Birmingham - Summer Festival Guide

Twin Atlantic: Birmingham 2024 – REVIEWED!

November 22, 2024 by Anna Hyams

Arriving at the Birmingham O2 Academy, we were surprised by queues winding around the block, only to find that the venue is not only host to Twin Atlantic tonight, but also Rag ‘N’ Bone Man. There’s a marked difference in attire and style for the two crowds, but it’s really uplifting to see so many people out for live music on a frosty Sunday night in November.

Heading upstairs to Academy 2, I am instantly transported back into the gig nights of my youth. Sticky floors, a merch stand on a trestle-table in the corner with hand scribbled prices, and youths in patch jackets shuffling about. I like knowing that the tune might change but the feeling is still the same. If you don’t get that pang of excitement before a gig, I am truly sorry for you.

Daytime TV

First out of the gates is fellow Scottish band, Daytime TV – with enigmatic frontman Will Irvine practically bouncing onto the stage, in his black suit and stompy creeper shoes. Sitting somewhere in the rock/pop-punk sphere, but with a well-blended electronic sound; Daytime TV immediately pique my interest.

© Anna Hyams for SFG – Do not use without permission

Songs ‘Fear’ and ‘Little Victories’ sport elements of indie alongside the clean rock edge, and it’s easy to get swept into the very singable lyrics early on. This is something I feel has been missing from mainstream rock for a while – an undeniable hook, and this band have it in spades. Yelling out “Make some noise Birmingham, thanks for coming down early to check us out tonight. This is a hometown gig for our Guitarist, he’s a Walsall boy!” Will elicits a huge cheer from the now dense crowd, before launching into the very fun ‘Domino’.

One thing I would really like to note about Daytime TV, is that they genuinely just look like they’re having a great time on stage. Dancing around, smiling and laughing through a stellar performance – closing song ‘Lost In Tokyo’ makes for a dynamic ending, and they’ve even managed to get the crowd clapping along – no easy feat for an opening band (especially on a Sunday night). I’d love to see them on some festival bills next year.

Twin Atlantic

Scotland for round two, tonight’s headliner Twin Atlantic hailing from Glasgow are preceded by the ethereal outpourings of… ahem… Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Just as the crowd is singing along (in a very Wayne’s World way, obviously) to the penultimate note, we are top-tier trolled into oblivion as the drop is interrupted by Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Boys Just Wanna Have Fun’. You’ve never heard a room full of people groan so loudly, I tell you.

As the band take to the stage in near darkness and enough smoke to power the entire Upside Down, frontman Sam McTrusty heads to the front to shout Hello to the Birmingham crowd – “Ohh it’s gonna be a good one, I can fuckin’ feel it”.

Starting off strong with ‘Meltdown’ from this year’s (their seventh) album, it’s instantly clear that tonight’s audience are not the casual gig-goer brand, these are all full force Twin Atlantic fans singing along to every word, and I’m here wondering why they haven’t been back on a Download festival bill since the Pandemic Pilot era.

Barry McKenna (keys, vocals) looking like a slightly cooler version of Nandor The Relentless (IYKYK), laughs along when Sam yells “This is our last show in your country this year we realised, so thanks for coming to the last one! So… Merry Christmas, Happy New Year!” and we are treated to the extremely Scottish twangy ‘Free’. I may not be to roll my R’s but you’re damn right I tried to join in anyway.

‘Barcelona’ is an absolute earworm of a song, it’s been on repeat on our car journeys and it’s not hard to see why – everyone is absolutely belting it out at the top of their lungs under the pulsing red lighting. I should mention here though, that it has been some of the worst lighting I’ve ever experienced in a small venue, there are no uplights on the band themselves and so much smoke that it’s hard to even see who’s on stage. Luckily the sound is banging to make up for it so we all shout back the refrain “I’m not invincible”.

“Is the the fatigue of Sunday setting in? You all good, you all where you wanna be? Sound, we’ll keep going then” they joke, before playing the gorgeously sentimental ‘I Couldn’t Miss You Much More’, as couples hug each other in the crowd. Ramping back up with ‘The Chaser’ and some intense strobe-lighting which further silhouettes the band into anonymity, and the heavier ‘No Sleep’ (my song of choice in the set) almost blows the roof off the O2. Again, I am left wondering why Twin Atlantic aren’t hitting more big festival bills.

‘Heart and Soul’ is another sing-along situation, but with minutes to spare Sam calls “Do we have time for one more?” and they sign off on the beautifully sombre ‘Crash Land’. “The last two weeks in England have been fuckin’ class” they lament, before (literally) bowing out. It might have been the smaller of tonight’s offerings at the O2 in Birmingham, but the actual Heart and Soul in tonight’s performance and the fact that this many people wanted to come out and pogo around on a Sunday night before work? Unquestionably awesome.

Setlist

Bohemian Rhapsody (intro track)
Meltdown
Yes, I Was Drunk
Get Out
Free
Asleep
World Class Entertainment
Make a Beast of Myself
Fall
Hold On
Barcelona
Sorry
Whispers
Human After All
I Couldn’t Miss You Much More
Snow In Texas
Haunt
Brothers & Sisters
The Chaser
No Sleep
Heart and Soul
Crash Land

Alice Cooper – Birmingham 2024: REVIEWED!

October 18, 2024 by Anna Hyams

In this, the month of Gothmas; the evenings have drawn in, inviting all the beautiful creeps out into the darkness. Ahem, ok I mean me. I am out traversing the canalways of Brindley Place in Birmingham to get to the Utilita Arena tonight for the one and only, Gothfather of Shock Rock – Alice freakin’ Cooper.

The Meffs

Up first tonight are edgy Essex duo The Meffs, a rowdy powerhouse of shouty punk. ‘Stamp It Out’ and ‘Broken Britain, Broken Brains’ are belted out with force, but their whole style absolutely requires a front standing section of moshing teenagers… and instead we have seated VIP’s.

‘Stand Up, Speak Out’ gets a better audience participation level, as the crowd warms up and remembers their angsty youth origins, as it’s easy to get into. I also enjoy their cover of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’, but their real stand out moment is a very punk middle finger; “This is a Love Song to the British government, it’s called Clowns”.

It’s a short and sweet set, bookended by a promise that they’re coming back “sometime in January”, and I think I’ll be trying to catch up with them then – in hopefully a more fitting environment where I can do some thrashing around.

Primal Scream

Strutting onto the stage in a sparkling diamanté pinstriped suit, lead singer Bobbie Gillespie with his signature sullen-faced swagger, surveys the crowd. The band kick off with ‘Love Insurrection’ but a couple of bars in, Gillespie motions everyone to stop. “Wait stop, we fucked that up. Start again… it happens.”

The second try, “Oh there we go, the right key this time” is a smooth transition into their unique blend of funky electronic rock. The gorgeous soaring melody of the trio of backing vocalists really comes alive in ‘Ready To Go Home’, but the overall vibe in the room is left slightly flat by the complete seating area in the front. Primal Scream are a band to boogie to, and every other time I’ve seen them has been at festivals with room to groove, which just… isn’t this. Despite the rock-block of the setup, when Gillespie says “30 years ago we released Screamadelica… I dont know if you guys and girls know it… the first song was called ‘Movin’ On Up’. So if you want to sing along please do” the collective sigh of relief around the audience was palpable – here’s a song we can all sing along to – and we do. ‘Country Girl’ is an exercise in weaving that evangelical deep south church sound into a Glaswegian ditty, but it has the hook I can’t deny. Gillespie yells “Ladies, Gentlemen, Creatures, Thats theys and thems… let me fuckin hear you!” before they plough into their final iconic song ‘Rocks’ to end the set.

Alice Cooper

Slicing through a giant newspaper sheet printed with ‘BANNED IN ENGLAND’, using a cutlass, and employing one of the most iconic resting-bitch-faces in the world? Peak Alice Cooper behaviour. After this most excellent entrance, Alice is front and centre in his signature top-hat and leather trousers garb – sporting three belts and a frilly shirt, launching straight into ‘Welcome To The Show’. I am glad we as a country, have stopped trying to actually ban Alice Cooper from performing here, extremely embarrassing (three times) for us. Not that we don’t have other things to be embarrassed about, mind.

From the off, it is clear that Alice’s voice and energy is still absolutely top notch – something I can’t say about most other performers who’ve been going as long. The man is 76 and he’s careening around the stage and now swinging a crutch above his head like it’s nothing. ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ features a quick change into a custom battle jacket (which I would dearly like to pilfer), followed by a confetti gun used to spray the crowd in sparkly faux money for ‘Billion Dollar Babies’.

Bombshell guitarist Nita Strauss is absolutely ripping it up, under the watchful awe-struck eye of Alice. One thing I will note is that there is space made on this stage for every single artist to take the spotlight, and Alice showers all of them with reverence. It’s a nice thing to see from an artist as singular as he is, on the face of it.

Throwing a black cane to a fan on the front row, in order to take up his giant yellow snake who seems completely unbothered by the huge crowd, and is instead trying to see what guitarist Ryan Roxie is doing. I couldn’t find out the name of this snake (if anyone knows, hit me up) but I would like to do a quick mention of some of Alice’s previous snake-pals because they’re too good not to share. So big ups to; Julius Squeezer, Cobra Winfrey and Count Strangula. During a musical reprieve Alice can be seen just chatting to the snake and pointing things out to it, and now I have a vision of him walking around Birmingham taking his snake on a tour of the sights.

‘Lost In America’ sees Alice in a flag-adorned leather jacket, and he plays at murdering actors playing photographers (I do feel slightly targeted…) with the opening bars of the anthemic ‘Hey Stoopid’. The green lighting pulsing across the crowd now reveals a much more lively atmosphere, as people are standing and dancing along.

Two giant sets of prop stairs are wheeled around to face the crowd, with Alice atop one, bathed in spotlights and smoke for ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’, followed by his rather rough treatment of a very Sia-esque mannequin during ‘Cold Ethyl’. I also love him for brandishing four bulbous yellow maracas, and I’m not sure if they really are an instrument that can be played seductively – but he’s managing it, in a Gomez Addams sort of way.

An enormous cheer ripples around the arena for the iconic notes of ‘Poison’, and Alice is now rocking a gorgeous burgundy brocade jacket and a riding crop – another amazing souvenir for a lucky front row fan later on. ‘Feed My Frankenstein’ will never fail to give me chills, but I am a child of the Wayne’s World generation I guess. The giant stumbling monster comes out to lurk behind the guitarists, and he has more than a slight resemblance to Ozzy Osbourne with those upturned palms and shambling gait. I don’t think it’s on purpose, but we are in Birmingham so who knows.

‘Black Widow’ features on screen clips of Vincent Price, and an incredible Nita solo, before Alice’s straitjacket scene for ‘Ballad of Dwight Fry’. Kneeling on the riser, in a perfect beam of white light but uplit in green, Alice looks delightfully unhinged whilst being ‘tasered’ by his on-stage goons. Now enter Alice’s actual wife Sheryl Cooper, in her Marie Antionette get-up, to take him to the guillotine and then dance with his disembodied head. Each time I have seen this bit, I have wanted the head to sing along, alas.

‘Elected’ uses one of the stair sets now covered in stars and stripes, as a pulpit for Alice’s presidential speech (and yes he is still in the straitjacket, a nice touch). There’s a barrage of red white and blue spotlighting, and streamers sprayed out into the front rows, before the stage goes dark. As the school-bell rings, the lights go up on a stage filled with smoke-bubbles and Alice in a white tailcoat and tophat, brandishing another cane. Giant balloons are pushed out into the crowd and when they’re batted back to the stage, he pops them with a blade to expose bursts of sparkling confetti within.

“Birmingham England… Alice Cooper finally speaks to you!” he laughs, and introduces all of the members of the band, who have been predictably phenomenal tonight, ending with “She’s deadly, she’s delicious, she’s my one and only… Sheryl Cooper! …and playing the part of Alice Cooper tonight… big lights on… ME!”

“It’s great to be back in Birmingham, and it’s almost Halloween… so from all of us – to all of you, may all of your nightmares be horrific, Goodnight!” Alice bows to the audience. I would see Alice Cooper on every night of this tour if I could, standing front and centre. There is something quite magical about this type of show, that I don’t think is going to be on the menu in 20 years, which is a bit sad. Immersion, theatre, a willingness to take life with a pinch of whimsy – alongside truly iconic music, taken as a tonic in an uncomfortable world.

In the immortal words of Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar, we truly are not worthy.

SETLIST

Lock Me Up (Shortened)
Welcome to the Show
No More Mr. Nice Guy
I’m Eighteen
Under My Wheels
Bed of Nails
Billion Dollar Babies
Snakebite
Be My Lover
Lost in America
He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)
Hey Stoopid
Drum Solo (Glen)
Welcome to My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Go to Hell
Poison
Feed My Frankenstein
The Black Widow (Vincent Price segment)
Guitar Solo (Nita)
Black Widow Jam (Full Band Solo)
Ballad of Dwight Fry
I Love the Dead (Opened with Killer snippet)
Elected

Encore:

School’s Out (With Another Brick in the Wall snippet & band introductions)
I’m Alice

Tenacious D – REVIEWED!

May 10, 2024 by Anna Hyams

2024 seems be the year of the giant arena tours, with the likes of Foo Fighters, Bring Me The Horizon and Taylor Swift busting out the big guns all around the UK, you’d be forgiven for thinking a mock-rock band of humble origins wouldn’t be a huge scene this year. JB would tell us to never underestimate the power of rock, and with over fifteen thousand piling into the Birmingham Resorts World Arena tonight – a completely sellout show – it’s clearly going to be a wild one.

We take a quick gander at the merchandise offerings, but are unsettled to find t-shirts peaking at £50 (ouch) and the cheapest being £35 – half of what a standing ticket cost tonight, which is diabolically expensive when you consider two non-purchases of a tee could get you another ticket to a huge tour show. I do rate their alternative merch choices like tabi/sandal socks, bags of branded plectrums, and crocs charms – they’re much more in the realm of affordability and are something different than yet another black band tee. Here’s my heartfelt plea to bands to push smaller merch offerings that are at the £5-£20 mark, we all wanna participate but… cozzie livs innit.

VIP Nation patrons however, were also able to pick up a Jack Black curated fan gift with their priority seating tickets, comprising of a very fun Tenacious D pizza box, red apron, tea-towel and lanyard – all branded with the Spicy Meatball artwork.

Dave Hill

As the arena begins to fill, we are treated to the very weird but funny musical/comedy stylings of support act Dave Hill. Dressed in a Slipknot-esque boilersuit which is covered in whimsical floral and animal patches, he races onto the stage pretending to… well, fuck shit up, I suppose. He proceeds to play three or four chords on his axe between mumbling, kicking and moshing. I am bemused, but also amused. At one point he even grabs a pair of nunchucks and cavorts wildly about the stage.

Finally he settles down slightly, and jokes “Great to be back here in Birmingham… The Paris of the Midlands. I’ve not been back here in ten years! For legal reasons…” before taking requests, for what turns out to be the first 5 seconds of any song yelled out. Yes, it was Freebird.

What follows is a very strange rant about Poundland – “Poundland, we sell everything but dignity” and then some pick-up lines that “will only work in Birmingham”. Dave smiles slightly, betraying his persona “Are you the west midland metro making stops between Birmingham and Wolverhampton? If you are I’d like to ride you all the way free of charge”. I don’t really know what I make of it all to be honest, he’s definitely not a traditional opener, but he gets the laughs and is actually a more than decent guitartist. Oh and I will always appreciate someone who exits the stage on a BMX for no discernable reason whatsoever.

Tenacious D

The stage lights dim to the mightiest roar from the packed arena, as the choral opening music from Tenacious D’s ‘The Pick of Destiny’ movie, sets the scene.

Strutting calmly on stage the duo, Kyle Gass and Jack Black revel in the full force thunder of the crowd. Taking their places in front of two red devil-hand mic stands they steal a quick nod to each other before launching into story-setting memoir song Kickapoo. Despite knowing the words myself, I don’t think I was really prepared for how much of tonight would feel like a Rocky Horror singalong – EVERYONE and their rockin’ mother was giving it a ruddy good go.

With his signature wry smile, Jack laughs “So Birmingham… Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin. There must be something in the water here, Rock. Rock is in the water. This might be the rock capital of the world” before sweeping his sweaty hair out of his face and catching a helpful fan’s scrunchie from the crowd, to tie it up.

Low Hangin’ Fruit and Rize of the Fenix come with a side of “Any of you seen our film ‘Pick of Destiny’? NOT AT THE CINEMA YOU DIDN’T” referencing the flop that almost scuppered the band, and requesting pyrotechnics which never materialised. “When we planned this tour, we had to rock a bit harder, be a bit spicier, we had to have pyro!” they yell as a very underwhelming single flame spurts from the stage.

Wonderboy rolls on to arguably the most anticipated song of the night, whose opening chords draw a huge cheer from the fans. A huge inflatable Satan at the back of the stage heralds the iconic

Tribute, and at one point the band are almost drowned out by everyone singing. Coming up from their bows, both adopt a slight stagger, joking “We’re getting too old for this shit.” before Jack snaps a quick high kick and a toe touch jump and shouts “Nope, still got it” to tremendous applause.

Next up is Video Games, followed by The Metal – in which a very Iron-Maiden-esque stage walker robot (that looks a bit like one of the goblin suits from Labyrinth with David Bowie) stomps his way across the stage to dance, rock, and at one point pretend to slam Jack doggy style. Then, as a treat “I need a palette cleanser… Sax-a-Boom please!” Jack shouts, and the now infamous children’s toy is ferried to the stage.

The Sax-a-Boom solo is summarily upstaged when KG brings out a ‘Max-a-Boom’, a giant version which plays funnily enough like a real sax, and the iconic Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty solo. Miffed, Jack calls for a Max-a-Boom removal, “Oh my fucking god, that’s Dana! She’s best roadie in the business right there” and a nice segue into Roadie, with the pronouns thoughtfully changed to ‘she’ throughout the song.

There’s a fun little skit of a silent argument “Hey Kyle can we talk by the drums, no mics please?” and KG pretending to quit, which lines up the lament Dude (I Totally Miss You) and the whole arena using their phone torch lights to join in. Kyle returns, there’s a joyful screened video of the pair leaping through the waves on a beach, and we get a rendition of Chris Issak’s Wicked Game before we come to another iconic D song. “KG… I think there’s something wrong with our electric guitar player… I think he’s possessed… BY SATAN”. Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown) is everything you want from Tenacious D, kinda camp, slightly ridiculous, and heaps of fun. We even get a double recorder solo from KG – which in the UK is everyone’s starter instrument at school, and every parent’s worst nightmare.

A traditional band intro/solo section is absolutely gratuitous but in keeping with their classic metal pastiche, they thank the sound crew and the lighting crew (who also get to do a lighting solo, love that) before Jack Black takes his own solo starting with the opening of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs. 10/10 very topical and locational, absolutely every voice in this place is joining in.

After a brief encore, Good Times Bad Times (a Led Zeppelin cover) is chased up by the excellent Master Exploder. “We don’t often perform this one because it’s too hard to perform live. This is The Spicy Meatball Tour though… are you ready KG?”… “Hahahaha I’m not ready, it’s too hard!” they joke. There’s a moment where Jack finally produces the Pick of Destiny and holds it aloft “God that would have been a good time for pyro. I even cued it up! BIFFY PYRO TO THE STAGE NOW”. It is a very kitschy skit with a bumbling pyro guy and a big red button, but it’s part of the charm and comedy. The Spicy Meatball Song (to the tune of Indiana Jones) is very funny, but we close with Fuck Her Gently and the entire crowd singing along again. Finally, we get the big stage fireworks and flame cannons, and the band triumphantly leave the stage with their arms in the air. Biffy Pyro is left alone, grinning smugly.

It’s hard to categorise Tenacious D, because ultimately they are a comedy show – and all the skits drive the narrative of the night, but I think it’s really important to note that underneath all of that, they’re just damn good songwriters and musicians. Tonight was a blast, a well deserved sell-out tour.

Cirque du Soleil OVO – REVIEWED!

May 1, 2024April 29, 2024 by Anna Hyams

Scuttling into the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, we arrive into a deep softly illuminated world of chirping crickets and the trills of minibeasts, and take our seats facing… the giant egg. The circus has finally come back to town, in the form of Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Ovo’.

Before the show starts I got the lowdown on some of the incredible things that have to go on behind the scenes to make it work. The mammoth effort involved in the costume department cannot go un-written – their touring vehicles house six washing machines and three dryers, to cope with the sixty loads of washing that were required for tonight’s performances, and they have an entire in-house tailoring team on hand for quick fixes as well.

The cast and crew comprise of a whopping 100 people of 25 different nationalities, 52 artists, and 23 huge semi-trucks to cart everything around in. The stage is fantastic, and the herculean effort it must take to organise and do this type of show is absolutely phenomenal.

The show opens with our host/ringmaster the Scarab Beetle ‘Master Flipo’, dressed in a very comic book Joker-esque ensemble, and his friend The Ladybird witnessing the arrival of ‘The Foreigner’ (who I can’t help but see more as a Covid-19 spike protein than a bluebottle fly – but that’s the trauma speaking) who is carrying a giant egg on his back. Immediately all of the characters are endearing and interesting, but the star is definitely Coccinella (Ladybird) – portrayed by the wonderful Neiva Nascimento. Clad in a cute latex outfit she totters around the stage chirruping and making complete sense, with almost no actual dialogue at all. In fact that is the part I find most charming about all of this, we get a complete theatrical story conveyed almost exclusively visually. It’s powerful stuff.

The skit where the insects steal the egg and The Foreigner sadly calls out “Ovoooo” are very funny, but when the Red Ants take to the stage on the vertical parallel bars I am immediately overcome with wonder, exactly as I was, seeing circus skills for the first time as a child. Spinning and jumping between the poles, or sliding down them at death defying speeds and then freezing into impossible human-flag shapes is what circus is all about – the suspension of your innate belief in how gravity works.

Next up, the Gracious Dragonfly gives an absolutely beautiful hand-balancing performance atop a vibrant green spiral that is reminiscent of plant-stamens, or coiled corkscrew rushes on the surface of a lake. The clever costuming of iridescent wings spanning the length of the artist’s legs, allows for some stunning shapes as he deftly moves from one delicate position to another.

During stage setting and the continuing escapades of The Foreigner, Coccinelle, and Master Flipo – the back wall of the stage, covered in wall climbing rocks, is subtly used as an outlook for sly Spiders. The three of them take turns to scale and pose themselves as portraits across the background before The Black Spider takes to the stage for an aerial hoop performance, one of the most breathtaking parts of the show.

The sleek red and black suit, coupled with the stark ghostly face-paint of The Black Spider invites you to view him as something otherworldly, and he certainly lives up to the idea as he soars across the smoke-covered stage on his hoop-web. Unbelievable feats of strength and flexibility are bolstered by his powerfully emotive dance elements, all undeniably spider-like in feeling.

The high-flying Beetles navigating the three Korean-frame stations set high in the rafters, bring the first half of the show to an end with a sizzle. There’s nothing like looking around a crowd while aerial performers are on, and seeing every mouth agape, young and old alike. The frames are stacked with muscular Beetles banging chalk between their hands, before swinging the lithe flying Beetles through the air to one another. The tricks are incredible, tucks and spins – even one that flew a complete circle around the centre post, look inches away from death, but this is a party of replete professionals and the set is perfect. Touching down onto the trampoline net to finish, they garner the biggest cheer of the night so far.

After the Intermission, we see White Spider drop down to centre stage to show us some of her stunning contortion techniques, bending gracefully into inconceivable positions. The Red and Black spiders join her for some partner balancing, and then she takes to a very unique piece of equipment which allows her to spin and contort whilst balanced on… well… her mouth. There is a small part of me that was initially revulsed, but I think that’s because I know the damage I would inflict upon myself were I ever to drunkenly try this. The sheer strength of mouth and neck muscles it must require is frankly mindblowing.

Following this, we are treated to another classic circus skill – Firefly, with his diablo. Now, I expect that most of you reading this, and the majority of the people in the audience, have probably had a go with a diablo once in your life. Maybe at a kids party, a summer event, or a school fair. So you know how bloody hard work it is to even keep one of those things balanced never mind actually spinning. Firefly wowed us with one, then two, then three, then four diablos bouncing off the same string. While he turned. While he shot them up in between the lighting rigs high above the stage. I think he may have been a lot of people’s unexpected favourite of the night, and that diablo sales on Amazon probably rose immediately following the show.

As in a proper circus environment, a little audience participation to fill a gap can be fun, and the two people brought on stage to play unwitting romantic interests for The Foreigner and Coccinelle, were very good sports about it. However, what came next was a true highlight of the night – a crackle textured bug, attached via her hair to a ceiling rope and pulled skyward like a marionette. This whole scene was gorgeous, from the music and the lighting, to her elegant and nimble body positions as she swept and spun across the stage.

The final big act of the night was down to the bright green Crickets, displaying wall-climbing and trampoline skills across the backdrop of the stage. Two giant concealed trampolines provided the power for the artists to run up the wall and land on top, before pelting themselves back down for tucks and tricks, even jumping over one another in a waterfall presentation, but also taking the time to perform and show their cheeky side (literally, they shook their bums at the audience at one point). The air-track between the two trampolines also provided a runway of layouts, twists and double back tucks that came in waves towards the audience, a plethora of skills shown in quick succession.

Sadly the time is over far too soon, but a happy ending with The Foreigner winning the hand of the Ladybird (and kissing quite a lot) and the return of his ‘Ovo’, to the stunning vocals of Bossa N’Ovo – The Cockroach. As she sang, the cast emerged to rapturous applause and made their farewells after an incredible night. As the stage darkened one last time, Ladybird is left alone to witness, the cracking of the Ovo…

Ending on a comedic cliffhanger really seals the tone of this brilliant show. It was funny and beautiful in equal measure, turning adults into awe-struck children seems to be the modus operandi of Cirque, and we loved every second of it.

Chapter XII Festival: Your guide to headliners, tickets and travel

November 18, 2018March 3, 2016 by Nicole Douglas

Saturday, March 26 marks the Midlands’ leading inner-city festival in Birmingham, Chapter XII, taking place at The Rainbow Venues.

The Birmingham based festival will take over a number of unique and industrial areas and will boast more stages than last year’s event, with the launch of new spaces – The Big Top, The Rooftop, The Blackbox and The Arches.

Against the backdrop of Digbeth’s railway arches, Chapter XII will promote innovative stage production, utilising contemporary technology to allow some of the biggest names in house and techno music to perform with spectacular results.

dubfire:live brings a hybrid audiovisual production set-up that has only ever been done in the UK once before. The techno house artist unifies science, technology and music to create an innovative live show with 2D and 3D animation, live audio and lighting.

In The Big Top, Desolat boss Loco Dice, Drumcode’s Italian techno titan Joseph Capriati, live duo Pan Pot, Paradise man Jamie Jones, plus local hero Adam Shelton back to back with Lewis Oxley.

The Arena finds Richie Hawtin playing top of the bill, alongside dubfire:live. Sasha and Nic Fanciulli also set to play back to back. Canadian tech house titan Art Department and classic house and techno man Argy, of Bedrock and BPtich Control, also plays.

The Warehouse sees the return of Maya Jane Coles, Rumors boss Guy Gerber, George Fitzgerald, and techno tastemakers Dense & Pika.

Lobster Boy also takeover with Redlight, Preditah, Mella Dee, NYTA, Mele and Mak & Pasteman. Birmingham's favourite house and techno hotspot The Blackbox boasts sets from Trust chief Nick Curly, Drumcode techno star Alan Fitzpatrick and Fuse foudner Enzo Siragusa.

There will also be ‘Chapter 12 by Night’ as the official after party, hosted by the world famous Elrow (Barcelona) which will see the Hot Creations crew return to Birmingham, featuring key acts like Patrick Topping, Infinity Ink LIVE, wAFF and Russ Yallop

WHEN: Saturday, March 26

WHERE: Birmingham, UK

HOW MUCH: from £30

For more information visit website: http://therainbowvenues.co.uk

MADE BIRMINGHAM AFTER PARTY & SECOND DAY ADDED

November 18, 2018July 5, 2015 by Jane Anderson

With only 3 weeks to go and the hot summer weather well and truly here Made Birmingham announce after parties – Made… My Night – More details TBC!

*ADDITIONAL SECOND DAY WITH FOOD PROGRAMMING FROM DIGBETH DINING CLUB*

*LINEUP ADDITIONS: LOW STEPPA, 99 SOULS, JASPER JAMES + MORE*

Returning to The Digbeth Triangle for 2015, MADE Birmingham debuted last year to huge success, being nominated for Best Metropolitan Festival in the UK Festival Awards. With an already stellar programme of both live music and DJ performances confirmed for Saturday 25^th July – including a headline set from MK who described the event as having "Such an organic vibe to it, I sometimes wish that more promoters from the US would come here to experience what a great time it is” as well music from Wilkinson, Claude VonStroke, Heidi, Julio Bashmore, Beardyman, David Rodigan and Norman Jay – the festival is proud to reveal that a second day (Sunday 26^th July) will be added with food host, the multi award winning, Digbeth Dining Club as well as further additions to the lineup including local hero, Low Steppa and rising house duo 99 Souls.

SECOND DAY ADDED TO THE FESTIVAL, SUNDAY 26TH JULY

Presenting MADE Birmingham's second day; a celebration of food, beverage and artistic talent from the Midlands and beyond. Digbeth Dining Club, award winning street food event which has revolutionised the scene in Birmingham, returns to host the food programming on the day whilst a selection of independent breweries, distilleries, street art from Digbeth's City of Colours, live music, spoken word, retro gaming, and more will be on offer. Proceeds will go to local charities.

LINEUP ADDITIONS; LOW STEPPA, 99 SOULS, JASPER JAMES, THE HEATWAVE, TOM SHORTERZ + KURUPT FM

* * *

LINEUP

SATURDAY 25TH JULY

MK, WILKINSONBEARDYMAN, BLONDE (LIVE), CLAUDE VONSTROKE, DAVID RODIGAN,

DOORLY, DORSIA, DUSKY, FONO, FRICTION, THE HEATWAVE, HEIDI, JASPER JAMES, JULIO BASHMORE, KURUPT FM, LEE FOSS, MATRIX & FUTUREBOUND, LOW STEPPA, NIGHTMARES ON WAX (DJ SET), NORMAN JAY MBE, PALEMAN, PHILIP GEORGE, PLEASURE STATE (LEE FOSS, MARC KINCHEN, ANABEL ENGLUND), STANTON WARRIORS, SUBB-AN & ADAM SHELTON, TOM SHORTERZ, TROJAN SOUNDSYSTEM (DEX N FX), 99 SOULS & MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED

SUNDAY 26TH JULY

FOOD PROGRAMMING FROM DIGBETH DINING CLUB:

PLATINUM PANCAKES, MEAT SHACK, CANOODLE, ESMIE'S, SAVANNA GRILL, BIG, DADDIES DINER, DELIZIE ITALIANE, BUDDHA BELLY, HABANERO, FYBIN AND LOIN, BAKED IN BRICK, MEATHEADS, FAT DUCK SPUDS

Tickets are available at http://www.madebirmingham.com