Suede: Returning to York Barbican at last. Picture: Dean Chalkley
SUEDE are to play York Barbican for the first time in 25 years on the closing night of their 2023 tour on March 15.
Tickets go on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk at 9am on Friday, the day of release of the London band’s ninth studio album, Autofiction, their first since The Blue Hour in September 2018.
The following night (17/9/2022), Suede will be in Leeds for a sold-out gig at the Brudenell Social Club, presented by Leeds record store Crash Records in a ticket and new album bundle for £18.99.
Next March’s shows will combine Suede classics, hits and selections from Autofiction, climaxing with their first York Barbican appearance since April 23 1997.
The artwork for Suede’s ninth studio album, Autofiction, out on Friday
The tour announcement follows a pair of secret shows performed under the guise of Crushed Kid, a conceit that saw singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Richard Oakes, bass player Mat Osman (brother of TV host Richard), drummer Simon Gilbert and keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Neil Codling taking the “back to basics” nature of Autofiction to the extreme by playing live under a fake name.
Crushed Kid made their debut at London’s 300-capacity Moth Club, followed by a set at Manchester’s Deaf Institute. On both nights, fans were treated to a high-energy surprise preview of the new album in its entirety, with no greatest hits and no encore.
Recorded at Konk Studios in North London with producer Ed Buller for release on BMG, Autofiction is described by Anderson as “our punk record. No whistles and bells. Just the five of us in a room with all the glitches and ****-ups revealed; the band themselves exposed in all their primal mess.”
The track listing is: She Still Leads Me On; Personality Disorder; 15 Again; The Only Way I Can Love You; That Boy On The Stage; Drive Myself Home; Black Ice; Shadow Self; It’s Always The Quiet Ones; What Am I Without You? and Turn Off Your Brain And Yell.
All Swings And Roundabouts, by Adele Karmazyn, from her Pleasure Gardens exhibition at Village Gallery, York
POLITICAL division and soul power, sturdy stilettos and string sextets, doomed comedy and surreal gardens spark Charles Hutchinson’s interest for the week ahead.
Exhibition of the week: Adele Karmazyn, Pleasure Gardens, Village Gallery, Colliergate, York, until October 25
YORK Open Studios regular Adele Karmazyn is exhibiting new works in Pleasure Gardens, demonstrating her love of Victorian antiquities and oddities, weathered surfaces and nature.
Using her digital camera, scanner and Photoshop, Adele creates playful, surprising, surrealist digital photomontages, printing the images on to archival paper before hand-finishing with paint, pastel and gold leaf.
Drawing on idioms, metaphors and musical lyrics for narrative inspiration, she chooses her characters, then brings them back to full colour, intertwining them with creatures big and small, coupled with delicate foliage.
Nostalgia of the week: Giants Of Soul, York Barbican, Saturday (10/9/2022), 7.30pm
HOSTED by Smooth Radio’s Angie Greaves, the three-hour revue Giants Of Soul assembles performers from the late-1970s to the modern day, who have notched 18 British top ten smashes and 47 top 40 entries between them.
Step forward The Lighthouse Family’s Tunde Baiyewu; Grammy winner Deniece Williams; Rose Royce’s Gwen Dickey, on her farewell tour; Alexander O’Neal; Jaki Graham; Janet Kay and American Candace Woodson, who will be accompanied by an all-star ten-piece band of British and American musicians. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Chris de Burgh: Playing songs and telling stories at York Barbican
Rescheduled show of the week: An Evening With Chris de Burgh, His Songs, Stories & Hits, York Barbican, Thursday, 7.30pm
BRITISH-IRISH singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh heads to York for a night of songs, stories and hits, showcasing his latest album, 2021’s The Legend Of Robin Hood, on guitar and piano.
Born Christopher John Davison in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, de Burgh will be delivering “an exciting evening full of your favourite songs”, accompanied by a large lighting production. Here come The Lady In Red, Don’t Pay The Ferryman and A Spaceman Came Travelling. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Howell of anguish: Comedian Daniel Howell peers through the gloom in search of hope in We’re All Doomed
Doom’s day booking of the week: Daniel Howell, We’re All Doomed, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm
WOKINGHAM comedian, YouTuber, presenter and author Daniel Howell’s new solo show, We’re All Doomed, finds him as stressed and depressingly dressed as ever but nevertheless resisting temptation to give into apocalyptic gloom.
Armed with sarcasm, satire and a desire to skewer everything deemed wrong with society, Howell vows to find hope for humanity or at least to “laugh like it’s the end of the world (because it probably is)”. Prepare for savage self-deprecation, soul-searching and over-sharing of his deepest fears and desires. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Tim Lowe: Programming York Chamber Music Festival at the NCEM
Festival of the week: York Chamber Music Festival 2022, National Centre for Early Music, York, September 16 to 18
ARTISTIC director and cellist Tim Lowe turns his festival focus on the string sextet repertoire in the company of Tristan Gurney and Jonathan Stone, violins, Sarah-Jane Bradley and Scott Dickenson, violas, and Marie Bitlloch, cello, plus Scottish pianist Alasdair Beatson.
“We’ll play four of the very greatest sextets: Boccherini, the first string sextet, as far as we know; Brahms’s heart-warming/glowing Sextet in B flat; Richard Strauss’s sextet embedded at the beginning of his last opera, Capriccio, and Tchaikovsky’s joyous recollection of his favourite place in his Souvenir de Florence.” Full programme and ticket details at ycmf.co.uk.
Angels in Kinky Boots: York Stage’s musical is a shoe-in for joyous songs and staggering stilettos at the Grand Opera House, York
Musical of the week: York Stage in Kinky Boots, Grand Opera House, York, September 16 to 24
FACTORY owner Charlie is struggling to save his family business. Lola is a fabulous entertainer with a wildly exciting idea. Both live in the shadows of their fathers in seemingly different, yet surprisingly similar ways.
Learning to embrace their differences, they create sturdy stilettos unlike any the world has ever seen.
Up step York Stage director Nik Briggs and choreographer A J Powell to oversee a joyous show with 16 songs by Cyndi Lauper and a book by Tony-winning Harvey Fierstein. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Effie Ansah (Sephy) and James Arden (Callum), left, in rehearsal for Pilot Theatre’s Noughts & Crossesat York Theatre Royal and on tour. Picture: Robert Day
Political drama of the week: Pilot Theatre in Noughts & Crosses, York Theatre Royal, September 16 to 24
YORK company Pilot Theatre revive their award-winning production of Sabrina Mahfouz’s adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s young adult novel of first love in a volatile fictional dystopia, first toured in 2019.
Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought in a segregated society of racial and social divides. As violence breaks out, the teenagers draw closer, but their forbidden romance will lead them into terrible danger in this exploration of love, revolution and what it means to grow up in a divided world. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Phil Ellis: Headlining The Comedy Network’s first triple bill at Selby Town Hall
Comedy launch of the week: The Comedy Network at Selby Town Hall, September 18, 7.30pm
PITCHING up at Selby Town Hall for the first time this autumn, The Comedy Network is launching a series of showcases of national circuit acts, each night featuring a master of ceremonies, support act and headliner.
First up will be Edinburgh Comedy Award panel prize winner Phil Ellis; Mancunian actor and comedian Katie Mulgrew, daughter of Irish humorist Jimmy Cricket, and compere Travis Jay, a writer for Spitting Image. Box office: 01757 708449 or selbytownhall.co.uk or on the door from 7pm.
York National Book Fair in the Knavesmire Suite
Looking for a book?York National Book Fair, Knavesmire Suite, York Racecourse, today, 10am to 5pm
“BRITAIN’S largest antiquarian book fair” is booked in for its second day in the Knavesmire Suite with all manner of book sellers, book binders and restorers, books, maps and prints to discover.
In its 48th year, this Provincial Booksellers’ Fairs Association event brings together an array of rare and antiquarian booksellers offering material for sale to collectors, scholars, dealers, readers and the curious. Items are priced from only a few pounds up to many thousands. Complimentary tickets can be booked at yorkbookfair.com; alternatively, pay £2 on the door.
A MUSICAL with Bob Dylan songs, Wilde wit with chart toppers, heavenly disco and Sunday fairytales promise intrigue and variety in Charles Hutchinson’s diary.
Boarding house tales: Girl From The North Country, the musical with Bob Dylan songs at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Johan Persson
Musical of the week: Girl From The North Country, York Theatre Royal, Tuesday to Saturday
WRITTEN and directed by Irish playwright Conor McPherson,with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan, Girl From The North Country is an uplifting and universal story of family and love that boldly reimagines Dylan’s songs “like you’ve never heard them before”.
In 1934, in an American heartland in the grip of the Great Depression, a group of wayward souls cross paths in a time-weathered guesthouse in Duluth, Minnesota. Standing at a turning point in their lives, they realise nothing is what it seems as they search for a future, hide from the past and find themselves facing unspoken truths about the present. Box office: 01904 623 568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.
Story Craft Theatre: A giant leap for storytelling in Once Upon A Fairytale at Stillington Mill
Children’s show of the week: Once Upon A Fairytale, At The Mill, Stillington, near York, Sunday, 10am to 12 noon
IN York company Story Craft Theatre’s new show for children aged two to eight, Sunday’s audience will travel through a host of favourite fairytales and meet familiar faces along the way: Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man and some hungry Bears to name but a few.
Storytellers Janet-Emily Bruce and Cassie Vallance say: “You’re welcome to arrive any time from 10am as we’ll be running craft activities until 10.45am. The interactive adventure will begin at 11am under the cover of our outdoor theatre, and there’ll be colouring-in sheets and a scavenger hunt you can do too.” Box office: atthemill.org.
From drag queen to society dragon: Daniel Jacob, alias Vinegar Strokes, rehearses for his role as Lady Bracknell in The Importance Of Being Earnest at Leeds Playhouse. Picture: Sharron Wallace
A walk on the Wilde side to a different beat: The Importance Of Being Earnest, Leeds Playhouse, Monday to September 17
DANIEL Jacob swaps his drag queen alter ego Vinegar Strokes for the iconic Lady Bracknell at the heart of Denzel Westley-Sanderson’s Black Victorian revamp of Oscar Wilde’s sharpest and most outrageous comedy of manners.
Premiering in Leeds before a UK tour, this Leeds Playhouse, ETT and Rose Theatre co-production “melds wit with chart-toppers, shade and contemporary references in a sassy insight into Wilde’s satire on dysfunctional families, class, gender and sexuality”. Box office: 0113 213 7700 or leedsplayhouse.org.uk.
Tavares: Close harmonies and disco classics revisited at York Barbican
Disco nostalgia of the week: Tavares, Greatest Hits Tour 2022, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.30pm
GRAMMY Award-winning, close harmony-singing R&B brothers Chubby, Tiny and Butch Tavares, from Providence, Rhode Island, bring their Greatest Hits Tour to York.
At their Seventies peak, accompanied by their Cape Verdean brothers Ralph and Pooch, they filled disco floors with It Only Takes A Minute Girl, Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel, She’s Gone and More Than A Woman, from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Every witch way: The poster for Northumberland Theatre Company’s all-female Macbeth, heading to North Yorkshire
Something wicked this way comes: Northumberland Theatre Company in Macbeth, Stillington Village Hall, near York, Thursday; Pocklington Arts Centre, September 29, both 7.30pm
YORK actor Claire Morley stars in Chris Connaughton’s all-female, three-hander version of Shakespeare’s “very gruesome” tragedy Macbeth, directed by Northumberland Theatre Company associate director Alice Byrne for this autumn’s tour to theatres, community venues, village halls and schools.
This streamlined, fast-paced, extremely physical production with original music will be told largely from the witches’ perspective, exploring ideas of manipulation through the media and other external forces. Expect grim, gory grisliness to the Mac max in two action-packed 40-minute halves. Box office: Stillington, 01347 811 544 or on the door; Pocklington, 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.
Jess Steel: Soulful leading light of A Night To Remember. Picture: Duncan Lomax
Charity concert of the week: A Night To Remember, York Barbican, Thursday, 7.30pm
BIG Ian Donaghy’s charity fundraiser returns 922 days after he last hosted this fast-moving assembly of diverse York singers and musicians.
Taking part will be members of York party band Huge; Jess Steel; Heather Findlay; Beth McCarthy; Simon Snaize; Gary Stewart; Graham Hodge; The Y Street Band; Boss Caine; Las Vegas Ken; Kieran O’Malley and young musicians from York Music Forum, all led by George Hall and Ian Chalk.
Singer and choir director Jessa Liversidge presents her inclusive singing group, Singing For All, too. Proceeds will go to St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children Support York and Accessible Arts and Media. Tickets update: still available at yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Glass work by Crispian Heath: Selected for the Contemporary Glass Society’s Bedazzled show at Pyramid Gallery, York
Exhibition launch of the week: Contemporary Glass Society, Bedazzled, Pyramid Gallery, Stonegate, York, September 10 to October 30
THE Contemporary Glass Society will celebrate its 25th anniversary of exhibiting at Pyramid Gallery with a show featuring 60 works by 25 glass artists, chosen by gallery owner Terry Brett and the society’s selectors.
For this landmark exhibition in Pyramid’s 40th anniversary year, the society wanted a theme and title that suggested celebratory glitz for its silver anniversary. Cue Bedazzled.
The styles and techniques span engraving, blowing, fusing, slumping, casting, cane and murine work, flame working, cutting, polishing, brush painting and metal leaf decoration. A second show, Razzle Dazzle, will include small pieces that measure no more than five by five inches by 60 makers.
KT Tunstall: New album, new tour
Gig announcement of the week: KT Tunstall, York Barbican, February 24 2023
SCOTTISH singer-songwriter KT Tunstall will return to York for the first time since she lit up the Barbican on Bonfire Night in 2016 on next year’s 16-date tour.
The BRIT Award winner and Grammy nominee from Edinburgh will showcase songs from her imminent seventh studio album, Nut, set for release next Friday on EMI. Box office: kttunstall.com and yorkbarbican.co.uk.
SCOTTISH singer-songwriter KT Tunstall will play York Barbican on February 24 on her 16-date tour in 2023.
Tickets for her only Yorkshire gig will go on sale on Friday at 10am via ticketmaster.co.uk, gigsandtours.com, kttunstall.com and yorkbarbican.co.uk.
The BRIT Award winner and Grammy nominee, from Edinburgh, will showcase songs from her imminent seventh studio album, Nut, set for release on September 9 on EMI.
“This will be my first full UK headline tour since the pandemic, and I’m so looking forward to playing a completely different show with a brand-new line up of amazing musicians,” says Tunstall, 47. “Included in that line-up will be the brilliant Andy Burrows, of Razorlight, on drums, who played on Nut. He’ll also be opening the gigs with his own excellent show.”
Nut completes the trilogy of albums that Tunstall began recording seven years ago. Each part relates to the three existential parts of ourselves: 2016’s Kin = Spirit, 2018’s Wax = Body and 2022’s Nut = Mind.
Latest single Private Eyes is out now in the wake of I Am The Pilot and another taster track, Canyons.
“Nutis the culmination of a seven-year project,” Tunstall says. “It’s the final part of a trilogy of records that has spanned probably the most extreme and profound period of change in my life. The personal arc of these three records has been pretty extraordinary for me.”
Explaining the inspiration behind the album title, Tunstall says: “Growing up in Scotland, if someone was losing their temper you would say, ‘Dinny lose yer Nut’!
The artwork for KT Tunstall’s new album, Nut
“I love that the word also means a seed. The album artwork is all about the brain being a garden; you reap what you sow, you need to keep the weeds at bay, and there is an almost supernatural beauty to when things blossom.”
Tunstall first made her mark with her 2004 debut, Eye To The Telescope, propelled to multi-platinum sales by the global hits Black Horse And The Cherry Tree and Suddenly I See.
Introspective folk and propulsive rock remain the cornerstones of her songwriting. “There are two immediate, recognisable pillars of my style,” she says. “I have this troubadour, acoustic guitar-driven emotional side. Then there’s definitely an electrified rock side of my work with rawness and teeth.”
After selling everything she owned and moving to California in 2015, Tunstall took a break before spending the next seven years on the album trilogy. “Kin was an absolute Phoenix out of the ashes,” she says. “It was the result of a profound personal shift and finding my feet again after facing some really hard truths.”
Among other things, Tunstall’s father died, making her realise she was unhappy in her marriage, in turn leading to her divorce.
More challenges awaited when she released Wax. “Halfway through the tour for Wax, I completely lost my hearing in my left ear overnight, which never returned,” she says. “I lost an extremely important physical part of my body while touring a record all about the body.”
Understandably, Tunstall was wary about what might happen while making her mind record, Nut. Cue a global pandemic, but now that the trilogy is complete, she has the perspective to appreciate the solace and healing she experienced as the songs unfolded.
“I did not foresee how visceral an experience it would be making this music about myself. It became the audio accompaniment to a deeply transformative period of my life. It’s the soundtrack to me creating a new version of myself.”
Tunstall last lit up York Barbican on Bonfire Night, November 5, in 2016.
Barrel of laughs: Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, has the answer, whatever the question
FOOD and food for thought, pub concert and Pub Landlord, outsider comedy and family drama whet Charles Hutchinson’s appetite.
Comedy gig of the week in York: Al Murray: The Pub Landlord, Gig For Victory, Grand Opera House, York, Thursday, 7.30pm
“AS the dust settles and we emerge blinking into the dawn of a new year, the men and women of this great country will need answers,” reckons the Guvnor, Al Murray. “Answers that they know they need, answers to questions they never knew existed.”
When that moment comes, who better to show the way, to provide those answers, than the people’s man of the people, Murray, The Pub Landlord? Cue his pugnacious bar-room wisdom in the refurbished Grand Opera House. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Miles and The Chain Gang: New territory tonight
Pub gig of the week: Miles and The Chain Gang, The New Smithy Arms, Malton Road, Swinton, near Malton, tonight (27/8/2022), 9pm
YORK band Miles and The Chain Gang are heading to the New Smithy Arms gastro pub this weekend.
“It’s our first time performing in the Malton area,” says songwriter and singer Miles Salter. “We’ll be playing a selection of our own songs, plus some old classics from Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and The Rolling Stones.”
Latest single Love Is Blind has been aired 400 times on radio stations around the world, YouTube views of the band have topped 50,000 and their 2022 gig diary has taken in Doncaster, Harrogate and Helmsley.
Three-day event: Malton Summer Food Lovers Festival
Festival of the week: Malton Summer Food Lovers Festival, today (27/8/2022) and tomorrow from 9am, Bank Holiday Monday, from 10am.
THIS is the second Malton Food Lovers Festival of 2022, taking over the streets of “Yorkshire’s food capital” for three days in a celebration of fine produce and cooking.
Expect artisan stalls, street food, talks, tastings, celebrity chefs, cookery and blacksmith demonstrations, a festival bar, buskers, brass bands and Be Amazing Arts in the Creativitent.
Look out for Tommy Banks, from The Black Swan, Oldstead, and Roots, York, on the festival demo stage today at 1pm. Festival entry is free.
Daniel Kitson: Wanting a word with you Outside
Comedy gigs of the week outside York: Daniel Kitson: Outside, At The Mill, Stillington Mill, near York, Monday (29/8/2022) to Wednesday, 7.30pm
DENBY Dale stand-up comedian Daniel Kitson had not been on stage for two years when he contacted At The Mill promoter Alexander Flanagan Wright to say “hello, could I come and do a show?”.
Not one show, but six work-in-progress gigs, performed in two sold-out blocks from May 23 to 25 and June 8 to 10. He enjoyed the Mill outdoor experience so much, he has added a third run for August’s dying embers.
Tickets have flown again for the latest chance to watch Kitson “find out whether he can still do his job and what, if anything, he has to say to large groups of people he doesn’t know”. For returns only, contact atthemill.org.
That’ll be Mel Day: Guest star for The Story Of Soul. Picture: Entertainers
History show of the week: The Story Of Soul, Grand Opera House, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm
FROM the producers of Lost In Music and The Magic Of Motown comes The Story Of Soul with special guest Mel Day, “The Soul Man” from Britain’s Got Talent.
This journey through the history of sweet soul music takes in the songs of Aretha Franklin, Earth Wind And Fire, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, The Pointer Sisters, Luther Vandross, Whitney Houston, Ben E King, Barry White and plenty more. Box office: 0844 871 7615 or atgtickets.com/York.
Foy Vance: Showing Signs Of Life at York Barbican
Blues gig of the week: Foy Vance, Signs Of Life Tour, York Barbican, Wednesday, 7.50pm
NORTHERN Irish singer-songwriter Foy Vance plays York Barbican in support of his fourth studio album, Signs Of Life, in a gig rearranged from March 25.
The redemptive record finds Bangor-born Vance – husband, father, hipster, sinner, drinker – belatedly coming to terms with his demons in his late-40s.
The storytelling bluesman, survivor, rocker and folk hero calls Signs Of Life “an album of dawn after darkness, hope after despair, engagement after isolation, uplift after lockdown”. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
One for the Family Album: Writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, left, Jude Deeno and David Lomond in rehearsal for his 87th play, premiering at the SJT. Picture: Tony Bartholomew
Play launch of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Family Album, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, Friday to October 1
FAMILY Album, his 87th full-length play, is written, directed and sound designed by Alan Ayckbourn for its world premiere in The Round at the SJT.
Ayckbourn tenderly chronicles the trials, tribulations and temptations of three generations of one family across 70 years in the same home.
Join RAF veteran John and housewife Peggy as they proudly move into the first home they can really call their own in 1952; daughter Sandra, frantically negotiating the challenges of a ten-year-old’s birthday party without her AWOL husband in 1992, and granddaughter Alison, finally escaping the house she has somewhat unwillingly inherited in 2022. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.
The poster for In The Name Of Love, The Diana Ross Story tribute show
Tribute show of the week: In The Name Of Love, The Diana Ross Story, York Barbican, September 3, 7.30pm
IN the wake of Diana Ross headlining the Platinum Party At The Palace at 78 and playing Leeds First Direct Arena in June with a 14-piece band, here comes the tribute show.
In a chronological set list, Cheri Jade takes on The Supremes’ catalogue before Tameka Jackson handles the solo Diana years.
Here come Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love, Stop In The Name Of Love, Reflections, You Keep Me Hanging On, You Can’t Hurry Love, Stoned Love, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Touch Me In The Morning, Upside Down, My Old Piano, I’m Coming Out and Chain Reaction. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.
Light show: Big Ian Donaghy surveys the crowd’s torch display at A Night To Remember. Picture: Karen Boyes
WHEN Big Ian Donaghy shouted “See you next year!”, as he and the team took their final bow to a standing ovation at A Night To Remember on February 29 2020, they could never have envisaged what was just around the corner.
“A total lockdown. Schools closed. The only place to get a beer was your fridge and theatres stood in darkness because apparently ‘The show mustn’t go on’,” he laments. “Guitars were forbidden to come out of their cases for more than 500 day as crowds at gigs were deemed far more ‘dangerous’ than those watching sport.”
Roll on to 7.30pm, September 8 2022 and, thankfully, the return of A Night To Remember, the charity fundraising concert at York Barbican.
Banding together: Every musician and singer on stage at the finale to A Night To Remember. Picture: Duncan Lomax
“It will be 922 days since this unique group of performers has shared a stage to bring the community together and they promise to live up the name A Night To Remember more than ever,” vows organiser and master of ceremonies Big Ian, whose skills as a speaker and host are in demand at such venues as Birmingham NEC and ExCel, London.
“Over the years, these nights have taken community charity gigs to another level as every detail is focused on giving the York audience a night they deserve. No corner is cut for this unique event, from brilliant sound from Craig Rothery, through thought-provoking films on huge video walls, to a 30-piece band.
“On top of that, this year’s concert has been sponsored by Nimbuscare, who have provided invaluable support in putting on this event.”
On song: Another belter from Jess Steel. Picture: Duncan Lomax
The format is “unlike others shows”, says Big Ian, as it requires “everyone to guest on everyone else’s songs with a wall of harmony”.
“No other show has an 83-year age range in performers from 13 to 96 year olds. Previous years saw the line-up take on the near impossible and succeed with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, despite never playing it together beforehand. Somehow it came together!
“A Night To Remember is like Avengers Assemble as the unlikely bunch have now become more like family after eight years together.”
The A Night To Remember crowd having an unforgettable night at York Barbican
In the 30-piece house band will be members of York party band Huge; Jess Steel; Heather Findlay; Beth McCarthy, on her return to her home city from London; Simon Snaize; Gary Stewart; Graham Hodge; The Y Street Band; Boss Caine; Las Vegas Ken; Kieran O’Malley and young musicians from York Music Forum, all led by George Hall and Ian Chalk.
Singer and choir director Jessa Liversidge will present her inclusive singing group, Singing For All, who previously took part in 2020.
The setlist will take in songs by Kate Bush, Queen, Paul Simon, Wham, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, The Bee Gees, Elvis Presley, Bill Withers, Take That, Tina Turner, Diana Ross and Alanis Morisette.
Heading home: Beth McCarthy at A Night To Remember. Picture: Duncan Lomax
“Now in its eighth outing, A Night To Remember promises to be an evening of singalongs as the city sings with one voice to raise much-needed funds for St Leonard’s Hospice, Bereaved Children Support York and Accessible Arts and Media, who get people with learning difficulties into performing,” says Big Ian.
“This has become the UK’s largest live concert to raise dementia awareness and will be funding some bespoke dementia projects in York, including art classes with York artist Sue Clayton and singing and gardening groups to combat loneliness.”
Big Ian Donaghy with Annie Donaghy, left, Beth McCarthy, Heather Findlay and Jess Steel at A Night To Remember. Picture: Karen Boyes
Two weeks ago, Big Ian took the challenge with four friends to sell 1,000 tickets for the show in one day. “Somehow we achieved it,” he says. “Now we can’t wait to get everyone back together. Expect a night filled with emotion and fantastic music.
“There are some tickets left but be quick to book at www.yorkbarbican.co.uk, and we ask everyone to bring a raffle prize, if possible, and some money for raffle tickets. Who knows how much we can add to the £150,000 we’ve raised since we started these concerts?
“Remember, remember, the 8th of September, not just a night, but A Night To Remember!”
Wynne Evans: Vocal power amid the Pomp and Circumstance at tonight’s Castle Howard Proms
FROM Proms fireworks to rave bingo, prog-rock veterans to village-green art, Charles Hutchinson seeks variety for the diary.
Pomp and circumstance concert of the week: Castle Howard Proms, Castle Howard, near York, this evening; gates open at 5pm
OPERA star, insurance advert institution beyond compare and BBC Radio Wales presenter Wynne Evans returns to the Castle Howard Proms this weekend.
West End singer Marisha Wallace will be his fellow soloist at tonight’s classical concert, where the London Gala Orchestra will be conducted by Stephen Bell. Expect picnics, Prom classics, songs from the musicals, flag-waving favourites, a Spitfire flyover, laser displays and a firework finale. Box office: lphconcertsandevents.co.uk/events/castle-howard-proms-2022.
Life of Bryan: Roxy Magic pay tribute to the Ferry man
Tribute show of the week: Roxy Magic, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight, 7.30pm
AHEAD of reunited art-rock legends Roxy Music playing Glasgow, Manchester and London in October on their 50th anniversary tour, here comes Roxy Magic’s tribute in York.
Led by Bryan Ferry doppelganger Kevin Hackett since 2004, the show lovingly recreates four decades of Roxy music, from art-school retro-futurism, to classic standards via sophisticated, adult-oriented rock. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.
Abba Symphonic: All the hits, with a bigger band, at Castle Howard
Does your mother know this is happening? Abba Symphonic, Castle Howard, near York, Sunday; gates open at 5pm
ROB Fowler and Sharon Sexton will be among the star performers from the West End production of Mamma Mia! at Sunday’s Abba Symphonic concert.
They will be backed by a full rock band, together with the Heart of England Orchestra, in a greatest hits concert conducted by Grammy Award winner Steve Sidwell. Irish singer-songwriter, performer, raconteur Jack Lukeman will be the support act. Again, take a picnic. Box office: lphconcertsandevents.co.uk/events/abba-symphonic-castle-howard/.
Sam Lee: Not-so-ordinary folk amid the chamber music programme at Welburn Manor. Picture: Andre Pattenden
Folk event of the week: Sam Lee, Songlines, at North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Welburn Manor marquee, near Kirkbymoorside, Monday, 7pm
FOLK pioneer Sam Lee brings a new perspective to this summer’s North York Moors Chamber Music Festival when performing his Songlines set on Monday.
The festival is built around world-class classical musicians, performing repertoire on the theme of Soundscapes. This year, however, singer, song collector and conservationist Lee and his band will be broadening the focus after he met festival director Jamie Walton at the new Ayriel Studios, in Westerdale, near Whitby, late last year. Box office: 07722 038990 or northyorkmoorsfestival.com.
Spot the difference: The 1975 replace Rage Against The Machine as Leeds Festival headliners. Picture: Samuel Bradley
Last big gathering of the summer: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Wetherby, August 26 to 28
OUT go Friday’s American headliners Rage Against The Machine (leg injury to frontman Zack de la Rocha), Italy’s 2021 Eurovision winners, Maneskin, and American rapper Jack Harlow (both preferring to play at MTV’s Video Music Awards ceremony in America instead). In come English indie combo The 1975, for their first gig in two years, and pop star Charli XCX on Friday and London rapper AJ Tracey on the Sunday.
Friday offers Halsey, Run The Jewels and Bastille; Saturday, Dave, Megan Thee Stallion, Little Simz, Glass Animals and Joy Crookes; Sunday, Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me Horizons, Wolf Alice and Fontaines DC. Box office: leedsfestival.com.
Re-building Colosseum: Prog-rockers parade their latest line-up at The Crescent
Re-formed legends of the week: Colosseum, The Crescent, York, August 27; doors, 7.30pm
PROG rock giants Colosseum have reunited, fronted by legendary lead singer Chris “Out Of Time” Farlowe, who is joined by fellow long-time members Clem Clempson, on lead guitar, and Mark Clarke, on bass and vocals.
In the line-up too will be new recruits Nick Steed, keyboards, Kim Nishikawara, saxophones, and Malcolm Mortimore, drums, in a gig staged by TV’s Over, York promoters with a flair for the retro.
Colosseum date back to, if not Roman times, but still long-ago 1969, when debut album Those Who Are About To Die Salute You established their compound of rock, jazz and classical music. Box office: thecrescent.com.
Taking shape: Making pots at Fangfest in Fangfoss
Art, not Dracula: Fangfest, Fangfoss Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near Pocklington, September 3 and 4, 10am to 4pm
MORE than 20 jewellery designers, potters, glass artists, sculptors, felters, handbag makers, painters, photographers, illustrators, printmakers, candle makers, willow weavers and wood carvers are taking part in Fangfest on its return after a pandemic-enforced two-year hiatus.
Look out too for Forest Craft and Play’s drop-in craft activities; acoustic musicians; archery; classic cars; a scarecrow trail and the St Martin’s Church flower festival with the theme of Our Queen. Admission to this outdoor event is free.
John Bramwell: Heading to Ellerton Priory next month. Picture: Ian Percival
If you book for one low-key gig, make it: John Bramwell, Ellerton Priory, near York, September 24; doors, 7pm
FROM the team behind shows by Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys and The Beta Band’s Steve Mason in Stockton on the Forest Village Hall comes a “super-intimate” gig by I Am Kloot’s John Bramwell.
Ellerton Priory, should you be wondering, is the Parish Church of St Mary, a beautiful, small, 16th century church in the East Riding village of Ellerton, between York, Selby and Pocklington. Tickets are on sale via thecrescentyork.com.
Rave on! Welcome to the new age of bingo in Bongo’s Bingo at York Barbican
House music with a difference: Bongo’s Bingo, York Barbican, October 8; doors, 6pm; last entry, 7:30pm; first game of bingo, 8pm
MAKING its York debut this autumn in the shadow of the demolished Mecca Bingo, Bongo’s Bingo “rejuvenates a quintessentially quaint British pastime with an immersive live show featuring rave rounds, nostalgia-soaked revelry, dance-offs, audience participation and crazy prizes in a night of pure and unadulterated escapism”.
Looking for a full house, promoter Jonny Bongo says: “We’ve been waiting to come to York for a long time, so this is really special for us. We’ve heard the locals are really up for a party, so this is going to be a lot of fun.”
Magic and music, mischief and mayhem combine in this bingo rave experience. Box office: bongosbingo.co.uk.
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.
What could have been: The Dexys photo-shoot to promote the now-cancelled tour
TOO-Rye-Ailing, alas. Dexys’ autumn tour is off, scuppering their first ever York gig on September 30, after frontman Kevin Rowland was involved in a motorbike accident.
Rowland, who will turn 69 on August 17, was expected to have healed by then but the recovery has taken longer than expected.
York Barbican’s official statement reads: “It is with huge regret that Dexys have had to cancel their 2022 UK tour and the show on 30 September 2022 will no longer be taking place. All ticket holders will receive a refund; please contact your point of purchase if you have any questions.”
A statement from Dexys went further. “As many people familiar with Dexys will understand, a lot of work and detail was planned for these shows. Unfortunately, Kevin is recovering from a motorbike accident and some health issues that will take some time to recover from.
“We had tried to keep the tour on track, but now it is clear that that there won’t be sufficient time to do the work needed to deliver the show as we had envisaged. Dexys feel awful about cancelling and are immensely sorry for the inconvenience caused.”
Reorganising the Too-Rye-Aye As It Should Have Sounded Tour has been ruled out. “We did consider postponing the tour until next year, but we already have plans for 2023, and we promise that when we next tour, and, it won’t be long, we will do plenty of material from ‘Too Rye Ay, As It Should Have Sounded’,” said Dexys.
Last September, Dexys, now shorn of the Midnight Runners appendage, announced they would be reworking their 1982 album, Too-Rye-Ay, for a 40th anniversary release and accompanying tour.
The artwork as it Could have been, when first announced last September
At that time, it was billed as the Too-Rye-Ay, As It Could Have Sounded Tour, featuring what would have been the veteran Birmingham band’s first ever York appearance, unless you know otherwise. Subsequently, ‘Could’ became ‘Should’ on the tour and album title alike.
Released in July 1982, Too-Rye-Ay was the one with strings, brass and dungarees attached that reached number two, Dexys’ highest ever album chart position, buoyed by the top-spot success of ubiquitous wedding-party staple Come On Eileen.
The Van Morrison cover, Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile), went top five too and Let’s Get This Straight (From The Start) peaked at number 17, but the notoriously perfectionist, restless Rowland said last September: “For many years, I’ve struggled with Too-Rye-Ay.
“I was never happy with many of the mixes on the record. Tracks like ‘Eileen’ and one or two others were really good, but with most others, while I felt the performances were really good, that didn’t come over properly in the mixes.”
The strongly devoted, long hooked on such exquisite highs as The Celtic Soul Brothers, Let’s Make This Precious, All In All (This One Last Wild Waltz), Old and Until I Believe In My Soul, may raise an eyebrow at Rowland’s assertion, but nevertheless he said: “I even felt fraudulent promoting the album, because I knew it didn’t sound as good as it should have.
“And of course, the irony was, it was by far our most successful Dexys album, because of the worldwide success of Come On Eileen. I knew there were other songs on there just as good as ‘Eileen’, but they hadn’t been realised properly.
When ‘Could’ became ‘Should’: The revised title artwork for Dexys Midnight Runners’ October release
“So, I was absolutely delighted to get this opportunity to remix the album with the masterful Pete Schwier, who has worked with Dexys since 1985, and Helen O’Hara [violinist on the original album] is also helping.”
Too-Rye-Ay, As It Should Have Sounded will be released in this “brand new way and sound” via Universal on various formats on October 14, including a triple CD and vinyl, whereupon Rowland’s band had planned to head out on the road to perform the album in full, complemented by soulful Dexys’ gems such as their first number one, Geno.
“There is no way on Earth I would be doing this tour, or even promoting a normal 40th anniversary re-issue, if it wasn’t for the opportunity to remix it and present it how it could have sounded,” Rowland enthused last September.
“This is like a new album for me. It is an absolute labour of love. I want people to hear the album as it was meant to sound.”
York would have been the only Yorkshire location on the 11-date tour. Now it is not to be, in a case of Too-Rye-Ay as it won’t sound on September 30.
The original poster for the Dexys’ tour that will not be going ahead
Holly head: Kate Rusby At Christmas at York Barbican. Picture: David Lindsay
KATE Rusby At Christmas, the Barnsley folk nightingale’s alternative carol concert season with her folk band and The Brass Boys, is in York Barbican’s 2022 diary for December 18.
As ever, Kate will be rounding off her year with a Christmas tour full of warmth, sparkle, South Yorkshire carols, festive winter songs and the now obligatory fancy-dress finale.
Kate’s Christmas concerts draw on the 200-year-old tradition of carols being sung on Sunday lunchtimes in the crowded pubs of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire from late-November to New Year’s Day.
As a child, while her parents sang, Kate would sit in the corner, absorbing these songs as they were belted out, each one a variation on a familiar carol but frowned on by the church in Victorian times for being too happy.
Kate’s Christmas concerts are full of festive good cheer, humour and storytelling, each auditorium becoming the equivalent of her local pub or front room. Tickets are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk and ticketmaster.co.uk.
This week, Kate will be headlining the Saturday bill at Underneath The Stars, the folk, indie, Americana, ska, soul and world music festival she founded, at Cinderhill Farm, Cawthorne, near Barnsley.
Suzanne Vega: Sunday’s headline act at Underneath The Stars
The event runs from Friday to Sunday, featuring headliner Imelda May; This Is The Kit; Ripon singer-songwriter Billie Marten; Davina & The Vagabonds; Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys; The Trials Of Cato; N’famady Kouyaté and Stone Jets on the opening day.
Suzanne Vega: Sunday’s headline act at Underneath The Stars
Saturday’s acts will be Kate Rusby; The Big Moon; An Audience With Adrian Edmondson; Penguin Café; The Brighouse & Rastrick Band; The Haggis Horns; The Bar-Steward Sons Of Val Doonican; Will Varley; Kinnaris Quintet; Trousdale and Flatcap Carnival.
Sunday’s headline act, Suzanne Vega, will be preceded by An Audience With Jason Manford; The Young’uns; Lanterns On The Lake; Dustbowl Revival; Tankus The Henge; Hannah Williams & The Affirmations, Damien O’Kane & Ron Block; Intergalactic Brasstronauts; Azure Ryder and Iona Lane. For tickets, head to: underneaththestarsfest.co.uk/tickets/.
This year, 48-year-old Kate marked her 30th anniversary of performing concerts by releasing the album 30: Happy Returns in May on her own family-run Pure Records label.
It was in 1992 that she stood, “close to alimentary havoc”, at Holmfirth Festival clutching a red Guild guitar borrowed from family friend and playwright Willy Russell to play her first “proper gig” at 18.
Five minutes after she had finished that set and sworn “never again”, Alan Bearman booked her for Sidmouth Festival. Thank goodness for Alan!
She has since released 19 albums, netted a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 1999, received awards and two honorary doctorates and headlined at the Royal Albert Hall, Cambridge Folk Festival and internationally too.
Kate’s music has been used in Ricky Gervais’s Afterlife (series three, Netflix); Ruth Jones’s Stella (Sky 1); the 2002 film Heartlands, starring Michael Sheen (Miramax) and throughout series one and two of Jennifer Saunders’ Jam And Jerusalem (BBC).
Kate Rusby: 30th anniversary of first proper gig at Holmfirth
“Music has taken me all over the world in those 30 years, where I’ve met the most incredible musicians and singers,” says Kate. “30: Happy Returns is a culmination of those years, the music, the singers, the laughs, the songs, the memories.
“Here I am joined by some of my all-time musical heroes, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Richard Hawley, KT Tunstall, Darlingside, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Sarah Jarosz, Damien O’Kane, Sam Kelly, not to mention the amazing lads in my band.
“I am in awe of their talent and generosity in sharing it and can safely say there are so many ‘dream come true’ moments on this album. By my very nature I’ve never been ambitious, so I am astounded, taking this retrospective look over the years, and feel so blessed to sing with these incredible artists. I am one very happy, happy girl!!”
The 15 songs on 30: Happy Returns span the eight studio albums from Sleepless in 1999 to Philosophers, Poets & Kings in 2019, newly re-crafted by Kate and producer, band leader and husband Damien O’Kane in the aforementioned multitude of guest collaborations, led off by the South Yorkshire/South Africa union with Ladysmith Black Mambazo for We Will Sing.
Richard Hawley rehearsed No Names in the dark in a power cut; Darlingside turn Cruel into a call-and-response song with Kate; K T Tunstall and Kate bring a sisterly strut to Let Me Be.
The sun and the moon go for a coffee together in Kate and Damien’s Hunter Moon, then Beth Nielsen Chapman takes on Damien’s original vocal about embarking on life’s journey hand-in-hand with the right person in Walk The Road.
The CD edition offers a bonus track in Secret Keeper, the commission Kate recorded with the Royal Northern Sinfonia for the Great Exhibition of the North, held in Newcastle and Gateshead in Summer 2018.
