STEWART LEE VS THE MAN-WULF – LONDON SOUTH BANK ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL DATES, 5TH-13TH JULY 2025, ON SALE
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/stewart-lee-vs-the-man-wulf/

Dear fans!

I hope you are all well. I have been as unwell as I have been for about a decade and spent much of October in bed hallucinating and hot. I lost weeks of try-outs for the new show, but a terrible odd thing happened to me involving a form of identity fraud that will be great material.

Has anyone seen Charlie Cooper’s Myth Country on BBC3? It is a terrible wasted opportunity to make a great show about a wonderful subject, as if someone has given Paul Whitehouse’s “That’s brilliant!” character from the Fast Show a copy of the Readers’ Digest Book of Folklore and then had the results edited by and for gnats on cocaine with ADHD.

Why not order the Weird Walk book, newly nominated for a Kathrine Briggs Book Award (!), and with an intro by me, or the WW ‘zines which cover many of the same subjects (I wrote for issues 4 and 5), or visit the WW website see this concept approached with taste, intelligence, dry humour, love and dignity. https://www.weirdwalk.co.uk

Weird Walk has also flung together this female-fronted acid-folk event, hosted by me, at Earth in Hackney on Oct 29th, called Samhain Ritual, and featuring prog-folk-garage weirdoes The New Eves, dancing dames Boss Morris, Daisy Rickman and Wicker Man modernists The Goblin Band, but it’s sold out now muthafuckas!
https://earthackney.co.uk/events/weird-walk-presents-samhain-ritual-29th-oct-earth-london-tickets-pyyo3l/

1) VOTE IN THE NATIONAL TRUST A G M 2ND NOVEMBER

This may seem a strange start to a comedian’s newsletter, but just because the government has changed ongoing attempts by sinister organisations and individuals to infiltrate and influence our cultural and educational institutions have not ended. Every year a mysteriously funded, Tufton St associated astroturfed, fake grass roots pressure group called, plausibly, Restore Trust tries to get its candidates onto the board of the National Trust. Their previous candidates have included the ‘Reverend’ Stephen Green, the homophobic far right evangelical who attempted to close down Jerry Springer The Opera. The group enjoys the support of Nigel Farage and Jacob Rees-Mogg and benefits from sympathetic, if often inaccurate and legally actionable, pieces in The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail etc.

If Restore Trust get control of board of the National Trust they could free up – for God knows what use – land and property and artwork that has been held in trust on our behalf since the 19th c. We don’t know exactly what they want because, typically of Tufton St affilliated groups, they won’t say who funds them.

So if you are a National Trust member you MUST VOTE for the National Trust’s recommended candidates by Nov 2nd (online below), and of you are not maybe join and vote to protect our environment, our inheritance and our history from those who would repurpose such things for their own financial and political ends. You’ve seen what these people did to the BBC.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/annual-general-meeting/how-to-vote-in-your-agm

2) I E A / GOOD LAW PROJECT

If you follow the news you will know that Tufton St shadow-funded lobbyists The Institute of Economic Affairs have their evil tentacles into everything, and yet are inexplicably still deemed a charity by the Charity Commission. One of their leadership team, Neil Record, who funded and housed Kemi Badenoch’s Tory leadership bid, even helped set up Restore Trust, the group attempting to destabilise the National Trust (above). Wheels within wheels. Help Good Law Project shine a light on this. https://goodlawproject.org/update/regulator-reopens-complaint-against-institute-of-economic-affairs/

3) GO FUND MATTHEW SWEET WHO HAS HAD A STROKE IN AMERICA

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-matthew-sweets-stroke-recovery
Matthew Sweet’s 1991 album Girlfriend is an all-time ***** power-pop classic, and the Brian-Wilson-in-a-sandpit style genius has spent the last three and a half decades refining its template until being hit by a stroke last month. This being America the itinerant self-employed artist is of course utterly fucked fincancially, and in 2009 the mighty Vic Chesnutt, for example, took his own life at 45 after being deemed “uninsurable due to his quadriplegia, and $50,000 in debt for his medical bills.” This is why we can’t let The Institute of Economic Affairs (above) lobby to privatise our NHS to profit their paymasters, and why, if you’ve ever loved Girlfriend or any of Sweet’s output, or if you’re just hearing about it now, you should bung him some dosh. Here he is on bass (as Sid Belvedere) with his collaborator Susanna Hoffs on guitar in the closing credits of Austin Powers parodying, perfectly, an American idea of British 60s psyche-pop. Oddly I have just discovered I am related to Liz Hurley, so it’s a good job I turned her down when she was stalking me in the ‘90s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HF3x67VK9o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek2-rQpOAv8
Here’s Ming Tea’s second outing, in which you can see Queen impersonator Jeanette Charles, who was really rude to me when I was on a gig with her in the early 00’s in a pub in London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN6MxLYB8hM
And here’s a highpoint from Sweet’s past proper, the Girlfriend video w Japanese sci-fi animation and Television’s Richard Lloyd on lead guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n12OBlcHx9E
Here’s a lovely live one, with Lloyd again on the right
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipMWruDIscY

4) TALES OF THE WEIRD BRITISH LIBRARY NOV 2ND

https://thebritishlibraryculturalevents.seetickets.com/event/tales-of-the-weird-an-autumnal-festival/british-library/3154227
I’m hosting an event with the novelists Daisy Johnson and Andrew Michael Hurley as part of this folk-horror lit fest at the British Library on Nov 2nd
There’s loads of great people on – look. Returns may be available.

“Our remarkable line up of speakers includes some of the most exciting names in UK writing. Folk horror worlds are unearthed by Andrew Michael Hurley, introducing his new novel Barrowbeck, and Daisy Johnson, whose latest, Hotel, set on a possessed plot of land, is the successor to the uncanny classics Fen and Sisters. They are in conversation with weird fiction aficionado, comedian and writer Stewart Lee. Weird bodies and more are explored by Eliza Clark (Boy Parts, Penance and new collection She’s Always Hungry) and Lottie Mills (Monstrum), hosted by Julia Armfield(Our Wives Under the Sea, Private Rites). Our closing panel sees special guests including Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentlemen, Inside No.9), film director and screenwriter Peter Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio, The Duke of Burgundy) and writer AK Benedict (The Beauty of Murder, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts) join Johnny Mains on a journey into their weird fiction favourites. Plus unveilings of the latest British Library Tales of the Weird editions Deadly Dolls and Halloweird introduced by Elizabeth Dearnley and Johnny Mains respectively, and many strange goings on throughout the day featuring unsettling dance, clowning, puppetry, drag, and immersive theatre! The day begins with an insight into the British Library Tales of the Weird series, as cultural historian and writer Travis Elborough talks to Elizabeth Dearnley and Johnny Mains, the editors of latest releases Deadly Dolls and Halloweird, and series editor Jonny Davidson.”

5) BEVIS FROND FILM, LONDON DALSTON RIO NOV 3rd

Rob Curry and Tim Pleister (Way Of The Morris, The Ballad of Shirley Collins) are in the process of making a charming film about a day in the life of the enduring septuagenarian British legend of psychedelia Nick Saloman, of the group Bevis Frond, Little Eden, which may or may not be finished.
I will be hosting a screening, and the group will play a rare acoustic set, on Sunday Nov 3^rd at 5pm at the Rio Dalston in London. There is also another screening and acoustic set, but without me kakking on, the next day in Brighton at the Duke of York’s cinema at 6.15pm

https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/little-eden-the-bevis-frond/.

6) SO WATT! LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL FILM SHOW NOV 16TH

So Watt: Jazz and Improvisation on British TV Jazz on Screen Sat 16 Nov 2024, 14:30, BARBICAN, LONDON Cinema 2. Diving into the British TV archives of the 70s!

Stewart Lee (Host): Lee’s passion for the genre ensures a thoughtful exploration of the themes and historical context behind these films.

Maggie Nicols (Special Guest): Celebrated jazz vocalist and improviser Nicols has been a prominent figure in the British jazz scene for decades.

Ian Greaves (Co-Curator) is a writer and researcher whose books include edited collections of the work of Dennis Potter, Jonathan Miller and Ivor Cutler.

Open Door: Musicians’ Action Group (1974) is introduced by the inimitable Spike Milligan and features rare footage of The Tony Oxley Unit, Stan Tracey, Norma Winstone and Maggie Nicols. Aquarius: Sounds Amazing (1975) features saxophonist Evan Parker, percussionist Paul Lytton, Max Eastley, David Toop, and Hugh Davies.  There will also be the earliest known footage of Derek Bailey performing for Omnibus (1973). And Richard Williams speaking to Ornette Coleman on an early edition of The Old Grey Whistle Test (1972).

https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2024/event/jazz-on-screen-so-watt-jazz-and-improvisation-on-british

7) OXIDE GHOSTS AT FINSBURY PARK NOV 21^ST

Michael Cumming’s Oxide Ghosts, a blurred documentary about Chris Morris’ Brass Eye, is on the road again. Michael and I are both appearing at the 21^st Nov event in Finsbury Park, London. Other dates, and other guests, are available

OCTOBER

28 LONDON – CROUCH END PICTUREHOUSE
29 LONDON – EALING PICTUREHOUSE
30 LONDON – CLAPHAM PICTUREHOUSE+HOST: RICH FULCHER
31 LONDON – THE GATE, NOTTING HILL

NOVEMBER

1 EPSOM – PICTUREHOUSE
2 BRIGHTON – DUKE’S AT KOMEDIA
3 WORTHING – CONNAUGHT
6 LONDON – EAST DULWICH PICTUREHOUSE
7 OXFORD – PHOENIX+HOST: RONNIE ANCONA
8 BIRMINGHAM – MAC
9 CHESTER – PICTUREHOUSE
9 LIVERPOOL – FACT
10 MANCHESTER – CULTPLEX
12 LANCASTER – DUKES
13 KENDAL – BREWERY ARTS+HOST: LOU GEORGE
16 YORK – CITY SCREEN
17 NEWCASTLE – THE STAND+HOST: ANDY DAWSON
18 GLASGOW – THE STAND+HOST: STEVEN DICK
19 EDINBURGH – CAMEO
21 LONDON – FINSBURY PK PICTUREHOUSE+HOST: STEWART LEE
22 LONDON – GREENWICH  PICTUREHOUSE
23 CAMBRIDGE – ARTS CINEMA
25 LONDON – CHISWICK CINEMA+HOST: JONATHAN MAITLAND
26 LONDON – BRIXTON RITZY
27 LONDON – HACKNEY PICTUREHOUSE

8) BASIC LEE IS ON NOW TV

https://www.nowtv.com/ie/watch/entertainment/collections/ultimate-comedy/asset/stewart-lee-basic-lee…/A5EK6949itCVNKaChrDXN

You’ll have to subscribe though.

This review of the TV version, by the cartoonist David Waywell, is what I hoped people would say about it. https://eandtbooks.com/authors/david-waywell/

“Reviewing a new Stewart Lee show is the easiest work in the world if your audience already knows who Lee is and what he does. Then you just stand by the side of the road, maybe dressed in the uniform of the typical Stewart Lee fan (all London media-hipster-type denim waistcoat and caramel twill rollups, topped with a herringbone baker boy) and you point the traveller in the right direction (Basic Leenow streaming on Sky Comedy until 24th August).You can also reassure them and say it’s “more of the usual” and, in that smug way that all true fans of Lee are said to display, give them a knowing wink and say it’s fearsome stuff and blisteringly good.

But if your audience doesn’t know Lee, then the work becomes more difficult…

You begin by mumbling “Lee is kind of like… but nothing like…”

Daniel Kitson and Simon Munnery are widely cited as his main similarities but it’s also Tony Hancock’s pathos with a dash of Steve Martin’s eclectic brilliance; the misanthropy of George Carlin with a hint of Don Rickles willingness to jump off the stage and pick a fight. Then again, it’s nothing like that. Lee is uniquely Lee; the beats are familiar but the paths taken on his long rambles are entirely his own.

Basic Lee is Lee’s attempt to return to pure standup after some higher concept (and more expensive) shows, including his last (Snowflake/Tornado) which involved a large shark’s head. He presents an argument about the evolving nature of standup comedy, starting with the oldest material he’d written, and working his way to the present day. But that’s not really “the show”.

Skim the surface and you might describe the show as a series of encounters between Lee and his audience. What you don’t get are jokes or punchlines, or, certainly, not in the traditional sense. Jokes are there but delivered as if through a meat grinder. It’s up to you to pick the bones from the gristle.

The fun is in the asides, the digressions, and the continual baiting of the audience. “It’s like jazz,” says Lee at one point, adopting the voice of those insufferable types who constantly whine on about how watching Stewart Lee is like listening to jazz.

But it is like listening to jazz. He plays with motifs and form, and then, just in case you missed the influence, riffs on the history of jazz. We should only be thankful that he doesn’t break out a trombone and give us a 20-minute exploration of the Phrygian Minor scale (maybe on his next tour when he promises to adopt a Wolfman mask).

Gary Winogrand, the great(est) American street photographer, once said, “I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed”. With Lee, you sense he’s performing material to see what it looks like when performed as standup. He constantly talks about himself doing standup; reminding us thatThe Timesonce described him as “the world’s greatest living stand-up comedian”. He talks about the role he’s played in popularising long-form stand-up and delivers a particularly biting (but fair) verdict on Phoebe Waller Bridge’s breaking of the fourth wall inFleabag. Yet Lee draws back how insufferably egotistical this would be by leaning into the insufferable character he’s playing.

This gives rise to the tension underlying the drama on stage; that of an artist trying to create art inside a genre unaccustomed to art and against an audience hostile to the entire venture. It’s tightly crafted, even as it often feels like it’s falling apart. At one point, he liberally takes the old Pagliacci joke, made most famous by its appearance in Alan Moore’sWatchman, and offers it as his own. It’s theft but I’m constantly reminded of Lewis Hyde’s seminal book on the nature of disruptive imagination,Trickster Makes This World. “Trickster isn’t a run-of-the mill liar and thief. When he lies and steals, it isn’t so much to get away with something or get rich as to disturb the established categories of truth and property and, by so doing, open the road to possible new worlds.”

At which point, I can hear Lee’s voice pointing out that only “another monotonous, passive-aggressive man” would reference a little-known book on anthropology to recommend a standup special.

But that’s just it. To love Lee’s work is to loathe yourself for enjoying comedy pulled apart so you can see how it’s done. I am that monotonous passive-aggressive man. Why the hell can’t I just enjoy jokes? Why can’t I just go see Tim Vine, like everybody else?

I saw “Basic Lee” four times on tour, proving (as if this needs proof) that I am that insufferable bore. I can explain why each one was so very different. I first saw it at the start of the run, in the Leicester Square Theatre in Soho. Lee had just broken his foot and hobbled around the stage with a large protective boot on his foot. He kept wincing in pain, which lent the show pathos. That night he thanked the audience for helping make it the best show of the run (to that point). I saw it again once again in Salford, and twice in Liverpool, including the show that Lee would claim to have been his worst.

From my place in the audience, ranging from the front row to almost the back row, the standard never dipped. Some nights, Lee extemporised more than he would on other nights, but it was never easy to spot which bits were new. “That bit normally doesn’t get a laugh,” he’ll say, though, of course, that bit always got a laugh.

The version ofBasic Leenow showing on Sky Comedy is perhaps the purest distillation of the run’s material. It also adopts a few of his familiar tricks you might know from his TV series and other specials, especially the commentary he addresses straight to camera. It’s another of the things he does so well, creating a paratext to the main text; asides functioning like footnotes and adding another layer of abstraction to the entire proceeding.

And, still, none of that really explains Lee, which is why his comedy is worth return visits. Compared to many stand-ups who play familiar games (“blah, blah, rhythm of a joke” as Lee puts it), Lee deliberately places himself on the edge between success and failure. But even writing that is to borrow from Lee, who mocks those of us who point out that it’s best when it’s failing. But that’s why Stewart Lee remains a paradox. The closer you get to enjoying his work, the more he pushes you away; the more you loathe his work, the more he wants to draw you closer.

See if you’re on the inside or the outside of his comedy on Sky Comedy.”

9) STEWART LEE VS THE MAN-WULF

John Mackay & Sally Homer, in association with Debi Allen/Curtis Brown present
STEWART LEE vs THE MAN-WULF BRAND NEW SHOW
LEICESTER SQUARE THEATRE, LONDON

3^rd December 2024 – 17^th January 2025
AND UK TOURING THROUGHOUT 2025

NB: TICKETS FOR THESE SHOWS WILL REMAIN AT THE ADVERTISED PRICE. SURGE PRICING IS IMMORAL AND TICKETMASTER AND OASIS ARE WANKERS, ENCOURAGED BY SUCCESSIVE TORY CULTURE SECRETARIES IN THEIR CRIMINAL ENDEAVOURS.

In this brand-new show, Lee shares his stage with a tough-talking werewolf comedian who hates humanity. The Man-Wulf lays down a ferocious comedy challenge to the culturally irrelevant and physically enfeebled Lee. Can the beast inside us all be silenced with the silver bullet of Lee’s unprecedentedly critically acclaimed style of stand-up.

Opening at Leicester Square Theatre in December 2024 the new show will tour to UK cities throughout 2025.

Leicester Sq Theatre, London 3^rd Dec 2024 – 17^th Jan 2025 7pm, except for 6pm and 8.30 pm Sat 4^th Jan.
0207 734 2222 www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

STEWART LEE vs THE MAN-WULF 2025 TOUR SCHEDULE

January 2025

Sunday 19th January 2025 – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton – TICKETS
Monday 20th January 2025 – Dorking Halls, Dorking – TICKETS
Tuesday 21st January 2025 – Dorking Halls, Dorking – TICKETS
Wednesday 22nd January 2025 – The Alban Arena, St. Albans – TICKETS
Thursday 23rd January 2025 – The Alban Arena, St. Albans – TICKETS
Friday 24th January 2025 – Symphony Hall, Birmingham – TICKETS
Saturday 25th January 2025 – Symphony Hall, Birmingham – TICKETS
Sunday 26th January 2025 – Symphony Hall, Birmingham – TICKETS
Tuesday 28th January 2025 – Theatre Royal, York – TICKETS
Wednesday 29th January 2025 – Theatre Royal, York – TICKETS
Thursday 30th January 2025 – Theatre Royal, York – TICKETS
Friday 31st January 2025 – Theatre Royal, York – TICKETS

February 2025

Saturday 1st February 2025 – Theatre Royal, York – TICKETS
Monday 3rd February 2025 – Playhouse, Oxford – TICKETS
Tuesday 4th February 2025 – Playhouse, Oxford – TICKETS
Wednesday 5th February 2025 – Playhouse, Oxford – TICKETS
Thursday 6th February 2025 – Playhouse, Oxford – TICKETS
Friday 7th February 2025 – Playhouse, Oxford – TICKETS
Saturday 8th February 2025 – Playhouse, Oxford – TICKETS
Monday 10th February 2025 – The Marlowe, Canterbury – TICKETS
Wednesday 12th February 2025 – Chelmsford Theatre, Chelmsford – TICKETS
Thursday 13th February 2025 – De Montfort Hall, Leicester – TICKETS
Friday 14th February 2025 – De Montfort Hall, Leicester – TICKETS
Saturday 15th February 2025 – Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe – TICKETS
Sunday 16th February 2025 – Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe – TICKETS
Tuesday 18th February 2025 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS
Wednesday 19th February 2025 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS
Thursday 20th February 2025 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS
Friday 21st February 2025 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS
Saturday 22nd February 2025 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS

April 2025

Tuesday 1st April 2025 – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – TICKETS
Wednesday 2nd April 2025 – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – TICKETS
Thursday 3rd April 2025 – New Theatre, Peterborough – TICKETS
Friday 4th April 2025 – Palace Theatre, Southend – TICKETS
Saturday 5th April 2025 – Palace Theatre, Southend – TICKETS
Sunday 6th April 2025 – Palace Theatre, Southend – TICKETS
Tuesday 22nd April 2025 – Royal & Derngate, Northampton – TICKETS
Wednesday 23rd April 2025 – Royal & Derngate, Northampton – TICKETS
Monday 28th April 2025 – Playhouse, Nottingham – TICKETS
Tuesday 29th April 2025 – Playhouse, Nottingham – TICKETS
Wednesday 30th April 2025 – Playhouse, Nottingham – TICKETS

May 2025

Thursday 1st May 2025 – Playhouse, Nottingham – TICKETS
Tuesday 6th May 2025 – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool – TICKETS
Wednesday 7th May 2025 – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool – TICKETS
Thursday 8th May 2025 – Playhouse, Leeds – TICKETS
Friday 9th May 2025 – Playhouse, Leeds – TICKETS
Saturday 10th May 2025 – Playhouse, Leeds – TICKETS
Monday 12th May 2025 – Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton – TICKETS
Thursday 15th May 2025 – King’s Theatre, Portsmouth – TICKETS
Friday 16th May 2025 – The Forum, Bath – TICKETS

July 2025

Saturday 5th July 2025 – Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London – TICKETS
Sunday 6th July 2025 – Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London – TICKETS
Sunday 6th July 2025 – Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London – TICKETS
Saturday 12th July 2025 – Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London – TICKETS
Sunday 13th July 2025 – Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London – TICKETS
Sunday 13th July 2025 – Royal Festival Hall, Southbank, London – TICKETS

September 2025

Monday 8th September 2025 – Lighthouse, Poole – TICKETS
Tuesday 9th September 2025 – Lighthouse, Poole – TICKETS
Wednesday 10th September 2025 – Hall For Cornwall, Truro – TICKETS
Thursday 11th September 2025 – Northcott Theatre, Exeter – ON SALE SOON
Friday 12th September 2025 – Northcott Theatre, Exeter – ON SALE SOON
Saturday 13th September 2025 – Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil – ON SALE SOON
Sunday 14th September 2025 – Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil – ON SALE SOON
Tuesday 16th September 2025 – New Theatre, Cardiff – TICKETS
Wednesday 17th September 2025 – New Theatre, Cardiff – TICKETS
Thursday 18th September 2025 – New Theatre, Cardiff – TICKETS
Friday 19th September 2025 – New Theatre, Cardiff – TICKETS
Saturday 20th September 2025 – New Theatre, Cardiff – TICKETS
Wednesday 24th September 2025 – Hippodrome, Darlington – TICKETS
Thursday 25th September 2025 – Gala, Durham – ON SALE SOON
Friday 26th September 2025 – Theatre Royal, Glasgow – TICKETS
Saturday 27th September 2025 – Playhouse, Edinburgh – TICKETS
Sunday 28th September 2025 – His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen – ON SALE SOON

October 2025

Tuesday 7th October 2025 – Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes – TICKETS
Wednesday 8th October 2025 – Milton Keynes Theatre, Milton Keynes – TICKETS
Wednesday 15th October 2025 – Grand Theatre, Swansea – ON SALE SOON
Thursday 16th October 2025 – Grand Theatre, Swansea – ON SALE SOON
Friday 17th October 2025 – Bristol Beacon, Bristol – TICKETS
Saturday 18th October 2025 – Bristol Beacon, Bristol – TICKETS
Tuesday 21st October 2025 – Storyhouse, Chester – TICKETS
Wednesday 22nd October 2025 – Storyhouse, Chester – TICKETS
Thursday 23rd October 2025 – Opera House, Buxton – TICKETS
Friday 24th October 2025 – Opera House, Buxton – TICKETS
Wednesday 29th October 2025 – Cast, Doncaster – ON SALE SOON
Thursday 30th October 2025 – Cast, Doncaster – ON SALE SOON
Friday 31st October 2025 – Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate – TICKETS

November 2025

Saturday 1st November 2025 – Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate – TICKETS
Sunday 2nd November 2025 – Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate – TICKETS
Monday 3rd November 2025 – Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle Upon Tyne – TICKETS
Tuesday 4th November 2025 – Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle Upon Tyne – TICKETS
Tuesday 11th November 2025 – Brighton Dome, Brighton – TICKETS
Wednesday 12th November 2025 – Brighton Dome, Brighton – TICKETS
Thursday 13th November 2025 – Brighton Dome, Brighton – TICKETS
Friday 14th November 2025 – Brighton Dome, Brighton – TICKETS
Saturday 15th November 2025 – Brighton Dome, Brighton – TICKETS
Monday 17th November 2025 – Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – TICKETS
Tuesday 18th November 2025 – Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – TICKETS
Wednesday 19th November 2025 – Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – TICKETS

10) SNOWFLAKE/TORNADO

Stewart’s 2019 touring show Snowflake/Tornado, which was originally broadcast as a BBC Special in Autumn 2023 is now available to buy or rent “on demand” from www.mediagarageproductions.com

Both shows also appear to be free as part of the current Amazon Prime rosta.  Hopefully I can give them a physical release at some point so you are slaves to the whims of licensing but you know what it’s like. These days.

11) FESTIVAL SETS 2025

24th May 2025 Bearded Theory, Derbyshire Iggy Pop, The Manics, Thee Sisters O’ Mercy, Yard Act, Left Field, Throwing Muses, The Selecter, The Lovely Lovely Eggs, my pals Asian Dub Foundation, Cool distaff Japanese Ramones Shonen Knife, Beans on Toast, dub legends Zion Train, Angeline Morrison, Miki Berenyi from The Lushes and more TBA.
www.beardedtheory.co.uk

12) I ARROGANTLY RECOMMEND SOME HAPPENINGS

VICTORIAN RADICALS – BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS & ART GALLERY, UNTIL DEC 23RD 2024 AT LEAST
https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/exhibitions/victorian-radicals
Three generations of British artists, designers and makers revolutionised the visual arts in the second half of the nineteenth century. The Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris and his circle and the men and women of the Arts and Crafts movement transformed art and design.

VANESSA BELL – MILTON KEYNES GALLERY – 23rd Feb 2025
A World Of Form And Colour. Thorough retrospective on the hot Bloomsbury freak. Vanessa Bell (1879–1961) was a pioneering modernist painter and founding member of the Bloomsbury Group, a circle of influential English artists, writers and intellectuals in the first half of the twentieth century. This exhibition – her largest-ever solo show – provides an in-depth overview that includes drawings, paintings, ceramics and furniture. Bell’s pioneering work was at the forefront of British abstraction. At the same time, she helped to create conditions in which artists, including women, could flourish. This involved organising the ‘Friday Club’ for artists to meet and co-founding the experimental design collective, Omega Workshops. Collaboration formed an essential part of Bell’s approach to art, including with her sister, the writer Virginia Woolf, and the artist Duncan Grant. https://mkgallery.org/event/vanessa-bell/

SCENT AND THE ART OF THE PRE-RAPHAELITES – BIRMINGHAM BARBER INSTITUTE UNTIL JANUARY 26TH
https://barber.org.uk/scent-and-pre-raphaelites/
Scent is a key motif in paintings by the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic movements. Fragrance is visually suggested in images of daydreaming figures smelling flowers or burning incense, enhancing the sensory aura of ‘art for art’s sake’. Scent was also implied in Victorian painting to evoke hedonism – pleasure in exquisite sensations – and a preoccupation with beauty; or to reflect the Victorian vogue for synaesthesia (evoking one sense through another) and the penchant for art, like scent, to evoke moods and emotions.

EVELYN DE MORGAN – W’HAMPTON ART GALLERY – 9th MARCH 2005
https://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/whats-on/edm/
Stew says, “This late Victorian visionary’s work can come across a bit Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ™ ®, but that probably tell us more about how she anticipated, or even influenced, the populist art of the future. I have a real soft spot for her. Her partner William De Morgan, initially of Stoke Newington, was also a proto-science fiction author, and ceramicist, whose decorative tiles pop up in the oddest places – there may be some in a once swanky pub near you. Anyway, the last time EDM had her own exhibition was 1907 so get on down, and get some lovely Gray Pays & Bacon from the Great Western Pub by W’hampton Station while you are at it”

They says, “Featuring thirty artworks, Painted Dreams reveals De Morgan’s progression as an artist and her technical mastery as one of the most impressive artists of the late Victorian era. Discover De Morgan’s exploration of challenging subjects and painterly responses to enduring social and political issues of the day, such as feminism, inequality, war and pacifism. Painted Dreams revisits the historic 1907 show, reuniting several of De Morgan’s most significant works in Wolverhampton. The original exhibition was a remarkable achievement, challenging Victorian prejudices and the notion that being a professional artist was a male occupation and unsuitable for a woman of De Morgan’s class. Her ability to layer contemporary issues into mythological tales was well received, with one reviewer for the Wolverhampton Express and Star describing the pictures as ‘painted dreams’. Painted Dreams presents De Morgan as a pioneering artist who explored new, challenging subjects that delved into the fundamentals of human existence. The artworks are displayed in chronological order to show the progression of De Morgan’s talent as an artist and demonstrate her painterly responses to enduring social and political issues of the day, such as feminism and inequality, mental health and the impact of war. By recreating De Morgan’s 1907 solo show as faithfully as possible, Painted Dreams highlights a career that has been historically overshadowed by her male contemporaries. The exhibition is curated by Sarah Hardy, Director of the De Morgan Museum, and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The exhibition is a partnership between the De Morgan Foundation and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The Gallery is funded by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation, and City of Wolverhampton Council.”

There are special Evelyn events at the gallery all day on 30th Nov

ALFIE BROWN
The very good stand-up comedian Alfie Brown tours his OPEN HEARTED HUMAN ENQUIRYshow. alfiebrowncomedian.com

SEPTEMBER

WED 18, 8PM, NORWICH, Arts Centre, 01603 660352, norwichartscentre.co.uk
FRI 20, 7.30PM, CHESTER, Storyhouse, Garret Theatre, 01244 409 113, storyhouse.com
SAT 21, 7.30PM, CAMBRIDGE, Cambridge Junction, 01223 511 511, junction.co.uk
WED 25, 7.30PM, CHELMSFORD, Chelmsford Theatre Studio, 01245 606 505, chelmsfordtheatre.co.uk
THU 26, 7.30PM, WORCESTER, Huntingdon Hall, 01905 611 427, worcestertheatres.co.uk
FRI 27, 7.30PM, TAUNTON, Brewhouse, 01823 283 244, tauntonbrewhouse.co.uk
SAT 28, 8PM, FALMOUTH, The Poly Theatre, 01326 319461, thepoly.org

OCTOBER

TUE 29, 7PM, READING, Just the Tonic, 020 3740 3700, justthetonic.com/reading-comedy/
WED 30, 8PM, BRISTOL, Hen and Chicken, 01275 375 056, henandchicken.com

NOVEMBER

FRI 1, 7.30PM, HARPENDEN, The Eric Morecambe Centre, 01582 767525, the-emc.co.uk
WED 6, 7.30PM, SHREWSBURY, Theatre Severn, Walker Theatre, 01743 281281, theatresevern.co.uk
THU 7, 8.30PM, NOTTINGHAM, Canalhouse, ncfcomedy.co.uk
FRI 22, 7PM, ABERDEEN, Lemon Tree, 01224 641122, aberdeenperformingarts.com
SAT 23, 4PM, GLASGOW, The Stand, 0141 212 3389, thestand.co.uk
SUN 24, 8.30PM, EDINBURGH, Monkey Barrel Comedy, monkeybarrelcomedy.com
MON 25, 8.30PM, NEWCASTLE, The Stand, 0191 232 0707, thestand.co.uk

DECEMBER

FRI 6 & SAT 7, 9.30PM, LONDON, Leicester Square Theatre, 020 7734 2222, leicestersquaretheatre.com
SUN 8, 8PM, NORTHAMPTON, Filmhouse, 01604 624811, royalandderngate.co.uk
SAT 14, 9.30PM, LONDON, Leicester Square Theatre, 020 7734 2222, leicestersquaretheatre.com

MARK RADCLIFFE AND MARC RILEY LIVE Slack muthafuckas shoot the breeze in November
3rd Shrewsbury Severn
5th Crewe Lyceum
10th Warrington Parr Hall.

THE BOHMAN BROTHERS/SECLUDED BRONTE – The mumbling clattering clanging giants of tabletop surrealist improve are in Manchester and Switzerland in November, in different iterations!
12th  – Peer Hat, M’cr; https://curiousear.net/upcoming/
24th – Cave12, Geneva; https://www.cave12.org/secluded-bronte-enxin-onyx-passage-de-disques/
26th – Institut, Zürich; https://theinstitute.ch/programm/

SWANSEA SOUND A Winter warmer from the indie-rock supergroup.
NOVEMBER

16^TH – Cambridge,  Blue Moon (Sold out​)
23^RD – Bristol, Thunderbolt (TICKETS)
24^TH – Oxford, Jericho Tavern (TICKETS
25^TH – Brighton, The Albert (TICKETS)
29^TH – Leicester, Firebug (TICKETS)
30^th – Sheffield, The Shakespeare (TICKETS)

DECEMBER

1^st – Coventry, Just Dropped In (TICKETS)
14^th – Rainham, The Oast (TICKETS)
15^th – Folkestone, Twentieth Century Speedway (TICKETS)
21^st – Cardiff, Moon Club  (TICKETS)
22^nd – London, Lexington (TICKETS)

TIRZAH GARWOOD: Beyond Ravilious, Dulwich Picture Gallery London, 19 November 2024–26 May 2025.

https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/about/press-media/press-releases/first-major-exhibition-of-modern-british-artist-tirzah-garwood-among-2024-highlights-at-dulwich-picture-gallery/

The first major exhibition devoted to the artist and designer Tirzah Garwood (1908–1951) since 1952. Best known until now as the wife of Eric Ravilious and as the author of the autobiography Long Live Great Bardfield, Garwood excelled as a fine artist and printmaker. Her diverse and enchanting works are gems of the mid-20th century.

THE DAMNED Black Album/Strawberries line-up, with hard-wristed Holy Grail headhunter Rat Scabies back on drums.
DECEMBER
4th – Newcastle NX,
5th – Glasgow Barrowlands,
6th – M’c Academy,
8th – Leeds Academy,
9th – Nottingham Rock City, 1
10th – W’hampton Halls,
12th – Bristol Beacon,
13th – S’hampton Guuildhall,
14th – Eastbourne Winter Gardens,
16th – Cambs Corn X,
18th – London Roundhouse

JACKIE OATES AND JOHN SPIERS Super-folk team up’s festive fun
DECEMBER
6th – Reith Hall, Swaledale, N York
7th – Wychwood Folk Club, Chipping Norton
8th – Folk at the Froze, Woodridge, Suffolk
9th – Colchester Arts, Colchester
10th – Riverhouse Barn, Walton Upon Thames
11th – Chapel Arts, Bath
13th – Ropewalk, Barton Upon Humber
14th – Flowergate Hall, Whitby, N Yorks
20th – Nailsea Folk Club, Bristol
21st – The Globe, Hay-On-Wye
22nd – Halsway Manor, Taunton

DISCHARGE D-beat deadbeats
DECEMBER
7th – Newcastle Byker Grave
13th- Stoke On Trent somewhere
14th – B’ham Castle & Falcom
JAN 4th – London 100 Club
FEB 2nd – Bristol Fleece

THE FALLEN WOMEN – LEXINGTON LONDON DEC 28TH –

The Female Fall Tribute super-group and live karaoke outfit are back in the biffin bridge between Xmas and New year to blast away your festive blues. https://www.thelexington.co.uk/event.php?id=2897

20-odd songs performed by you THE PUBBERLICK and some special celebrity guests. Songs will be up for grabs on October 1st at midday. In order to bag a song, email thefallenwomen at gmail dot com with your first, second and third choices from the list below. PLEASE NOTE EMAILS RECEIVED BEFORE MIDDAY ON 1ST OCTOBER WILL NOT COUNT!
No Xmas For John Quays
Mr Pharmacist
Free Range
Victoria
Glam Racket
Last Orders
Blindness
Lost In Music
Deadbeat Descendant
Industrial Estate
Fantastic Life
Edinburgh Man
Rebellious Jukebox
Cruiser’s Creek
Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
I’m A Mummy
Rowche Rumble
Eat Y’Self Fitter
Repetition
Touch Sensitive
Jawbone & Air Rifle
There’s A Ghost In My House
Kicker Conspiracy
How I Wrote Elastic Man
Big New Prinz
My New House
What About Us

CHUCK PROPHET  Chuck’s last live tour was on of the greatest rock and roll shows I ever saw – real huckster guitar slinger stuff that they don’t make anymore. The Mount Rushmore of sandblasted country noir is on the road here again in 2025. Don’t miss. Honestly.

February 19 – Oxford – The Bullingdon
February 20 – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club
February 21 – Manchester – Yes Pink Room
February 22 – Newcastle – The Cluny
February 23 – Glasgow – St Lukes
February 24 – Sheffield – Greystones
February 25 – Leicester – The International
February 26 – Nottingham – Metronome
February 27 – Cambridge – Portland Arms
February – 28 Norwich – Arts Centre
March 1 – Hassocks – Mid Sussex Music Hall
March 2 – Bristol – Lantern
March 3 – Birmingham – Hare & Hounds
March 4 – Southampton – 1865
March 5 – London – The Garage

NAPALM DEATH Grindcore godparents
MARCH
4th – Dublin Academy
5th – Glasgow Galvanisers’ Yard
6th – Newcastle Uni Union
7th – London Electric Ballroon
8th – Liverpool Academy
9th – Birmingham Institute

THE LOFT
I never saw Pete Astor’s pioneering indie-folk-rock janglers The Loft, like an English middle class mid-60s Dylan with a post-punk rush, first time around, though I saw the Weather Prophets loads, and regular doses of Astor solo over the decades have been pleasurably unavoidable. But I am thrilled at the possibility of this, and new recordings show the band on great form. Age suits them it seems.
MARCH
13th – M’cr Gullivers
14th – B’ham Castle & Falcom
15th – Nottingham JT Soar
20th – Ramsgate Music Hall
21st – Bristol Thunderbolt
22nd – London Lexington
23rd – Brighton Prince Albert
27th – Leeds Lending Room
28th – N’castle Cluny 2
29th – Glasgow Mono

HAWKWIND 2025. Another implausible trip for the psychedelic survivors, Dave Brock still imperious, even from his stool.
APRIL
17th – Gateshead Glasshouse
18th – Guildford G Live
19th – Bournemouth Pavillion
20th – B’ham Symphony Hall
MAY
9th – Aylesbury Waterside
10th – Liverpool Auditorium
11th – M’cr Bridgewater Hall
23rd – Sheffield City Hall
25th – Cambridge Corn Exchange
26th – London Barbican

13) IN OUR LAMENTATIONS 2024

Tony Oxley (Sheffield’s Sunny Murray, 1938)
John M Burns (His modesty blazed, 1939)
John Pilger (News terrier, 1939)
David Soul (The covered man, an inspiration 1943)
Annie Nightingale (Gateway drug, 1940)
Pitchfork (Signal to noise, 1996)
Mary Weiss (She led the pack, 1948)
Chris Karrer (Archangel’s Thunderbirdman, 1947)
Iasos (Greek space muso, 1947)
Phil Niblock (NY art noise, 1933)
Pluto Shervington (Ram Goat Liver Eater, 1950)
Tisa Farrow (Zombies ripped her flesh, 1951)
Norman Jewison (Rollerball Superstar, 1926)
Neil Kulkarni (Era-enhancing music critic, 1972)
Wayne Kramer (He kicked out the jams motherfucker, 1945)
Steve Brown (He left Avalon and taught the world to sing, 1954)
Christopher Priest (Dorset future-ist, 1943)
Aston “Family Man” Barrett (dub bass headcase, 1946)
Ian Lavender (Don’t tell him, Pike, 1946)
Damon Suzuki (Krautrock witness cuddled me & Noel Fielding, 1950)
John Rotheroe (Shire Book Seer, 1935)
Steve Wright (massive old-skool pro made it look easy, 1954)
Alan Tomlinson (Jazz trombonist, dry northern wit, beatnik, 1947)
Ewen Mackintosh (Office secondary superstar, 1973)
Jenni Nuttall (Chaucerian)
Richard Lewis (Worthwhile American comedian, 1947)
Nick Dimbleby (Sculptor of note, scholar, gentleman, comedy fan, 1946)
Edward Bond (Whitehouse-infuriator, 1934)
Karl Wallinger (Waterboys’ prime period pianist, 1957)
Eric Carmen (Raspberry sensation, 1949)
Wally Shoup (Hard-blowin’ hero, 1944)
The Wye Salmon (pollution-fucked fish)
Paul Brett (Crazy World guitarist, 1947)
Shane Baldwin (Vice Squad drummer and punk scribe, 1963)
John Sinclair (Beatnik, 1941)
Carl Andre (None more brick, 1935)
Graeme Naysmith (Pale Saint)
Marian Zazeela (Eternal Musician, 1940)
Shelley Ganz (Unclaimed but claimed, at last, 1959)
Steve Albini (Big blackhead, 1962)
Dennis Thompson (He also kicked out the jams motherfucker, 1948)
Gary Floyd (Double happy dick punk, 1953)
Roger Corman (King of the Bees, 1926)
Doug Ingle (The Iron Butterfly, 1945)
Gerry Conway (Folk drummer for hire and tool of anti-CND propaganda, 1947)
Nicholas Ball (His house bled to death, 1946)
Larry Page (Wild thingy, 1936)
Francois Hardy (Chanteuse genieuse, 1944)
Arthur Gaps Hendrickson (Selectaman under pressure, 1951)
James Chance (He contorted himself, 1953)
Donald Sutherland (Kilroy was here, 1935)
Dexter Romwebber (Guitar jet, 1966)
Clarence Frogman Henry (Anthropomorphic blues amphibian, 1937)
Randy Fuller (He fought the law also, 1944)
Lucy Rimmer (She fell briefly on a birthday)
Callum The Highland Red Deer (Killed by twat tourists)
Mark Found (Sound recordist and model railway specialist)
Shelly Duvall (She shone, 1949)
Wendy Ritson (Centipede violinist, 1934)
Jean Williams (Complex Feminine bassist, 1951)
Bob Newhart (I ripped him off, 1929)
Toumani Diabate (Mali kora master, 1965)
Jerry Miller (He was purple and lived under the sea, 1943)
John Mayall (Bluesbreaker broken at last, 1933)
Irene Schweizer (German jazznius, 1941)
Jack Karlson (Succulent Chinese meal, 1942)
Catherine Ribeiro (Oh! My heart is broken! An angel! A true star!1941)
Anthony O’Neill (Brú na Bóinne architect)
Pete Bailey (Josefus/Stone Axe vox)
Brian Trueman (Dangermouseman, 1932)
Rebecca Horn (Concerto anarchist, 1944)
James Earl Jones (He made shit sparkle, 1931)
Dean Roberts (Thela-maturgist, 1975)
Brother Marquis (He had 99 problems and a bitch weren’t one, 1966)
Zoot Money (Ran madly towards Tim Kirkby’s dad’s beach hut, 1942)
Herbie Flowers (He walked on the wild side, 1938)
Pat Collier (He vibrated,1952)
Steve Kille (Dead Dead Meadow Man)
Gavin Webb (Master’s Apprentice,1947)
Alan Delon (Man In A Girl On A Motorcycle, 1935)
Maggie Smith (The grande dame!, 1934)
Kris Kristofferson (The Border Lord, 1936)
Tim Darvill (Cotswold archaeologist, 1958)
Irwin the Malmesbury Emu (He loved cold showers and cuddles)
Glen Hutchinson (Cambridge performance poet)
75% of all animal life on earth since 1974 (1974)

14) BUILD A STATUE OF MONTY PYTHON’S TERRY JONES

https://www.gofundme.com/f/terryjonesstatue

15) DANNY ROBBINS’ UNCANNY PODCAST

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0024f6q

I’m on the Halloween edition of this