Countdown To Christmas

I always know when Christmas is meant to start, And that's when folk singer Kate Rusby rolls into town with her festive concert, complete with a reindeer and a small brass band.

I must have seen Kate and her band a dozen or so times now, and never tire of her tunes, stories and humour.

She comes from Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, and is really down to earth. I don't think she could be a diva if she tried. No peeled grapes, or champaign for her. She's happy with a mug of Yorkshire tea and some biscuits.  For example, she said that she was cold on stage, so she came back on wearing a woolly fleece.

The packed Royal Centre audience enjoyed about two hours of music, including three versions of the carol "While Shepherds Watched", but all with different tunes. Apparently there are thirty, and Kate wondered whether the audience would be interested in listening to them all!

I had booked late, so all the really good seats had gone, as she is really popular. So mine was up in the 'gods'. So I took along my telecom lens, to see if I could capture a few moments. I managed to take a few shots, before the inevitable tap on the shoulder and the usual phrase "Sorry, no photography".

It was the last night of the tour, so she will be driving back to Barnsley to spend the festivities with her partner Damian O'Kane, who also plays in the band, her two daughters, and her eleven year old dog Daisy.

Next year marks her 25th year as a performer. So no doubt Ms Rusby will be back in Nottingham before long, and hopefully I will get a better seat next time.

Abba-dabba-doo

We've not been to the Concert Hall in a while, but for a treat, I booked a couple of tickets to see the opening night of Mamma Mia, which is showing for the next couple of weeks.

It was of course a full house, to see what is now one of the worlds best loved musicals. The storyline is quite a simple one, a twenty year old girl who lives on a Greek island with her mother is about to get married. But one problem, she doesn't know who her dad is. There are three possible contenders, who have all been former lovers of her mum. So she invites them all to her wedding, in the hope that she can find out which man is her real father. This story is weaved around a number of Abba's most famous songs, culminating in of course the title track; Mamma Mia.

The stage setting was simple, but very effective. It was of course very colourful. Like you were watching it live in Technicolor. I could feel that the audience were dying to get up and dance and sing along to the tunes, just like they did a few weeks ago, when we went to see the Abba tribute band at Mansfield. But the audience were very well behaved, and just clapped along to some of the more lively Ulvaeus and Andersson tunes. I have always been an Abba fan, so knew a lot of the lyrics, which I quietly sang to Gail at opportune moments.

I thought there was something missing though. I couldn't really work out what it was, until Gail said that she really enjoyed it, but would have liked to have been closer to the stage. Then it clicked. it was a lack of connection with the artists. Being so far away, I couldn't really make out the actors' faces. The sound level was great, the singing and dancing top notch. I just couldn't see the cast moving their mouths at all. Nobody's fault of course, except mine maybe, being shortsighted. Perhaps I need to take a pair of binoculars next time.

Don't You Forget About Me

Gail and I travelled back to the 1980s tonight as we went to a Simple Minds gig at the Royal Concert Hall.

I had won some tickets in a competition through our local newspaper, the Nottingham Post, so it was a cheap night out. The seats were up in the gods, so we were quite some distance from the stage. Of course I had my camera with me, and had chosen to go with a telephoto lens, rather than a prime lens, just in case were weren't near the front. In fact we were so far away from the stage, that we were sitting next to one of the lighting guys.

The concert was a sell out, and everyone was having a good time singing, cheering and dancing along to the various songs that the band performed. I recognised some of the tunes, but I didn't buy any of their albums when they were big during the 1980s. But after hearing them tonight, I might go and buy one of their greatest hits albums.

The Lion Roars Tonight

Besides the opening of the Big Wheel, Friday saw what was known as "Light Night". Where the council put on various light shows across the city, to attract more visitors. I couldn't get to them all, as we were going to see Boy George at the Concert Hall. But I did snap this illuminated lion. A lot of people were looking at him so I suppose he would be known as a roaring success!