Latest news with #AvivaStudios
Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Hamlet Hail to the Thief review — moments to savour amid maelstrom
That well-known Mancunian diplomat Noel Gallagher has often had less than kind words for Thom Yorke, so he may not be making the trek to the city's Aviva Studios to see the Radiohead star's Shakespearean collaboration. But what should the rest of us make of this condensed version of the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark, adorned with re-orchestrated extracts from the 2003 album Hail to the Thief? Well, it's one of those multi-layered offerings where so many elements are thrown together — contemporary dance is part of the package too — that it's difficult to keep track of what's left of the actual drama. At less than two hours long with no interval, this co-production between the RSC and Factory International, directed by
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Go on, Bobby!': Primal Scream leave Aviva Studios bouncing
Rock 'n' Roll royalty Primal Scream returned to Manchester in glorious fashion - leaving Aviva Studios pumping. Bobby Gillespie's troupe brought their latest tour to the city in support of the band's mere 12th studio album Come Ahead - released towards the end of 2024. Punters certainly got value for their money with two quality support acts - in the shape of Mozart Estate and Baxter Dury. READ MORE: Car park to be turned into huge open-air party venue with big names READ MORE: Manchester's longest-running club night ends weekly residency after 30 years with 'under siege' warning The grey-suited Dury - son of Blockheads great Ian - delivered a definitive warm-up set filled with angst, some wonderful flailing of limbs and more than a fair share of synth. Gnashers bared, the frontman, drinking from bottle of Stella, did all he could do to relieve himself of the aforementioned grey jacket as he declared his love of Manchester, while repeatedly referring to himself as 'delicious f**king me'. Highlights included I'm Not Your Dog, Miami and (Baxter) These Are My Friends. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better support with the crowd fully uninhibited dancing away, they were more than ready for their main event. Ascending on to the stage soundtracked to What The World Needs Now is Love, Bobby Gillespie and co took Primal Scream's devotees through the impressive back catalogue of the Glasgow group formed back in 1982. More recent offerings Medication and Innocent Money were received well with the band's enigmatic lead receiving regular cries of 'go on Bobby' and 'come on Bobby' from the enthused masses. Throughout the near two-hour set there were nods to political activism and greater emphasises lingering on Primal Scream's choice of walk-on entrance music, mentioned earlier on. Gillespie, 62, was looking sharp in a white cocktail suit jacket as his vocals echoed around the roomy hall while the eight-piece on-stage wowed - bassiet Simone Butler notably doing great work. At one point, Gillespie described the music business as 'strange'. Two thirds in, the singer informed Primal Scream's adoring fans that the evening was diverting from art rock to pure rock 'n' roll. An enviable greatest hits run came which, in-turn, further lifted the levels of those in attendance. Ahead of closer, Country Girl, someone down the front seemed to catch Gillespie's attention with him politely requesting 'please stop trying to distract me'. Accompanying this interaction were a few peace symbols and kisses to the slightly over-zealous supporter. The three-song encore of Melancholy Man, Come Together featuring a snippet of Suspicious Minds, and Rocks brought a wonderful night at Aviva Studios to a close. The latter two became high decibel singalongs. Before taking their bow, Gillespie said: 'You've been beautiful, Manchester.' Prior to leaving, many headed to the merch stall for a souvenir. An eye-catching item was a signed Fender guitar themed around Primal Scream's iconic Screamadelica record released in 1991. Although, at £2,000 those interested in purchasing were presumably loaded.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The WhatsApp from my daughter on a Saturday night in Manchester made me feel sick with worry
Giving teenagers the freedom to enjoy themselves unaccompanied by adults is far from easy. We're putting trust in them to be sensible, but also putting trust in places and organisations that are out of our control. Following the dreadful terrorist attack at Manchester Arena in 2017, it's inevitable that it crosses my mind when my daughter is going to a concert. READ MORE: I made one of Jamie Oliver's £1 Wonders And Money Saving Meals, he's having a laugh at our expense READ MORE: 'I created a smart kitchen on a budget with 14 Amazon gadgets' Not just at the Arena of course, but any of the city's big music venues. At the very least I would expect that each person needs to show their ticket on entry. Surely that's a minimum requirement? Yet on Saturday, when she went to watch The Reytons at Aviva Studios, she sent me a message that made me feel sick with worry. At 16 she's only just old enough to attend without an adult, but she's quite good at sending me updates to let me know all is okay. After an initial message shortly after 7pm to say she was 'in the queue', 30 minutes later came the WhatsApp 'we got let in without tickets being checked'. It's the last thing any parent wants to hear. How can anyone be policing who is inside and how many people are inside, if tickets aren't even being checked? Her bag was checked and anyone without a bag was being patted down, but another concert-goer told us security was poor and claimed he didn't have his pockets checked. Lax security in such venues comes as no surprise to Figen Murray, whose son Martyn Hett was one of the 22 people to lose their lives in the Manchester Arena bombing. Since then she has championed the call for 'Martyn's Law', which would bring in legislation to better protect venues from terrorism. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill is designed to improve public safety by requiring all venues with a capacity of more than 200 to take simple steps to ensure they have a plan in place in case of an attack on their premises. Following a long-running, heartfelt and determined campaign by Figen - backed by the Manchester Evening News - it passed through the commons in December. Once it's been signed by the King, there'll be a two-year implementation period for venues to become fully compliant. After that period has passed people can face prosecution for not keeping customers and staff safe if something bad happens and they are seen not to have done what they should have done. Responding to tickets not being checked at Aviva, Figen said: "Martyn's Law is about to become official legislation over the next few weeks. This will mean that venues up and down the country will have to step up their security provision to keep staff and customers safe from harm. At the moment security at venues is a recommendation only. "Whilst a lot of venues are busy preparing for the legislation and have significantly increased and improved their security measures, incidences of tickets not being checked, bags not being searched and security measures being poor will still happen. "The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill - Martyn's Law - will change this. Once the legislation is in place, it will empower the general public to ask for better security if they feel it is somewhat lacking. The general public will have a legal right to be kept safe from harm." A spokesperson for Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International, said: "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We take the security of guests at our venue extremely seriously. We are reviewing the protocol for the evening in question."
The Guardian
22-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Figures in Extinction review – Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney's impassioned response to the climate crisis
One of Crystal Pite's most distinctive qualities as a choreographer is her willingness to grapple with the society around her, to craft works that engage with the issues of our time – bureaucratic bungling (Revisor), global diplomacy (The Statement), mass migration (Light of Passage). Theatre guru Simon McBurney of the groundbreaking Complicité has a similar belief in the power of art to change the world. Together over the past four years, with the exceptional dancers of Nederlands Dans Theater, they have forged Figures in Extinction – a work of serious thought, urgent entreaty and utterly sumptuous dance around the questions of human-made climate change and its effect on the planet. The evening-long show is made of three separate works, and it was the third that received its premiere last week at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International. Pite led the creation of the first, McBurney the second, and the third is credited as an equal partnership. But as a whole, the piece has extraordinary sweep and coherence. Each begins with all the dancers on stage and a question being asked. Images run from one to the other – the skeleton of a cheetah and the pinioned movements of a frog seen in the first section return in the last. The effect is one of cumulative richness forged from separate ingredients. Figures in Extinction [1.0] the list is a mournful litany of lost nature. Pite creates an encyclopedia of haunting pictures, suggestive of the creatures that are extinct but not mimicking them. In conjuring lost animals through human bodies, the work generates exactly the state of empathy its soundtrack pleads for. The second part, [2.0] but then you come to the humans, starts with a phalanx of suited dancers in suits on chairs, transfixed by their phones as urgent events unfold around them. As it develops, the movement embodies the dense arguments unfolding on the voiceover, about the left and right brain and the ways in which we have created a society that – quoting Einstein – 'honours the servant' by promoting the rational mind over the intuitive, 'a sacred gift'. Finally, [3.0] requiem explores ideas of death and time, the relationship between the living and the dead, and the faint hope that springs from the continuity of both. With music that ranges from Mozart and Fauré to Schnittke and Ice Spice, and scenes around a hospital bed where relatives lip-sync their grief over the dying while shadowy dancers seem to represent the dead, this section is the most diffuse of the three. Yet it is astonishingly moving in its willingness to grapple with the philosophical notions of extinction, on both a personal and a planetary level. Pite creates choreography that seems to stretch the dancers to their limits, their bodies so expressive, so impassioned, as they form into tableaux and patterns, that at one moment look like Géricault's The Raft of the Medusa and at the next like a medical documentary. Group movement breaks into solos and aching duets and finally resolves into stillness. It's textured, varied, utterly beautiful. In each section, Tom Visser's astonishing lighting, which constantly switches and highlights mood, Owen Belton and Benjamin Grant's compositions and sound designs, which blend classical melody with the sound of the street, and Jay Gower Taylor's fluid, evocative design all add to the weight and power of the trilogy. It's a towering achievement – a challenge to do more, think more and feel more. Figures in Extinction is at Aviva Studios, Manchester until 22 February
