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The grey hair brigade and the middle-aged men in striped scarves were much in evidence as we arrived at Birmingham’s newly refurbished Town Hall for what was our eagerly awaited first live encounter with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB). Don’t let this put you off if you are the right side of fifty though; ukulele playing is about to take off as the new craze and the oldies are leading the way |
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Critically reviewing a birthday party seems a bit off, but that's essentially what I'm about to do here. At heart this evening wasn't so much about the bands on stage, but the history behind how they came to be put up there. |
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Birmingham Town Hall is sold out tonight and there are even a scattering of people sitting behind the performers in the choir seats. It's a diverse audience with a good spread of ages, genders and clothing styles -- everything from a three piece suit to a Motorhead t-shirt! |
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PJ Harvey and John Parish enter the stage right on time, accompanied by three further musicians, and launch into Black Hearted Love. This is the first track from their recent collaboration, A Woman A Man Walked By, and is probably the most commercially accessible song on the album. The live performance does it more than justice, with Harvey's unique vocal ability cutting through the Town Hall with such strength for one so delicate... |
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The downstairs section of the Town Hall was full, and there were only a handful of seats left upstairs. The lobby was crowded with people chatting and raffle ticket sellers raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust... |
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It's the first time I've been back to the Town Hall since the renovations and I'm well impressed. The seats are comfortable and I've never had so much leg room in a theatre before -- they seem to have taken out every other row! The theatre was about two-thirds full, and the age of the audience reflected Tom Paxton's age, with very few people under 50. |
