The Wind in the Willows is a quintessentially English children’s novel by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It takes us into the fantasy pastoral world of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, and his troublesome motorcar . The novel was based on bedtime stories Grahame told his son Alastair and those stories create a non linear timeless phantasmagoria .
Derby theatre is good at creating Christmas, family friendly shows with a tried and tested formula of bringing alive traditional material with an energetic, multi talented cast the principals of whom sing, dance, play musical instruments and perform original music. Director Trina Haldar is at the heart of this, her original academic background was in chemistry, now swapped for a pursuit of dramatic alchemy with her Mashi theatre project. The story is adapted for stage by Toby Hulse who specialises in family shows.
I had nine year old Sol and seven year old May with me to ensure that my veteran eyes were recalibrated to see things from a youthful perspective how they loved the ferrets.
Nettie Scriven has the challenge of recreating riverbank homes and Toad Hall ,doing so elegantly and imaginatively with a sloping mono pitch set riddled with holes and doorways. Early on movement director, Stacey McCarthy establishes her credentials with a remarkable display of human ducks in show which always has something going on visually.
Ivan Stott leads the line as Badger, musician and composer, avuncular and with an itch that Harold Steptoe would have been proud of. Isobel Witcomb is a hit with the children as the wistful ratty, but it is the irrepressible Ines Sampaio who steals the show as multiple animals ( most notably Black Rat), and skilled percussionist, bringing latin flair and gusto to the proceedings. Charlotte Dowding anchors the show as Mole while John Holt Roberts channels his inner Jacob Rees Mogg as a duplicitous, hapless country squire
All the children loved Toad’s car, which earned its own round of applause, and its miniature. amongst so much to see and watch out for in every part of the stage as numerous mini stories unwound. The narrative is a little thin, but the themes of friendship, the environment, looking beyond yet being mindful of what you already have, are strongly enough presented to carry the evening. The latter reprises “the Wizard of Oz” – and there is no place like home.
This is a charming, enchanting show with shades of Shakespeare’s “As You Like it” on the edges. The original music is strictly of the travelling minstrel variety , with a line from Blur’s “In the Country”) slipped in to tantalise us. Indeed how Paul Weller’s “Wild wood”, Neil Young’s “Harvest moon” and the Jam’s “Tales from the riverbank” missed out is a bit of a mystery, but what there is comes over energetically and enjoyably. An ideal Christmas hors d oeuvres for the entire family.
East Anglia was honoured to have Tina pay her first ever visit to the area for a two night stint at Ipswich Town’s handsome football ground for her Foreign Affair tour(also known as the Foreign Affair: European Tour 1990) It supported her seventh studio album Foreign Affair (1989) and was Turner’s first stadium tour and only reached European countries. Overall, it was attended by approximately three million people—breaking the record for a European tour that was previously set by The Rolling Stones at the time.
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Her touring band included the extrovert Tim Cappello (born May 3, 1955), an American multi-instrumentalist, composer and vocalist. primarily known for his saxophone work supporting Tina Turner . Star guitarist was John “Music was my first love” Miles with trademark blonde hair as side man.
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I wasn’t familiar with her back catalogue beyond her hits, but when you have had hits like her that doesn’t really matter.
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Dressing like no 51 year old you were ever going to see in Suffolk she stormed onto stage as if she had just walked of the “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome “ set seemingly as Mad Maxine, but still the “Queen of Rock n Roll”.
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Was this the best time to see her? I suspect that would have been in the late 60’s, but commercially her 1984 multi-platinum album Private Dancer which contained the hit song “What’s Love Got to Do with It”, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year was still high in the public consciousness and featured strongly amongst the evening’s songs. Her stagecraft was impeccable, her voice strong and her back catalogue now boosted by contemporary hits as well as her sixties material.
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The opening “Steamy Windows” was perfect for a stadium surrounded by the town’s redlight district, but the evening really ignited around “We don’t need another hero”, dramatic, bombastic and grandiose, electric fans blasting Tina’s tousled hair, she transported us to a different, other worldly place, as great singers do, segueing into “Private dancer”. Somehow Tina transported us from the sweeping landscapes of the Australian desert to an intimate private booth in a lap dancing club for the Mark Knopfler penned composition. Knopfler had previously complained about the Jeff Beck solo on her recording, this night, John Miles did a fine job.
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There are some classic songs where only the original artist will do. Hearing Tina bark out “NutBush City Limits” was one of “those” moments where rock n roll history is lived out before your very eyes, “Proud Mary” similarly.
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Only a handful of the thousands of artists whom I have seen perform live have earned legendary status before my eyes, Diana Ross, Cher, Tom Jones, Robert Plant, The Who, amongst them, for this performance Tina joins them.
Lou Reed was an enigma. A name associated with the Velvet Underground, some of whose records I owned, his wonderful Transformer album produced by David Bowie whom I admired. His Live albums “Rock n Roll Animal” and “Live” were, and still are, amongst the best live albums I have heard, the songs coming alive in a live setting. Sadly , the classic “berlin” line up was gone: featuring Steve Hunter, guitar, dick Wagner, guitar, Ray Concord , keyboards, Pentti Gan, drums, and Prakash John, bass. Those duelling lead guitars but a memory.
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He had a reputation as a maverick as evidenced by “Metal Machine Music”, hence his soubriquet “Loopy Lou”, nut he also had one of the most envied back catalogues in rock So when he announced three dates at London’s Hammersmith Odeon I swooped for a ticket. Live performances were his milieu and that was where I was going to be, with Lou Reed, vocals and guitar, Stuart Heinrich, guitar, Ellard “Moose” Boles, bass, Marty Fogel, sax, Michael Suchorsky, drums, and Chuck Hammer, Roland guitar synth. Heinrich was to stay with Lou for many years, as was Moose Boles whose other collaborations were with Gregg Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Bowie, Buddy Miles, Steve Marriott, and Steve Miller. Chuck hammer went on to work with David Bowie on his “Scary Monsters album, most memorably on “Ashes to Ashes”
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This wasn’t a vintage band, but their competence was vital behind Lou’s quixotic leadership.
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The tradition at the Odeon was that the tickets said “Show starts 7.30pm, an unbilled support appears around 7.45pm, retreats or retires, depending on how well they are received by 8.30, and the main act then comes on at about 9.15. But Lou was seemingly unaware of this, or was extraordinarily impatient to perform that night. At 7.25pm we were in the circle bar having ordered our first round of drinks and were discussing who the support band was likely to be. At 7.30pm the sound of blazing guitars filtered into the bar, only barely disturbing our first few sips of beer, at 7.31 that sound crystalised into the unmistakeable intro to “Sweet Jane”. Cue pandemonium in the bar as it emptied for us to take our seats.
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What followed was a high octane set of what was, in retrospect, his finest material, with “sweet Jane” making way for Bowie favourite “Waiting for the Man”, a perfect “Perfect day”, an uneasy, doleful “Heroin” and a glorious “Wild Side” in the days when Lou had not tired of the song and the full impact of the risqué lyrics had only just become apparent. Ray Davies may have tantalised us with the exploits of Lola in Soho, but when the Sugar plum fairy and Little Jo went to the Apollo- you should have seen them go, go, go, and it was of a different order entirely.
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It was one of those rare, seamless sets where each song complimented the last, then next one, and musical epiphany was piled one on another, as bodies in a bacchanalian orgy, writhing in orgiastic ecstasy, and climaxing with an intense “Pale Blue Eyes” ending at 9.10 with some still arriving assuming that he was only about to come on.
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Naturally there was a muscular, vicral response from the crowd for such a performance. It demanded an encore. The records suggest that Lou rarely played encores on this tour, but tonight was different. At around 9.35, fully half an hour after he had lft, and after which a slice of the audience had assumed that he was returning, the house lights went down and he reappeared to great acclaim. But what followed was the antithesis of what had gone before, a languid, ramshackle, disjointed effort with the ban desperately trying to make sense of it all. Was it drink, was it drugs, was it sheer bloody minded ness, I will never know. A medley starting with “Rock n Roll” disintegrated into a Hendrix style Star spangled banner, which lurched into an un simon and garfunklelesque “America”. The moose and Suchorsky saved “You keep me Hanging On” from totl implosion but Lou insisted on keeping on going when the band had given up, an so had the audience.
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At the same time one of the best and worst gigs I have ever attended.
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Setlist
Sweet Jane
I’m Waiting for the Man
Perfect Day
Heroin
Walk on the Wild Side
Men of Good Fortune
The Kids
Caroline Says II
The Bed
Sad Song
Vicious
All Through the Night
Street Hassle
I’ll Be Your Mirror
The Bells
Pale Blue Eyes/
Encore
Rock and Roll / Star-Spangled Banner / America / You Keep Me Hangin’ On
Television / the Only Ones – Hammersmith Odeon London, April 17th 1978.
Much talk was made of American/ New York punk, in the Uk. With the exception of the Ramones and Richard Hell and the Voidoids, its impact was insignificant. Their new wave was however a different story with Patti Smith, Blondie, Pere Ubu, Talking Heads and the Flaming Groovies notable protagonists. Foremost amongst the American new wave was Television as represented by twin guitarists Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine. This slice of New York talent was hugely anticipated when they arrived in London.
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Their story, as they arrived in the UK was built around one album “Marquee Moon” and a distinctive angular duelling guitar sound, borrowed from classic rock, but distilled, twisted and refined into something very different.
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That sound was defined by their two guitarists, Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine. Television were born out of the mid 70’s CBGB’s rock scene . Their debut album ‘Marquee Moon’ released in February 1977 featured punk power chords in a progressive jazz-inspired interplay with an intricacy that Steely Dan would have been proud of. It’s a multi-layered recording with melodic lines and counter-melodies unlike anything before, with no short songs , instead each is given a chance to breathe. The follow up album “Adventure” is no less impressive.
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Support were the scintillating Only Ones with their much-lauded debut album to promote, played in its entirety. Hit single “Another Girl Another Planet” predictably closed the set, but the haunting “The Beast” was the highlight. Their brevity, quality, and showmanship set a very high standard for Television to follow. Lead singer Peter Perret strutted, strolled, growled and howled like a bona fide Rock star, and then they were gone- neat.
The Only Ones were the closest thing the UK had to Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers, a charismatic , shambles of a band who were capable of creative greatness and self indulgent implosion. The experienced drums and bass of Mair and Kellie provided an inventive platform for Perry and Perret’s guitars. Perret channelled the velvet underground’s sound with Lou Reed perfectly. Unfortunately he and the band also channelled the VUs drug use, and they were deep channels. These two shows at the then prestigious Odeon were probably their finest hour, artistically. They went on to support the Who, but by then the drugs had destroyed rather than inspired them. Yet that night they were unbeatable.
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The evening was by no means perfect, the previous week a crew member had died falling from the lighting rig in Bristol and we sensed an uneasiness as they took the stage. Opening with the unknown “Fire Engine” by the 13th Floor Elevators added to the tentative start.
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The 13th Floor Elevators were an American rock band from Austin, Texas, together from 1965 to 1969, and during that period released four albums and seven singles. The Elevators were the first band to refer to their music as psychedelic rock, with the first-known use of the term appearing on their business card in January 1966. They were later to be name checked by Primal Scream.
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There is no staging, no production, no stage presence as such. Lead vocalist Verlaine is taciturn, stage banter is zero. The musicianship was excellent, the sense of occasion muted. Yet slowly, but surely, as Lloyds’ and Verlaines’ sinuous guitar lines intertwined, the magic began to be revealed. “Friction” was the moment when it all came together, with the spelled out coda the defiant climax.
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Then we were on the home straight. An exquisite “Careful”, a spell binding “Little Johnny jewel” which felt as we were in the confines of the 100 Club, not the expanse of a theatre, a performance of searing intensity leading into a blazing “foxhole” . “Knocking on Heavens Door”, Must be one of the most covered songs and benefitted from their angular approach. Of course they finished with “Marquee Moon”, and it was not the gratuitous curtain closer of their biggest song, it needed the build up emotionally and musically of what had come before.
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How do you top that? With an original reworking of a Stones number (I can’t get no) Satisfaction, and then their very own jingly jangly “See No evil” to close.
Fire Engine
Venus
Prove It
The Dream’s Dream
Ain’t That Nothin’
Friction
Careful
Little Johnny Jewel
Foxhole
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Marquee Moon
Encore
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
See No Evil
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And then they were gone, the cool late spring evening air shocking our systems as we left the theatre, the sinuous guitar leads floating in the memory like a spiders’ web in a gentle breeze. I had never seen a band like them, forty-five years later I still haven’t.
The mid to late 70’s was an incredibly diverse time for music. The early 70’s was experimental and primarily featured disco building upon 60’s soul, prog rock developing hippy rock and hard rock, pop, and Rnb rock n roll. . Graham Parker and the Rumour built upon all of those traditions as Pub rock broke, with chief fellow protagonists being the likes of the Kursaal Flyers, Dr Feelgood, Kilburn and the high Roads, Hatfield and the North, Burlesque, Kokomo, Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, and Ace.
Music is a fluid entity, and the forces which spawned pub rock also spawned punk in the summer of 76, and in turn, New Wave. Very little in music is original, but Pub Rock was overtly derivative, that was what drew crowds, you were listening to something that you seemed to already know. Punk seemed new, I was a teenager going to live gigs, it felt exciting, and fresh ( in truth was it any more new than the New York Dolls ( who were not gigging in the UK), early Who, or early Rolling Stones? Probably not, but that was the music of old people, and this music was for me.
By 1975 the Rumour had been assembled in London by the Hope and Anchor above which Dave Robinson of Stiff records fame, had a studio. Parker became a staple artist at the Hope and Anchor, and Fulham Greyhound in Hammersmith two of the hippest venues in London with a burgeoning live reputation boosted by the seminal “live at marble arch” bootleg. His early sound , vocals and presence was reminiscent of Van Morrison. Contemporaneously Elvis Costello with a formidable family music tradition, and Joe Jackson with formidable compositional ability, were the competition.
And so in 1978, on the basis of the above and the great “Hold back the night” hit single cover, I went to see them live at Leeds university. It was to be one of the best shows I had ever seen.
I arrived early, early enough to chat to Graham as he arrived for the sound check to claim my place at the front, and what an experience . Parker’s passion, Brinsley Schwarz’s searing guitar , Bob Andrews’ keyboards, Andrew Bodnar’s bass, Steven Goulding’s drums and the Rumour Horns, a live rock n roll combination only Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band could match. The 2000 capacity all standing venue packed with under 25s was perfect.
This was the perfect setlist of their early material with his cover of Ann Peebles’ “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” absolutely showstopping. He channelled Peebles later in the set for a magnificent, soulful “Watch the Moon Come Down”, Parker crouching under a solitary spotlight. It was a great time to see hi. He had broken out of small venues, the Rumour was tour tight.
Like the most powerful gospel soul from the early sixties, “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” serves notice on a cheating lover (or is it white supremacist America?) declaring that the free ride has come to an end. It’s a restatement of the revolutionary gospel anthem “Samson and Delilah,” and the message is the same: “If I had my way, I would tear this building down.”
Peebles is a pivotal figure in understanding early Parker. She was also influenced by R&B performers, including Muddy Waters, Mary Wells and Aretha Franklin. Her first record, “Walk Away”, reached the R&B chart in 1969, as did the follow-up, “Give Me Some Credit”, and she released an album, This Is Ann Peebles. All her early records on Hi Records featured the signature sound of the Hi Rhythm Section and Memphis Horns, a sound that the Rumour were to duplicate In 1970, her single “Part Time Love” – a version of Little Johnny Taylor’s 1963 hit – reached no. 7 on the R&B chart, and no.45 on the pop chart, and she began working with the Hi label’s songwriter Don Bryant.
Two of her most popular songs were “I Can’t Stand the Rain”, which she wrote with her husband Don Bryant and radio broadcaster Bernie Miller, and “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” She was also the only female singer on Hi to release a string of albums, including Straight from the Heart and I Can’t Stand the Rain, which contained many tracks that she co-wrote with Bryant. The title track of the latter album, written by Peebles and Bryant with DJ Bernard Miller, was her biggest commercial success, reaching no. 6 on the R&B chart and no. 38 on the pop chart in 1973.
The set opener was a storming “Stick with me”, horns blaring, Parker snarling, setting a pace and energy that never let up, we really did want to “Hold back the Night” one that was too good to end. Every show has its purple patches, here it was the triumvirate of “Fools Gold” featuring Schwarz’s guitar, “Playhouse” and “Hey lord” a classic audience call and response number.
Set list
Stick to Me
White Honey
Lady Doctor
Fool’s Gold
I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down (Ann Peebles cover)
Hey lord, Don’t ask me Questions
The Heat in Harlem
Silly Thing
Gypsy Blood
Back to Schooldays
Heat Treatment
Watch the Moon Come Down
Thunder and Rain
The New York Shuffle
Soul Shoes
Encore:
Hold back the Night
Just under a year later I caught him again in London with a setlist significantly bolstered with songs from the excellent “Squeezing out Sparks” album several of which were new set highlights, particularly “Passion is no ordinary word” “You cant be too strong” and “Nobody hurts you” even if the cod reggae of“Protection” and vitriolic “ Mercury poisoning” were unsubtle and raw cries de Coeur.
Hammersmith Odeon, London April 3rd 1979
Discovering Japan
Local Girls
Thunder and Rain
Don’t Get Excited
Back to Schooldays
Passion Is No Ordinary Word
Fools Gold
You Can’t Be Too Strong
Love Gets You Twisted
Mercury Poisoning
Heat Treatment
Howlin’ Wind
Stick to Me
Crawlin’ From the Wreckage
Saturday Nite Is Dead
Nobody Hurts You
Soul Shoes
Encore:
Hold Back the night
Protection
Ultimately there was only room for one angry young man songwriter, and Graham and Joe Jackson played second and third fiddle to Elvis Costello. Live this was his high water mark of popularity, although he was to return to the Odeon, while other bands moved on to arenas, he was stuck in theatre sized venues, which for a numerically big band will always create financial pressures. Subsequent tours saw him play the smaller Hammersmith Palais, then by 85, without the Rumour ,he was playing Dingwalls and the Marquee while the Jam and Stranglers had played Wembley arena.
Subsequent to this, having borrowed from Dylan on his first few albums he courted Springsteen, but was not in the same league on vinyl although “Fools Gold” was a great tribute. The ill-advised collaboration on the subsequent “ Up escalator” with Springsteen was to be his swansong.
In those days a show at the Hammersmith Odeon was a prestige date, and this was one of two sold out nights, rapturously received by a home crowd and bizarrely featuring a stage invasion from a fan on crutches! It was a night in his career he never bettered.
“mercury poisoning” was his take on his demise I think it was more complex than that.
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Mercury records themselves were a fine, large, established, diverse record company, producing hit singles and albums for Paper Lace, bachman turner overdrive, 10cc and Rod Stewart- a pretty impressive contemporary roster.
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I think that GP was a victim of bad luck, bad timing and bad judgment.
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Unquestionably GP& The Rumour were the toast of the Pub Rock scene. But before pub Rock crossed over to the mainstream, punk broke, and the band were no punk band. Some rode the wave, adapted and survived after a fashion, most notably Eddie and the hot Rods. Some stuck to their guns and prospered, most notably Dr Feelgood. Some great bands were overwhelmed like the Kursaal Flyers and Ducks deluxe, some adopted, adapted and developed like Kilburn and the high Roads/ Ian Dury. Bad luck.
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As punk morphed into new wave, two singer songwriters emerged, Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. Ian Dury also reinvented himself both as a singer songwriter, and with the Blockheads as a first rate live act. It was a crowded market, bd luck and bad timing.
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Ditching his horns section for “Squeezing out Sparks” had no negative creative effect, possibly the reverse, and saved him money, but the soul sound of the band was gone. His subsequent flirtation with Springsteen for “The Up Escalator” had some commercial upside, but it was short-lived. Graham was no Bruce. Bad judgment
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The Uk pop market in the late 70’s and early 80’s was unbelievably fast moving from month to month. Parkerrhad neither the time, nor the money, to commit to touring America for months on end and abandoning his home market to the competition. Bad luck and timing.
The talented racing Cars and Motors were both consumed by the vicissitudes of that era. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers rode it out, the Cars faked it. That’s the music business for you.
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To graham’s great credit, he has kept going, and continued to earn a living from music which is more than most
I was fortunate enough to see Cher on her epic 326 date Farewell tour in 2004. It was one of the greatest rock and pop shows that I have ever seen. She introduced the show with these words:
“Ladies and gentlemen, and flamboyant gentlemen. Boys and girls and children of all ages. Welcome to the Cher-est show on earth. This is the official beginning to the Cher show. And all I have to say is, Rhianna, Beyonce, Britney, ‘follow this, you bitches”. And what a show it was!
So this revue had some giant ( high heeled) shoes to fill. Cher has been an ubiquitous cultural media presence since the 1960’s as a singer and actress. How were they going to start to portray that? The answer – three Chers!
The Cher Show made its world premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on June 12, 2018, it began previews on Broadway on November 1, 2018, and officially opened on December 3, 2018, at the Neil Simon Theatre. It won Tony Awards for Stephanie J. Block (Lead Actress in a Musical) and for Bob Mackie (Costume Design for a Musical).
The musical’s book is by Rick Elice, with original direction by Jason Moore, choreography by Christopher Gattelli, and orchestrations, arrangements and musical supervision by Daryl Waters and additional orchestrations by Steve Orich. The producers of the show were Jeffrey Seller, Flody Suarez and Cher.
In May 2021, a new touring production was announced in the UK and Ireland from April 2022 to April 2023 directed by Arlene Phillips and featuring choreography from Oti Mabuse. Of Strictly Come Dancing and big hair fame. The show differs from the Broadway production with modifications to the show’s music, Rick Elice’s book, and the costumes; which have been redesigned by Gabriella Slade . It also has set design by Tom Rogers, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Dan Samson, wigs, hair and make-up design by Sam Cox, music production by Gary Hickeson, musical supervision by Rich Morris.
It starts with an older Cher (Debbie Kurup) who has lost her her way when she feels the presence of her former selves in the shape of The younger less confidant Babe Cher (Millie O’Connell) and tougher edgier Lady Cher (Danielle Steers) who found mega fame amid a break up, motherhood and ups and downs of her career.
Lucas Rush is a talented and amusing Sonny, Tori Scott an effervescent Lucille Ball.
What sets this show apart is that it isn’t a concert musical, nor is it a narrated musical, or a bio-musical. All 3 Cher’s looking back on each others lives, throughout the ups and downs of life, meeting Sonny (Lucas Rush) fame, fortune and heartbreak.
It is a Cher multiverse with each Cher the master of her own destiny but only the present day Cher having the answers. She watches her former selves making decisions and mistakes that accrue into her ultimate self. You watch Cher grow up before your eyes. A young naïve Babe Cher unaware of what lies in front of her, the streetwise Lady Cher, bruised, resilient, but successful, and a Star Cher who knows the story but has to rediscover it.
Cher embraces camp and glam, the production is awash with it, awash with glamorous eye-catching costumes and glorious, period faithful, choreography, oh, and fabulous songs. Even if like me you do not own a single Cher record, you will still not only know all the songs, but all the words to all the songs.
Cher and Greg Allman ( Sam Ferriday)
The supporting cast of singers, dancers and musicians are terrific with concert quality lighting and a crisp, loud sound.
A showstopping standing ovation, foot stomping , encore finale features: “Believe”, “Strong Enough”, “Woman’s World”, “Dov’è L’amore”, “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)”, “I Found Someone”, and “Believe”.
Oh what a show, what a night! The Cher musical Runs until 22/10/22 and continues on nationwide tour.
I didn’t own a single Cher single or album, yet somehow she has been omnipresent in my awareness of music. As a child I remember the tweeness of “I’ve got you babe”, but also the darkness of “Bang Bang”. I had never seen her live, this was my chance.
The tour had started in Toronto in June 2002 and would continue onward for a record-breaking 326 shows, ending in Los Angeles in April 2005. The final show was performed at the Hollywood Bowl, in where Cher made her first concert appearance with former husband, Sonny Bono. Cher explains the longevity of the tour was based on asking her manager to continue to add dates because of the audience reaction. The tour was originally slated to end with the Australasian leg in the Fall of 2004, however, an additional North American leg was added in January 2005.She concluded, “I really didn’t want to stop.”
Just occasionally a concert becomes an event, a spiritual occasion. That happened tonight. This was a big arena show, and I am not fond of arena shows. It takes something special for an artist’s personality, and music to fill them, but Cher did just that. She was nothing if not confident in her introduction
“Ladies and gentlemen, and flamboyant gentlemen. Boys and girls and children of all ages. Welcome to the Cher-est show on earth. This is the official beginning to the Cher show. And all I have to say is, Rhianna, Beyonce, Britney, ‘follow this, you bitches”. Its a bold challenge for a 58 uear old woman- but she delivers.
A lavish set, and an even more lavish dancing troupe and backing band physically filled out the stage, her music completed the job , transcending five decades. Her opening cover of U2’s “”I still haven’t found what I am looking for” sets the agenda, she isn’t a woman who is finished yet even if it was billed as her “Farewell Tour”
Yes there was a liberal dose of nostalgia in the form of her sixties hits with liberal use made of on screen vintage film footage, with “Gypsies Tramps and Thieves” and “Its in his kiss” particularly joyous romps. But it was a 1990’s cover, of Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis” which was the surprise showstopper.
It tells the story of a 1985 trip that Cohn, then a, struggling songwriter and singer, took to Memphis to overcome a bout of writer’s block. After visiting the church where former soul singer Al Green was preaching, Elvis Presley’s former home of Graceland, and a small nightclub in nearby Mississippi, as well as wandering various streets of downtown Memphis, he found the inspiration for this fabulous song.
It is a marvellous narrative which Cher makes her own and brings alive, it becomes her story and her homage to the town and music, in turn becoming ours. It brought the house down, the applause rolling back and for the along the arena floor then washing up the terraces before ebbing back again for what seemed like an eternity
“Love Hurts” was a heart wrenchingly poignant performance for a woman who has known more than her fair share of romantic heartache, and the closing “if I could turn back time”, echoed the sentiments of an entire audience as Cher rolled back the years with this collection of songs. As the show wound up it dawned on us that after a lifetime on the road for this 58 year old her years of touring may really be coming to a close- and I can say that I saw her live.
Vocally she was a match for any woman I have heard live, for stage presence she was peerless.
I am often asked which is the best/my favourite concert of the several hundreds I have attended, this is right up there with the very best.
I saw the original Alan Parker film, but this represented my first time seeing the stage show.
Its artistic credentials are impeccable. The Commitments film was released in 1991 as a musical comedy-drama film based on the eponymous 1987 novel of the book by Roddy Doyle. Not only was it directed by Alan Parker, but the screenplay was written by Doyle, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, a veritable creative tour de force. Located in the Northside of Dublin, we hear the story of Jimmy Rabbitte , a young music fanatic who assembles a group of working-class youths to form a soul band named, “The Commitments”. There is a venerable tradition of showbands playing weddings and sundry gatherings in village halls, that tradition spawned both the Boomtown Rats and Thin Lizzy. The ongoing appeal of soul music is underscored by Bruce Springsteen’s latest release “Only the strong Survive” a covers album of soul standards.
The stage play is faithful to the film musically and artistically, but the musical set list has been revamped ( for the better) including: Try A Little Tenderness, Knock On Wood, , Save Me, I Heard It Through The Grapevine, In The Midnight Hour, Reach Out I’ll be there,Signed Sealed Delivered amongst them. The only frustration is that some songs are performed as fragments and interludes rather than in full.
Anyone who has been in a band, or been close to those in one, will recognise the internecine rivalries, jealousies and warfare, humorously, and accurately, played out here. Skilfully directed by Andrew Linnie on a versatile set, which doubles as a performance backdrop, oozing live music, by Tim Blazdell. It is 1980s’ Dublin, transforms into Jimmy’s family home, then the Miami Vice club, a pub, bingo hall, a nightclub, and a block of flats, all in the blink of an eye.
James Killeen is superb as the loveable lead Jimmy Rabitte, authentic and perspiring charisma, He channels his inner Bob Geldoff with much chutzpah. A trio of beautiful backing singers, Imelda (Ciara Mackey), Bernie (Sarah Gardiner) and Natalie (Eve Kitchingham) all get the chance to show off their vocal prowess, the first half combination of “You Keep Me Hanging On/ Reach Out I’ll be there and “Chain of Fools” is stunning as are all their harmonies. Alan Williams’ musical arrangements are sympathetic and inspired.
Dramatic interludes are kept to a minimum, musical numbers are turned up to the maximum, as is the nostalgia, with Nigel Pivaro ( Terry Duckworth of Coronation St) playing the part of Da with considerable humour. The metamorphosis and evolution from the shambolic group of friends to convincing showband is trickier to depict on stage than it is on film with that pretence only really evident on the opening, rousing ,“Proud Mary”.
On this opening night, understudy James Deegan, performed the pivotal role of Deco, his confidence growing as the evening unfolded, only “(I can’t get no) Satisfaction” misfired, mainly due to lacklustre instrumentation.
Mickah (Ronnie Yorke) has a lot of fun as the bands’ security looking like a 1970’s North Bank Boot Boy from nearby Molineux with his shaven head and menacing Doc Marten cherry red boots. An oddly downbeat ending is papered over with a rip-roaring front of house medley of encores which the leggy girly backing singers steal performing a barnstorming “River Deep Mountain High” wearing stunning red sleeveless drop- waisted minidresses and ruched bodices.
Yes “Mustang Sally” is still fantastic, and I can now report that the live stage show is a match for the film, runs until Saturday the 15th, then continues on nationwide tour.
This is not the first time that this story, originally a novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1886 , has been presented as a play. It was adapted for theatre in 1887 as a four-act play by Thomas Russell Sullivan in collaboration with the actor Richard Mansfield. Sullivan made several changes to the story; which in turn has evolved in the many subsequent film and television versions . This is an immense advantage for Neil Bartlett OBE ,who has written this adaptation, offering him maximum leeway in fashioning the narrative for a 21st century audience almost 140 years on. Although a familiar tale, few have read the 1886 original anyway!
The most significant shift is the presence of three women who collaborate to unpick the strange events which unfold led by Dr Stevenson (Polly Lister). Director Sarah Brigham starts the show at curtain up with a supernatural ,spiritual tinge as Dr Lanyon (Charlie Buckland), The Inspector (James Morrell), Mr Enfield (Craig Painting), Mr Guest (Levi Payne) and Mr Utterson (Robert Vernon) provide an eerie choral, ensemble spoken word introduction on the terracing of what appears to be a dissection theatre , the figures freezing and unfreezing from ghostly mannequins to action figures.
Dr Jekyll (Nicholas Shaw) is a brooding presence at the back of, and above, the stage, omnipresent and menacing . He is a demented , dark, mysterious ,malevolent figure transforming into Mr Hyde using an inspired combination of costume and physical rhythm.
In juxtaposition Dr Stevenson (Polly Lister) drives the narrative along, resourceful, inquisitive and relentless, amidst the shadowy male figures. Tife Kusoro is her energetic sidekick with a 21st century injection of Girl Power. Dr Stevenson is an Everyman creation, almost a part of the observing audience. She follows the clues until she finally works out the solution to the mystery, as we the audience do, that Jekyll and Hyde are one and the same. Stevenson solves the case in both a criminal and psychological sense, the dissection theatre doubling as a court room and the audience frequently being addressed directly. Bartlett avoids the trap of making this a murder mystery. Stevenson is not merely investigating the case, she is exploring a male dominated world, and underworld, of privilege and wrong doing. In Bartlett’s hands this is as much about Stevenson as it is about Dr Jekyll, a challenge which Lister embraces with considerable aplomb.
The theme of male power, cliques and privilege has a contemporary resonance in the guise of recent American Presidents and British Prime Ministers and their self- delusion. In Dr Jekyll we are given a glimpse inside of the head of such an individual in a masterclass of acting by Nicholas Shaw.
Bartlett is an artistic polymath, director, performer, translator and writer. His previous adaptations of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, and A Christmas Carol have certainly prepared him for this faithful and authentic slice of Victoriana which veers from the fantastic to visceral realism at the flick of a switch with a sprinkling of the magical included too, courtesy of Philip Bond
Improbably, and memorably, we are also treated to song , “Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner”, and pin sharp choreography and movement , by Deb Pugh, most notably in the memorable “Top Hat” ( and cane) dance murder scene which has more than a nod to Kubrick’s ,“A Clockwork orange”
The single set (Jessica Curtis) is basic and multilevel providing multiple exits and entrances whose centrepiece is a mysterious door. The intermittently flickering lighting (Simeon Miller) is atmospheric, white light illuminating the shadowy browns and blacks of the costumes and set complimented by Ivan Stotts stark, dissonant staccato sound and music.
The running time of under 2 hours, including interval, is short, as is the original novella. This is a big advantage , as the story, and production, packs a fast moving punch offering maximum impact. There is no flab in the script. The actors show, they don’t tell, engaging the audience throughout.
It has a dream like quality, weird and surreal, a phantasmagoria of the real and illusory. This sometimes affects the production’s narrative coherence, but if you tune in, and zone out, all will be well.
This production sits comfortably alongside the very best of what Derby Theatre and Sarah Brigham have produced in recent years, her trademark integration of movement, sound light and drama are compelling, and a triumph. The show runs until 22nd October.
The seventies was the apogee of Heavy Rock, the holy trinity were Deep Purple ( Smoke on the Water),Led Zeppelin ( Whole Lotta Love) and Black Sabbath ( Paranoid). By the mid 70’s, Zep had become Rock megastars, and arguably the biggest band in the world, usurping The Rolling Stones, Deep Purple had lost guitar Svengali Blackmore by 75, leaving Sabbath as the last man standing in the battle of the heavy rock bands.
In 1975 Sabbath released “Sabotage”, their sixth album. Following a fearsomely impressive five albums in four years it was inevitable that their creative impetus might suffer alongside a relentless touring schedule. The title of the album reflected the band’s perception that their career was being sabotaged by outside forces, specifically their manager Patrick Meehan with whom they were about to break from resulting in him closing Worldwide Artiste Management of which Sabbath were the lynchpin act. Meehan had previously worked with legendary producer and hardman Don Arden, an association which led to his introduction to Don’s daughter Sharon whom he was to go on to marry.
The album was the least successful to date, yet in retrospect contained some of their best material. So the first time I saw them at their Hammersmith show on 22nd Oct 75 was not the best time to catch them. Drummer Bill Ward was visibly, and obviously, scooping large quantities of cocaine from a bowl in an appallingly disjointed, lacklustre performance by the band. Ozzy looked to be going through the motions. Only Tony Iommi held things together, “Killing Yourself to live” an ironic statement on the position the band found themselves in was rip roaring, shamelessly stealing a riff, lifted from Chicago’s hit “25or624”,the rest of the evening veered from the indifferent to the not very good.
That was not going to put me off, and on 14th March 1977 I returned to Hammersmith, my loyalty was rewarded with one of the best rock shows I have ever seen.
14th March 1977, Hammersmith Odeon
Supertzar
Symptom of the Universe
Snowblind
War Pigs
Gypsy
Black Sabbath
Dirty Women
Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor
Electric Funeral
N.I.B.
Iron Man
Children of the Grave
Encore
Paranoid
It was a staggering, potent set list with a smattering of material from the new “Technical Ecstasy” album seamlessly fitting, in of which “Dirty Women” was the highlight. The classics were delivered flawlessly, the finale of NIB/ Iron man/ Children of the Grave/ Paranoid had the power and visceral impact of a German blitzkrieg. “Black Sabbath” was totemic, the “Snowblind/ War Pigs” duo was the stuff of tablets from God.
For reasons that I now fortunately forget, my gig going companion, Keith Emerick, was moved to strip to his string vest with a handkerchief on top of his head to urge the boys on, they responded magnificently. If any show was to epitomise Heavy Rock at its best, this was it. Free of fired manager Meehan their power was unfettered, their onslaught relentless- and yes, the show was probably heard in Poland, it was that loud. In retrospect “Technical Ecstasy” was their last great album and their exposition of the Heavy Rock genre had just about run its course. Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Saxon and Def Leppard would, to a greater or lesser extent, run the next leg of the relay race.
22nd october 1975, Hammersmith Odeon.
Supertzar
Killing Yourself to Live
Hole in the Sky
Snowblind
Symptom of the Universe
War Pigs
Sabbra Cadabra
Sometimes I’m Happy
Supernaut
Iron Man
Orchid
Rock ‘n’ Roll Doctor
Black Sabbath
Spiral Architect
Children of the Grave
Encore:
Paranoid
Time has been kind to Black Sabbath. Their 70’s output has stood the test of time. Iommi’s status as an axe hero belied his expertise as a jazz inspired guitarist who briefly played with Jethro Tull. subsequently ozzy left the band replaced by Ronnie James Dio who was not to my taste. Subsequent line up changes revolved around Iommi, the only continuously serving band member. in recent years th band has toured and recorded around the original line up, the best line up.
Garyswordz 