James Taylor Quartet 15:02:2019

The Sherling Studio, Lighthouse, Poole There’s something about an intimate venue and a sell-out audience, particularly when it’s for an act that would usually pack a place twice its size or more. No matter that a sizeable majority of the house are seasoned jazzers that have seen it all before – at least once – Read More…

Suggs: What A King Cnut – A Life in the Realm of Madness 31:10:2018

Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne “THE Spice Girls are in then…” quips Suggs in response to a little over ambitious harmonising from the ladies on the front row as he brings the show to a close with a celebratory version of Our House that’s laced with as much pathos as geniality. It’s the perfect ending to a Read More…

Blair Dunlop + Jack Carty 04:10:2018

Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis “Here I am, out of my head on cough mixture and I’ve brought my living room on tour with me… it’s tragic. Whatever happened to rock ‘n’ roll?” Five dates into his tour and Blair Dunlop’s tender throat is only just getting up to speed, while the simple comfort of having Read More…

Beck + Sparks + Shame 28:05:2018

Solent Hall, Bournemouth International Centre Who knows how such things are decided but that Beck should play his only UK headline show of the year in an otherwise atmosphere-free former swimming pool in a conference centre overlooking the golden sands of Bournemouth on a sultry May bank holiday is one of those rare but glorious Read More…

Motionhouse – Charge 27:04:2018

Lighthouse, Poole Intensely physical, relentlessly kinetic, this electrifying new work from Motionhouse founder and artistic director Kevin Finnan is the third – and arguably most human – part of his Earth trilogy. Fusing science and the creative arts it looks at our relationship with energy, specifically electricity, from the first sparks of human life, through Read More…

Paul Weller 18:02:2018

Windsor Hall, BIC Assured, like a writer and performer of his calibre has every right to be, Paul Weller returned to Bournemouth as he has done for more than 40 years and once again confounded expectations by making it all even better than the faithful might have hoped. Of course he ended with Town Called Read More…

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra 15:11:2017

Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts In a night of intense drama the home audience was gripped by the raw, physical power of a performance in which passages of near silence teetered on the brink of stillness without ever quite surrendering to the void. Every inch the favourite general, Kirill Karabits marshalled his musical troops Read More…

Monmouth: The West Country Rebellion 15:07:2017

Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis Having gathered a good few early arrivers beneath a flag of St George and attempted to rally them with stirring song and seditious verse, a small but enthusiastic band of rebels await the arrival of their leader, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth on the beach at Lyme Regis. In the Read More…

The Unthanks – Diversions 4: The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake

You know when you’re the aural company of something genuinely important when you catch yourself staring off into the middle distance as every thought is subsumed by the music, the lyrics, the very air of what’s emanating from the speakers. And so it is with this wonderfully realised recording of Molly Drake’s wistful legacy. Evocative Read More…

Garland Jeffreys 31:03:2017

Mr Kyps, Ashley Cross, Poole At 73 Garland Jeffreys may not need a bigger audience in this country but his music sure as heck deserves it. Its warm embrace of rock, soul, jazz, blues, reggae and merengue is allied to literate, searching lyrics that have been striking chords with everything that’s right for nearly 45 years. A Read More…