Music
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I have never been so ready for Christmas. Note when I say ready, I don’t mean the practicalities. No matter what I promise myself every year, I will never be that person who’s done, dusted and has Christmas wrapped up (figuratively and literally) by November. No, after Christmas was almost cancelled last year, any jadedness
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My Dad was a professional museum, which led to him being away on tour a fair bit when I was growing up. ‘Gigs and digs’ were oft heard words in our house. And it’s all very rock and roll and glamorous, isn’t it? Well like everything, dig (not always deep) below the surface and there
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Only a few days earlier, I’d enjoyed the wonder that was the Damon Albarn gig, as part of the very special Manchester International Festival. Friday it was back to GMEX (am I being tedious refusing to get upto date with this? Such a mouthful) and the space had been transformed into a very different place.
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Remember that balmy day back in June 2018, when the socialising was anything but distant, substantial meals were for wimps masks were for gimps (it rhymes, I have no choice). And the mighty Sheds graced our tier-free little Castlefield Bowl in Manchester? I do, it was immense and now we can relive those blessed times
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What do you mean there’s nothing to look forward to, we have no future, 2020 has nothing to offer us mancunians actuary, honorary or passing through (controversial – stick to your own tiered up towns, we’ve got enough problems). Retro rock and roll band, The Electric Stars, are bringing their brand new album, Velvet Elvis:
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The world of music, in particular our own very special part of that world, here in Manchester, was recently rocked and hugely saddened by the news that hugely acclaimed, simply stunning, vocalist, Denise Johnson, had passed away. Best known for the two albums she recorded and toured with Primal scream in the 90s, Screamadelica and
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I last wrote about the wonderful Northern Chamber Orchestra when I visited the rather lovely Stoller Hall for the first time, back in May 2018 – https://honorarymancblog.com/2018/05/18/the-northern-chamber-orchestra-mozart-and-elgar-and-beethoven-oh-my/ Yes I was rather taken with the acoustics of the environment and hall, and I’m not going to pretend to go down the ‘but was it the location
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If you haven’t yet heard that Back to the Future The Musical (no less) is coming to Manchester’s Opera House on 20 February 2020, great Scott, you’d better make like a leaf and get outta here! Yes, I did that homage and I’m very proud of my little self… Starring Olly Dobson as Marty McFly
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Some years ago, I visited the site where Julius Caesar was said to meet his maker. The Curia in the Theatre Of Pompey is not only a place of significant historical importance but much to my total and utter glee, a colony for feral cats. Cat lovers this is your Mecca, cat not-lovers probably give
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Manchester International Festival is your opportunity to see something different. Something new, something especially commissioned, someone new, someone big… The Nico Project is the perfect case study of all of the above. The late Nico, real name Christa Paffgenmade, entered the musical zeitgeist in 1967 with The Velvet Underground, and the ‘show’ is inspired by
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Verdi’s Aida is admittedly one of the operas I knew little about, in terms of both narrative and its musical score. An opera in four acts, Aida is set in Egypt at the time of the Pharoahs. The priesthood, through its self-proclaimed ability to interpret the gods’ will, controls the government and have long been
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Mozart can do no wrong. It’s not even up for debate. When I was knee-high to an etc., I went with my parents to Austria, visiting Salzburg along the way and so to the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The actual birthplace – the house. My Dad, a professional pianist, was keen to fulfill an
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Billed as Sting’s personal, political and passionate musical, this was a ship that I wasn’t prepare to let sail by without an inquisitive look. On a tour of UK and Ireland, The Last Ship sailed into the Quays last night, making its debut at The Lowry theatre. I have already used two puns both based
honorary manc 