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Pete Atkin >> Gigs >> The Lowry
(Message started by: Mike Walters on Today at 18:04)

Title: The Lowry
Post by Mike Walters on Today at 18:04
Since no-one else has yet, can I just say how much I enjoyed P&C at The Lowry on Sunday.   Although (of course) I enjoyed the previous tours, they felt to me a little like Clive James readings with Pete providing musical interludes, whereas this seemed much more like a genuine joint performance - possibly because Clive focused a lot on his poetry so that the bulk of the show was a balanced showcase of his lyrical gifts in their two complementary forms.  I hope it's the opposite of a spoiler to mention the two new songs, which I liked a lot on first hearing, especially 'Here We Stay' which, as well as to my ears echoing Auden's 'Roman Wall Blues' (lyrically, that is - I've never heard Auden sing it), also sounded dangerously close to anthemic.  I was almost tempted to get out the cigarette lighter.  

Mike

Title: Re: The Lowry
Post by briannoggin on Today at 18:45
It was a fantastic night, and I can't remember the last time I laughed til I cried. Clive remarked on surrealism. For me the sureal note was struck by the person behind me. I thought throughout the first half he was rattling sweet papers, but found at the interval it was the tinfoil in which he had wrapped his hot cross buns - in October! :o

Title: Re: The Lowry
Post by Ian Sorensen on Today at 23:33
I agree with Mike - it was a great night. P & C worked so well together - almost like a long-married couple who were genuinely happy to sit and listen to each other do their party pieces, even though they had heard them many times. Their cross-talk was delightful - I particularly enjoyed Clive's endless ad-lib interjections as Pete tried to start a song.

Pete's voice was the best I remember it - very expressive, selling the lyrics superbly. Even Clive's singing was better than before. (I always have to laugh that Pete counts Clive in - how can a tango dancer not be able to spot the beats in a song?)

If I'd known in advance that Clive was going to be mostly reading his poetry I might have been a bit apprehensive, but his selection was spot on. Joy and tenderness in equal part. (I still enjoyed the essay giving his take on the Bush v Kerry election best.)

The Lowry theatre was a very nice venue, and the audience was as receptive as any outside a Midnight Voices event. BTW the cinema beside the Lowry calls itself "The Cinema of Dreams".

I enjoyed the brief catch up with the other Voices there, despite some of them suffering the after effects of the previous night's cheese & wine party - sans cheese.

All in all, well worth the three hour drive home.


Ian Sorensen



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