Reviews
Sahara Soul, BarbicanSunday, 28 September 2014
Exoticisation, at an event named "Sahara Soul", was perhaps inevitable. With Tuareg jewellery and souvenirs in the foyer, there was a touristic expectation last night that these genuine desert-dwellers would bring the burning spirit of the Saharan... Read more... |
Kylie, iTunes Festival, RoundhouseSunday, 28 September 2014
Does Kylie exist without spectacle? Take away the 6ft headgear, the sparkly hotpants, the spangly corsets, the team of super-fit dancers dressed like futuristic liquorice allsorts, and what’s left? If you find whatever it is, please let me know.... Read more... |
Carthy Hardy Farrell Young + Newton, Cecil Sharp HouseSunday, 28 September 2014
Each of them is a solo, duo or group artist of high renown, but together, something special happens. On record it’s called Laylam; on stage, Eliza Carthy, Bella Hardy, Lucy Farrell and Kate Young are the best girl group in Britain.Occasional group... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Black WidowSunday, 28 September 2014
Black Widow: SacrificeIt wasn’t John Lennon’s fault, but things weren’t the same after the “bigger than Jesus” scandal of 1966. Pop music had been connected to religion in a way slightly edgier than Cliff Richard or the Salvation Army's The... Read more... |
Rudy's Rare Records, Hackney EmpireSunday, 28 September 2014
This stage adaptation of Danny Robins' Radio 4 drama is a feel-good show packed with snappy one-liners from a gaggle of intelligently drawn characters. Its roots in radio are evident, to be sure: the action develops significantly at 30-minute... Read more... |
The James Plays, National TheatreSaturday, 27 September 2014
Rona Munro’s trilogy of plays about Scotland’s Stuart kings premiered at the Edinburgh Festival when Scottish independence was, for many, still a cherished possibility; it transfers to London – within a clarion call of Westminster – just as the... Read more... |
Manon, Royal BalletSaturday, 27 September 2014
In a moment of wild fantasy, I thought I might try and write a whole review of Manon without mentioning sex. After all, there’s plenty of other stuff going on in Kenneth MacMillan’s tale, which last night at the Royal Opera House celebrated 40 years... Read more... |
Flowers of the Forest, Jermyn Street TheatreSaturday, 27 September 2014
As we arrive at the last few months of 2014, the temptation to say “Enough! No more!” to representations of the First World War creeps in. The centenary of 1914 has been so comprehensively commemorated on our stages and screens that you could be... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Aho, Bartók, ZelenkaSaturday, 27 September 2014
Kalevi Aho: Theremin Concerto, Horn Concerto Carolina Eyck (theremin), Annu Salminen (horn), Lapland Chamber Orchestra/John Storgårds (BIS)The theremin is the only instrument untouched by its player, whose left and right hands have to move in... Read more... |
Lee Evans, O2 ArenaSaturday, 27 September 2014
Lee Evans is one of those comics people either love or can't stick, and the audience at the O2 Arena last night clearly fell into the former camp – not much point in them being there at 55 quid a pop otherwise. For the latter group, though, his new... Read more... |
Constable: The Making of a Master, Victoria & Albert MuseumSaturday, 27 September 2014
This revelatory exhibition goes in search of the revolutionary magnificence which infused Constable’s compelling landscapes through an unusual prism. The narrative spine is clear. It follows Constable’s intense work playing upon as profound a... Read more... |
DiDonato, Lyon Opera Orchestra, Minasi, Barbican HallFriday, 26 September 2014
At the end of last night’s giddy, triumphant concert at the Barbican, Joyce DiDonato was presented with a bouquet by a member of the audience. It included, among more conventional flowers, a tomato plant, complete with ripe tomato. That says it all... Read more... |
