Highbury Sloe Gin…

It’s that time of year again. First batch of Highbury Sloe gin bottled. And Stuart’s excellent quince jelly too. #homely 

Heaven 17 - The Luxury Gap, 40 Years of Temptation @ O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire...

Last night Darren treated me to a night out at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire in glitzy Shepherd's Bush to see Heaven 17 perform their The Luxury Gap 40 Years of Temptation tour. 

 

The show was great, the songs still stand up very well after 40 years later, there are lots of cool cover versions too. But my goodness there are a lot of people chatting! As ever, it’s people who only know an act for one song and were just waiting for that song to come on - in this case is was probably Temptation. You get it at Soft Cell gigs too. People get dragged along by their mates and they just want to hear Tainted Love so chat during everything else. 

 

But we didn’t let it spoil our evening. Well, not after I had a word.

 

One particularly loud couple, were talking all the way through the gig, so I tapped the woman of the pair on the shoulder during Play to Win and said to them both (rather firmly), “What’s your favourite Heaven 17 song?” They looked at me a bit bemused. Before either could say anything I said to them (rather too loudly), “ME? THIS ONE. THIS IS MY FAVOURITE HEAVEN 17 SONG!”

They looked stunned. Stopped chatting. Just mumbled sorry, and shuffled off to the other side of the auditorium. Mission accomplished. 

 

No, no, we didn’t let it spoil our evening.

 

In fact, my favourite H17 song (and theirs too it turns out) is Let Me Go. And when they played it, my heart simply sang. 

 

Standout moment of the night though was their cover of The Associates’s Party Fears Two. Glen Gregory knew Billy Mackenzie quite well and told a very funny story about the two of them and a dog!

 

After two hours of fun and nostalgia it was almost time to go. Just time for one more song. And the place simply erupted for... Being Boiled.

 

Setlist: -

 

Introducing (The Human League cover)

Crushed by the Wheels of Industry

Key to the World

Who'll Stop the Rain

Come Live With Me

Lady Ice and Mr Hex

We Live So Fast

The Best Kept Secret

Let Me Go

(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang

I'm Your Money

And That's No Lie

Play to Win

The Power of Love (Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover) (Glen solo acoustic)

Don't You Want Me (The Human League cover) (Glen solo acoustic)

Penthouse and Pavement

Temptation

 

Encore:

Party Fears Two (The Associates cover)

Let's Dance (David Bowie cover)

Being Boiled (The Human League cover)

The Little Big Things - A New Musical @Sohoplace...

Last Thursday night Stuart and I went to see new musical The Little Big Things @Sohoplace Theatre in London's glitzy West End.

 

Based on the 2017 inspirational best-seller The Little Big Things: The Inspirational Memoir of the Year, the musical tells the story Henry Fraser, a promising young rugby player, who at the age of 17 suffered a terrible accident leaving him paralysed.

 

The show (music, Nick Butcher; lyrics by Butcher and Tom Ling; book, Joe White; director, Luke Sheppard) sees Fraser (Ed Larkin) in a wheelchair and the uninjured Fraser (Jonny Amies) inhabit the same space. 

 

Every aspect of the auditorium is put to use, from its moving stage to the excellent sound system.  The space is fully accessible too allowing many disabled performers to take centre stage. Larkin is himself a rugby player and provides a calm presence to his erratic parents and three other brothers spin around. Amy Trigg is standout too as Agnes, a sexy physiotherapist who encourages Henry on his journey of miraculous recovery and eventual development as a painter.

 

The intense atmosphere is mirrored by the power-pop music, which defaults to boy-band punch-the-air triumph. And it's none the worse for that. 

 

Most movingly perhaps is a statement made towards the end of the second half by the uninjured Fraser to his older, disabled self: “I can’t wait to become you.”

 

Great stuff.

The Interview @ Park Theatre...

Last Thursday afternoon I went to see Jonathan Maitland’s The Interview at the Park Theatre in London's glitzy Finsbury Park. Thank you, Angus, for the freebie!

This is the story of that interview. The interview which told Diana's story. A story that frankly shocked the world.

It was good. And to be fair it is a fairly even-handed piece too. Maitland had access to material that was either cut from the original interview or was off-camera so there are some great tit-bits too.

We get to see the lying and deceit that went on by Bashir to gain the trust of Diana and, perhaps just as importantly, those around her 28 years ago. We hear about Bashir's motivations and the prejudice he received in his career and how important it was as a Pakistani journalist in a predominately white environment to 'get the story'. A story that was going to told anyway. Diana was looking at a number of different hosts to talk to.

But ultimately, and to me most interestingly, it tells how Diana's words were silenced by William who has forbidden the BBC to reshow or licence the recording of the interview ever again. As Diana's ghost says to Bashir, "your lies formed a knife that have cut out my tongue. My words will never be heard again because of your actions. And for that alone, you should never be forgiven."

Yolanda Kettle is great as Diana Princess of Wales, Tibu Fortes equally good as Martin Bashir, and Matthew Flynn very funny as Paul Burrell.

Arsenal 3 - 1 Burnley…

Another great win for @Arsenal   

Ok, it was only Burnley. But we can’t afford to slip up against these sorts of teams and when it came down to it, the win was actually hard-fought for.   (Unlike Sp*rs whose delightful turnover against Wolves set us up beautifully just prior to our 3pm KO!)  

And, yes, we conceded one (albeit a deflection) but our three goals were great.   

First there was Trossard’s brave nod in (Arsenal's 1,000th goal at Emirates Stadium.) Then Saliba headed in Trossard's corner from point-blank range. And finally Zinchenko completed the scoring with an acrobatic finish into the top corner after O'Shea had inadvertently steered another Trossard corner onto the crossbar.  

Yes, as you might have guessed, Trossard was my man of the match.   

The only sour note perhaps was Fabio Vieira being sent off late on. No one argued. Poor challenge.   

Arsenal are now joint top with City on all but goal difference.   

A great meet-up beforehand with @gaygooners along with some super lovely folks from Arsenal America too.  Hello Cam! Hello Scott! Hello César! 

#COYG   

#ARSBUR 

#AFC

@orlandogooners

@arsenalamericaofficial 

RIP Veronica Clayton…

Honoured to be speaking at Paul’s mam’s funeral today. I hope I do the old girl justice. She was a very special lady. So kind and welcoming to me when Paul & I were dating in the 1980s. I felt like part of their family. Still do. ❤️

Arsenal 2 - 0 Sevilla…

Great game last night. Back to winning ways. Hurrah!  

Sevilla were utterly outplayed by @Arsenal, who took a deserved lead when Trossard finished Saka's low cross after the England winger was set away by Jorginho's fine through-ball.  

Saka got the second goal having been played through by Gabriel Martinelli.  

Arsenal are now top of Group B on 9 points from 4 games, while Sevilla are bottom of the table. Ha!  

A great meet-up beforehand with @gaygooners and @chicagogooners too    

#COYG  

#ARSSEV

The @BrianEno Book 1973. 😂

Brian Eno & the Baltic Sea Philharmonic @ Royal Festival Hall...

Last Monday Paul and I went to see art-rock pioneer Brian Eno's first ever proper tour with the 36-piece Baltic Sea Philharmonic. They were performing an extremely rare gig of The Ship and other notable works at the Royal Festival Hall on London's glitzy South Bank.

 

The ambitious and imaginatively staged performance began with the BSP slowly creeping into view. Performing with wireless microphones they were free to ebb and flow - much like the album's title track - The Ship is a 20-minute symphonic shanty of drones and creaks, shivering timbers and softly lapping melodic waves. 

 

Eno, in pink shirt, sang from the back with his gravelly voice and poetically cryptic lyrics.

 

The set moved on to include his majestic reworking of The Velvet Underground’s I'm Set Free, a nostalgic throwback of By This River (from the 1977 solo album Before and After Science), and a mournfully beautiful Making Gardens out of Silence as a requiem for the people of both Palestine and Israel.

 

It was beautiful. It was hypnotic. It was fantastic.

 

Talking Heads, U2, and Coldplay - eat your hearts out.

 

Set List: -

 

The Ship

Fickle Sun (I)

Fickle Sun (II) The Hour Is Thin

Fickle Sun (III) I'm Set Free

By This River

Who Gives a Thought

And Then So Clear

 

Encore:

Bone Bomb

Making Gardens Out of Silence

There Were Bells

Backstairs Billy @ Duke of York's Theatre...

Last Friday night Stuart and I went to see the farce that is Backstairs Billy at the Duke of York's Theatre in London glitzy West End.

 

Set in 1979, the action all takes place in Clarence House and tells the story of the 50-year relationship between the Queen Mother and her loyal servant William “Billy” Tallon.

 

Directed by Michael Grandage the piece stars Penelope Wilton as the unwanted, uninvited and frequently bored, frustrated and irrelevant Queen Mother. Luke Evans plays Billy as a suave, charming, fervently royalist and eager to please - which let's face it was the role he was born to play. 

 

As to how much of the play is real when Billy’s real-life partner Reginald Wilcock is nowhere to be seen in the cast list is anyone's guess. But farce rarely needs fidelity.

 

If you like your pantomime very gay, this is the show for you. Oh and there are real-life corgis too!

 

( Not too harsh, Wayne? :-) ) 

Newcastle 1 - 0 Arsenal...

Poor performance by us on the pitch on Saturday at St James' Park to be honest, we only had one shot on goal. And yes, it is perhaps easy to point fingers at some of our own, but the biggest finger should be pointed at the series of seemingly woeful VAR decisions that sealed our fate. That goal should never have stood.

 

And some of those so called 'pundits' who think we are just crying over spilled milk can do one.

 

VAR is causing a lot of upset at the moment and I have a feeling more managers will be speaking out soon. 

 

That said, the away vibe was good. The GGs all had fun painting the town RED in more ways than one.

 

Although on Sunday the epic journey home for many Arsenal fans (train disruption) didn't do much to lift the morning-after-the-night-before mood much.

 

Onwards and upwards my friends. We go again Wednesday on more familiar turf. #COYG