Peter Viney's Blog

My current rant: DRIVING ME MAD: My Pet Irritations at the wheel (follow the link). Feel free to add comments on your irritations … on the page itself rather than here.

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The 19 piece Nu Civilisation Orchestra, fronted by Eska on vocals performed music from Joni Mitchell’s two most complex albums at Poole Lighthouse in JONI MITCHELL’S HEJIRA and MINGUS (LINK TO THE FULL REVIEW). It was one of the very best concerts I’ve seen in recent years, with a sound mix at the very highest level. This is NOT a tribute band, but superb new arrangements of the material.

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Review of the six-part Western mini-series, THE ENGLISH (follow link to the review). There are no plot spoilers to a highly-acclaimed Western, starring Emily Blunt, who produced it, with appearances by Ciaron Hinds, Toby Jones, Tom Hughes, Rafe Spall. There are opinions, though.

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Review of MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION by George Bernard Shaw at Theatre Royal, Bath, added (Follow highlighted link to the full review). The play was banned in 1894 and didn’t get on stage until 1925. Mrs Warren’s profession was the oldest one and has made her wealthy, and she has kept it from her university-educated daughter. Mother and daughter are played by Caroline Quentin with her real life daughter Rose. It is touring extensively after Bath, so should be coming to a theatre reasonably near many British readers.

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This on my AROUND AND AROUND site.
The Best Beatles Album?  (FOLLOW THE LINK TO THE ARTICLE) |This was a response to the release of the Giles Martin remix of Revolver, and nearly every reviewer declared that Revolver was the greatest of all Beatles albums … whether they loved or hated what Giles Martin did with it. I thought about it, checked some of those ‘Greatest Albums of All Time’ lists and decided to argue about it. I might just be deliberately provocative so feel free to add to the comments box on the page itself.

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Review of Bob Dylan “Rough and Rowdy Ways Tour” (FOLLOW LINK TO THE REVIEW … THIS IS NOT THE REVIEW ITSELF) in concert at Bournemouth International Centre tonight. A concert of two ways – the Rough and Rowdy Ways material, and he played all of it, was great to hear. The interspersed older songs were uniformly dreadful. See the review (This is NOT the review, just a link to it) . If you get angry you can comment on the page, but do keep it civil!

If you comment on the review itself (rather than on this page) it is easier for people to see.

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Review of LOCAL HERO (LINKED), the stage musical version, at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre. The day before I was rating The Famous Five lower than the newspaper reviews. but today I’m rating Local Hero higher than the newspapers (and I’m right!). This is a full 5 star production, directed by Daniel Evans – who will move to the RSC next year as artistic director. This is based on the 1983 film, but David Greig has rewritten the story, and Mark Knopfler has added new songs and lyrics. Gabriel Ebert, a Broadway Tony-Award winning actor takes the lead role of oilman Mac MacIntyre. Just look at the production photos in the review, and it runs until 19th November.

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THE FAMOUS FIVE: A NEW MUSICAL, review is linked at Chichester Festival Theatre. We went as great Famous Five fans, and we really disliked it intensely. Full on energy acting which is very good, but it’s let down by an atrocious tick box plot and weak songs. Sorry, I try to avoid bad reviews, but this is one (with a lot on The Famous Five too).

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I first saw Al Stewart play (oh, dear, yes) sixty years ago, at Bournemouth Pavilion Ballrooms. He grew up in Bournemouth and here he is tonight at Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre, just yards away from the ballroom behind the theatre. Home town gig then, supported by the Chicago band The Empty Pockets and virtuoso flute / sax player Marc Massino. The review has a long introduction on the 60s Bournemouth music scene and connections. LINK TO THE REVIEW.

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