Out of 2020 – Into 2021

I’ve ummed and ahhed over doing this sort of post, but (now the end of January is in sight) I’ve finally decided that I might as well follow up my ‘favourite things‘ post with a bit of a round-up – and some kind of look forward. One thing that I did manage was to get […]

2020: A few of my favourite things

I’m not going to have a go at anyone who has posted a list of their favourite things from 2020, or what they consider to be the best; we’re all dealing with the current situation in our own way, and for some people it’s easiest to carry on with as many ‘normal’ things as possible […]

#MindTheBand: Memorable gigs through time

As this week has ended up focusing mostly around albums (understandably, given the situation in which we find ourselves), I thought today was an opportune day to mix things up a bit. It’s #ThrowbackThursday – or #TBT – so what better moment to think back over my live gig experiences? Much of this dates […]

Kaiser Chiefs: Not Playing The Hits

One thing’s for certain: throughout this period of shutdown, Kaiser Chiefs have not been idle. If they haven’t been re-recording one of their most well-known songs with lockdown lyrics, they’ve been participating in listening parties and playing at Royal Albert Home. To top it all off, they’ve now performed a special gig which put the […]

The Wind + The Wave: livestream 1

I’ve been lucky enough to see The Wind + The Wave (Patty Lynn & Dwight Baker) in concert three times in just under a year: twice supporting Kelly Jones on his 2019 tour and once a few weeks ago, backed by a full band, supporting Stereophonics. They run their own podcast (The Dwight & Patty […]

Hurry up and wait…

One month ago today I was sat in a theatre for what I fully expected to be the last time for quite a while. SOLT had closed all of its theatres even as audiences were beginning to arrive; the United Kingdom government, when it eventually acknowledged we needed daily briefings, began doing them at any […]

The Script: Sunsets & Full Moons (O2 Arena)

Three Irishmen walk into the O2 Arena… No, this isn’t a setup for a terrible dad joke, but a description of my Saturday night! I’ve been trying to go to more gigs over the past couple of years, as music has been in my life a lot longer than theatre but I’ve managed to let […]

Seth Lakeman: A Pilgrim’s Tale (Southwark Cathedral)

Immigration continues to be a hot topic the world over, so it’s rather interesting to note that 2020 is the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower – an early example of Europeans migrating to America. It wasn’t as simple a process as you might have expected; a selection of the travellers had previously […]

End of 2019 report

Well, it’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? The less said about the political landscape the better, except for the fact that it’s probably given James Graham enough material to last a lifetime… I can’t help but wish that I had some play writing ability to lighten the load (and for my own catharsis)! Back […]

A Christmas Carol (LMTO)

Following last year’s success, the London Musical Theatre Orchestra has returned to give two more performances of a musical version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Written by Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent, it is a two-and-a-bit-hour show that was first performed over 20 years ago in New York and now calls the Lyceum […]