Commissioned and produced by Pete Townshend and created by Reg Meuross, Fire & Dust – The Woody Guthrie Story is a journey into the heart and soul of one of America’s finest folk musicians.
“Reg’s terrific songs tell Woody’s life story with respect and affection, but also truth.“ Pete Townshend
At this show Reg Meuross is joined by two members of his band – The Strike – the name drawing from the energy of collective action bringing Fire & Dust to life and channeling the spirit of Guthrie’s defiant activism, creative brilliance, and unyielding hope for justice.
The Strike: Welsh pianist and accordionist Geraint Watkins (Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney) and renowned string player Marion Fleetwood (TRADarrr, The Sandy Denny Project).
The breadth and depth of Reg Meuross’s material is unparalleled in contemporary folk: songs about forgotten heroes, famous names, folk legends, the climate emergency, tales from the kitchen sink and news from the world stage. If something needs to be sung about then Reg Meuross has a song for it and with Fire & Dust another important chapter of impeccably researched story-telling has begun.
Seeded by Townshend in 2019, this new work shows how the impact of Guthrie remains and how Meuross was the right man to tell this story through music and song. When Townshend called Reg to suggest the idea he saw how the project would “draw a direct line from Woody, through Bob Dylan, to Reg Meuross” and pledged his full support to realise this vision both as a studio album (which he produced and played on) and a series of live tours across the UK and beyond.
Highlighting racism, bigotry, corruption and inequality this incredible new song-cycle is focused on the life and times of the ‘Dust Bowl’ American folk musician and political activist Woody Guthrie – whose work remains so influential today. Drawing important parallels between Guthrie’s time and our own, each song shows Meuross at his absolute best – sharing stories from social history that are still highly relevant today.
“His song-writing comes straight from the heart, the melodies fall under the fingers. This is folk music at its best.” Pete Townshend
“Echoes of early Dylan, Tom Paxton and Leonard Cohen” – The Guardian
Book a table for pre-concert dining
Acapela Studio provides pre-concert dining between 6.00pm and 7.30pm from our pizza oven. To view the current menu visit here.
Please purchase your concert tickets first before booking a table. We will not accept any table bookings that do not have a corresponding ticket purchase.
Then return to the event page to book your table, by selecting the date of your event, number of diners and time you require table. The times shown are the only vacancies left. Please complete your email and phone number as this is required to ensure your table is allocated. You will receive confirmation of your booking by email and text.
If on the date you have chosen no tables are available - no times will be shown and the booking system will revert you back to todays date - PLEASE ENSURE YOU BOOK THE CORRECT DATE!
PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE RELIES ON THE INCOME FROM DINING TO ENSURE WE CAN BOOK ALL THE GREAT ACTS PERFORMING.
Income from the provision of pizzas is very important to the venue and if you have booked a table it is a requirement that all people sat at tables order food - a salad alternative is available to pizzas. Please do ensure that all individuals will be ordering on your table - if this is not the case please cancel your table so others who are looking to dine can do so. Our apologies to raise this but recently we have had many tables (some very large) where less than 50% of those sat at tables have ordered food. Financially this is a real problem to the sustainability of the venue.
- All seating at tables must purchase a pizza - so please do not book a table if everyone is not eating.
- Please ensure that you arrive 10 minutes before the time slot allocated to order your pizzas prior to your booking time.
- Tables not seated within 15 minutes of the allocated time may be lost and allocated to other audience members wishing to order pizzas.
- If you wish to book a table for 6 or more please email info@acapela.co.uk
Please note that all of our pizzas are made fresh to order. It may take up to 45 minutes to be served during busy periods.
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO BOOK A TABLE YOU CAN STILL ORDER PIZZAS ON THE NIGHT (USUALLY ON BUSY NIGHTS NO LATER THAN 7.15PM) AND WE WILL SERVE THEM TO YOU WHEREVER YOU ARE SAT IN THE VENUE - IN A PIZZA BOX.