UK…

People often confuse the terms United Kingdom, British Isles, British Islands, and Britain. Here's a simple map to clear things up. 

(Well, I think it’s right! 😂)

Pet Shop Boys @ Royal Opera House...

Last night Stuart and I (and the world and his husband) went to the Royal Opera House in London's glitzy Covent Garden to see The Pet Shop Boys tear the old place a new one.

 

Wow! What a show! People were on their feet from the opening note and stayed dancing for the next two hours. 

 

We had seen pretty much the same 'Dreamworld The Greatest Hits Live' show just over two years ago at the O2 - although since then the set list has been improved - tweaking it slightly - losing a couple of their then current singles and inserting a few more recent ones.

 

Expectations were pretty high as we took our seats, but boy did the Boys deliver. Again. 

 

It was if a giant herd of rainbow flag-draped disco dancing musical unicorns pranced onto the stage of the Royal Opera House and rubbing their silver sparkling horns together spunked out torrents of shiny disco balls of pure pop loveliness that then exploded into the ears of the delighted crowd.

 

The background visuals were so stunning and the laser light show so joyously bright that when it splattered its spunky love-light across the smiling faces of each and everyone in the auditorium it was like some multi-coloured glowing rainbow-coloured luminous bukaki.

 

As you might gather - I liked the show.

 

The Boys were simply in magnificent form - interacting with the crowd between the songs (well, Neil anyway) - in fine voice (well, Neil anyway) - dancing around the stage (well, Neil anyway) - and wearing stupid hats (OK, they BOTH did that!) It was everything you expected from a Pet Shop Boys show and more.

 

It was like their Imperial phase was back all over again. They owned the place!

 

And after all this time they know how to put a show together - they work with the best. The set design, the background visuals, the sound design were all amazeballs and hung together magnificently. The show had a real feel of being integrated. Something you don't always see in a gig. But here it all had a single vision and it all came together perfectly. And this vision was DISCO.

 

The Boys managed to pull off that difficult trick of getting the set list right too. With such a large back catalogue to choose from and with new work to promote you're never going to please everyone. But they seemed to give the occasional fan plenty of hits, promote their most recent album quite well and keep the hard-core Pethead on-board too.

 

For the last five songs of the night the boys were joined on stage by twelve dancers wearing silver flashy winged suits. I kid you not. Very funny and the dancing looked great.

 

The encores of West End Girls and Being Boring went down a storm.

 

We love the Pet Shop Boys.

 

Set List:-

 

Suburbia

Can You Forgive Her?

Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)

Rent

I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More

So Hard

Left to My Own Devices

Single-Bilingual / Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)

Domino Dancing

Dancing Star

New York City Boy

A New Bohemia

Jealousy

Loneliness

Love Comes Quickly

Paninaro

Always on My Mind (Gwen McCrae cover)

Dreamland

Heart

What Have I Done to Deserve This?

It's Alright (Sterling Void cover)

Vocal

Go West (Village People cover)

It's a Sin

 

Encore:

West End Girls

Being Boring

Death of England: Michael @sohoplace...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see Clint Dyer & Roy Williams fearless one-person play about identity, race and class in Britain, Death of England: Michael at @sohoplace in London's glitzy West End.

 

Oh my gosh, it was amazing. Thomas Coombes is as powerful and passionate as he is explosive. He deserves every accolade going for this spit-speckled, sweat-soaked, testosterone-powered performance.

 

Muscular, jocular, and sweaty, Coombes plays Michael, a working-class, late-30s Essex man bubbling with self-loathing. The action - and there is a lot of it - concerns the fallout from the death of his father, a racist, Brexit-loving flower seller, who collapsed during England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Croatia a few years ago and his close friendship with his black schoolfriend Delroy.

 

Death of England started life as a 10-minute micro-play commissioned by the Royal Court and the Guardian in 2014. Ten years, four general elections, and one referendum later, it arrives here fully-formed and fully-updated on the @sohoplace stage as a fully-fledged 100-minute monologue.

 

It had a brief stint four years ago with Rafe Spall playing Michael at the Dorfman which was also excellent.

 

The night is funny, moving, and meta - it is also a solo (Soho?) tour-de-force. And there’s Penguin biscuits too.

 

Go see.

 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Hot Wing King @ Dorfman Theatre...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see the Pulitzer Prize winning comedy The Hot Wing King at the Dorfman Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

 

Writer Katori Hall's entertaining and humane 2020 story sees four queer black men prepping for a hot wing competition in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

Beneath the bantering dialogue, and the precise instructions on how to prepare Spicy Cajun Alfredo wings with bourbon-infused crumbled bacon, lie questions of how to be a black man in America, and how to form a relationship and a family.

 

Amateur chef Cordell (Kadiff Kirwan) left his wife and kids for hotel manager Dwayne (Simon-Anthony Rhoden) after meeting him in the barbershop of lugubrious Big Charles (Jason Barnett). Schlubby Big Charles and his fey, preening partner Isom (Olisa Odele) alternately argue with and ignore each other. Dwayne is stricken with guilt over the killing by police of his disturbed sister, which left his nephew Everett (Kaireece Denton) alone with his criminal father TJ (Dwane Walcott).

 

Though it sounds like a lot is going on here, the story is actually extremely straightforward, unfolding around the island kitchen of Dwayne’s upmarket home over the course of roughly 24 hours.

 

Cordell is getting his chicken ready and asking all the others to pitch in with various levels of success.

 

The show even has its own version of Chekhov’s gun: the jar of superhot Ugandan Pelepele pepper mentioned early on is inevitably deployed later, with scorching results. Snatches of music swell up at moments of high emotion, there’s a hilarious group rendition of Luther Vandross’s Never Too Much

 

What elevates it is the quality and wit of Hall’s writing and the passionate engagement of the cast with her themes. She touches on food, class, sports, education and sexuality, what it means to be a lover and a father.

 

All six characters present very different versions of black masculinity to the world and even the homophobic, drug-dealing TJ (terrified his son will turn 'soft') is imbued with depth and subtlety.

 

Go see.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

 

 

Annual Big Gay Picnic @ The Garden Of St. John's Lodge...

Yesterday we attended Tim's annual Big Gay Picnic at The Garden Of St. John's Lodge, Inner Circle, Regents Park. 

 

The weather held and there was a good turn out.

 

A great amount of fun was had by all. And when I say fun I mean drink. And it continued in the pub later too. 'Nuff said.

 

#BigGayPicnic #RegentsPark 

Summer Exhibition 2024 @ Royal Academy…

Just back from the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy. Quite fabulous. If you get a chance to go, do!

 

The Grapes of Wrath @ Lyttelton Theatre...

Last night Stuart and I went to an early preview of Frank Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1939 classic The Grapes of Wrath at the Lyttelton Theatre on London's glitzy South Bank.

 

The on-stage car, which features heavily in the Route 66 road-trip taken by the sorry protagonists fleeing the dustbowl for a new life in California, collapsed one hour into the production's three hour running time. The show got cancelled half an hour later.

 

Good. 

 

Much like the unlucky characters in Mr Steinbeck excellent novel, we had been tortured long enough. 

 

Even the presence of Tony Award-winner Cherry Jones (yes, her of off of Succession) couldn't save it.

 

I felt sorry for the whole cast and indeed the production team. But it was miserable. We won't be going back for the last two hours.

⭐️⭐️

Arsenal Away Kit 24/25…

What do we think of the new Arsenal away kit? I think it looks really cool. 

The kit pays homage to all African players  who have played for the club and our passionate African fan base.

“Introducing Our 24/25 Away Kit

We are thrilled to unveil our new 24/25 Away Kit, celebrating the unity of one family. This kit honours the strong connection between Arsenal, North London, and Africa, recognising both our African supporters and the African players who have graced our team.

Designed by Labrum, the kit features the vibrant colours of the pan-African flag (red, black, and green) and a unique zig-zag pattern inspired by 1920’s African tribal art, symbolising freedom, movement, and joy.”

https://arsenaldirect.arsenal.com/

@Arsenal

@LabrumLondon

Swan…

British people when they see a swan:

“They can break your arm, you know?” 

Alma Mater @ Almeida Theatre...

Last week Stuart and I went to see award-winning playwright Kendall Feaver’s new play Alma Mater at the Almeida Theatre in London's glitzy Islington.

 

Wow, it's a thought-provoking play, that's for sure. 

 

Following an allegation of sexual assault by a male college student on fresher Paige (Liv Hill), an Oxbridge university campus becomes rife with speculation, mistrust, and anger. Jo (Justine Mitchell), the first ever female master of her college comes head-to-head with Nikki (Phoebe Campbell), a student impatient for justice.

 

Paige doesn't want to be defined by her trauma.

Jo has got the college (and her own reputation) to think about. She's very much a second wave feminist. She fought the good fight back in the day.

But Nikki, very much a fourth wave feminism, can't let things slide. #MeToo indeed.

 

With the college polarised and all sides doubling-down, will anyone emerge unscathed? Nope!

 

Polly Findlay direction is a delight. Phoebe Campbell is extraordinary. Justine Mitchell excels.

Perhaps the only weakness is that some characters do 180s to serve the later plot twists. Which seem jarring rather than inevitable.  

 

Alma Mater will sure get you thinking though. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Weekend...

So it's been a weekend my liver would probably want to forget. It's been lots of fun though. Cheers! 

🍻🍷🍸🍹🥃

 

Friday

Wetherspoons

Hen & Chickens

Saturday

Lunch @ Civil Service Club

Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) @ Criterion

Cocktails @ All Bar One

Beers @ Comptons

Shots @ The Royal George

Sunday

Wimbledon Men's Singles Final & lunch & beers &  @ Civil Service Club

Euros Final & beers @ Blackstock

Phew!