The Brighton Festival is in its third and final week with even more brilliant theatre, comedy, art, dance, talks, debate, cabaret and music to come. CMU's sister publication, ThreeWeeks, is covering it all, and you can check the coverage at http://www.threeweeks.co.uk. In the meantime, here are some of the latest Brighton Fringe music reviews for you...
Red Stripe
Red Stripe had me tapping my feet, bopping my head and smiling from the moment they hit the stage with their vivacious and energetic display of rhythm and blues; displaying a tangible sense of humour, they amused their audience with an enjoyable collection of comic and up-tempo jazzy numbers. The seven piece band (drums, bass, piano, vocals, tenor saxophone, trumpet, baritone saxophone) gave an entertaining performance, and their numerous old-school renditions delighted the dancers amongst the audience. Red Stripe were lively and truly professional, a great watch and listen, and a wonderful way to spend a Friday evening transported back to the giddy days of fun, playful music.
Joogleberry Playhouse, 18 May, 8:00 pm, £10.00 (£8.00) fringe pp28.
3/5.
[zc]
The More Things Change
Brighton City Singers
I always suspected there were people doing 'improving things' with their free time - like singing in choirs or baking nice Victoria sponges - while I'm out pouring my paycheque down my throat. It turns out that they do - and they're in the Brighton City Singers. They compose new amateur choral music and sing it every year - and if you come next year, you may find yourself having just as good a time as them. The performance quality is consistently high, even if the songs themselves don't always work, but to make up for that there's a surprisingly seductive village fête atmosphere - a glass of wine plus a large piece of the aforementioned Victoria sponge costs £2.50. It succeeds without pretence, and for that it's worth my free time.
Tower Theatre, 19 May, 7:30pm, £8.00, fringe pp28.
tw rating 3/5
[jb]
1st Annual Harmonium Festival of Brighton
Bom-Bane/Bowen Productions
After a less than harmonious opening number this wonderful duo - harmonium-wielding and mechanical hat-collecting Jane Bom-Bane and International Casio Queen Lorraine Bowen - pedalled their bizarre coughing and splurging instruments into the first hit of the performance. 'Traffic Jam On The Old Steine' saw the Salvation Army harmoniums transformed into Fiestas, and the hilarious and sequin-adorned former Billy Bragg co performer Bowen nudge her vehicle into the back of a doe eyed Bom-Bane. Their combined love for the instrument produced a fab repertoire of such sing-along hits as 'Ashford International', 'The Crumble Song' and Wide Reader Blue Book inspired 'Ki Nog Stan'; this was a boundary-less evening, covering filofaxes to goldfish - pure entertainment, which for my money, has certainly rescued the harmonium from redundancy.
Bom-Bane's Café and Restaurant, 9, 16, 23 May, 8:00pm, £7.00 (£5.00), fringe pp26 tw rating 4/5
[sf]
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