WORTH A LOOK?: *****
OUT: now
The last thing we suspected would result from Bananarama’s award-winning Original Line Up Tour was new material from Siobhan Fahey’s old group Shakespears Sister but here we are.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2
WHERE? Omeara
WHEN? 27/4, tour runs until 2/5 (and then regular gigs continue until 25/8/19)
SETLIST: Love Don’t Live Here; I’m On Fire; Love In Stereo; Every Shade Of Blue; Summer Night City; Movin’ On; Dance Music; Feel For You; Tonight; Look On The Floor; On Your Own; Cruel Summer; Love Comes; Move In My Direction; Venus; Looking For Someone; Love In The First Degree; Stuff Like That
You can never have enough Bananarama in your life and, as if to prove it, the band take audience questions for 45 minutes in what would normally be the support slot before headlining for more than 80 minutes.
When we raved about film There’s Nothing Like A Dame we never thought we’d see Dame Maggie tread the boards again but she returns to London for the 1st time in 12 years in a new one-woman play called A German Life based on the actual testimony of Brunhilde Pomsel, who once worked for Joseph Goebbels. Runs 6/4 to 11/5/19. Tickets The Downton Abbey film is expected to be released in September.
WORTH A LOOK?: ****
OUT: now
The true test of a pop act with heritage is whether they can release new material which sits comfortably within the greatest hits set of its past.
She may now no longer be playing the Palladium in September but she was the best thing about Chess at the Coliseum this year and now she stars as Roxie in Chicago at the Phoenix Theatre 13/8 through 14/10. Tickets
It’s almost Christmas and what would the festive season be without some recognition of the best of 2017? Over the next month we’ll shortlist five nominees in each of 13 categories for our Oscars, or monstas if you will, of 2017.
WORTH A LOOK?: *****
WHERE: Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith
WHEN: 9/12, US tour February 2018
SETLIST: Nathan Jones; Robert de Niro’s Waiting; Rough Justice; Aie a Mwana; Cruel Summer; Trick Of The Night; Shy Boy/Boy Trouble; Really Saying Something; Cheers Then; Stay; Preacher Man; I Heard A Rumour; More Than Physical; I Can’t Help It; I Want You Back; Venus; Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye; ‘T’aint What You Do; Love In The First Degree
We’re compiling our end-of-year best-of shortlists in various categories at the moment and this gig will be tough to beat in 2017.
Dan Gillespie Sells is frontman of The Feeling and we gave his debut musical the full 5* when we saw it in Sheffield in February. It’s a real celebration of mothers and sons and transfers to the West End 6/11 booking to 21/4/18. Tickets. The soundtrack is an absolute treat but our favourite is cross-dressing musical-within-a-song The Legend Of Loco Chanel. Don’t. Miss.
We were there at the old Wembley Arena for the first Bananarama World Tour in 1989 but founder member Siobhan Fahey took no part in the 40-plus gigs. See her for the first time on tour with the band this winter.
