august 2008: live reviews

Hell Is For Heroes + Disco Ensemble + Gavin Portland – Fibbers - 20/06/07

The first band tonight are Gavin Portland, and honestly they just make noise. It’s frankly annoying hardcore with some ok guitars spliced in. Nobody really gets into it unfortunately, thanks for making the trip though lads! Unlike their Finnish counterparts who foot the bill Disco Ensemble are a very interesting group. It’s like the Hives if they were on about ten crates of redbull.
Firing on all cylinders through an explosive set of high octane sweaty rock songs with a fierce raw punk edge, the group impress with a great set of songs including: “Drop Dead Casanova” which is most definitely a highlight of their night. Definitely a band to look into, Disco Ensemble are explosive, edgy and furiously good at delivering whether it be on a big or small stage.
Now onto Hell Is For Heroes who have always been a hard working band and their material recalls the glory days of when British Alternative Rock was given the respect it deserves with great material coming from artists like A Hundred Reasons and Vex Red. New material from the band includes “To Die For” and “My Protector.” This is far more atmospheric than the older material. Indeed perhaps the band have fallen into the trap of trying to be the next Tool similarly to other great bands like The Deftones have.
That is not to say this new album doesn’t boast great stuff, “You’ve Got Hopes” is atmospheric yet powerful and boasts the familiar high tempo raw energy we are used to from the band. However it is when they break out “classics” like “You Drove Me To It” that the band excel, the song is delivered with true conviction and blood curdling emotion. HIFH whip the crowd into a frenzy.
Unfortunately the fans euphoria cannot last for too long, as mid-way through the defining and inspirational “I Can Climb Mountains” the band cannot finish due to…you guessed it…sound problems…Anyhow the fans show their commitment to the band and are able to finish the chorus, but as we wait and wait for the sound to be re-kindled we are left feeling let down.
The packed house, cult following and a truly great British rock act are left with a bit of an anti-climax. Though spirits are not dampened, one fan said “It was just great to see them… Justin Schlosberg [vocals] has such a great voice, and he’s so small and cute…the band were really on fire…come back to us, we’ll finish all your songs!!” Well, there’s some incentive for you boys! Get back ere.’

words: dom smith

Pull Tiger Tail + To My Boy + Pint Shot Riot - Fibbers - 14/06/07

Torrential downpours weren’t nearly enough to dampen the spirits of tonight’s avid gig-goers, who’ve turned up to Fibbers for another of the venues highly promising line-ups. The trio bill of electro-indie begins with opening band Pint Shot Riot, who offer something not entirely dissimilar to Dirty Pretty Things, but with such energy that no-one is complaining. A solid rock-indie outfit, who are made all the better by an engaging and charismatic lead singer, Pint Shot Riot set the scene for more dance floor-filling music to come.
This would be in the shape of two-piece To My Boy then, who immediately catch the attention of anyone wearing neon in the room with their Klaxons-esque sound. Sounding remarkably like the fictional band Kraftwerk Orange from The Mighty Boosh, the band present some persistently pulsating electronica accompanied by a set of Eighties New Romantic-style vocals. A both interesting and entertaining set, though to what extent their electric programming can be considered ‘live music’ is up for debate…
This is the first headline tour for up and coming act Pull Tiger Tail, who’ve already been confirmed to play the Carling Leeds and Reading festivals among others this summer. Having played with the likes of The Rumble Strips and Blood Red Shoes, there’s a definite sense of expectation in the air, with many of the crowd coming from far and wide to see the band. Luckily, the three-piece don’t disappoint. The set list reads like a definitive of the bands short but impressive show reel of work to date, displaying not only solid song-writing skills, but also the technical capabilities of all three musicians. Swapping and combining instruments, they create whole varieties of layered sounds, each edged with a distinctive electro-indie dancebility, with the songs seeming to reach a new level of engagement when played live. Solid vocals, a multi-talented guitarist, and an incredible performance from their drummer made for an entertaining show and perfect headliners in every sense. It’s a happy ending for all involved then, with tonight’s show making one thing especially clear – if you thought that Klaxons were the only forerunners in incredible British indie-electro music, then think again. Pull Tiger Tail have the potential to be huge and, from tonight’s performance, they have the claws to prove it.

words: r l wade

JUNCTION ACOUSTIC SUNDAY - Junction, YORK - 24/06/07

When I’m old and have the attention of some kids I will impart some good advice, beginning with the fact that Acoustic Sundays at the Junction are bloomin’ ace. Quality acts in a spacious but warm, candlelit atmosphere results in a fabulous night of music and tonight promises to be no different. No sooner have I got my hands on a white wine spritzer than the beauteous Oliver J Brooke has taken to the stage. He has a voice reminiscent of the precise, classical sounding end of Jeff Buckley but with enough gruff to carry off an excellent version of Ray Lamontagne’s, “Trouble”. I just have time to take a sip of my crème de menthe before Andy Stones comes along with the kind of songs so full of melodic tuneful bits that I’m humming them already. A very able voice and a dextrous guitar style, Andy Stones is finger pickin’ good. A quick conversation with KFC’s lawyers later, Miles Cain appears flanked by backing singer Helen Turner and saxophonist Simon Watterson. Miles’ solid songs take flight tonight, with the intimacy of the venue showcasing the perfect arrangements and some very tight and gutsy performances. After a brief pause to realise I have no money left, Neil McSweeney strides up to the mic and plays a storming set of grand songs. Good enough to make ranting motor mouth Jonathan Ross shut up for long enough to play his single (“Postcards”), he has a gravitas and strength that make him a gripping performer, wandering around the stage as the mood and the music take him. Managing a difficult combination of empowered and bruised, he’s pretty darn good. But what else would you expect from the Junction Acoustic Sundays, which is what I’ll tell those who care to listen when I’ve lost my hair. Which has already happened – so job done.

words: martin cordiner

Peer Gynt: York College Performing Arts Students - The Studio, York Theatre Royal - 30/06/07

How did they manage to fit so many people on stage? Seemingly all of York College acted in this, their end-of-year student-theatre extravaganza show-off mélange.
Our hero cuts a caper from scolding mother and simple farmstead to rowdy wedding hubbub, to barren mountaintop and wild troll spectacular. He gallivants across the Moroccan coast and cops off with a slender Arabess. He masquerades as prophet in the Sahara and poses as historian amidst the ruins of Greek temples.
All of this, of course, gives vast opportunities for extravagant staging, which (I guess) was what recommended Peer Gynt in the first place. This opportunity was certainly not ignored, anyway – every scene in the play was energetic and dynamic, crammed with precise set pieces. The trolls’ hard rock rendition of Grieg’s Alton Towers music fizzed with vim, and when Peer found himself on a sinking ship, the cast lay on their backs and wriggled around to simulate fierce waves.
But the play wasn’t perfect. Dazzling showiness came at the expense of comprehensible plot development, and the course-tutor author of this adaptation had filleted out the story’s introspective backbone, leaving knowing in-jokes (shelf-sufficiency!?) and vague, disconnected metaphors as residue.
Flimsy emphasis on Peer’s wanton womanising fills the vacuum almost by default. While Peer’s introspection gets short shrift, the frothy stage still fills brimful with lascivious young lovelies, wrapped in white linen, fluttering delicate eyelashes, milling around in gregarious flocks, and cockcrazed prancer Peer still tears over peaks and duffs up hags. He still drags off brides to be poked in woods and still satisfies herdsgirls in three-at-a-time love-romps. I think the final scene was supposed to show Peer being judged by a crowd of unhappy ex-lovers, but it was all a bit obscure.
But enough with quibbling – the overall effect was very entertaining, and even with the play’s more explicit meaning buried, Peer’s travels still had a pressing poetic force.

words: colin

DUNE JAZZ FESTIVAL: JAZZ JAMAICA - YORK THEATRE ROYAL - 07/07/07

What is it about black music that has so much beauty? Perhaps Jazz Jamaica present the flexibility and fusing of styles. It’s odd, but you’d imagine reggae and jazz don’t mix too well; reggae laid back and smooth featuring head nodding whilst jazz is about fire and energetic solos. However Jazz Jamaica wouldn’t be so popular if they couldn’t pull it off. This concert is the fourth and final of the York Dune Jazz Festival at the Theatre Royal which has it seems been a great success. The band shyly prepare on stage, and bandleader and double bassist Gary Crosby is the only member who talks to the audience, making a few casual jokes throughout (it seems the Brixton lads are taking over his band). However it soon becomes obvious these guys speak through their music, they play traditional ska/reggae songs with insane improvisation jazz thrown in throughout. They open with the classic “Liquidator” by Harry J. & the Allstars, which is instantly recognisable to any reggae/ska fan. Crosby announces no prizes for guessing the next song, the classic James Bond theme tune. “Guns Of Navarone” and “Double Barrel” follow, each with spontaneous jazz outbursts. They play a few original numbers, a Cuban tune proving they’re skilled in Latin rhythm as well. I’ve heard this style is called skazz but to be fair, it’s not so much a fusion as placing the two genres side-by-side in songs, but it works so well. The band are incredibly tight despite Crosby’s claims they have barely rehearsed, and they’re quick to praise one another and encourage the audience to applaud each other’s solos. Crosby constantly demands the audience get up and dance, and by the ever-classic “My Girl Lollipop” sung by Janet Kay most of the audience are up and skanking away. Young and old congregate at the foot of the stage as we’re all carried away by the upbeat tempo. It’s odd (but nice) to see people dancing away in the Theatre Royal. It’s also nice to see a real assortment of ages. Jazz Jamaica and guest Janet Kay are met with thunderous applause from all and prove there’s still room for classic Jamaican reggae even up here in Yorkshire.

words: henry raby

Architects + Glamour of the Kill + Edmund Kemper - Fibbers - 10/07/07

If you’re not familiar with Architects by now, jump aboard the bandwagon before it leaves without you. Architects are just one of the up and coming names in exciting British hardcore / metalcore / screamo-core - essentially a sound consisting of riff-fuelled instrumentalists, messed-up timescales, screaming vocals, with everything turned up louder than should be legal.
Edmund Kemper were the first band to take to the stage and with a confidence that’s impressive when you’re supporting such a highly regarded headline act. The Driffield five-piece offer a display of great technical capability, and with their enigmatic lead singer manage to play through a superb set. However, there seemed to be a distinct influence from one band in particular – Bring Me The Horizon.
The second band of the night caused significant excitement, it being evident that the crowd were predominantly here for these guys, Glamour of the Kill. Formerly Red Room Theory, they are now under their new ‘scene-friendly’ name, proving themselves to be a talented metal outfit with a great competence for song writing. Their sound and confidence is, in fact, very similar indeed to last years young musical heroes Trivium. There’s a definite influence there, but the band manage to hold their own with some more melodic lyrical styles to avoid a constant comparison forming.
There’s a measly murmur of a stir as the headliners take to the stage, with the venue only a third full and definitely short of the expected moshers and hardcore-dancers at the front. Architects, however, don’t let this phase them, and play through an incredible set of sheer noise and controlled chaos with lead singer Sam Carter commanding the small stage like he were back at Download festival. For those at Fibbers who came down to see a hotly-tipped band, then they definitely got exactly as promised, with a consistently tight set and impressive performance. However, this is a band that thrives off audience reaction, who become twice as more ferocious if the crowd look like they’re having an amazing time. But tonight at Fibbers, Architects unfortunately just didn’t receive that kind of welcome.
This was a gig consisting of three very capable bands, with each of the sets being engaging, lively and, most impressively of all, full of confidence from every member on stage. As a show though, tonight was lacking the spark you’d hope to see in response to such a great line-up, but whether because of the smoking ban, publicity, or something else entirely, the lack of enthusiasm from off the stage made a potentially infamous gig a disappointingly mediocre one.

words: r l wade

THE PLAYGROUND PARTY - GARFORTH COMMUNITY COLLEGE, YORK - 07/06/07

You can’t please all of the people all of the time but, when you have a bill topped by Courtney Pine, Kate Rusby, James Taylor Quartet and Eliza Carthy and the Ratcatchers, all for fifteen quid, chances are that everyone’s going to go home pretty happy. And that seemed to be the case for this finale of this year’s Gosforth Arts Festival. Me? I was there for Eliza and the Ratcatchers, who came on following an afternoon of young local talent in the six o’clock sunshine (this time last week the site was flooded!) and from the opening Worcester City – ‘to miserable us all up a bit’ – turned in a set that easily justified the ticket price on its own. Backed by Ben Ivitsky on guitar and the omnipresent Spiers and Boden (surely the hardest working musicians on the scene), Eliza stamped, swayed and smiled through Billy Bragg’s King James Version, an Adieu, Adieu which to these ears had more than a touch of Dave Brubeck, and a gathering of inspired tune sets. And, looking around, it seemed that adherents of all musical constituencies were equally happy with the deal. A bare seven days into the smoking ban, the Hammond-powered JTQ did their damndest to transform a cool summer evening with the kids running around into a seedy, smoke-fill after hours club. The ‘people’s choice’ certainly seemed to be Kate Rusby, whose between-songs warmth elicited plenty of audience participation on the choruses in a set which encompassed such standards as Wild Mountain Thyme as well as contemporary classics like Richard Thompson’s Withered and Died (dedicated to Alan Titchmarsh). For many, this seemed to be the cue to pack up the folding chairs and get the children to bed, but the substantial hardcore remaining were treated to a masterfully energetic blast from Courtney Pine and his band, turning up the temperature by a welcome few degrees. Stretching out standards such as Sony and Monk’s Round Midnight, this was music that drew the audience into the familiar and took it into uncharted territory, finally drawing everyone together for a whooping, jumping Power to the People.
Let’s be honest – you could pay fifteen quid for any one of these acts, so to get them all is a bargain by any standards. So it seems more than a bit churlish to have any complaints… BUT: if you’re going to prohibit people from bringing in their own food – policed with the sort of security which would put many provincial airports to shame – you really need to offer adequate catering for a ten-hour event. It does nothing to dispel the stereotypes of the North to limit consumption to fat and sugar. Vegetarian option? Chips with either curry sauce or cheese. Or doughnuts.
In conclusion, full marks for a truly impressive cornucopia of musical delights, but if there is a similar event next year – and I hope there will be, though I’m not sure how that may go down with the adjacent new housing development – either lighten up on the gate or sort out your catering.

words and pic: oz hardwick

Beverley Folk Festival 2007

Beverley Minster is one of the real gems of medieval architecture, stylistically harmonious with its own tranquil beauty. Take a look into the corners and under the choir seats, though, and there’s a whole different mood to be found, with carvings of beasts, musicians and entertainers wherever you look. And, for one long weekend every summer, the same can be said of the whole town, where the usual genteel charm is subverted at every turn by concertinas, black-faced dancers, cavorting witches (yes, really, courtesy of Raving Mænads) and the pulse of old English dance tunes. It’s the annual Beverley Folk Festival, and The Talk’s Oz Hardwick and Miles Salter were in the festive spirit. Miles shouted “turn it down” and Oz shouted “turn it up !” They met in the middle and here’s what they thought…

This year’s Beverley Folk Festival was another eclectic gathering, and kicked off with a stomping performance from New Model Army, whose devoted fans have taken up the EU tattoo quotient for the entire British Isles. Did I say devoted? Some fans came from Norway, and asked The Talk’s reporters how they could meet the band. We stared glumly into our pint glasses and muttered something about the stage door…
Saturday’s lunchtime performance by Ian McMillan and Luke Carver Goss was a real highlight. McMillan is a first rate raconteur, trading on his Yorkshire background and way with words. It’s done him no harm, and the man is a regular on Radio stations and TV channels throughout the land. He even marvels at it himself. His emotional intelligence is incredibly well developed – he knows that the more relaxed and affable he is, the more relaxed the audience are, and pretty soon we’re all eating out of the palm of his hand as he invents a musical from scratch about “The Terrible Beverley Flood”, complete with audience participation every step of the way. “It’s like the Renaissance in here,” quipped McMillan at one point, “only they had better ceilings.” It was a brilliant synthesis of pantomime, comedy and improvisation, and you wouldn’t get it on the telly.
Saturday saw things swinging into action in the marquee, with a wealth of local talent. Highlights were Hull’s Emma Rugg – just back from the States – with some nifty wordplay and direct guitar, and The Durbervilles’ Cajun stomp. In the main hall, Last Night’s Fun pulled out their second masterful set of the weekend, with new boy Kieran Boyle (‘we invited him into the band because he can drive’) shining on a haunting “Flowers Of Sweet Straban”. As if all this wasn’t enough, John Burge was in the club room, busily fusing cutting edge digital technology with good ol’ fashioned digital dexterity, building a one-man folk orchestra of layered loops which arced and soared majestically.
Saturday evening featured some of the younger folk crowd, opening up Hummingbird, a musical trio that features North Yorkshire stalwart Edwina Hayes, Cathy Burton and Amy Wadge, performing their pretty acoustic numbers with spot-on harmonies to a receptive audience. It’s all lovely, wash-over-you stuff, and will probably pulse out of a hundred café stereos very soon, given that they’ve already had success on Radio 2, where they were featured on Aled Jones’ Sunday morning show a week after the festival.
Seth Lakeman’s set later that evening confirmed his position as one of modern folk’s heroes. It was ferociously passionate stuff, excellently supported by brother Sean on guitar and a nifty rhythm section of Ben Nicholls on upright bass and Cormac Byrne on percussive packing case and drums. The performance had the heart and passion of Billy Bragg welded to some utterly focused playing. A highlight was “Kitty Jay”, offering the sight of Lakeman singing, playing the violin, and stomping his foot all at the same time in a display of unabashed multi-dexterous talent. Look out for an interview with Mr Lakeman in September’s Talk…
After hours, Mr Lakeman could be found soaking up the atmosphere of the Beverley Arts Trust late night tent, although compere and organiser Miles Cain’s attempts to get him to play weren’t successful, due to the absence of a tenor ring guitar. However, many other acts made impromptu appearances in this most select of venues over the weekend, taking advantage of the bar and cosy surroundings. Acts appearing included Last Night’s Fun, Keith Christmas, Edwina Hayes and many more. Dan Webster joined forces with Cain for energetic renditions of “Matty Groves” and “All Along the Watchtower”. The tent also featured jam sessions from younger players, some of whom were barely teenagers, but still showed an instinctive love and ability for music that was a joy to see.
Sunday morning brought a gentle workshop on open G tuning with Keith Christmas, who had some good anecdotes about working with Robert Kirby - the arranger perhaps most famous these days for his work with Nick Drake - and playing at the very first Glastonbury Festival (Christmas could be heard talking about his adventures on Radio 4 a few days later.) He went on to perform a strong set in the afternoon, when he appeared alongside a number of other acts in the Leisure Centre, including Shiftipig, a family-based act who know how to knock out a reel or 6.
Expectation was high for the evening’s Big Finish. If anyone was feeling disappointed by the East Yorkshire weather, Zimbabwe’s Black Umfolosi 5 made up for it by bringing the sunshine indoors with their energetic township harmonies, dance routines and exuberant humour. Celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary, they provided a real treat for the sell-out audience. And then came Bellowhead – along with Seth Lakeman and Van Eyken (whose York gig was reviewed in June’s Talk), they are at the cutting edge of English folk. Centred upon Spiers and Boden – who performed in their duo format earlier in the day – Bellowhead draw out the inherent theatricality of English traditional song with their 11-piece big band assault. A bit New Orleans, a bit Salvation Army, a bit Brecht and Weil, and completely bonkers: you know the songs but have never heard them like this before. Behind Jon Boden’s dramatic vocal delivery, fiddles shriek, guitars thrash, squeezy things squeeze and the sousaphone parps, always on the verge of chaos but always as tight as a Morris dancer in a cider press. From the mad circus of “Rigs Of The Time”, through the woozy hangover of “Flash Company” to the closing gallop of “London Town”, this is exhilarating stuff, and the very thing to blast the audience out into the night at the end of a dizzyingly varied weekend.
Beverley Folk Festival deserves wider acclaim, and support. Those who go know how good it is, and those who don’t, don’t. But if you haven’t given it a try, perhaps 2008 is a chance. Just make sure you don’t stand too close to the sword dancers.

words: miles salter & oz hardwick

Synaptic Decay II: [DIGI]CORE + Caffeine Kill + Cryptonic Love Revival + NerveHammer - Cert 18. YORK – 23/06/07

After what seemed like an eternity of soundcheck problems, NerveHammer finally rushed the stage with their now trademarked barrage of deafening guitar riffery colliding with raw vocal styles and deep, distorted machine rhythms. The first time I saw them, they undoubtedly blew everyone in the room away with their approach to the music and fresh sound… not much has changed in that sense. They have, however, become more tightly driven with a new edge of intensity to their performance. Towards the end of the set, Psy from [DIGI]CORE] joins them for a rendition of ‘Arena’ and the stage is set for they outlook of the night. Elements of happy hardcore and jungle embrace black metal, pure industrial and rapcore - providing something rarely heard and hard to provide. If you’re a fan of ATR, Biohazard or Slayer, you simply cannot afford to miss out next time these boys jump over from Hull! - They’ll go further than most if they keep this up!
Next up were a last minute addition to the bill - Cryptonic Love Revival! Hailing from London, they seem to have embodied that particular city in their writing - their sound is huge! The singer sounds like the bastard love child of Gary Numan and Marylin Manson (albeit with a phlegm ridden throat) whilst the EBM and synth rhythms balance carefully between acidity and 80’s cold war paranoia (‘The Terminator’ / ‘Escape From New York‘ anyone?). The beats move from intensity to obesity at times - sometimes drowning out the rest of the performance and I cant help but wonder whether this potentially amazing act have a sound that’s purely too big for the venue, or if they’ve been let down by the same sound problems that delayed the start of the night. Regardless, they are ****in well worth watching out for!
Caffeine Kill. My eardrums have been waiting for this. The glowsticks are fired up and plentiful (though some still seem to be too self conscious to move to the front and dance with them!). Beginning with an onslaught of pure energy and power, CK quickly leap into the chugging riffs and howling EBM based extremities that have always made them a fan favourite at York shows. Yet again [DIGI]CORE raid the stage for a crossover track and the insanity in the crowd is evident with frothing mouths a plenty. I don’t need to say much more... Try them! - Don’t deny them! - YOU SLAGS!
Finally, the act that has brought all of this together; [DIGI]CORE. Since the release of their limited album; ‘Synaptic Decay’ back in January, the group enjoyed a brief hiatus and began to write new material… and here it is! Opening with a fresh noise track - thrusting with drum and bass - it seems the band have found new layers of musicianship within themselves. Psy in particular seems to have more style changes to his vocals than a size zero model has clothes on the catwalk. The riffs are heavier, the bass thicker and the octopus armed drumming of Cell has gone completely off the scale of what is humanly possible whilst still maintaining the dance based feel of the original [D]C that stormed Fibbers BOTB last year to great acclaim from everyone. Whilst the electronic elements are still evident, the riffs have taken over the predominant sound - giving birth to a heavier beast by far. Complemented throughout their set by a high tech laser and light show, the songs find new depths of atmosphere and I doubt that anyone in the room didn’t find the hairs on the back of their neck stood to attention at moments. Yet again the stage is invaded (this time by NerveHammer’s vocalist) for another crossover and the vibe is complete. AWESOME!
Like is said, I wanted to know what had changed for these acts in the last 8 months and the answer is everything and nothing! It seems that the sky is truly the limit for all of them! WATCH OUT!

words: cyrus crashtest

Birmingham Royal Ballet - YORK Theatre Royal - 07/06/07

Coming from Birmingham, this ballet was always going to be fantastic (and yes, I am biased). Still, I don’t watch much dance, so it’s a bit of an experiment to see whether it can transport me from a rainy afternoon in York. If it doesn’t, at least the matinee is cheaper.
I’m hooked from the start. The first pieces are simply stunning. Set to “Summer” and “Autumn” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, they are based around the less-than-obvious theme of sports. “Summer” is full of images of swimming, diving and athletics; “Autumn” references horse racing and gymnastics. Its impossible not to be astonished at the grace and sheer strength of the performers. In “Summer”, in particular, the male dancers lift and support their partners as they swim and dive in slow motion, the liberation of swimming being created through absolute control. Vivaldi and sport sounds like a strange mix, but, believe me, the dance and music fit so beautifully you’ll wonder why “Autumn” hasn’t introduced Channel 4 Racing before now.
The second piece is to Stravinsky’s “Small Worlds,” inspired by Kandinsky’s abstracts. As art on art, it lacks the immediacy of the first pieces. Still, dance, music and set combine in a dynamic performance, at times contemplative, at times almost grotesque. The sight of all six dancers bent double, stamping and flinging arms up as the music crashes around them is unforgettable.
The finale is Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs, a ballet in stilettos with choreography and costume nodding affectionately to the dance halls of the fifties. Each couple has their own song, from smoky perfection (“One More for My Baby”) to latino kitsch (“Forget Domani”), and each dance reflects the partners’ relationship. Infatuation, intimacy, comedy, competition are all there, and it’s done with such strength and simplicity, it’s like watching the end act of each couples’ drama that has led to these dances. Even “My Way,” which I hate, stirs magnificently as all the couples take the floor together, a dance hall brought to intricate life.
Here’s hoping York attracts more of this in the future. The performances carry you away and leave you gasping for more. The ultimate joy, though, is hearing such well-known music so differently through the simple addition of dance. Matinees may be cheap, but that is priceless.

words: ann heath

Goodness Gracious Glastonbury 2007

‘Are there any Morris Dancers here?’ asks Show of Hands’ Steve Knightley – ‘well, you’re having a hard time of it, aren’t you?’ Here I am in Glastonbury, performing daily on the Poetry and Words stage, and it’s like Braveheart with a PA system. But what else is happening? Well, John Otway’s rolling around on the floor wired up to a drum machine; cross-dressers are selling scrumpy; the cashpoint que is calf-deep in mud; the audience are swarming onto the stage with The Stooges; Mim Darlington’s getting all fruity about vegetables; Billy Bragg’s being spiky and uncompromising; John Fogerty warns of a bad moon risin’; Bob Harding-Jones is pondering the market for canine creativity; cubic cows sleep in trees; the sun is making a rare appearance to back up Hayley Hutchinson’s gentle warming of the audience; Talking Tekla the Narrata narrates and tells tales woven with smiles; Martha Tilston hangs winter flowers; Chelley McClear is reminding us of the deadliness of the still tongue; Michael Eavis is telling us about his one & only narcotic experience and the havoc it played with the milking; Green Ray fly from Wales to the West Coast to outer space; Marty Mulligan is talking the hindlegsfrontlegsearsandtail off a donkey; Seth Lakeman is playing everywhere at the same time and making ‘Riflemen of War’ THE song of the summer; Tibetan monks are snoring in chorus; Lucy Lepchani is leading us in sensuous devotion to Chocomama; Dame Shirley Bassey is singing ‘Big Spender’ twice in a row because we love it; Dennis Just Dennis is singing because it’s his birthday; Oi Va Voi get everyone dancing to their gypsy ska; rumours circulate of surviving grass; Ozric Tentacles are still on the same jam I first saw at Stonehenge in ’84; Poetry Jack awakes the inner dyke in everyone; Paul Weller is being smooth smooth smooth; minor celebrities I wouldn’t recognise are hoping to be seen; Tony Benn is everyone’s favourite sensible uncle; cavemen trundle boulders through the deepening mire; Poetry Controllers clatter at typewriters; Show of Hands’ ‘Roots’ officially becomes the new national anthem; there are no obvious drug casualties but trenchfoot may be taking hold; I am closing my last set with ‘The Good Shepherd’ for my grandfather. And here we are, thousands in a field, hands raised and shouting: we most resolutely will not get fooled again, oh no. And it’s starting to rain again...

words: oz hardwick