26 | July 4, 2013 | cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News
The critical list: more hot tickets Music ᔡ ‘Home’ – the cathedral gig, Ely Cathedral, Saturday, July 6 at 7.30pm. Tickets £15 - £20 from (01353) 660349 / https://tickets.elycathedral.org
Beck “BECK has always been one of music’s great pioneers, from his early days of slacker-anthem Loser and using leaf-blowers on stage, to the stark numbness of Sea Change and the lascivious brass of Midnite Vultures,” said The Guardian last November – and, you’ll be glad to hear, the pioneer is back. So far this year the 42-year-old Scientologist (try not to hold it against him), might have only released standalone single Defriended (a sweeping electro jumble with hints James Blake probably wishes he could call his own), but now the American is promising two new albums, one acoustic – his 12th no less – and a followup to 2008’s Modern Guilt. It’s a been a long time coming, what with only Song Reader, a sheaf of sheet music which came with a lot of pretty artwork but no recording to back it up, being offered up in 2012. He is, however, performing a full bodied version of it for the first time, today actually, at the Barbican in London. And he’s doing it with a rather epic “house band” featuring Jarvis Cocker, Charlotte Gainsbourg,
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Michael Kiwanuka, plus members of Franz Ferdinand, Villagers and Guillemot. Best known for his breakthrough single Loser in 1994, and game-changing albums Odelay and Sea Change – both of which made it on to Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of all Time list – the floppy haired alt-indie star is playing two special acoustic gigs this summer, and Cambridge Corn Exchange gets to claim one of them. There are still tickets available (somehow! What have you been doing with yourselves?), and, with visits to the UK being a bit of a rarity for the singersongwriter, who tends to squeeze a mash of hip hop, Latin, folk and funk into his work, you might want to go grab one.
ᔡ Beck, Cambridge Corn Exchange, Saturday, July 6 at 7.30pm. Tickets £32.50 from (01223) 357 851 / www.cornex.co.uk
The Script
ᔡ The Script, Forest Live, High Lodge, Thetford Forest, Thursday, July 11, arena opens 6pm, SOLD OUT.
DANNY O’Donoghue, or ‘Danny I Dunno Who’ according to James Cordon, has singlehandedly made The Script mainstream. While The Voice organisers probably should have let the pretty darn wonderful Will Young on the judging panel instead of the practically unknown Irish frontman (who treats his red swivel chair like a throne, but at least he’s not as irritating as Jessie J), it seems to have worked out okay. With his fellow band members Mark Sheehan (backing vocals and guitar) and Glen Power (drums), The Script are Dublin boys, born and bred, churning out alt-rock with a chart twist. Last year’s Hall of Fame,
featuring the effortlessly cool, geometrically-printed Will.I.Am, is arguably their greatest hit to date – it’s got a key change that will make your skin tingle with pop-goodness after all – but you might be surprised to know that all three of their albums have actually been a success. I know, right, we hadn’t even heard of them until spiky-haired Donoghue started leaping about on the Beeb. Their self-titled debut album The Script, Science and Faith and #3 all hit the No 1 spot in Ireland – of course – and either No 1 or No 2 in the UK charts. Crazy, huh? And they’ve broken America, and now they’ve gone and sold out at Thetford Forest. Let’s see if they can live up to the BBC frothed hype.
OICES galore, an eclectic band and all in a cathedral – you can’t get much more epic than that, can you? That’s what The Dowsing Sound Collective thought. The singing group launched in 2010 after founder Andrea Cockerton started a Facebook group to see if anyone would be interested in joining an edgier kind of choral group. “The response was much, much more than I expected,” she admits. Three years down the line, the 110-strong troupe of singers and musicians is preparing for its biggest gig to date, at Ely Cathedral. “What I’ve tried to do is bring together both experienced and first time singers, and sing music that ranges from the simple to the really difficult, and ranges from current hits back to more conventional choral stuff,” says Andrea, which means you can expect to hear versions of everything from the Rolling Stones and Muse, to Moby and Stevie Wonder. Andrea, who now sees Dowsing as a full-time job, was a choral scholar at Cambridge University. “I never quite fitted in because I always liked loads of other stuff: folk music, a bit of indie, clubby things, or world music – I just liked it all. It took me a long time to find a place where I could bring all of that together, and Dowsing seems to be it.” Headphones at the ready, she researches the music, comes up with the arrangements, “and then we just rehearse like crazy!” For the Ely Cathedral gig they have been practicing for six months, adding to their usual band ensemble with the cathedral’s organ, a trumpet, violin, iPad,
Comedy
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Round-up
Dowsing Sound Collective
flugelhorn and Middle Eastern and African drums. Plus, a very special guest – opera singer Kate Woolf who will sing a solo from Carmina Burana. “She’s also belting out some top Cs at the end of our final track, which is You Can’t Always Get What You Want by the Rolling Stones,” Andrea adds excitedly. “It’s not a stiff, formal concert; it’s more of a gig,” she explains. “The whole thing is quite unexpected. Our first gig was called Unpredictable and I think that about sums it up. It’s a sort of
real ‘oh, I wasn’t expecting this!’ and I think that’s part of the joy of it, and why people just love being part of it.” With more than 25 people on the waiting list, Dowsing nurtures all types of amateur singers, whether they’ve performed in public before and can read music, or not. Andrea says: “I push people, they’re singing to a really high standard when they’ve never done it before many of them. And the result is really quite inspiring.” The Ely gig, which is being backed by Bobby Aitkin (who
ᔡ Cambridge Comedy Festival, Cambridge Junction, Bar Nusha and Cambridge Corn Exchange, Tuesday, July 16 – Sunday, July 21. Tickets £8.50 - £20 from (01223) 511 511 / www.junction. co.uk and (01223) 357 851 / www.cornex.co.uk
did all the sound design for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies) and Autograph (who provide kit for West End shows), is also a chance for the Collective to launch The Dosoco Foundation – a social enterprise-cum-charity they will use to support music therapy, access and education in the local area, with the aim of using sound and music for social good. They have big dreams of feeding back into the community, supporting other singing groups and maybe even rolling the model
out across East Anglia. “We’re having heaps of fun making music,” buzzes Andrea. “We want that fun to create money that creates support for these things.” So why should people come along? “For an unexpected night of brilliant music, in a brilliant venue and because they’ll never have heard anything like it before.” We’re sold. To find out more about The Dousing Sound Collective visit http://thedowsingsoundcollective. com/.
Cambridge Comedy Festival IF you’d rather have a good old laugh instead of a drunken rave in a field, the Cambridge Comedy Festival should appeal. A ‘festival of previews’, it’s an opportunity for jobbing comedians to practice material and gauge public reaction (ie how many bellies wobble/how many items get thrown in their direction), before hauling themselves, and the remaining tatters of their stand-up shows, to the Edinburgh Fringe. Basically, it’s a pre-Edinburgh warm up, which means you get to see potentially award-winning shows before anyone else. Taking place across three venues – including Cambridge Junction and Bar Nusha – this year the rather wonderful, shambolic, scruffy-haired, Black Books legend Dylan Moran, left, is headlining the Comedy Gala Show at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. Oh yes. The Irish comic, armed with his rambling style and cigarette ravaged voice, will be tackling the nightmares of growing old and fussing over religion, kids and relationships. Canadian comic Glenn Wool and Jo Caulfield,
the sharp and pleasantly bitchy Have I Got News For You regular, are set to warm up the crowd, but we’re rather keen to see a few other big names . . . The ever-eccentric Tony Law promises illogical, loud and chock-a-block comedy riddled with ridiculous off the wall stories about him inhabiting the lives, and telling the stories of, a range of madcap characters. Cambridge local David Trent is bound to turn up with a computer, a projector and a booming voice (he might be a teacher but his material is anything but PC), and Andrew Maxwell, the 8 Out of 10 Cats funny guy tipped for comedy greatness. Plus Funny Punts (Cambridge based comedy by boat), The Amazing Bubbleman (an amazing man who does tricks with bubbles, as you do), and Rory McGrath and Philip Pope: Bridge Over Troubled Lager (they’ll drink, sing and be filthy). For the full line-up visit www. cambridgecomedyfestival.com and catch our interviews with David Trent and Dylan Moran in next week’s What’s On.
ɀ AS part of the Cambridge Disability Sports and Arts Festival, a group of talented disabled young people are showcasing what they can do at Cambridge Junction. The Total Arts group, made up of 11 to 18-yearolds, are hosting WINK, a mix of film and theatre pieces, using dance and production techniques. Tazlie Theatre Company, a group of Year 12 BTEC Performing Arts students studying at Parkside Federation and Cambridge Junction, has also collaborated with Total Art with help from Trestle Theatre. Catch it all at Cambridge Junction on Saturday at 2pm – it’s free but book in advance on (01223) 511511. ɀ WYSING Arts Centre is holding an Open Weekend packed with outdoorsy and arty activities. See felt sculptures brought to life through animation, be nosy and take a look into artists’ studios, stop by for a talk on some secretive local history, explore Wysing’s grounds (there’s woodland, meadows, sculptures and a Beehive Skyscraper to spot) and get crafty during a workshop. It’s on from noon until 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Call (01954) 718881 for more details. ɀ IT’S the 25th anniversary of Stagecoach Theatre Arts Cambridge and to celebrate they are having a bit of a gala at Cambridge Corn Exchange. More than 300 talented youngsters, aged 6-18 years, from Cambridge schools will pile into the venue for a night of music, dance and drama. Expect a whole lot of talent and a crowd filled with proud mums and dads. Tickets cost £12.50-£15 from (01223) 357851 and the evening kicks off at 5.30pm. ɀ TWO nights, 10 plays, one winner – it’s the final of the Cambridge Theatre Challenge at the Cambridge Junction this weekend. You can catch a selection of brand new plays that were submitted to Sky Blue Theatre Company’s International Playwriting Competition, and vote for your favourite (oh the power). On the Sunday there will also be talks from Nick Warburton on writing for stage, television and radio, and Paul Smith on getting published. Tickets cost £10 from (01223) 511511 and it starts at 7.30pm. ɀ BRAVE acoustic musicians are being asked to get stuck into The Acoustic Night – a monthly open mic night at The Kings Arms in Ely. Held on the second Tuesday of every month, the night is open to bands, soloists and those who just want to listen in, rather than get up and play. The next event is on Tuesday from 8-11pm. Call (01353) 656828 for more details.