Ayuntiamiento Seville

The 16th century Ayuntiamiento (town hall) was a building I passed pretty much every day coming into the city. Under a degree of restoration so it didn't photograph all that easily. Its a bit odd as the side that faces Plaza Nueva is plain neo-classical, (see below)

but the other side is Renaissance "Plataresque" style. The term is I understand derived from the sort of fine detail one sees on renaissance metal plates. Its certainly quite stunning, albeit maybe a bit fussy for modern tastes.

Plaza Nueva is a pleasant enough spot to sit - overshadowed by a nice bombastic equestrian statue.

Seville - Alameda de Hercules

Ans began my holiday in Seville. Glorious sunshine as I arrived early evening. My hotel was in a great location for me, on the edge of all the main sights, but also only 10 minutes walk from the bus station, which was the end destination of the airport bus. I also found myself only a few metres away from a restaurant a mate of mine had recommended.

Not much to first evening, so having unpacked I went on a little walk around the neighbourhood prior to the restaurant opening at 8:30. People eat late out in Seville. So my walk took me up to the Alameda de Hercules, a cross between a "square" and a broad avenue. Its main feature is a pair of pillars taken from a Roman temple. Otherwise its a spot ringed with tapas bars and cafes.

Editors at Hammersmith

While normally its comedy that gets me down to Hammersmith Apollo, but they do take the seats out and convert it to a music venue too. And this evening the Editors were playing. Somewhat to my surprise I garnered 4 friends for this gig. Editors have been going for at least a decade and have just completed a fifth album, which was the reason for this tour.

Needless to say the gig was a combination of showing off work from the new album as well as playing their old favourites. I quite like the new album In Dream (which I had hastily purchased for this gig to a do a bit of homework) but its more of a listen to it in your bedroom album than one of storming anthems. So it was most of the older stuff which worked best live.

Tom Smith was at his intense, slightly camp self, looking disarmingly like Kenny Everett these days. Unfortunately the most memorable part of this show was a bad one. We had noticed something wrong with the sound quality, a sort of cross between crackling and a banging sound. So off they went for an impromptu break while it was sorted. Back they came..and it was worse. Off again, and worse still, and then finally the sound engineers cracked the fault. But annoying. We were starting to wonder whether we should get refunds.

But for all that a good show.

Heaven 17 at the Garage

In a break from generally seeing newer bands, here was a trip to see Heaven 17. They did actually play one new song in their set, but basically this was 80s nostalgia. But it is excellent stuff. I cannot recommend a night out seeing these fellows highly enough. The music stands the test of time very well.

And of course the Garage is a great small venue to see them in. I went with my friend Kate, and for
once we didn't feel that old in an audience of balding heads. I am afraid to say that the band don't seem to have any younger following. The kids are missing out.

Support came from a very able back Ekkoes, a three-piece synth band which fitted in very well with the main act.

 

Then on came Heaven 17 - Glenn Gregory and martin Ware with a much younger female keyboard player and two backing singers. A perfect combination.

Glenn Gregory, like Tom Jones, has just aged so well. Not in the sense of still looking young, but looking a classy middle-aged. And he has a terrific voice. We got the usual full panoply of old numbers, Play to Win, Crushed by the Wheels of Industry, We don't Need this Fascist Groove Thang, Let me Go and of course the overblown version of their 80s masterpiece, Temptation, plus You lost that Loving Feeling as a duet between Glenn and Martin Ware. And then Glenn did a couple of Bowie numbers - Life on Mars and Boys Keep Swinging as the encore. It was terrific stuff.

Paul Chowdrhy

It would be hard to find a starker contrast between two nights at the Apollo as Saturday night with Dara O'Brian and Sunday night with Paul Chowdhry. I had seen short sets by Paul before but never a full show. And it is worth seeing a full show to see what a comic has really got. And Paul Chowdhry had a very short show, stretched out enormously - well past breaking point.

This didn't seem to matter to most of the audience which was overwhelmingly Asian. They seemed to love him, but mostly because he was one of their own. They were perfectly happy with him taking the piss out of Bengalis, or Punjabis or whatever, and they would whoop happily whenever he just mentioned their names. Jokes were unnecessary. And were not forthcoming. At one point in the first act I thought that he was going to ask every single member of the audience what their name was, and mispronounce it back in a funny accent. He didn't, but covered the first couple of rows pretty thoroughly.

And whereas Dara O'Briain engaged with audience members and asked further questions about job or where they were from and developed things, Paul was happy to mimic them in a silly voice and question their sexuality. It was pretty basic, puerile stuff.

He did ask for questions as the encore. One guy asked if he would tell a joke. Jimmy Carr would deal with that by a withering witty put down. Paul settled on calling him a f***ing idiot. Not sure if that will make the DVD, but if it doesn't there wasn't much else to put in it.

Dara O'Briain at the Apollo

There is just no two ways about it, Dara is one of the very best comics around these days. Very funny, very genial. lots of material but also lots of spontaneous stuff with his audience. He doesn't pick on members of the audience in a personal way like let's say Jimmy Carr, but just chats nicely. It all feels very comfortable.

I won't ry and report hs stories. Just get the DVD, which was being filmed that night. You won't regret it. He deserves every penny he gets from it. Maybe just one example of his humour. He chatted to a young chap in the audience, and asked if he could talk to him as representative of all young men. "Could you youngsters just for five minutes   pause...stop taking photos of your dick?"

He is also a comic who, while he does use a little bad language, you could take pretty well take anyone along to - from your granddad to your teenage daughter. My two companions were as enthusiastic as me. Just a really nice evening. And the following night I would be back at Hammersmith Apollo for Paul Chowdrhy. Comedy weekend.

Kew Literary Festival

Glorious day - real Indian Summer stuff. So great day to be in Kew Gardens. Started with coffee in the sunshine at an outdoor table.

But today wasn't a day for flowers. I had been invited by a colleague to go to a couple of talks at the Kew Literary Festival. Never been to one before. But Mark said they were great, not so much for what you learn about books, but for interesting famous people talking. And I soon came to see what he meant.

We did two talks, one in the morning by Melvyn Bragg and one in the afternoon by Bill Bryson.

Melvyn's talk was in the Nash conservatory. As I mentioned, it was an unseasonally nice day. And in a conservatory. So yes, really uncomfortably warm. Mr Bragg has a new novel about the Peasant's Revolt, so this was as much a history lecture as literary one. I have to say nothing in his talk made me want to buy his book. It was interesting enough, but he did betray a particular trait of English middle-classes to imbue this country with particular virtues which when you think about it, apply to everyone else too. So this blueprint for a history of British radicalism is really not British at all, but a feature of pretty much every other European nation. And the thing which always worries me about historical novels is that blurring between fact and fiction. The facts may be there, but whether one wants to characterise the participants as villains or heroes tends to be the option of the author, since early sources tend to be pretty unreliable as to characters. But they thyen colour public perception. As few will read the history, let alone the sources for it.

Bill Bryson was infinitely more amusing and likeable. You really do get the feeling that this is an incredibly nice guy, which one also feels from his books. Of which I own every single one. Yes I like him. And he did make me covet his new one. Maybe a Xmas present for myself.

He read a little from his new book and from one or two of his old ones, told some little anecdotes and did a Q&A, all marked by his genial good humour. I think my favourite was his answer to someone asking what he hoped people would be saying about him in 100 years time. "Remarkably, he is still sexually active." He pricks pomposity brilliantly.

There were many other authors there in various marquees and venues, including Louis de Bernieres, Richrad E Grant and Michael Morpurgo. The latter was surreally advertised by having one of the War Horse "puppets" wandering around. Indeed it appeared just behind Melvyn Bragg in the conservatory!

 Then afternoon tea - how perfectly English, before heading off to Dara O'Brian at Hammersmith Apollo....