Date Night Shows

Hawkwind @ Buxton Opera House 23/05/2017

After the terrible experience we had in Manchester the previous evening, you would think that attending another show would be the last place we wanted to be. However, in what was either an act of defiance or just the desire to keep going, we found ourselves at a live music event yet again. Security was noticeably tighter in the light of what happened the night before. Even so, we did feel a bit on edge at times, recalling the horrors we had just been through.

We travelled to the gorgeous Buxton Opera House to see space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Hawkwind actually supported themselves, with an acoustic set. It was an interesting introduction to their quirkiness, with lots of banter between the band members. The drummer even brought out a badger puppet! The setlist included Quark Strangeness and Charm, Age of the Micro Man, and The Watcher.

Psychedelic space rock at its pioneering best

The main set was brilliant. They are now a six piece band. Hawkwind are fronted by the main man Dave Brock on guitar, and Buxton local Mr Dibs on vocals. They perform in front of a psychedelic backdrop. It really makes you feel like you are on drugs, despite it being a bit Windows 95. Early songs in the set seemed to go on forever, with extended instrumental sections that really induced a dreamlike state. The main disappointment was that they didn’t play Silver Machine. I can’t believe they left that one out.

The band were amazingly tight together, and seemed cosmically in tune with one another. A green balloon with a light inside made its way down from the balcony. The crowd were having fun batting it around the stalls for a fair few songs towards the end. There was a wide range of people there, with some very eccentric looking characters in the audience. I imagine it was nothing compared to what their concerts in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s would have been like though!

The setlist was Earth Calling, Born To Go, Poem, You’d Better Believe It, Have You Seen Them, Vegan Lunch, Steppenwolf, Darkland, Magnu, The Golden Void, Synchronised Blue, Into The Woods, The Machine, Welcome To The Future, Encore – Utopia.

What do you think of space rock pioneers Hawkwind? Have you ever seen them live?

Stoke-on-Trent UK City of Culture 2021

Stoke-on-Trent‘s bid to become the next UK City of Culture was handed in on Friday. They even had an aeroplane with a banner flying around the city, though we missed it. Tonight the city held an extravaganza to celebrate the bid, all throughout the city centre. We arrived to Hanley Bus Station to find it looking like the Theatre and Circus Field at Glastonbury! There were walkabout entertainers absolutely everywhere, including some that we weren’t expecting. We started by watching Body Guards – Protect and Serve by Infuse DANCE. They looked like the Men In Black, and were doing a roving dance piece in the characters of body guards. They were circling us at one point, though we’re not sure who they were protecting us from!

It was very exciting to see Acorn Academy by Creature Encounter. In some of the finest costumes I have ever seen, this professor badger and head mistress fox were perfectly in character as we chatted with them. Another walkabout, in a less impressive but still very funny costume, were the Puddle Ducks, by Cirq Delight. They waddled around, squeaking away like a child’s toy, and being generally delightful to watch.

It is great fun chatting with these rather odd characters

Next we saw Dodgy Boys by Fair Play. These East End Del Boys were right in character. We caught them trying to lift the road sign of Lidice Way to sell as scrap metal, and offering dandelions from the side of the road. They were also trying to sell us a ticket on their executive coach that was apparently due to leave the Bus Station soon. Our favourite of all the acts was Hodman Dodmanott and Sally Forth by The Flying Buttresses. These tiny and ancient backpackers hailed us as love’s young dream. Apparently, we reminded them of what they were like several thousand years ago. They proceeded to hail me as their long lost nephew, and said they were coming around for Christmas.

Friendly volunteers were out in force, offering freebies such as pens, badges, wristbands, and flags. The City of Sport team were giving out free medals if you played one of the street games. We went over, and played a ball target game to get our medal! The final walkabout act around this area was the Snap Happy Paparazzi by The 2 Men. These two rather creepy looking photographers were on the lookout for celebrities.

The Potteries Museum: jam-packed with culture

The Potteries Museum was also a hive of activity, and was also very busy. There were workshops going on in everything from Bhangra, to Brazilian drumming. Another walkabout act, the Art Critics by Circadian were wandering around interacting with the crowd. It was hard not to get distracted by the UK City of Culture Colouring Cube, ran by the guys from Entrepeneurs. This was a huge cube with colouring sheets pasted on (rather freshly we felt). The interesting thing was that the drawings were all icons of Stoke-on-Trent, such as Ozzy the Owl, Her Head, the Staffordshire Knot, and Know One’s owl graffiti. Amy decided to colour in the latter really beautifully, whilst I did a multicoloured Staffordshire Knot.

Around the city centre, the Roaming Poets were a-roaming. These are a group of local poets who stop people in the street to recite a poem to. The talented pair of Alan Barrett, and Murdoch, who had a huge ear piercing, like a Zulu warrior, treated us to a couple. On Piccadilly, STAMP with the British Ceramics Biennial was taking place. People were making a design from a lump of clay on one of the fancy new benches outside the Regent. The finished work was making a walkway all the way down the street.

Who would have guessed that the choir’s performance would be ruined by pirates?

The Allotment by Plunge Bloom was back in the city. It is a vegetable garden, but the vegetables are dressed like babies, and they have a couple of nannies looking after them. The Pirates of Northants by Markmark Productions were coming down the street, and creating quite a scene. They were a couple of rather dodgy looking pirates, a bit like Captain Hook and Smee. The Smee one was pulling a tiny mobile boat, on which the Hook one was standing and crooning easy listening songs. They were very funny, even chasing kids up and down the street. Inadvertently ruining the performance of the Ashley Community Choir, who were very tunefully serenading theatregoers on their way in to see Mamma Mia, they proceeded to make a big deal about not making any noise, as they loudly beeped their reversal back up the street.

Albion Square hosted the finale extravaganza. Called ‘There’s Something in the Water, Duck’ by Avanti Display, it was due to start at 20:21PM. Just prior to that time, we heard the thundering sound of five drummers, who looked like something from another planet. They were head to toe dressed and painted in white and silver, with huge drums attached to them. As if they didn’t look strange enough, their drums actually lit up in sync with each other. They interacted brilliantly. There were moments of slapstick, as two of them played cat and mouse.

Stoke-on-Trent City of Culture celebrations began at 20:21

At 20:21PM, we heard a poem by local poet GKA Gay, before the drummers continued to build excitement. Up on the balcony of Hanley Town Hall, we saw an opera singer. As she sang, some ballet dancers appeared on stage, presenting flowers to a regal looking clown. His butler was getting more and more exasperated, as he was being pulled from pillar to post. In the end, he threw some darts at the regal clown’s chest. Impressively, they were aimed at the target on his dressing gown with precision. What this did was to make the clown literally spring a leak.

Proceeding to remove his gown, he reinvented himself as a classical statue, atop a plinth. After doing some statuesque posing, the fun began to start. Beginning with the obvious water from a fountain gag, he got more and more leaky as the show went on. In the end, he was springing water from everywhere and anywhere, and it was a remarkable sight. The butler, who was getting drenched, stood in a bucket full of water. He too began to spurt out water. As the opera singer impressively made it to the little tower atop the Town Hall, they were joined by the ballet dancers from the start of the show. Now they appeared to be statues themselves.

This city definitely knows how to put on a show

We all knew what would happen, but it was a spectacle like no other. Twelve dancers plus the clown became human fountains en masse, and it was a stunning sight. Pyrotechnics at the back added to the occasion. The show ended on a spectacular high with much cheering and admiration from the crowd. Stoke-on-Trent has been treated to many excellent arts events like this over the past few years. Groups such as Appetite have made such a difference. The amount of culture that the city works hard to provide is definitely something to shout about. We definitely feel that Stoke-on-Trent should be the UK’s City of Culture for 2021.

What do you think about Stoke-on-Trent’s bid to become UK City of Culture? Do you think any of the other bidding cities have more to offer?

Mamma Mia, how can I resist you?

Last night, we went to see the fantastic jukebox musical Mamma Mia, at Stoke-on-Trent’s Regent Theatre. The theatre is our absolute favourite, and we are really lucky to have it local to us. Mamma Mia is based on the glorious songs of Abba, so what could go wrong? From the amount of jukebox musicals we have seen that have failed to deliver, quite a lot. Luckily, British playwright Catherine Johnson delivered the sort of script that must have had Benny and Bjorn beaming with pride.

If you know anything at all about theatre, then you know of Mamma Mia. It is the eighth longest running show in both West End and Broadway history. For eighteen years it has been a must-see show. The show has been translated into twenty two languages. Can you imagine seeing Mamma Mia in Mandarin Chinese? It exists! Despite this, as well as our huge love of theatre (and Abba), we have never been to see the show. What we have seen though is the movie version starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth. Until Beauty and the Beast this year, it was the highest grossing live-action musical film of all-time. There were even cameos from Bjorn and Benny.

If you liked the movie, you will LOVE the show

Whilst we enjoyed the movie, the live show is on another level. Despite only being around for ten years between 1972 and 1982, the amount of classic tunes Abba have is unreal. The musical contains many of them. However, the writers have been careful not to put songs in the show just for the sake of it. In fact, one of our favourite Abba songs, Fernando, doesn’t make the cut. What the writers did notice was that Abba’s songs are mostly written from a female perspective, and have a wide generational span. Therefore, the idea for the script was born.

On a Greek island, a wedding is about to take place. Bride-to-be Sophie (played by Lucy May Barker) has found her mother’s diary from the year before she was born. Not knowing who her father is, she did some detective work, and narrowed it down to three possibilities. Inviting all three of the men to her wedding under the guise that it was her mother’s doing, the potential for chaos is evident. The script could easily become a farce at this point. However, the writers keep things heart-warming and jovial, rather than laugh out loud funny.

Romance and comedy go together like tea and biscuits

There are, however, some stand-out funny moments, including a couple of unlikely romantic pairings. Donna (played by Helen Hobson) was a former singer. She and her former bandmates Tanya and Rosie offer much light relief, especially for the more mature ladies in the audience. Of course, this is the main target audience of the show, but it was great to see a huge range of people at this performance. With regards to those odd romantic pairings, there is young Pepper’s pursual of the multi-divorcee Tanya in ‘Does Your Mother Know’, and secondly that of explorer Bill and the carefree Rosie, in ‘Take a Chance on Me’.

It is always exciting to see an orchestra in the pit, and they did not disappoint at this show. We were treated to a medley of Abba’s hits as an overture at the start to get everyone right in the mood. I previously mentioned that the show was heart-warming. This is doing it a great disservice to be honest. It is possibly the most joyous show I have ever seen. From the camaraderie shown by Donna’s friends when she tells them that the three men are in town (Chiquitita), to the performance of Super Trouper as Donna and the Dynamos, you cannot fail to smile from ear to ear.

As the show progresses, all three men start to become convinced that they are Sophie’s father, and ask to walk her down the aisle. Sophie begins to realise that this may become a bit of an issue. The problem is, not even Donna knows who the father is! We are all left guessing over the interval how this may get resolved (unless you’ve seen the film or attended the show previously of course!).

Abba’s songs can be as moving as they are catchy

The second half continued where we left off, both in terms of the storyline, and those classic Abba tunes. After much deliberation, Sophie asks her mother to walk her down the aisle. Donna’s true past feelings for Sam really come home in a powerful and moving rendition of ‘The Winner Takes It All’.

Of course, the real showdown takes place at the wedding itself. Donna announces that Sophie’s father is present, which of course Sophie already knew. However, she also confesses that she has no idea which one of the three it is. In true heart-warming style, the three men agree to be a third of a father each. Overjoyed, Sophie and husband to be Sky decide to abandon the wedding and go travelling together to the melodic ‘I Have A Dream’. Is this all heart-warming enough for you? Well, they’ve not even finished! There is another surprise wedding to see the show end on a high note, to the obvious I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do.

Don’t worry, you will get the chance to get up and dance

The show had everyone tapping their toes and mentally singing along throughout, so it was particularly welcome when they performed a three song encore. Most of the crowd had no hesitation in getting to their feet to dance away to a reprisal of Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen. The show finished with Waterloo, with Donna and the Dynamos in Abba-esque costumes joined by the Dads in their own versions. There were no star names in this show, but the cast were all first rate. The true stars of the show however, are Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Their often underappreciated musical talents have been responsible for a lot of joy over the past forty five years. Nowhere is that better seen that in Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia has been shown in over forty countries, on every continent on earth. If it is showing in your country, then go and see it. It is in Stoke-on-Trent for the rest of the week, and continues to tour the UK. They also perform the show in its permanent home at the Novello Theatre in London. It would make for the perfect date night, as it is guaranteed feel good fun with plenty of romance. Highly recommended.

Have you ever seen Mamma Mia? Let us know what you thought, especially if you saw it in another language!