Stewart Lee: Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre - October 2013 The Chronicle - By Helen Dalby - October 11th, 2013

There are few things I like better when the autumn nights are drawing in than a trip out to see one of my favourite comedians perform live. Stewart Lee is one of the best live stand-ups I’ve ever watched. The word I’d always use first when describing his work is clever, but that’s not to…

Much a-Stew About Nothing, Lowry, Salford Quays - October 2013 Manchester Confidential - By Mark Jorgensen - October 8th, 2013

Mark Jorgensen visits the Lowry for an alternative comedy experience IF comedians were films – which granted, they aren’t – Stewart Lee is the type you’d watch at the Cornerhouse rather than the Odeon. He is the only comedian in the world who can tell you the exact time, content and rationale of a ‘joke’…

Much a-Stew About Nothing, Lowry, Salford Quays - October 2013 Northern Soul - By Paul Glynn - October 7th, 2013

If 2011’s Carpet Remnant World was Stewart Lee’s ground-breaking psychedelic album, then Much a-Stew About Nothing could – as its title suggests – be his next batch of unfinished demos. And on first listen it seems, that with a bit of work in the studio, there could be some more cult-classic comedy hits on the…

John Martyn – The Island Years - October 2013 October 6th, 2013

Here’s 18 discs of Martyn’s slurred genius, from late ’60s folk whimsy, to the artful songwriting and edifying Echoplex experimentation of the ’70s, to a pointless final four discs of plasticised ’80s guff. All the canonical albums, including a coherent representation of 1975’s often bastardised free-jazz ambient-blues masterpiece Live At Leeds, are supplemented with superb…

The Dames – The Dames - October 2013 October 6th, 2013

The percussionist Clare Moore of blues punks The Moodists, and the pianist Kaye Louise Patterson of alt country pioneers Acuff’s Rose, are grand dames of Australia’s underground. Moore offers four arch negotiations with the downward gravitational pull of kitsch, Barry Adamson’s filmic mix reimagining cocktail lounge muzak as a psychedelic formica. Patterson pounds baroque pop…

Salford Lowry – 5th October 2013 ★★★★ - October 2013 What's On Stage Manchester - By Carmel Thomason - October 5th, 2013

Stewart Lee has been called the comedian’s comedian – pushing the boundaries of comedy with clever word play, rather than cheap shock tactics. He’s also been described as ‘a slime pit of bitterness’, and coming from the Daily Mail, exceeding its bile takes some beating. Of course his politics are widely opposed to the Mail,…