Blue Man Group, Trent FM Arena

May 13 2009



THERE are two good reasons the place wasn't even a third of its capacity. And we're talking a couple of thousand people that wouldn't have filled the Royal Concert Hall.
Firstly, tickets were a steep £40. Not recession friendly. Particularly as -- and here's reason two -- it's hard to grasp exactly what The Blue Man Group is.
The three bald, blue, mute men learn How To Be A Megastar from an instruction DVD, purchased off a shopping channel. We follow them as they learn how to strike a pose, connect with their audience, pay tribute to the rock giants, feign sincerity, etc. etc. The on-screen instructions are projected on to three giant video screens.
There's a musical backing from a live band but, as with Stomp, percussion dominates -- the trio using luminous orange sticks (and wooden spoons) to beat a rhythm on instruments created from drainpipes, most of the time.
There are animation sequences, some of which make little sense. Was there a message to all this? If so, I couldn't work out if it was mocking the ego mania of the rock star, the excesses of the information age or the futility of office life.
Still, the show is weird, unique and at times very funny.
It may have been a relatively small crowd but they were up for a good night, joining in the rock poses, cheers and '?' in-joke (you had to be there).
Lifting a credit card from a handbag to pay for the DVD -- $4000 - was a nice touch. As was the Mexican wave.
And Post competition winner Judith Allen got to introduce the members of the band at the finale.
Gripes? At 90 minutes it was maybe a little short. And a few more classic rock anthems would have lifted the experience. The original tunes, sung by two vocalists in the backing band, were dark and dreary. The opening bars of Van Halen's Jump or even Madonna's Like A Virgin promised a euphoric few minutes but the encore needed but gave way to a complete version of the less than anthemic version of The Who's Teenage Wasteland.
Still, we won't see anything like it for a long while.

Eddie Izzard

May 2009

AS it happens, he has just passed the Post offices.
"I'm going past the Bed Centre," he rambles.
"Lime green," he adds.
It is only later that I realise he must be talking about the one on Canal Street.
"A first floor clearance is on at moment."
Will he check it out?
"No, I'm OK because picking up a bed in Nottingham dragging it around just seems a little crazy. Unless you're living in Nottingham. I'm sure most of their clientele are Nottingham based.
"I don't need one anyway at the moment."
It's late afternoon and yet on Twitter he said he was travelling here overnight.
"The traffic's a lot better. It's kind of peaceful. The motorways are like they were in the fifties. Unfortunately we found that Newport Pagnall service station... you think I'll pull in there and have sausage, egg and chips but no, they were closed and we had to have a 'punani', some sort of sandwich." (He means a panini).
I'm still a little confused as to why he's only just getting in to the city – London to Nottingham doesn't take over 12 hours – but we must move on. There's much to talk about as Eddie Izzard was in Nottingham for two reasons this week.
First was a early evening political chat with Tony Blair's former henchman Alistair Campbell at the University of Nottingham. Then a gig at the on-campus Djanogly Theatre.
"It's not the Labour Party asking me to do it. I said I'm doing this as a member of the Labour Party. I'm interested in politics and I'm active. I'm trying to put forward new ideas and create a discussion."
That was a closed show, attended by students only while the gig, which started at 10.45pm and ran past midnight, was open to all, if they a) had £20 to spare and b) heard about it quick enough to get a ticket when they went on sale a couple of weeks ago.
One assumes it's a warm-up for his Arena tour but Izzard says he's warm enough.
"It's been road tested through 34 cities in America and five weeks in London, so Nottingham's getting a really up to speed (show). I've worked a lot of it through.
"It's not really a warm-up, it's more of a taster and it's for me to have fun because I like doing them, to keep match fit and for Nottingham to get a little bit of a preview of what's coming back at the end of the year.
"This is the same show that's played Radio City Music Hall in New York, which is a 6,000- seater, for three nights."
Are the small gigs where you can see the whites of people's eyes more nerve racking?
"No, the smaller ones are just a beautiful breeze. The bigger ones, there is slightly more tension but once you've done a hundred you go 'oh, arena gigs...'" he says dismissively.
"Then you go 'ooh, stadiums."
He equates the difference to that of driving a car and a removals van.
"When I was student I used to hire Bedford vans and Luton vans and they're slower turns and you have to work at the wheelbase and stuff but still similar rules apply.
"It's like an ocean liner when you're playing arenas and a small gig's a speed boat."
He wasn't worried about the late start meaning he was playing to a room full of boisterous drunks.
"I think a Tuesday should be OK. Late night you get a slightly different feel. It's more interesting.
"Everyone's gone to bed in Nottingham but we're up. It's like staying up late to annoy your parents."
It 's been six years since his last UK tour. Why?
"I was pushing on other things," he says.
US film and television more specifically.
"It's a schizophrenic career I have. Which annoys agents because they don't quite know where to place me."
Izzard has starred in two seasons of TV drama The Riches, about a couple of con artists trying to adapt to a normal suburban life.
But his biggest role to date was playing a Nazi alongside Tom Cruise in the movie Valkyrie.
"Lots of people called Tom in that film. Tom Wilkinson, Tom Hallander..."
So, you and Mr Cruise, how was he on set, are you best buddies now, did you call him today to see what he was up to...?
"It's not quite that relationships. We don't really drive around in fast cars chasing each other.
"He was very gentlemanly, very welcoming.
"There was a certain distance. he had his family and his security but my dad came over and my brother and he made them feel welcome. That was a great thing to do.
"You just go in and try to do your job. It was tricky for me because the first day was a six-page scene. They're normally about a page. And it was just me and him all on one day."
That was a tough way to start."
He adds: "It was his film. He really did shepherd that movie. Because there was talk in the press that the Germans didn't want certain things filmed. It's the first time German kids can watch Germans trying to kill Hitler.
"It's a big old success and a great film. I've watched it about five times."
He recently finished filming the BBC's new incarnation of sci-fi classic Day Of The Triffids, with Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox.
And he'll be reprising his role as Reepicheep is The Chronicles of Narnia sequel The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Aside from the acting and the comedy (his live tour may be called Stripped but it's less about nudity and more about, well, everything: "I start from 4,500 million years ago and take it up to Tuesday"), Eddie Izzard has also supplied a voice for a sat nav. Instructions include: "bear left, monkey right".
Has he ever used it?
"Ohhh noooo... interesting," he ponders. "I haven't but that would be fun to do.
"Or weird."

Eddie Izzard, Trent FM Arena, Friday and Saturday October 23 and 24, £30, 08444 124624.

Al Murray, Arena

April 30 2009



IT is probably not the best idea to stroll in late to a comedy gig. Particularly when the press seats that have been reserved for you are -- and this has never happened before -- in the second row.
Of course, he had me. Something about brown shoes and excrement.
Fortunately, that was it for me.
No so lucky were Shrek, lambasted for having a wife way out of his league and the health and safety officer who has a lot to do with the state of “broken Britain.” Then there was the old fella, the hairy young people (“the scroats”), the girl who was with her dad and his wife but it’s not her mum... and the chap directly in front who sold green roofs, apparently.
Over 15 years, Al Murray’s Pub Landlord has graduated from the few hundred that saw him at Just The Tonic, to the cavernous Arena. His first time here. And while it isn’t a sell-out (3,500 is a fair estimate), you have to consider that just three months ago he sold out the Royal Concert Hall.
The bigger space didn’t seem to phase Britain’s funniest character comic. No I’m not including the Multiple Personality Disorder sketch show. You understand.
The set of four giant hand pumps, beer barrels and obligatory bar -- and the two video screens for those at the back to catch his facial contortions -- were as important as the one liners about God being British, the battle of the sexes, the Lucky List and the 2012 Olympics (it’s going to be sh...)
He closes the two-and-half-hour show (there’s a 20 minute interval soundtracked by his favourite Queen songs) with a singalong about the state of Britain -- “if we’re gonna go down, we’re gonna go down together” -- during which he leads an all-female conga.
Yep, still Britain’s best.
And it turns out I was sat next to Big Bob, Big Bob, Big Bob....

Blue Man Group

April 2009


MORE than two million people have seen the show in the US but its one and only trip across the Atlantic was confined to London's West End.
As a result not many people outside the capital 'get' The Blue Man Group.
So, to spread the word, Aurelien Bernard, one of the three Blue Men who will be performing to thousands at the Trent FM Arena next month, came to the EG offices to try and explain the appeal.
That said, the Frenchman, dressed all in black but minus the blue physog, reckons it can't really be explained. That you have to see the show to understand it.
Without the luxury of a Tardis, we'd better try.
It's surreal theatre and slapstick, with video, a light show and rock music. Three bald, blue and mute blokes play pipes, spit paint and throw marshmallows.
And there's a story to it: They're explaining How To Be A Megastar.
Clear? Thought not.
The idea grew from New York's underground art scene in the late 80s.
These days there are so many shows running around the world that there are 50 Blue Men.
Aurelien has been one for the past six years.
"The three original blue men are still working for the company but they don't perform so much anymore," says the 34-year-old.
"They're quite old and the tour is very strenuous so I don't think they could do it anymore."
He was a session drummer before he joined the group.
"Not with anybody famous," he insists.
So how does this differ?
"I play a character. You have to fake all these emotions through the character to the audience. We don't speak so we have to communicate with the audience on a somewhat deeper level."
That's too deep. It's OK, he simplifies it...
"It's like clowning. It's not like we're acting like clowns but there is a big element of clowning (involved). There are a lot of Blue Man actors that came from clowning because they know how to use their body."
He adds: "It's been fun. I think that's the reason why I've stayed six years."
His first shows were in New York, then Las Vegas and eventually London.
"I came to open the show in the West End where we stayed for 18 months. We didn't have a great run compared to the old Blue Man group who used to stay (in one place) for a long time. But the West End is difficult, you know. There are a lot of shows."
Well, 18 months isn't bad.
"It's all right. Of course it's not like Cats where you spend 20 years in the same theatre."
As part of the show they will usually drag a member of the audience on to the stage. Which must freak them out.
"Yeah, sometimes. In fact, most of the time (laughs). I can feel them shaking but we never force anybody. It's not about that, it's a very peaceful thing. If somebody doesn't want to come, it's not a problem."
He adds: "What's cool about the Blue Man is that we're incognito."
Surely that goes against your initial dream to be a rock 'n' roll star? No-one knows who you are.
"(Laughs) No, my rock 'n' roll star dream was just a kid's dream. I'd like to play for somebody like Peter Gabriel. That would be like a dream. And I wouldn't mind being a teacher or writing music to become a better musician."
Is the blue covering your heads paint or Latex?
"It's make-up. It's really gooey. No, it doesn't smell. The blue is Yves Klein blue. Yves Klein was a painter from my hometown and who created his own shade of blue."
So why are they bald and blue?
"It was not a thought that just came out of some kind of dream or subconscious idea. The founders talk about bald because it's used to explain the character as vulnerable, a bit like a child. And also on the other side of the spectrum, superheroes are bald. Like The Silver Surfer.
"If we painted ourselves red we'd look like the devil. If we paint ourselves green we'd look like Martians. So we're blue."

The Blue Man Group: How To Be A Megastar, Trent FM Arena, Wednesday May 13, 7.30pm, £39.50, 08444 124624.

Al Murray

April 2009

ANDREW will remember the last time Al Murray came to town.
He was the poor chap who had The Pub Landlord inches from his face repeatedly screaming "Where's the ******* money?"
He'd admitted that he was actually a financial adviser, you see.
It's an integral part of Murray's show to banter with the crowd and on this particular night Trevor, Stella, Simon, Marina, Amber, Anthony and fuzzy-haired Tom had all been subjected to his barracking.
But Andrew came in for special treatment, with the giant comic clambering over seats to hold him responsible for the credit crunch.
And don't think you'll be safe when he's on a bigger stage next week, making his debut at the Trent FM Arena, where he plans to "bug the security staff" by wading into the crowd.
"Sometimes but generally people get into the spirit of it," says Murray, when I ask if anyone has ever reacted angrily or started crying.
One of the reasons he is one of Britain's best stand-ups is because of this ability to riff off a crowd. It's something the Hell's Kitchen winner finds is a doddle.
"I've been doing this for 15 years, so the spontaneity comes easy. The chances are I've been in the situation before. I don't know who the people are but I can always move on to someone else if the situation's not working out."
Isn't he surprised that when asked for their occupation, they admit to being, say, a tax officer or a banker or a student, knowing they'll get a hiding?
"Well it's part of the game, isn't it?" says Murray. "Everyone's in on it. They're in on the fun."
Not that it works every time. After our review of his February date appeared online, one punter commented: "I for one will not go to see Al Murray again, I found him to be a bit of a bore who doesn't know when a joke stops being funny."
While he may have nearly 3,000 people in stitches, the few that don't enjoy it do get to him, he admits. "Any comedian will tell you, you can have a whole room laughing and there's one person with a sour face and you end up trying to make them laugh."
Murray was a regular at Just The Tonic Comedy Club when it was housed at the Old Vic, then Cabaret, in Fletcher Gate. He remembers it well.
"The room was a bit weird because the stage was in the middle and everyone is to your left or right. But it was always good fun to do."
Such has been the popularity of his shows that The Pub Landlord is opening up on arena stages. So how will the show differ from the one at the Royal Concert Hall? "We're putting screens in," he says simply. "The show is the same."
Although he's expanded his repertoire with a glut of new characters in the BBC sketch show Multiple Personality Disorder, he has no plans to put his patriotic pint puller to rest.
"Certainly not. It's just another thing I do. To be honest, it's a perfectly logical extension to the landlord. I'm a character comedian. Just because I'm having success with one character doesn't mean I can't do other things."
The idea of a tour for those characters, however, remains less clear.
"We've talked about it but there'd be a lot of hanging around while they're changing sets or I'm in make up. So I don't know. Stand-up travels light."
So how are the public reacting to the new characters. Have they been shouting out catch phrases in the street?
"Not yet. Well I haven't been out on the street much. I've been in the car or hotel rooms. I'm still waiting to find out."

Al Murray, Trent FM Arena, Nottingham, Thursday April 30, 8pm.

WWE's MVP

April 2009
The stars of WWE return to the Trent FM Arena next weekend on the Revenge Tour. SIMON WILSON spoke to former armed robber Montel Vontavious Porter aka MVP about going straight and being battered by handbags...



What are you up to today?
I'm about to go to a school somewhere in Kent to reward one of our Wrestlemania Reading Challenge winners.

Meeting kids is all part of job?
Yeah – one of my favourite parts of the job, actually. It's such a privilege and an honour to be able to have such a heavy influence and impact on children's lives and to be able to be a positive influence.

Every time the WWE tour comes to Nottingham it tends to be a sell-out.
Yeah, it's a hot ticket, you know. The WWE programme airs in over 50 languages in well over 100 countries around the world. And I think part of the reason that it is so successful and it's such a hot ticket is in addition to the colourful personalities and the action-packed wrestling matches, it's an age-old story of good versus bad. Everybody understands that regardless of the language.

Your personality is publicised as pretty arrogant but you don't sound it. Are you just playing?
Well, actually MVP is really who I am with the volume turned way up. But yeah there's quite a bit of arrogance in me and it's funny that me and my brothers and my former wife always say that the people who watch don't know that that's really who I am. You know they tease me a bit but there's a bit of truth in that. I'm quite a vain individual.

You joined WWE in 2005 but have been around a long time. Why did it take so long to become a WWE star?
It was just a matter of paying my dues along the way. You have to keep in mind that WWE is the best of the best within professional wrestling and you can't just crack in those ranks straight away. You have to learn and perfect your craft. And it takes a while to do that, to compete at that level. And I'm glad that I didn't come in straight away because when I did come in, it meant I could make an impact right away.

Money aside, what are the benefits of being part of WWE?
Well we travel to so many different places and meet so many different people. The people in Luxembourg who don't even speak English all know how to say "MVP sucks!". And there's something special about that. Whether we're in Spain, France or anywhere, people are energetic and excited about our arrival. We're in the business of putting smiles on people's faces and I'm very proud of helping people forget about their problems, their woes and be able to vent some of that frustration by screaming at me.

British wrestling reached a peak in the 70s with people like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. Do you know who they are?
Oh yeah, Johnny Saint, Jim Brakes – I'm a big fan of English wrestling, absolutely.



Back then it was common for an old woman to be ringside swinging her handbag at the wrestlers. Has that ever happened to you?
Yes (laughs). There are still some places in the States where you get that old lady. I actually had an old lady endeavour to do me grievous bodily harm once. I enjoy that. I really dig that someone's that passionate about loving me or hating me. There are places like that even now, even after we've exposed professional wrestling as entertainment. In years gone by it wasn't presented that way, so there were guys that were really good at being the villain that actually got death trashed. But I still get the occasional bottle of water thrown at me.

It's odd that people, even though they know it's staged entertainment, get so passionate about it.
Oh yeah, they get worked up. Even though the outcome's pre-determined, it's still like you're rooting for your favourite football club. You're a supporter and you really get wrapped up in your club. The same thing happens with your favourite WWE star.

Have you been to Nottingham before with WWE?
Yeah, twice. Matter of fact, I had the pleasure of going in Nottingham Castle, I took some pictures there. I even had the chance to stop in and have a pint at Old Jerusalem. It's amazing. I was shocked when I saw the date. It's one of the oldest pubs in the world. I ran my fingers along the stone walls and thought of all the people who've been there over the hundreds of years to tip a pint. It was a real treat.

Were you a fan of Robin Hood when you were a kid?
Oh yeah, of course, Sir Robin of Loxley. In the United States as a kid, that's a really big story. Even years ago before the Hollywood film with Kevin Costner, it was just part of your childhood. Robin Hood, Little John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. That story's just as popular in the US as it is in the UK.

Every time WWE comes to town, you always stay in the same hotel and stay up late partying.
Yeah, well we work hard so we play hard. We don't mind tipping a few pints and enjoying a few shots along the way.

Batista's in recovery before he gets back in the ring isn't he?
Yeah, I spoke to him the other day. He had a tear in his hamstring and he had surgery to repair it and he's already up and walking around. I mean just look at him, he is the Animal, he's a freak of nature and he's recovering quickly so he might be back sooner than expected.

Have you ever had a bad injury?
I haven't had any injury that could put me out of the ring for an extended period of time. Before I got to the WWE when I was on the Independent team, I had my orbital cracked once so that was pretty tough. But even that didn't keep me out of the ring. I've been fortunate so far that I've had no serious breaks or tears or anything along those lines.



You got into wrestling in prison because of a fellow inmate. Is that right?
Actually it was one of the guards – he was an independent wrestler and would bring in video tapes and title belts.I was at work release, which is when you're at the end of your prison sentence and you stay at a facility and work at a regular job out in the community. He told me he'd take me in his ring and teach me a bit. Needless to say the rest is history.

And there's more money in WWE than armed robbery?
(Laughs) Oh yeah absolutely. You know I tell people all the time that now I'm making more money than I've ever legally made in my life. The beautiful part is I don't have to look over my shoulder or worry about anybody kicking my door in and coming to collect me at two in the morning.

Honey Monster Presents Wrestlemania Revenge Tour: WWE Raw, Trent FM Arena, Sunday April 19, £30-£50, 08444 124624. For line-up details go to wwe.com.

"Unshaven, chewing, smutty"

April 2009


"Saw the Tuesday evening show with my wife and we both enjoyed it immensely. The only thing which spoiled the evening was Simon Wilson, the guest judge from the Post. He was unshaven, chewed most of the time and looked like he had slept rough in the clothes he was wearing. This was in stark comparison to everything else about the show, which was professionally and immaculately presently, as were the other judges and all the performers. Mr Wilson was a very poor ambassador for the Evening Post"
Roger Brooks, West Bridgford

"T and D were amazing. Bolero was as good as 25 years ago. It almost seemed effortless for them. The whole show was exciting, fun and thoroughly enjoyable. I agree with the comments made about Simon Wilson, he was hardly an example of Nottingham folk, and his smutty comments were totally unacceptable in a family atmosphere. He should be ashamed of himself and be appologising."
chris, nottingham

Christopher Dean

April 2009

CHRISTOPHER Dean would welcome a Torvill and Dean statue in the city centre – with one condition.
"Only if it looked like us," said the ice dance legend, who is back in Nottingham tonight with the Dancing On Ice tour.
That there isn't a statue yet, he added: "Obviously we haven't made it yet."
The tour marks the 25th anniversary of the pair's Bolero routine at the Sarajevo Olympics that won them gold and worldwide fame.
He and dance partner Jayne Torvill are recreating the routine on the tour which comes to the Trent FM Arena tonight, continuing with two shows tomorrow.
"I have to say to anyone that's coming, don't miss the beginning," he said, revealing that the opener would indeed be their Bolero routine.
How hard has it been doing the skate 25 years on? "Well the body is older that's for sure," he said. "The mind remembers it just fine. "But I think it's about the emotion we put in to it."
Christopher admits having difficulty remembering a lot about winning the gold in 1984.

"When I watch it now I watch as other people do," he said. "I can't put myself there because I was in such a zone. The day of the actual skate we were so focused."
The pair will skate four routines as part of the new show and comment on the performances by the celebrities. They include Melinda Messenger, Jessica Taylor, Zoe Salmon, Roxanne Pallet, Todd Carty and TV series winner Ray Quinn.
It was Quinn who won the opening night of the tour in Sheffield last week.
Christopher, 50, who still has step brothers and sisters in Nottingham, said: "Ray is a huge talent. He's a natural. Even if we'd have given him a tennis racket or a cricket bat he would have been good.
"Most probably he could make a living professionally right now. But if he'd have started younger I'm sure he would have been a champion."
The live shows differ from the ITV programme as the celebrities will compete against previous winners Kyran Bracken and Suzanne Shaw. Judges will include Karen Barber, Robin Cousins, Ruthie Henshaw and Nicky Slater, but audiences get to vote via text.
The eventual winner performs Bolero for the finale.
An additional matinee show was added for tomorrow just two weeks ago, after the two evening shows sold out. "Obviously you're doing double the amount of work, so it's a more physical day, but the performers love going out when the audience are enthusiastic and supportive."
Even for Todd Carty.
"He's not the most talented skater but he has a lot of affection," laughed Christopher, who now lives in the US.
I tell Christopher that I shall be guest judging tonight – so does he have any tips?
"Judge it as you see it. Who entertains you, who thrills you, that will be the key."
So if I give Todd Carty top marks for entertaining me the most, I won't be thrown out? "No you won't get thrown out. But you might not get asked back next year."

Valeriya

April 2009



THEY call her "the Russian Madonna" but, while the notorious baby-adopter is known worldwide, Valeriya is a virtual unknown in the West.
So, let us start at the beginning – how do you pronounce the name?
"Val-air-ee-a."
Oh, like malaria.
Silence.
"Uh, yeah."
Maybe it's the English humour but it's more likely that Valeriya isn't used to people being anything other than positive having been a pop icon in her home country for two decades. She is Russia's biggest pop star with 17 number one hits and more than 100 million albums sold.
So why venture over here – she's supporting Simply Red on their arena tour – where no-one knows your name?
"It's an experience," she chirps.
"I want to be heard by not only Russian-speaking people. It's a challenge and a new step. I don't like to stay still."
Even if it means starting from scratch?
"(Laughs) I feel like the newcomer. It's like re-freshening your life."
The 40-year-old is speaking from Moscow, where she lives. She also has homes in Dubai and France and is looking for another in London.
Shifting that many albums means she's clearly loaded – Forbes magazine cited her as Russia's ninth-highest earning celebrity – but, aside from expanding her collection of houses, what indulgences does she have? Jewellery, cars, art...?
"I have three children, my husband has three children – we have six between us. And I have my relatives. For me it's one of the most important things, to support my family. I spend money for my children's education which demands a lot," she laughs.
"I wouldn't say we waste money. It's not the goal of my life to collect things (such as) jewellery or furniture."
As one would expect, back in Russia Valeriya can't take a stroll without being mobbed by fans but she does get recognised in the UK as well, she insists.
"Even in London I cannot just walk around. I am recognised quite often. Of course it's much quieter but still there are a lot of Russian people there. And all around the world. We are everywhere," she chuckles.
She was born into a family of classical musicians in the central Russian town of Atkarsk. While studying at Moscow's acclaimed Gnesin Academy of Music in the mid-80s, she listened to a lot of Western music that was smuggled in to the country. Simply Red included.
"I listened to their music in the 80s when I'd just started singing. The first song I heard was (sings) IIIIIII want to fall from the stars..."
That'll be Stars.
"Yes, it's called Stars. Very famous, very popular in Russia."
So there was a lot of British pop over there when you were growing up?
"Not really. Because we lived in a closed country, behind the Iron Curtain. So all this music came to the country illegally. Somehow it broke through: The Bee Gees, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and many, many others.
"In the (late) 80s it was the time of perestroika so it was different. Musicians started coming to the country to perform."
She favoured Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Annie Lennox and Sam Brown.
"She had this one big hit 'Think You Better Stop It'"...
That'll be Stop.
"We met once in Moscow," she says of Sam Brown.
Have you met Madonna, the artist you are often compared to?
"No, we haven't met. I cannot say that I'd like to. I wouldn't mind but she's not my favourite artist. I respect her very much. She's a self-made woman and she knows what she wants but there are other artists I like much more."
Such as?
"Errr..."
Mariah Carey... Beyonce...?
"Absolutely, she's great. Christina Aguilera, she's great. Amy Winehouse, very special. She's a character. Tina Turner..."
She went through what you went through, of course. Domestic violence.
"Oh yeah. The situation was quite the same. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one in this world."
Valeriya, who was born Alla Yuryevna Perfilova, rose to fame at 23 after winning a national singing contest but disappeared from the limelight to escape an abusive husband.
"I consider myself an ex-victim of slavery," she says.
"Domestic slavery and domestic violence are almost the same."
Now with her third husband, she campaigns to highlight the problem in her home country.
"We opened a rehabilitation centre where we provide psychological and medical assistance to those who have ever become a victim. Mostly they are women who suffer from sexual exploitation. And men who suffer from forced labour. And children, horrible things...
"We've started to draw attention to the problem. We started talking about it openly. The situation is being changed step by step but still it's not enough."
Her next single, Back To Love, released later this month, addresses the subject. Her debut UK album, Out Of Control, follows on April 27.
"I've heard a lot about this city," she says when I ask if she is aware of Nottingham.
"I know it's related to the Robin Hood stories."
So the legend has reached Russia?
"Yes, it's a very famous one. Like a fairytale."
As I sign off she adds: "I hope to see you at my part of this concert."
I will. Then I'll leave when Mick Hucknall comes on.
"Yes..."

Valeriya supports Simply Red at the Trent FM Arena, Thursday April 9, 7.30pm, £37.50-£42.50, 08444 124624.

Snow Patrol

March 2009

SCOTLAND'S biggest band may have taken the soppy indie baton off Coldplay and run with it, but hard-partying rockers Motley Crue are fan of Snow Patrol
"We've had some unusual fans along the way, especially in America," says keyboard player Tom Simpson, when I mention the recent acknowledgement by Crue frontman Nikki Sixx.
"We've had Tommy Lee at gigs and we're going 'well this is a bit weird'. And I remember Danny DeVito wanting to meet us at a gig. Which was interesting because Gary (Lightbody, singer) is 6ft 4. I'm half the size of that and Danny DeVito is half the size of me. We looked like Russian dolls."
Tom is in London when we speak, rehearsing for the tour that comes to Nottingham's Trent FM Arena next week.
"Everybody's working hard six days a week," he says.
It's been full-on since they went into the studio to record album number five, A Hundred Million Suns.
"Once that engine starts that's when the sacrifices start happening. You accept you're not going to have much of a home life."
Not that he's complaining.
"You get your heads down and enjoy it. You've basically one of the best jobs in the world."
Snow Patrol have, in his words "been around the block" and are enjoying their arena status.
"We cut our teeth on the smaller gig circuit of the UK for many years. So we're well used to the hard work and long tours.
"I'm glad it did happen to us over a long period of time because we were a bit wilder in our earlier years. We were pretty boozy and certainly enjoyed a party. Any amount of success then may have ruined us."
Are they still caning it?
"Nowadays you choose your battles sensibly," says Tom, who is in his mid-30s.
"You're maybe not going out and getting totally drunk every night. You tend to look to where your days off are and think 'that'll be my Saturday night'. The hangovers are much more unbearable now."
He isn't married but has a tolerant long-term girlfriend with whom he's in the process of buying a house. She also tolerates his fanaticism for computer games.
"I met some of my oldest friends in arcades when I was a kid. My girlfriend hates it. It's like a little dirty secret."
She has won the battle with his vast vinyl collection, however.
"Before I was in a band I was a DJ so I've a massive vinyl collection. I'm always looking for new stuff because I still go out and DJ. I've a cottage up in Scotland where I keep it all."
The album was recorded, in part, at the Hansa Studios in Berlin, where the likes of Bowie's Heroes and Lodger were crafted, along with the better cuts from Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. Sounds romantic but does it really make any difference?
"You're always hoping there might be a ghost in the machine that overrides what you're doing. There are glimpses of Heroes on there."
He is hoping Snow Patrol's Arena date on Thursday will be better received than one of their earlier shows in the city.
"I remember we did a tour with Alfie and Appliance and we ended up playing The Social. The problem was the World Cup was on at the time and England were playing that night. They had a massive screen with the football on behind us. We were on first and there were three men and a dog watching England players bigger than us on a screen behind us.

Snow Patrol, Trent FM Arena, Thursday March 12.

The Killers, Arena

March 3 2009

WHILE Forest were giving a bunch of northerners a good hiding south of the River Trent last night, in the city centre, Las Vegas four The Killers were doing pretty much the same.
Just this week it was announced that Brandon Flowers and co would be headlining the V Festivals alongside Oasis. The last time those Lancashire mouths were in town they were going through the motions. The Killers were far from such smug complacency.
It was one of the most accomplished shows I've ever seen at the Trent FM Arena. Or in Nottingham, for that matter.
Flowers is your perfect frontman. A slight young man he may be but he flits around the stage like a camp gladiator, using every inch to establish his presence and lead both band and audience of 10,000 through 90 minutes of epic indie, roaming from mic to piano to synth to bass guitar.
It's a marked contrast to the static indifference of Gallagher Jr the last time he bothered to grace us.
Admittedly, Flowers needs work on the interaction – shouting "Nottingham" and asking "How are you feeling?" doesn't constitute a connection with your audience. Not that the sell-out Arena crowd seemed not to notice, singing along when prompted (that was most of the time) and arm waving when instructed.
The stage set was a flavour of Vegas in a wet and windy city – palm trees and a curtain of lights, confetti cannons and smoke machines.
But let's start at the beginning, with the Bohemian Rhapsody singalong, Sam Hall from the final Johnny Cash album and Tom Waits' Rosie.
At nearly ten past nine, with a pompous entrance that would have out done Freddie Mercury, The Killers appear for the first single from album three, Human.
What is clear from this and Spaceman, another lift from Day & Age, they are moving closer to Queen's knack for the bombastic.
It's a vigorous pace that is set. Only for a moment – I'm talking about the subdued segue from A Dusty Fairytale to Sam's Town with Flowers' solo at the piano –- do you have time to take a breath.
The uniform that Flowers, Fleet Foxes (bass/guitar), Deep Purple (guitar) and My Name Is Earl (drums) have adopted is that of the skinny black jeans with leather jacket.
That they can reproduce the epic sounds of the heavily produced Killers on record is a surprise and a pleasant one. That said it's nice to hear the beat of the snare and the pick of the guitar.
It's not quite cheating but look hard and there is a fifth member filling in with guitar and piano and another contributes a sax line or two.
It's no secret that they owe much to eighties British pop, evident on the trebly bass lines of Joyride and I Can't Stay (Duran Duran) but more so for the Joy Division cover Shadowplay, which featured on the soundtrack to the Nottingham-shot movie Control. Clips are projected on to the huge video screen backdrop.
Whatever their influences, The Killers are still blooming and will be for the foreseeable future.

SET LIST:
HUMAN
THIS IS YOUR LIFE
SOMEBODY TOLD ME
FOR REASONS UNKNOWN
THE WORLD WE LIVE IN
JOYRIDE
I CAN'T STAY
BLING (CONFESSIONS OF A KING)
SHADOWPLAY
SPACEMAN
SMILE LIKE YOU MEAN IT
DUSTLAND FAIRYTALE
SAM'S TOWN
READ MY MIND
MR BRIGHTSIDE
ALL THESE THINGS THAT I'VE DONE

Encore:
BONES
JENNY WAS A FRIEND OF MINE
LOSING TOUCH
WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG

Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds

December 2008


IT's quite something. I caught it at the Arena last summer on its second visit to the city.
And it works not simply as a musical spectacle, the live reproduction of the 1978 album by up to 100 players, but for the three-dimensional Richard Burton that hovers by the stage and the towering Martian Killing Machine.
Next time round, it'll be even better says its creator Jeff Wayne.
"We're hoping to raise the bar yet again. The main area that we've been working in is with a major company that does illusions in movies and on David Copperfield specials on TV."
The result will be "a huge ingredient that the show hasn't had before".
But he's not saying any more.
"That would be like a magician telling his trick. (But) we're not having a magician taking a Martian out of a hat.
"They are major illusions."

Other changes this year include adding former Brookside-star-turned-tabloid-fave Jennifer Ellison to the cast, as Beth, the Parson's wife.
"As the conductor I've got the best seat in the house," he laughs.
So will she adopt a different accent or will it be: 'Ey Nuthanyall, likowt, dairs sum Mairshuns'?
"(Laughs) Jennifer came to the studio for us to meet for the first time and for the first half hour I don't think we understood a word each of us was speaking.
"Like you say, she's a true Scouser and I'm a Yank. We had to adopt a mid-Atlantic accent."
If you haven't seen it, the show is based on his album Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds that put H G Wells' story of an alien invasion to music with the story narrated by Richard Burton and a cast of voices that included David Essex, Phil Lynott and Julie Covington.
Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues, who sang on the album, is again among the cast for the next tour, which will pay its third visit to Nottingham in June.
"It's been amazing," he says.
"To bring back an arena tour in less than two years is most unusual and this will be our third in the UK in three consecutive years. In between that we've played Australia and New Zealand. After next year's tour we'll go on to dates in Europe and America."

So how come you haven't made a profit?
"It's hard to believe," he admits.
"The capitalisation costs of the show, to actually build, and design it... we don't get the same return as if we were a four- or five-piece band selling out the same amount of shows."
Along with the technology and the cast, Wayne, who conducts, is joined by the Black Smoke Band and the 48-piece ULLAdubULLA string orchestra.
The experience of being on the road so much since 2006 has been a treat, he says.
"Having not returned to The War of the Worlds for so many years it was all very fresh to me. And the challenge of mounting a live performance with very hi-tech stuff was a very exciting challenge. It takes us 12-15 months to plan a new production."
And it won't stop with the third tour. Wayne plans to keep on improving the show year after year.
I wonder if he's considered using the sort of animatronic puppetry that they've adopted in the Walking With Dinosaurs, which I saw in the US this year and is also coming to Nottingham next summer?
"Yes, I have seen it but I think it would be something for the future. We were working for about a month with a company that has done a lot of animatronics for films and theme parks and not only is it complex but we have an image that appears on our screens that reveals the look of the Martians. And to make them look like that Martian has its own sort of challenges."
The last time we spoke he was developing a feature length animated movie of TWOTW, some of which feature in the show projected on to a giant screen. But there's been no progress.
"If we keep enjoying the success we've had with the tour we could start turning a profit and re-invest in to the animated film. And grow our team enough to where we could be developing and producing the film while the tour carries on. We haven't reached that stage yet."
He adds: "It's an investment. It's a love for the story and the work that I created all those years ago. And in a way I was just as bonkers 30 years ago because about 70% of the money to make The War Of The Worlds was my own life savings."
And with 15 million sales that clearly worked out OK.
"Yes, it did."
Wayne, who now lives in England, originally studied journalism before turning to music composition and production, working with the likes of The Who, Tony Christie, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta Jones and the Human League.
While he'll be on-stage conducting –"it's like a workout, after each act I come off absolutely drenched" – for most of his career he's been behind the scenes.
As the son of an actor and singer hasn't he ever fancied being in the spotlight.
"I did make a film debut in a movie when I was a little boy that my dad had one of the leads in," he laughs.
"I was grooming a horse's rear end. If you'd have blinked you'd have missed my award-winning performance."


The War Of The Worlds, Arena, June 17, £41.50-55, 08444 124 624, www.trentfmarenanottingham.com

Status Quo

December 2008


HE'S a rambler.
After we establish where he is – Le Mans – for which he has to ask someone else, Francis Rossi goes off on one about the modern predilection for high expectations.
"Most things don't live up to our expectations. They're much better in your head."
Like Christmas.
"The best thing about Christmas is looking forward to it. I find that with so many things in life. The weekend, the holiday, the meal... it's not so much about 'my God, I'm enjoying myself right now!'
"I look forward to going home so much then I get home and 'Oh I'm here'. I quite often look forward to going back on the road."
Maybe you've a restless personality?
"And how do you explain the rest of the planet then?"
Errr...
"My first wife would get thoroughly depressed if she didn't have something to look forward to. She still has that problem now. She looks forward to it then after the event she's totally depressed.
"It seems our whole planet is doing this."
But people have always been the same. Back to the 50s and factory workers looking forward to the weekend.
"I think it's got more intense."
So what is the answer?
"I try and enjoy the moment."
His favourite moment being after a show when he's just sat on the tour bus.
"Just heaven," he says.
"When one has done a show, you've fulfilled your commitment.... ahh."
Anyway, what am I waffling on about? We're supposed to be talking about Status Quo."
They're back one more time for a show at the Arena, on a tour to mark their 40th anniversary. So obviously there'll be the hits. From Pictures of Matchstick Men in 1968, through the definitive Quo rockers in the 70s – Paper Plane, Caroline, Down Down, Rockin' All Over the World, Whatever You Want, Down Down– to their 75th single and first festive release, It's Christmas Time.
But they've always done the hits on tour, so what's different?
"There are a couple from the 60s we haven't done since the 60s.
"It's Status Quo – what can I say? You either like it or you don't.
"It's definitely better for the punters this time round. We have these screens and there are lots of nostalgic bits and pieces."
He wasn't sure about beefing up their presentation.
"People don't go home humming the lights do they? But it seems to have worked. People like it so..."
He adds: "I do look forward to coming to Nottingham..."
You said you don't look forward to anything these days.
"I do. Because there's a sushi bar near the Lace Market, I go for breakfast there. And then usually in the evening there's a tapas bar around there that I go to.
"And there's a gym up the road in an old station. So usually Nottingham's a great day for me.
"I don't know about the gig, though," he says with a laughs.
"The gig is freezing. Always. That bloody arena is freezing. It's true."
He's off again. This time it's the arrogance of the British race.
"We seem to have got that thing where we needn't bother any more because obviously we're British and we're great. I remember I used to come here (France) in the 70s and it was ****. The gigs were diabolical, the roads were diabolical. Now you've got roads and you feel like you're floating. And every venue's a dream. And you think hang on, we're being shown what to do by the French."
Laughs.
"Think about that, Britain!"
While the Arena gets a kicking he's quite a fan of the Royal Concert Hall.
"A couple of years ago we were playing there and we had to come off early because we could smell this burning. We had this hydraulic lift that takes the floor up and down and the front row were sinking. This hydraulic thing had given out and they were panicking in case they lost the punters down the hole.
"But I do like that place."
The tour goes into next year then there's a short break before they head off on their annual jaunt playing in the open air during the summer.
When he gets time off, Rossi admits he'll indulge in a week of slumming it at home then he'll be back to the studio.
But he's not a workaholic, more likely filling in the hours that years ago were spent in a haze of drugs and alcohol.
He's long since been clean of both.
"I can't do drugs or alcohol," says Rossi, who will turn 60 next year.
"When you read in the papers 'my son was led into drugs by hash...' Hash never led me anywhere. Except indoors. Whereas coke or alcohol got me going out. The alcohol balanced the coke. I left one of my girlfriends, the mother of one of my daughters... I would still have been with her if I hadn't been drinking because drinking made me jack the lad.
"I blame alcohol for more things than most people do."
For the tour and the CD Pictures: 40 Years of Hits, the usual promotional tools were put in place – the CD comes as either a four-disc EarBook, a three-disc edition with DVD and rarities, a two-disc CD, a USB, download and vinyl. But nothing gave the band as much publicity as the story of the Francis Rossi lookalike who duped Dover councillors.
The man, calling himself Graham, enjoyed months of being treated to VIP meals and rides in the Mayor's limousine with a promise that he'd perform at the Dover Festival with his buddies Sir Paul McCartney, Charlotte Church, and Queen's Brian May.
He even serenaded people with the Quo hit Rockin' All Over The World – but refused to play the guitar, blaming arthritis.
"How would you feel if somebody that looked like that... he's ten years older than me, has a tash and looks nothing like me!" laughs Rossi.
"Charming, isn't it? Relatives are phoning me up saying 'are you going to introduce me to this twin of yours?'
"It's a blinding yarn and we couldn't have got that kind of PR if we'd have tried."

Status Quo, supported by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Arena, Friday December 19

Duffy, Jongleurs

November 19 2008


WHILE the Christmas lights were coming on in the Old Market Square, the alarms were going off at Jongleurs.
It was this that delayed the arrival of Duffy for her 'secret' gig, as the Castle Wharf club was evacuated.
It was, admitted the Welsh diva, the result of her burning incense in her dressing room.
"At first they thought it was because I was smoking," she quipped.
The 50-minute set, part of Trent FM's Live At The Local annual gig, steadily gathered pace as she ran through most of her debut No.1 album Rockferry.
She was comfortable opening softly, with a gospel song accompanied only by her guitarist. The title track was the first song familiar to the casual Duffy fan and prompted the odd sway n singalong.
But what was apparent far too early was the noise from the crowd. The 400 or so competition winners, who'd been given free access to an intimate audience with a singer who'll be on tour from next week playing venues the size of the Royal Concert Hall, seemed otherwise engaged. Chatting with each other as if they were, indeed, down their local with the inconvenience of a live band in the corner.
They'd closed the bar to keep levels down during her set but it had little effect.
She began to tell the story of how the hit Stepping Stone came about but was drowned out by some yawping females. I couldn't make out what was said exactly but Duffy responded by assuring them that despite the Dusty Springfield comparisons she wasn't "a lesbian" – and they'd have "to fight amongst yourselves."
And those that weren't talking were watching the gig through their mobile phones.
Baffling.
It was a shame as Duffy is a real talent, able to effortlessly handle the shift from seductive jazz (Hanging On Too Long) to 60s soul (Mercy) and tormented ballads (Breaking My Own Heart, a taster from her next album).
She and her six-piece band seemed to be enjoying themselves at least, grinning throughout, joking about her pleasure in the fireman's lift out of the venue during the evacuation and a past gig in Nottingham that she had to play by candlelight.
Maybe being in a comedy club had lightened her spirits. and it has to be said, it's a great venue for live music.
But there's something to be said for charging an audience to see a show. At least if they've committed with their cash they'll pay more attention.

Katie Melua

October 2008



TAKE no notice of the teachers, kids – swearing is big AND clever.
Just ask Katie (fuppin') Melua.
We were having a proper lovely chat about helicopters and old music and the awful 80s when she started injecting sentences with expletives.
It's not the sort of language one would expect from such an angelic face. And it belies the sweetly pretty pop 'n' jazz hybrid that mums and grannies have bought in their millions – making Katie Melua Britain's biggest-selling female for three years running.
We catch up in Norway on a tour that seems to have been going on all year.
"The amount of travelling that you do I think it would be too maddening to try and see everything in every city," says the 24-year-old of the frustrations of travelling the world but taking in few sights.
She doesn't stay in hotels getting battered, either.
"Sometimes I'll try and go out for a walk."
Or she'll play with her helicopter.
"We've got this thing on tour where we've all got remote control helicopters. When you play those big stadiums you've got such a huge space that it's a perfect place to fly them."
Either that or she'll have lunch with her band mates, who are all old boys with a rock'n'roll pedigree that includes playing with some of the world's biggest names.
"I'm (fuppin') like in awe of the people I get to play with every night," she says.
"Henry Spinetti who's the drummer, he's played with like Dylan and David Bowie and ... (fup) who else?... Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton."
Do you get them to tell a few stories?
"Oh my God, yeah, it's (fuppin') amazing, like, the sort of (ship) that you hear is so cool. Not only from the band but also from like the crew and stuff. They have some great, funny stories. And you find out stuff that's just hilarious and shocking and wonderful."
So you're one of the boys on the road?
"Oh yeah, definitely. But I'm one of the boys most of the time actually. I'm pretty sort of...what's the word?...tomboyish."
Common.
"Sorry? Common? Well, I suppose."
It fits that Katie Melua is surrounded by old-school players, having a real passion for classic folk, jazz and blues, something she picked up while at the Brit School.
Does she think that perhaps she was born too late?
"I used to. I used to be really nostalgic about the 60s and 70s but now I've become so happy with the time that I was born. I'm absolutely fascinated with the internet. It's probably the biggest cultural development in humanity in my generation. Ultimately it's a whole other world. I do love the fact that I can read a blog written by an Iraqi woman. Being able to access so many people around the world."
When I was your age there were no computers.
"Well I remember when mobiles first came in and now you can't live without them."
We also get nostalgic for the 80s. Or rather anti-nostalgic.
"I'm glad I've found someone else that hates the 80s," she says after we rant about manufactured pop and grotesque hair styles.
"I hate it with a vengeance. It seemed like the most controlling and stiff period. Everyone loved the sort of money man.
"This revival of the 80s is freaking me out a little bit."
Not that she had to live through it. Born in 1983, Katie Melua missed that nightmare. Particularly as for the first eight years she was in Georgia. Led by her heart surgeon dad, the Meluas moved to Belfast in 1991 then South East London where, after her GCSEs, she enrolled at the Brit School for Performing Arts.
During this period she met Wombles creator and songwriter/producer Mike Batt and so began a working relationship that resulted in three worldwide No. 1 albums, gigs in front of Nelson Mandela and the Queen and becoming Britain's biggest female music export.
So now she's cracked music, are there plans to act or write?
"I don't think I've cracked music at all – are you serious?
"OK, maybe I've cracked it in terms of record sales but I hope I don't sound (fuppin') pretentious but I really feel like I've only just begun."
She adds: "I will only feel I've cracked it if I feel I'm ever on the same level as Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen."
Melua is aware that Batt had a hand in writing and producing some of her biggest songs and realises there's a lot of room for personal development.
Particularly as they are no longer writing together.
"We knew it was the last album we would write together," she says of Pictures.
"Being the age that I am, I feel I need to go and further explore my identity as an artist, and Mike has other projects he wants to do, too."
She admits: "Going off and doing it on my own is going to be pretty challenging and a bit scary."
Hell (fuppin') yeah.

Katie Melua appears at the Trent FM Arena on Wednesday October 29, supported by Andrea McEwan.