Queen of the Desert

At the beginning of the month, I went to a musical!
This was the first time I'd been to a musical, and I loved every moment of it.

The show in question was Prisculla: Queen of the Desert and starred Duncan James as Tick/Mitzi. (Performances at some other venues on this tour have Jason Donovan in the role.)

His popularity was somewhat evident by the number of delighted screams that erupted from the audience when he appeared on stage--which only grew louder when he stripped down to his underwear to change on stage! (Well, he does have a fantastic physique!)

The show was brilliantly acted, with some amazing vocal talent and seriously awesome costumes.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert is also a film, which I've watched multiple times, so it was interesting to see how close the musical was to the film.

The storyline is about two drag queens and a transgender woman (formerly a well-known drag performer) who escape the city in an old bus, and head across the Australian desert towards Alice, in order to perform a show. But a wrong turning and a frankly wrecked bus lead to the trio being stranded, and they swiftly end up on a journey far from what was expected.

My friends and I saw this show at the Theatre Royal in Brighton, which is a really gorgeous theatre!
I spent most of the performance either grinning in delight or staring, and left the theatre with CeCe Peniston's Finally stuck in my head, and mumbling, 'The costumes. The costumes!'

100% would see again!

Music, Wine, House Divine

Yesterday evening, I went to church, but did not worship.
Instead, I saw Moulettes, a fantastic band who I'd not even listened to until Tuesday evening!

After hearing the band on YouTube, I'd promptly forwarded links to a local friend, whose response was 'I am digging this!'. Then I collared my Dad and made him listen too. So the three of us went to the show together. Was slightly surprised to find a tiny bar set up, selling wine to us punters! Is it really okay to serve alcohol in a church...?! (Evidently. I think the vicar was drinking it too!)

The gig was part of Hurst Festival, which I wrote about last year, and held in the Holy Trinity Church, so you can imagine how fantastic the acoustics were!

Moulettes are a massively talented bunch who employ a whole range of instruments in their songs. Until this concert, I'd never seen any live performance that involved a bassoon or an autoharp!

The music is a real mishmash of progressive, psychedelic, neo-classical, folk rock, and I don't know what else. Lyrically, their songs are imaginative and inspired; the female-led vocal harmonies really show off the members' brilliant vocal abilities.

I really enjoyed seeing this band (and definitely had a 'daaamn this is great music' moment). As seen in the image above, the gig attracted people of a really wide age-range! During the intermission, a lot of people seemed to be impressed by what they'd seen so far!

The band had a merchandise table, which included CDs, T-shirts and....tea towels! (Could you get any more British?!)
I ended up picking up copies of their albums, because I have little restraint when it comes to music at gigs.
The recorded music sounds great too, but honestly, this is a band who you need to see live in order to appreciate their full talents.
If you happen to live in Canada, lucky you--they're just about to embark upon a Canadian Tour. (I mention this because I knooooow some of you live in Canada. :P )

You can find more information on Moulettes at their Official Homepage, including various social media links.


With this gig, I've completed a goal from The List, yay!

059. Go to 5 music events

It's taken me far too long to complete this goal, haha. This was one of my favourite shows, alongside last year's Sukekiyo gig.
The rest of my music event rambling can be found on the 59 tag.

Now go and listen to Moulettes! Look, here's their YouTube. See how easy I made it for you? :P

Anyone for a Spot of Chap Hop?

Back in July/August, I was up in Birmingham, feeding my inner nerd at Kitacon, one of the UK's anime conventions.
These conventions always have guests, and among them this year were 'chap hop' artists, Mr. Be The Gentleman Rhymer and Professor Elemental.

At first glance I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy their style of music (chap hop being like hip hop, but rather more posh-and-English)

I went along to their performance anyway, because the friends I was with wanted to go, and as another friend once said, "a free gig is a free gig."

And I found that I rather enjoy chap hop! With lyrics like 'Now, when I say "Earl Grey" you say "Yes please!"' (Professor Elemental, Cup of Brown Joy) how could I not approve?

Mr B. The Gentleman Rhymer was on first, singing entertaining ditties about being a chap as he played his banjo ukelele (...ok, so I had to wikipedia that instrument...)
(And yes, yes there is a devil of some sorts in the audience. It was an anime convention. Everybody was dressed up!)

Next up was Professor Elemental, wearing a fabulous union jack blazer and occasionally dancing around in the crowd. He and Mr B performed a few songs each time before switching, and also did a duet or two.

I know I've not written much about them here but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so go and check them out online:
Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer (Official Site | YouTube)
Professor Elemental (Official Site | YouTube)

Both are thoroughly entertaining characters, and in the words of Mr B., 'All Hail The Chap!'

Sukekiyo @ O2 Academy Islington 2014

Yesterday I met up with Lilia (my lovely and creative friend from Paracosm of Lilies) in London, and we went to a gig!

The gig in question was Japanese band Sukekiyo, who came to London's O2 Academy Islington on their 'Ameagari no Yuushi' tour.
Unusually for Japanese bands, photography was allowed, so I snapped a few pictures on my phone (most of which turned out incredibly blurry), though only during the first few songs.

The Man In Slacks

I pinched this pic from Komedia's page. Sorry!

Yesterday brought another trip into Brighton, this time with my parents and youngest sister, to see Terry Garoghan is the Man in Slacks at the Brighton Komedia.

Brighton Festival & Fringe

Brighton Festival and Brighton Fringe began yesterday, and despite it being a Saturday (meaning the city would be packed) I travelled there to check out some of what the events have to offer! I also made some progress on The List, hurrah!

Read on to hear about the events, art, music and comedy I saw yesterday!