Scotland
Franz Ferdinand, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - a homecoming with all the hitsSunday, 13 November 2022
There was something devilish about Alex Kapranos at this homecoming gig, and not simply due to the blood red shirt the Franz Ferdinand frontman was wearing. Throughout the night the singer would cajole and conduct the crowd with finger-pointing... Read more... |
The Crown, Season 5, Netflix review - is the royal epic outstaying its welcome?Thursday, 10 November 2022
Now into its fifth season, Netflix’s royal pageant is entering that danger zone where once-majestic TV series suddenly find they’re running out of steam. Perhaps Harry and Meghan’s publicity-hogging shenanigans and the real-life loss of the Queen... Read more... |
Mary, Hampstead Theatre review - compelling study of power politicsWednesday, 02 November 2022
Scottish playwright Rona Munro is both prolific and ambitious. After her trilogy of historical dramas, The James Plays, was staged in 2016, she continues to work on her cycle of seven works, covering the years from 1406 to 1625, which are designed... Read more... |
Blu-ray: The Ballad of Tam-LinFriday, 28 October 2022
The British folk horror wave of the late Sixties and early Seventies wasn’t impervious to American influence. Though Roddy McDowall (1928-98), the director of The Ballad of Tam-Lin (1970), was born in Herne Hill, he was as Hollywood-steeped as its... Read more... |
Machine Gun Kelly, OVO Hydro, Glasgow review - fire and fury from pop punk convertMonday, 10 October 2022
If ever a moment summed up the spirit of a gig perfectly, then it is the segment in this arena showcase where Machine Gun Kelly is confronted by the internet, represented by what appears to be a blow up statue with a monitor for a head. As it... Read more... |
Karen Pirie, ITV review - cold case mystery drags itself across the finish lineMonday, 10 October 2022
Although plaudits have been rolling in for Lauren Lyle’s smart and sparky portrayal of the titular detective in Karen Pirie (ITV), getting to the end of the third and final episode felt like a long slog. The traditional ITV two-hour slot is of... Read more... |
James IV: Queen of the Fight, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh review - revelatory historical dramaThursday, 06 October 2022
"The poem is real," intones entertainer-turned-courtier Ellen solemnly as a prologue and epilogue to Rona Munro’s vivid, vibrant new James IV: Queen of the Fight, presented by Scottish producers Raw Material and Edinburgh’s Capital Theatres in... Read more... |
The Big Moon, Oran Mor, Glasgow review - partying prevails despite band's bad luckMonday, 26 September 2022
Presumably before setting out on their current tour the Big Moon smashed a few mirrors, walked under some ladders and crossed the paths of numerous black cats. Not only is this jaunt over two years in the making, endlessly postponed for the usual... Read more... |
Dunedin Consort, Butt, Lammermuir Festival review - majestic Mozart at St Mary’s HaddingtonMonday, 19 September 2022
The Dunedin Consort are most readily associated with the music of the Baroque, but this concert showed that they’re every bit as good at playing the music of the next generation. At times, in fact, I was taken aback by the magisterial scale of the... Read more... |
Denk, RSNO, Macdonald, Lammermuir Festival review - dark Sibelius and mighty BrahmsTuesday, 13 September 2022
Once the shock of Queen Elizabeth’s death has faded, attention will surely turn to the many organisations and institutions of which she was patron. This concert not only marked the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s debut at the Lammermuir Festival... Read more... |
Coldplay, Hampden Park, Glasgow review - a pop spectacle for all agesThursday, 25 August 2022
It is a testament to Coldplay’s capacity for reinvention that a good portion of this stadium crowd were not even born when the band first broke through over two decades ago. Such an age range in the audience clearly caught the eye of Chris Martin,... Read more... |
The End of Eddy, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - powerful but lacking compassionTuesday, 23 August 2022
Those working-class people really are appalling, aren’t they? Racist, sexist, definitely homophobic, violent too. Thank god our young hero can escape their clutches into the safety of a nice, bourgeois acting academy where he can be his true self.... Read more... |
