Regretably the Acoustic Strawbs concert in July has been rescheduled to 28th September 2018 due to Dave Cousins being admitted to hospital in July for an operation.

Tickets for the new concert can be purchased via the website and all tickets for the original event are valid for the September event.

Steve, accompanied by his five-piece band, will perform brand-new solo material, classic Spandau Ballet tracks as well as material from the acts that have influenced his path to stardom. There will also be a Q&A session with Steve, allowing fans to ask their questions about his life and career.

Tickets are available now from the event ticket page .

I had no high expectations when booking Holy Moly and the Crackers, I had seen a few videos and really liked what I heard but what I saw last night had my mind and senses “working overtime”.

The band had informed me that they would be providing their own support act – who happened to be their drummer Tommy Evans – who would give Keith Moon a run for his money. Tommy appeared casually and understated on stage to perform on guitar a set with the bands two guitarists (one on drums, this is where the instrument swapping starts, showing what versatile musicians the whole band are) that was so powerful and raw and included a mix of blues and rock classics that you really wondered how on earth were the band going to follow that. A truly amazing start to the evening, I along with many others thought perhaps we had seen the best of the evening…but we really should not have feared!

The band appeared on stage with lead singer Ruth Patterson coming on stage on her mobility scooter as a few years ago when a teenager she was diagnosed with chronic arthritis. Conrad Bird who shares the lead singers role elegantly scooped Ruth off her scooter and placed her on her designated stool. What was to come from Ruth was a performance full of energy and charisma  that I have not seen from many artists…oh and what a wonderful voice, crisp and sensual that rang round Acapela’s high ceiling and her violin playing added so much to every second they are on stage.

The band proceeded to play a set of songs and instrumental numbers with their raucous instrument-swapping, squeezebox-growling, fiddle-shredding, brass-howling hoe-downs, from which the group have been able to hone a sound that is organic and invigorating – forged in the sweat and heat of the live show.

In addition to Ruth, characters abound the stage so that your eyes have to be everywhere. Conrad is a ball of energy and threw every little bit of strength into his mesmeric performance with his growling voice adding extra punch to the sound. Rosie Squeezbox is undoubtedly a fashion icon but her squeezebox provides a very dynamic punch to the bands unique sound. Tommy Evans now back on drums explodes continually with a riotous display of energetic drumming and discards clothes all night leaving the crowd wondering where would he stop!!

The band played to an audience that in truth, I would assume, had never heard of the band but by the end of the evening , everyone was on their feet giving a standing ovation which encouraged the band back on stage to perform a final encore.

I went home not being able to sleep, so excited and thrilled by what I had experienced. It doesn’t happen very often when a concert makes you feel so great – the last time it happened was a couple of years ago when I saw Archive in concert at the Zenith in Paris….but when it does …gosh it is good.

Paul James Programme Director

Jungr, as you might expect of an artist who’s played every cool joint from London’s Ronnie Scott’s to Manhattan’s internationally renowned Jazz cabaret venue the Metropolitan Room, is a consummate professional. When her take of “Ring Them Bells” veers off track, she stops the song and slips seamlessly into a humorous anecdote about an embarrassing hospital visit during a heatwave in New York. Suffice to say, the legendary folk singer Odetta wasn’t best pleased that Jungr had turned up without phoning ahead! More often, however, Jungr’s between-songs patter is a means of illuminating the source material, serving to enrich the understanding of each concertgoer. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, introduced as one of Dylan’s ‘mean love songs’, is prefaced by an audacious attempt to psychoanalyse Joan Baez’s ‘churlish mood’ throughout D.A. Pennebaker’s classic documentary, Don’t Look Back. After a short discourse on the balance of power in the Dylan/Baez romance, Jungr comes down on the side of Baez, seeing her as the wronged party in the affair and having to endure a very public humiliation to boot.

Jungr is accompanied for the evening by pianist Jenny Carr, a classically trained musician with experience of working with a variety of appealing pop acts from Billy Ocean to Imelda May. Crucially, Carr was also part of the original Every Grain of Sand tour and has played on several Jungr records, most recently 2012′s Stockport to Memphis. Consequently, there is an easy-going vibe on stage, with Carr happy to play “straight man” to the irrepressible Jungr. The first of two 45-minute sets comes to end with a dramatic retelling of “Shelter from the Storm”, a tune arranged by Grammy award-winning pianist Laurence Hobgood.  Jungr is happy to clue the audience into the pair’s initial meeting, where Hobgood, upon hearing that there were a clunky ten verses to tackle, suggested cutting the song down to size. Jungr’s response to such a sacrilegious request is instructive – ‘No.

To read the review in full visit Wales Arts Review

We were delighted to welcome The Marriage to Acapela performing at one of our execllent dining evenings.

Part of their wonderful performance was captured by the studio -Please watch The Marriage performing “Love Cry”.