slam clash of the verbals.

“Since 2014, we’ve hosted high-energy nights of words and verse, bringing together poets, musicians, spoken-word artists, rappers and anyone with a story to tell,” says artistic director Henry Raby.

“We’re always proud of our line-ups, but this could be our most exciting parade of poets yet. It wouldn’t be possible without buzzy audiences showing up and being loud and demanding more and more shows! And it wouldn’t be a Say Owt season without a poetry slam!”

Henry continues: “Say Owt Slam is an energetic battle of words where judges in the audience score the poets and the top-scoring poet is crowned Say Owt Slam champion at the end of the night. Tonight, as well as a top crop of York poets, we have slammers from Glasgow, Manchester and Halifax hoping to win the competition.”

Kemmi Gill: Rapper, poet and youth worker

Tonight’s bill also features  two guests from guests from  Bradford, Kirsty Taylor and KG (Kemmi Gill). “Kirsty is a writer and educator inspired by her beloved home city of Bradford,” says Henry. “She is passionate about storytelling through poetry and has performed all over the country telling tales about people, class and the realities of Broken Britain.”

Taylor was a BBC Verb New Voice in 2017 and was awarded the Apples and Snakes & Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance award in 2020. She is the creator of Front Room Poetry, which takes nanna-style living rooms and world-class poets to unusual settings such as car parks and housing estates.

Kirsty opened Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture 2025 in January last year when she performed her words to 20,000 people over the first weekend.

KG (Kemmi Gill) is a Bradford-born rapper, poet and youth worker, hailed by Wordplay Magazine as “one of the sharpest lyricists” in the UK rap scene. “Kemmi combines lyrical storytelling and wordplay to explore themes of struggle and hope and has contributed writing and performance work to major civic projects, such as  the open-air spectacular Rise and Common/Wealth’s sell-out show Public Interest,” says Henry.

To book tickets, go to: sayowt.co.uk

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 39, from Gazette & Herald

David Essex: Playing York Barbican and Hull Connexin Live this week

FROM David Essex’s night of memories to the terrors of Paranormal Activity, Tony Blackburn’s Sixties’ celebration to Dirt Road Band’s blues, Charles Hutchinson heads into a fruitful autumn.

Still rocking on: David Essex, Thanks For The Memories, York Barbican, tomorrow, doors 7pm; Hull Connexin Live, Friday, doors 6.30pm

SINGER, composer and actor David Essex, now 79, is into the last week of his 21-date Thanks For The Memories tour, celebrating his 55-year career that began with playing Jesus in the London premiere of Godspell in 1971.

Essex has notched 19 Top 40 hits in the UK alone, such as the Grammy-nominated Rock On, Lamplight, Gonna Make You A Star, Stardust, Hold Me Close, Oh What A Circus, Silver Dream Machine, A Winter’s Tale and Tahiti. Box office: York, yorkbarbican.co.uk; Hull, connexinlivehull.com.

Dirt Road Band: “Punchy blues rock music to make your heart beat faster”

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Dirt Road Band, Milton Rooms, Malton, tomorrow, 8pm

THE Dirt Road Band’s line-up of Steve Walwyn, guitar and vocals, Horace Panter, bass, and Ted Duggan, drums, play hard, punchy blues rock music to make your heart beat faster.

Walwyn spent 32 years in Dr Feelgood; Panter was a founding member of The Specials and Duggan has played with Banco de Gaia and Badfinger. They began Dirt Road Band  as a side project five years ago, since when it has moved centre stage with the album release of Righteous in 2024. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Peter Brush: Quirky one-liners and original routines at Hilarity Bites Comedy Club

Ryedale comedy gig of the week: Hilarity Bites Comedy Club, Milton Rooms, Malton, Friday, 8pm

FRIDAY’S bill comprises Peter Brush, Pete Selwood and Al Stevenson. Brush,  a deft writer of finely crafted jokes, takes to the stage unassumingly with his slight, bespectacled frame and scruffy hair to deliver quirky one-liners and original routines in an amusingly awkward fashion.

Yorkshireman Selwood focuses on tales of northern life, while being born with only one hand gives him a unique experience of the world around him, as he pokes fun at having a disability in modern Britain. Stevenson is a  quick-witted Newcastle cheeky charmer who has hosted The Stand Comedy Club in his home city. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Mayhem, madness and muppetry of the week: Riding Lights Theatre Company presents Right Here Right Now!, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

YORK company Riding Lights goes on the road to Helmsley with its improvised show Right Here Right Now!, promising “no script, no clue, all chaos”. You bring the ideas for the   merry band of improvisers to turn them into high-speed comedy, using witty games and gags to bring side-splitting stories to life. Cue joy-filled nonsense and feel-good fun for the family. Who wins the comedy crown? You decide! Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Infectious pop punk covers of the week: Captain Clap & The Burning Sensations, Milton Rooms, Malton, Saturday, 7.30pm

SOME years ago three men, all old enough to know better, decided the time was right to play pop punk, only missing the genre’s peak by a couple of decades. Since then, they have been bringing covers, bad jokes and loud, lively nights to pubs and clubs around Yorkshire, playing festivals and organising fundraisers too. “Expect pop punk classics, scene anthems and inappropriate song choices,” they say. Mooch support. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

The Jake Leg Jug Band: Songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption at Kirk Theatre, Pickering

Ragtime gig of the week: The Jake Leg Jug Band, Kirk Theatre, Pickering, Saturday, 7.30pm

THE Jake Leg Jug Band delivers the authentic sounds of 1920s and 1930s’ America – jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel – in songs of murder, betrayal, gambling, liquor and redemption.

Since self-releasing debut album Cotton Mouth, Duncan Wilcox, vocals and double bass, and Warren James,  vocals, guitar and banjo, have released a further eight albums in 12 years, among them Next Stop!, Everythin’s Jake, Break A Leg, Fifth Avenue, Goodbye Booze, Hello Central and 2024’s spirituals collection Some Glad Morning. Box office: kirktheatre.co.uk.

Eighties’ double bill of the week: Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey and Blancmange, York Barbican, Saturday, doors 6.30pm

REMEMBER the Thompson Twins, makers of such 1980s’ hits as Hold Me Now, Doctor Doctor, In the Name Of Love, Love On Your Side, If You Were Here, Lies, Lay Your Hands On Me and King For A Day. Tom Bailey, the Sheffield-founded group’s lead vocalist and instrumentalist, now performs under the name Thompson Twins’ Tom Bailey, revisiting his past and showcasing debut solo album Science Fiction.

On Saturday, he closes his autumn tour at York Barbican, the only Yorkshire location on his 14-date itinerary, when fellow 1980s’ chart act Blancmange support. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Psychological thriller of the week: Paranormal Activity, Grand Opera House, York, September 29 to October 3, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

IN a new story inspired by the worldwide horror phenomenon, Paranormal Activity is directed by immersive theatre pioneer and Punchdrunk artistic director Felix Barrett and written by Levi Holloway, the playwright behind Broadway hit Grey House.

When James and Lou move from Chicago to London to escape their past, soon they discover that places are not haunted, but people are. Can you hold your nerve in the face of this chilling production on its first British and Irish tour? Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

The poster for Sounds Of The 60’s Live at York Barbican

Sixties’ celebration of the week: Sounds Of The 60’s Live, hosted by Tony Blackburn, York Barbican, September 29, 7.30pm

BBC Radio 2 presenter Tony Blackburn hosts an evening of stories and songs from “perhaps the most iconic ten years in music, fashion and popular culture” on the Sounds Of The 60’s tour, 62 years since his first broadcast on pirate radio station Radio Caroline South in 1964.

The Sounds Of The 60’s All Star Band and Singers perform hits by The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, a Rolling Stones medley, The Walker Brothers, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and more besides. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

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More Things To Do in York & beyond as everyday Buddy’s a gettin’ closer, goin’ faster than a roller coaster. Hutch’s list No. 12 for 2023, courtesy of The Press, York

Rave on: Hannah Price, left, Harry Boyd, Christopher Weeks, Rhiannon Hopkins, Joshua Barton and Ben Pryer in a scene from Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story

THE return of Buddy, Stewart Lee and English Touring Opera, a dream of an exhibition and a vintage DJ night of song top Charles Hutchinson’s diary highlights for the week ahead.

Musical of the week: Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Wednesday and Saturday matinees

HOLLYLUJAH! Rock’n’roll musical Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story returns to York for the first time since 2017 with “The day the music died” tale of the bespectacled young man from Lubbock, Texas, whose meteoric rise from Southern rockabilly beginnings to international stardom ended in his death in a plane crash at only 22.

Christopher Weeks’s Buddy leads the cast of actor-musicians through two hours of music and drama, romance and tragedy, driven by all those hits, from That’ll Be The Day, Peggy Sue and Rave On to Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace and Ritchie Valens’ La Bamba. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle: Playing The Crescent on Sunday night

Folk gig of the week: Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle, The Crescent, York, Sunday, 8pm

THE Black Swan Folk Club and Please Please You present the powerhouse triumvirate of musical magpies McGoldrick, McCusker and Doyle in a Sunday session of traditional, contemporary and original jigs, reels and ballads, as heard on their two albums, 2018’s The Wishing Tree and 2020’s The Reed That Bends In The Storm.

Their paths first crossing as teenagers before they joined separate bands (Lunasa, The Battlefield Band and Solas respectively), they line up with Mancunian McGoldrick on flute, whistles, Uileann pipes, bodhran, clarinet and congas; Glaswegian McCusker on fiddle, whistles and harmonium; Dubliner Doyle on vocals, guitar, bouzouki and mandola.

“The whole thing’s great fun,” says McCusker. “We have no agenda other than having a nice time and playing music. That’s the way we tour as well – we throw ourselves in a little car, instruments on our laps, and off we go. And the records? Well, I hope it’s the sound of three old friends, having a great time, making music together.” Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

Stewart Lee goes back to basic Lee at York Theatre Royal, but sold out, basically

Comedy at the treble: Stewart Lee: Basic Lee, York Theatre Royal, Monday to Wednesday, 7.30pm

AFTER recording last May’s brace of Snowflake and Tornado gigs at York Theatre Royal for broadcast on the BBC, Stewart Lee returns for three nights of his Basic Lee show.

Following a decade of high-concept shows involving overarched, interlinked narratives, Lee enters the post-pandemic era in streamlined stand-up mode. One man, one microphone, and one microphone in the wings in case the one on stage breaks. Pure. Simple. Classic. Basic Lee – but sold out, alas.  

Navigators Art collective explores the subconscious mind in Dream Time at City Screen Picturehouse

Exhibition launch of the week: Navigators Art, Dream Time, City Screen Picturehouse, York, on show until April 21

YORK collective Navigators Art’s Dream Time exhibition takes inspiration from dreams, visions, surrealism and the mysteries and fantasies of the subconscious mind. The official launch event will be held tomorrow (19/3/2023) in the café bar from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

This mixed-media show features painting by Steve Beadle and Peter Roman; collage, prints and drawing by Richard Kitchen; photography and painting by Nick Walters and textiles by Katie Lewis.

The tour poster for Sounds Of The 60s with Tony Blackburn as host

Nostalgic show of the week: Tony Blackburn: Sound Of The 60s Live, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.30pm

BBC Radio 2 disc jockey Tony Blackburn hosts an evening of 1960s’ classics, performed live by the Sound Of The 60s All Star Band and Singers. 

Listen out for the hits of The Everly Brothers, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Otis Redding, The Beatles, The Who and many more. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Paul Smith: Playing the Joker at York Barbican

Liverpool lip of the week: Paul Smith: Joker, York Barbican, Thursday, 7.30pm

JOKER is Paul Smith’s biggest and funniest tour show to date, wherein the Scouse humorist mixes his trademark audience interaction with true stories from his everyday life.

Resident compere at Liverpool’s Hot Water Club, Smith has made his mark online as well as on the gig circuit with his affable nature and savvy wit. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Roddy Woomble: Songs old and new at Selby Town Hall

Indie gig of the week: Roddy Woomble, Selby Town Hall, Thursday, 8pm

RODDY Woomble, Scottish indie band Idlewild’s lead singer, is now a leading voice in the British contemporary indie folk scene. In Selby, he is joined by Idlewild band mate Andrew Wasylyk for a duo show of Idlewild favourites and solo works.

“This is a tour in between records, so a tour for exploring all the songs,” says Woomble. “Lo! Soul is going on two years old now, and although the songs still sound fresh to me when I play them, it’s time for something new – which there is. We’ll definitely be including some new material in the set.” Box office: selbytownhall.co.uk.

Paula Sides’s Lucrezia in English Touring Opera’s Lucrezia Borgia, on tour at York Theatre Royal

Two nights at the opera: English Touring Opera, York Theatre Royal, in Lucrezia Borgia, March 24, and Il Viaggio a Reims, March 25, both 7.30pm

LUCREZIA Borgia, Donizetti’s tragedy of a complex woman in a dangerous situation, is making its debut in the English Touring Opera repertoire in Eloise Lally’s ETO directorial debut production of this thrilling and moving meditation on power and motherhood.

Valentina Ceschi directs a cast of 27 in Il Viaggio a Reims, Rossini’s last Italian opera, in which intrigue, politics, romance and lost luggage all play their part as a group of entitled guests from all over Europe is stranded in a provincial hotel on the way to a great coronation. Period-instrument specialists The Old Street Band play for both operas. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Gig announcement of the week: Steve Earle, The Alone Again Tour, Grand Opera House, York, June 9

Steve Earle: Heading from New York to York in June for solo show

AS his tour title suggests, legendary Americana singer, songwriter, producer, actor, playwright, novelist, short story writer and radio presenter Steve Earle will be performing solo and acoustic in York: the only Yorkshire gig of a ten-date itinerary without his band The Dukes that will take in the other Barbican, in London, and Glastonbury.

Born in Fort Monroae National Monument, Hampton, Virginia, Earle grew up in Texas and began his songwriting career in Nashville, releasing his first EP in 1982 and debut album Guitar Town in 1986, since when he has branched out from country music into rock, bluegrass, folk music and blues. 

His colourful life prompted Lauren St John’s 2003 biography Hardcore Troubadour: The Life And Near Death Of Steve Earle, written with the rebel rocker’s exclusive and unfettered cooperation. “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself,” he once said.

Earle, 68, has been married seven times (including twice to the same woman) and been through drug addiction and run-ins with the law, serving a month in prison in 1994 for heroin possession. “Going to jail is what saved my life,” he said, after he was sent to rehab.

A protege of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, Earle is a masterful storytelling songwriter in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, The Proclaimers and The Pretenders, among others.

Since the Millennium, he has released such albums as the Grammy-awarded The Revolution Starts…Now (2004), Washington Square Serenade (2007) and Townes (2009).

Restlessly creative across artistic disciplines, Earle has published a collection of short stories, Doghouse Roses (2002) ; a novel, I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (2011), and a memoir, I Can’t Remember If We said Goodbye (2015).

He has produced albums for Joan Baez and Lucinda Williams, acted in films and on television, notably in David Simon’s The Wire, and hosts a radio show for Sirius XM.

In 2009, Earle made his off-Broadway theatre debut in the play Samara, contributing the score too. In 2010, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Music and Lyrics in the drama series Treme.

In 2020, he wrote music for and appeared in Coal Country, a docu-play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen that shines a light on the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine explosion, the most deadly mining disaster in United States history. A nomination for a Drama Desk Award came his way.

In 2020 too, Earle released the album Ghosts Of West Virginia and was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. His 21st studio album, J.T. in January 2021, was an homage to his late son, singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, who had died from an accidental drug overdose in August 2020. In May 2022 came Jerry Jeff, Earle’s tribute to cowboy troubadour Jerry Jeff Walker.

Tickets go on sale on Thursday morning (23/3/2023) at atgtickets.com/york.

The artwork for J.T., Steve Earle’s 2021 album of covers of songs by his late son, Justin Townes Earle
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York Barbican confirms five new concerts with Tony Blackburn to host one of them

Tony Blackburn: BBC Radio 2 presenter and host of Sound Of The 60s Live at York Barbican. Copyright: BBC

YORK Barbican has five new concerts in the diary for autumn and early 2023.

York Guildhall Orchestra are booked in for October 15 and February 11; the York Community Carol Concert for December 12; The Classic Rock Show for March 14 and Tony Blackburn: Sound Of The 60s Live for March 23.

The first concert of York Guildhall Orchestra’s 42nd season will welcome back Will Clark, who played with the orchestra as a youngster, to perform as the soloist for the Vaughan Williams centrepiece. Returning too will be old friends Leeds Festival Chorus for works by Lambert and Fauré, and the finale will be Marquez’s Danzón No. 2.

The Guildhall Orchestra’s February concert will feature Leeds Festival Chorus in an all-Beethoven programme comprising a show-stopping symphony, two overtures and a setting of two Goethe poems, Meeresstille und Glückliche Farht (Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage).

The Leeds choir will join the orchestra for the Hallelujah Chorus from Beethoven’s oratorio, Christ On The Mount Of Olives.

The York Community Carol Concert continues to draw full houses after 64 years. Hosted by the Reverend Andrew Foster and BBC Radio York presenter Adam Tomlinson, the festive event for all ages will bring together York choirs and musicians to perform favourite carols and Christmas songs under the musical direction of Mike Pratt.

Concert proceeds will be shared by the Lord Mayor of York and Sheriff of York’s Christmas Cheer Fund and Martin House Children’s Hospice, The Press’s nominated charity.

The Classic Rock Show vows to be “bigger and even better in 2023” when paying tribute to such favourites as Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits, The Who, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, Queen, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and many more.

Performed with note-for-note precision, the show brings era-defining recordings back to life on stage, with a sound and light show to match, culminating in a show-stopping guitar duel.

Next March, veteran BBC Radio 2 presenter Tony Blackburn, 79, will host an evening of 60s’ classics performed live by the Sound Of The 60s All Star Band and singers. Songs by The Everly Brothers, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Otis Redding, The Beatles and The Who will be to the fore.

Tickets are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.

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