Dylan Moran: Nottingham Royal Centre 7.10.18

Extended, more considered (ie less tactful) take on the show at the Royal Centre last weekend, the original of which appeared in yesterday’s Post. Dylan Moran has lost weight and gained a better haircut since he was last here, four years ago. He’s sharper in other regards, too, and starts with something he never does: audience participation. However, he warns ‘If you join in, I will judge you.’ It’s 22 years since the Irish comic, now 47, won a Perrier award, 14 since the glorious bookshop comedy, Black Books, opened the door for more TV and film. Yet his work in neither area has fully taken off and he remains primarily a stand-up, with a new tour every three or four years. Last time round,…

Trailer Park Boys, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall 17.9.18

Slightly expanded version of my review in yesterday’s Post. Tomorrow, news of my next book. This Canadian mockumentary has run to twelve seasons (the first eleven recently went up on Netflix), but has always felt like a secret. Indeed, the only person I know who watches it, and is going to this tour, is the internet buddy who introduced me to them ten years ago. Yet the Concert Hall is crowded with, thirty-somethings. How did they hear about it? Some have taken the cast’s advice: come drunk and this docu-soap, about a pair of ne’er do well dope growers living in a Canadian Trailer Park and their neighbours, is best watched while well oiled. Julien (master mind/all day drinker) and the indefatigably dumb yet arrogant…

Sheryl Crow – Nottingham Royal Concert Hall 22.6.18

Sheryl Crow forgets a singer’s surname*, then blurts it out mid-song. ‘Aging: you get all this great wisdom, but can’t remember any of it.’ She’s 56, she reminds us, yet looks fantastic, in a white ‘Give Love’ singlet and spangly jeans. It’s 25 years since Sheryl Crow’s hit debut album Tuesday Night Music Club and her first Nottingham visit, to Rock City. Tonight, we’re host to the last of three of shows before she plays the Isle of Wight festival on Sunday. Crow’s six-piece band hit the ground running with debut hit, All I Wanna Do, jumbo guitar strapped behind her back. A storming A Change Will Do You Good next, then, sans guitar, a terrific My Favourite Mistake. In case you had any doubts…

The Hollies at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall

Bit late putting this up, but I think it’s worth preserving my Hollies review on this blog. A slightly extended take on April 25th’s show, originally for the Nottingham Post, whose Kevin Cooper took the photo above. Manchester’s Hollies are in their fifty-sixth year. They formed in 1962, around the same time Ringo Starr joined The Beatles. OK, their Paul (Graham Nash) left in 1968 (wonder what happened to him?), and their John (Allan Clarke) retired 18 years ago. But they still have two, very recognisable original members, drummer Bobby Elliott with Tony Hicks on lead guitar and backing vocals. They still have a catalogue of great pop songs most modern groups would kill for. And they still pack the Concert Hall. I first heard…

ABC/KID CREOLE & THE COCONUTS – NOTTINGHAM ROYAL CENTRE, 12/11/17

  ‘It’s been a while since we passed through these parts,’ Kid Creole points out. ‘How many of you were here in 82? Your age is showing.’ Two of the Coconuts weren’t born when he played Rock City. August Darnell, 67, looks ten years younger, and still sports a natty purple zoot suit, with frequent change of hat. The band take the stage at full throttle, pumping through a strong Stoolpigeon, a terrific I’m A Wonderful Thing, Baby (‘this is from my egotistical years’) among others. The brilliant Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy (which does a bit of crucial foreshadowing in my most recent novel) is the highlight. The Coconuts, in their Hawaiian skirts, are as flirtatiously entertaining as the 82 incarnation. The six piece…