Apologies to ticket holders who bought tickets for Davina and the Vagabonds on the 28th August as we have now changed this concert to the evening before – 27th August.

Davina has received a request to appear at a major Scandinavian music festival on the 29th August and was finding it very difficult to get a flight that went late enough so she could fulfil both ours and the Norwegian gig….so we did the right thing and moved the concert to enable both to take place!

All tickets and tables have been automatically transferred to the new date.

Apologies to ticket holders for any inconvenience. If you are unable to make the new date –  27th August – as usual you can apply for a refund by emailing info@acapela.co.uk by the 31st MARCH 2025.

AFTER THIS TIME THE USUAL NO REFUND TICKET POLICY WILL BE STRICTLY APPLIED. 

If you mix folk music with an intimate comical stage presence –  you get Sarah McQuaid. She is an artist who enjoys her work and has been influenced by amazing artists like Nick Drake, Carly Simon and James Taylor. New to Acapela Studio but already expressing how she would “love to come back”, her folk music suits the venue’s unique setting.

Sarah McQuaid has been a solo artist since 2007 but has been performing since the 1990s. She has performed to 25,000 people at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and is one of the most unique and interesting artists I have seen. Sarah McQuaid has been described by the Huffington Post as having “subtle mastery on stage” and which has indeed made this one of my very favourite shows.

Sarah’s performance makes the audience part of the show. She uses audience participation, jokes, storytelling through song and speech, audience recommendations of songs and of stays around at the end to meet her fans.

Sarah sings songs based on her life experiences. Beautiful songs, such as “Slowing Down”, “Too Many Plates”, “Silver Lining” and “The Last Song”, follow her family, journeys and most prominently – nature.

Sarah is a one woman band as she performs using a combination of both acoustic and electric guitars, keyboard and drum which accompanies her vocals. She uses sound effects to emphasise her stories through her songs, but she also uses the audience. She encourages the audience to sing along including improvising animal noises to fit the songs.

All in all, Sarah McQuaid is a unique artist, both rememberable and fun.

MEGAN BROWN

The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican returned to the Acapela Studio for another fun, cheeky and bright night of songs and comedy. The band themselves say how they have “been giddy about this all week”, instantly showing how much they love performing at the venue.

Performing for 19 years at iconic venues such as the Glastonbury Music Festival – twice – and to an audience of 20,000 at Fairport’s Cropredy Festival, this band seriously know how to work an audience. Even before their songs begin, the audience is laughing at their hilarious jokes which could rival any stand up act. Combined with their, 1970s ironic costumes this adds to their unique and comical act, which is also said by the comedian Jason Manford to be “great fun”.

The songs themselves are a brilliant, post modern take on classic songs such as ‘American Pie’, ‘The Winner Takes It All’, ‘Parklife’, ‘Red Right Hand’ and ‘Amarillo’. Their songs create a hysterical performance through the topics which include loss of shoes, crazy golf, Barnsley, and their northern classic of ‘Too Good To Be Jus’.

Their audience participation songs include Wheel of Wonder; which follows passages from the Bible with a Northern twist. Entertaining costumes, sound effects, stand up jokes and crazy songs all amount to a night of laughter and fun. Not one to be missed!

Megan Brown

Bye Bye Baby: Celebrating Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons returned to the Acapela Studio for a fun and festive show to celebrate the venues last concert of 2024.

After 11 years of performing, including to an audience of 120,000 at Gran Canaria Winter Pride, this group know how to put on the perfect show. They immediately get into the Christmas spirit by opening their act with ‘Santa Clause is Coming to Town’ to the style of ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’. Followed by a fun integration of Valli classics mixed in between Christmas songs, including the fabulous song ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ followed by the brilliant, ‘Don’t Go Baby’.

It’s not all Christmas though… the act provides perfect insight to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The audience is introduced to each member from Frankie Valli to Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. We learn their inspirations from iconic bands such as The Beatles to icons such as Frank Sinatra. We learn details about the band in a comical performance which covers DeVito’s gambling addiction and Valli and Gaudio agreement to split writing and song profits down the middle when Valli went solo.

The concert send you back in time to America in the 1960s, to meet the iconic Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons with classic songs from the era such as‘Bye Bye Baby’, ‘Grease is the Word’ and of course ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’. All delivered with some “energetic and stylish choreography” this is undoubtedly “one of the best UK Frankie Valli tribute shows” – lets hope they return next year to the venue!

Review by Megan Brown