Preview
Thomas H. Green
This morning at 9.00 AM would be when Worthy Farm opened its gates to the hedonistic hordes. The weather is scorchio and Glastonbury 50 would have been such a party. Instead, that will all be Glastonbury 2021. So right now, those who love their annual Pilton pilgrimage need to get inventive: the festival and the BBC have laid on a feast of allsorts. It’s about to kick off. Let’s get amongst it…BBC CoverageThe BBC have devoted a whole new special iPlayer channel to Glastonbury and will be showing old sets from 10.00 AM Thursday morning until after midnight, and doing the same every day, up to Read more ...
David Nice
The latest wave of musicians to make their voices heard comes from the freelancers who haven't been able to claim anything so far for their loss of income and of the ability to work together. As a group of top players putting out their plea observes, "readers may be surprised to learn that even those of us who appear regularly in various top orchestras - often including those who hold titled positions in such groups - are nonetheless paid on a concert by concert basis in the same way as freelancers". They need our support, while the government hangs fire on those who've slipped through the Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
The lockdown may be loosening but we’re no nearer to gigs and festivals occurring so, for the foreseeable, online is where it’s at. Here, then, is the latest selection of musical happenings that you can wrap your eyes and ears around during the coming week. Dive in!Make Music DayOriginating with France’s Fête de la Musique back in 1982, the idea of Make Music Day is to put as much music in as many public spaces as possible. It has blossomed over the decades, catching on in the UK where, last year, almost 30,000 performed to around 140,000 people. In 2020, of course, the event takes place Read more ...
David Nice
It's taken time, but at last we have two major musical figures speaking up for cultural institutions in dire straits. Following a crucial, detailed article by Charlotte Higgins in The Guardian, Simon Rattle and Mark Elder have finally taken up the cudgels as their colleagues in the theatre world have been doing for weeks.What remains devastatingly clear is that with government subsidy of cultural institutions running at 20 per cent rather than the 70 or 80 on the continent, the kind of socially-distanced events which are being so well managed in Germany, Sweden, Norway and Czechia - others Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
With festival season upon us but rendered null and void by COVID-19, green field events are looking for ways to present themselves and, this week, in different ways, a couple are doing just that. Also there’s new material from Gorillaz and a virtual electronic music extravaganza. Dive in!Download TVOf all music genres, metal has perhaps been worst served by the current crisis. It’s a cathartic music, best enjoyed in the moshpit, played loud by bands working tight together via stacked amps. Not, then, ideal for at-home acoustic shows on basic kit. Britain’s premier metal-fest, Download, which Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
For better or worse, the lockdown may be easing in the UK but there’s no sign of any gig action, even on the far distant horizon. So it’s back to our screens for all that, and here’s the latest, liveliest selection of concerts, conversations and virtual festival action for the coming week! Dive in!The Other Songs/Brit School FestivalThe record label and management company The Other Songs, whose speciality is nurturing new talent, combine with the Brit School for a virtual festival this Friday (5th June) at 6.00 PM. It will showcase plenty of fresh-off-the-block artists, as well as dancers, Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
From the biggest man band of all time to a rising Doncaster DJ, from the lofts of New York to the garage studios rooms of Scotland, the best of current musical lockdown life is here. Dive in!Take That/Robbie Williams: Meerkat Music ConcertThe big news this week is that the classic Take That line-up, minus Jason Orange, who left for good in 2012, will be reuniting for an at-home concert at 8.00 PM this Friday (29th May) via the Youtube channel of the price comparison website-related Compare the Meerkat. Supporting music therapy charity Nordoff Robbins and Crew Nation, a relief fund for workers Read more ...
David Nice
What would have been the festival season starts around now. Some organisations are offering mementos of past glories; others, especially in countries where the lockdown has been relaxed to a greater extent than is possible in the UK, are managing to assemble some of their artists in audience-free auditoriums, playng and singing to you online. All are under varying degrees of financial stress and many may not relaunch; help where you can with donations every now and then.Bergen International FestivalThis large-scale venture - not just about music, of course - launched on Wednesday with an Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
Onto our seventh Lockdown selection and things are only getting busier out there, with more to see, hear and get involved in. Below are five of the best for this week. Dive in!BBC Radio One Big Weekend 2020BBC Radio One’s annual Big Weekend shindig, a free primary-coloured pop festival-cum-party-cum-promo event, has taken place in a different region of the UK every year since 2012. The COVID-19 crisis will not be stopping it going ahead, and this time artists will be performing from multiple locations. On BBC iPlayer throughout the coming weekend, the virtual show runs from Friday 22nd to Read more ...
Veronica Lee
Daniel KitsonDaniel Kitson, in a rare and welcome move, has released his 2009 Edinburgh Fringe show, The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church, in a version he has edited.Various times, 18-22 Maydanielkitson.comCambridge Footlights Stand-up ShowcaseDoes what it says on the tin: stand-up comedy from one of the oldest and most famous comedy troupes in the UK, written and performed by the current crop of graduating and postgrad students.9pm, 19 May, 2 and 16 Juneadctheatre.com/whats-on/comedy/footlights-stand-up-showcase/Marcus BrigstockeMarcus Brigstocke brings back his gap-yah posho idiot Read more ...
David Nice
At last, it seems, one venerable British institution will be emulating what Scandinavian and Czech set-ups have been managing over the past month: live performances from an audience-less venue, though in sound only. In quickly reorganised scheduling along with BBC Radio 3, the Wigmore Hall features a host of its top regular artists in June lunchtime concerts.We’ll be announcing those nearer the time, and reviewing more than a few In the meantime, you can get the vision as well in films from the Wigmore’s splendid archive, with an incredible wealth of material available on its YouTube channel Read more ...
Thomas H. Green
As the music industry slips into the rhythm of lockdown, so the spigot slowly becomes untapped and events, livestreams and similar start to flow more steadily. This week a host of big names are up to a bunch of different stuff, all worth checking. Dive in!A Theatre for Dreamers/Von Trapped Family Livestream + Dave Gilmour Live at PompeiiA couple of treats for Pink Floyd fans, from both ends of the band’s career. Most current is the latest home-stream by guitarist David Gilmour’s family. These take place each Friday and partly celebrate Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson’s bestselling novel A Theatre Read more ...