Metronomy review – Trinity 28/9/11

Some bands are too trendy for their own good.

Totnes electro-pop fourpiece Metronomy are certainly flavour of the month at the moment, as evidenced by a sold-out Trinity crowd.

Van Morrison review – Colston Hall 22/9/11

 

 

These days, Van “The Man” Morrison’s reputation precedes him – gruff, cantankerous and unlikely to indulge in banter between songs.

The Bluetones review – Academy Bristol 21/9/11

 

Major music scenes pretty much follow the same pattern – a few big names at the top above a sea of chancers and imitators.

Jigsy review – Tobacco Factory 20/9/11

For anyone who watched TV in the 1980s, the idea that Les Dennis would one day be a critically acclaimed actor would have been frankly ludicrous.

This was the guy who played second fiddle to the dreadful Russ Abbott and trotted out ropey light entertainment on the ironically titled Les Dennis Laughter Show.

Metamorphoses: Fables from Ovid review – The Lansdown 15/9/11

It’s a brave theatre company that takes on Metamorphoses , the 2,000-year-old masterpiece of Roman literature.

Doubly so when the performance is staged by a group as young as the students and graduates of Bristol’s own Hecate Theatre.

So it’s a tribute to their burgeoning talent that their interpretation, Fables from Ovid, is so entertaining.

Sarabeth Tucek review – Thekla 13/9/11

 

You can be the greatest performer in the world, but if the atmosphere on the night isn’t right a gig can still fall flat.

Sarabeth Tucek’s intimate gig at the Thekla was by no means a disaster but there was definitely something missing.  Mainly an audience.

Sam Baker review – St Bonaventure’s Social Club 12/9/11

 

Sam Baker was travelling through Peru in 1986 when a terrorist bomb blew up the train he was on. Several passengers died including the German boy he was sitting next to, and Baker suffered brain damage, gangrene, renal failure, a mangled left-hand and shrapnel in his leg.

Mr Big review – Bristol Academy 12/9/11

 

Mr Big may not be a familiar name to everyone, but the band enjoyed worldwide success with their single, To Be With You, which topped the charts in 15 countries in 1991.

Three Days In May review – Theatre Royal, Bath 12/9/11

It now seems inconceivable that in May 1940 the British war cabinet actually considered suing for peace with Hitler.

Yet over the three days in question we are asked to believe that an appeasement plan to approach the German fuhrer through the Italian dictator Mussolini was under serious discussion. Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in office only 16 days, is faced with a plea from his Foreign Secretary, Lord Halifax to give up the war, which is going badly.

Toots and the Maytals review – Bristol Academy 11/9/11

 

Reggae has to be one of the most reliable forms of music there is.
If that’s a polite way of saying it all sounds the same, that’s not such a bad thing.