Irregularly I share a music video to our Facebook page with the status “song of the day,” or week, or whenever, as if it’s a daily occurrence. When the reality is it’s a big, fat fib on my part, it’s only when I happen to find such a video and can be arsed to share it. What-cha gonna do, sue me?
So, just in case your lawyer says you have a case, I thought I’d streamline this sporadic idea for 2021, make it an actual feature on the site rather than a Facebook post, and show off that I know what long words like “sporadic” mean.
Little more gone into it than this, you should be used to it by now. I’m not going to review them, just embed them here for your own appraisal and entertainment purposes. Potentially, it’ll be a groundbreakingily breif post, a simple but effective phenomenon, and something I can do without missing the Simpsons.
The challenge is consistency; whether I actually stick to the idea or, like others, it’ll be a flash in the pan. Who knows, this could be the start of something beautiful, this could be the thing they’re talking about in decades to come. A holographic Ken Bruce could be asking “what was the very first Devizine Song of the Day” in a Pop Master 200 years from now.
And you can answer it with who I bestow this honour, Atari Pilot. They’ll be revelling in the triumph of the hour if it wasn’t lockdown, I bet.
History in the making then, the only issue I foresee is I over-waffle any old crap, which is, incidentally, not what’s happening now and rarely does here; I had to explain myself, didn’t I?
Okay, I get message; here it is then, enjoy the tune, enjoy the rest of your evening. Good job, carry on.
- REVIEW – Vince Bell @ The White Bear, Devizes – Sunday 26th April 2026
Local Hero Plays Home-town gig shock!
by Andy Fawthrop
After the cracking weather we had all week-end, what better way to round things off than with the best of all home-town gigs with one of our local heroes Vince Bell? So, suitably attired in t-shirt, sun-hat and sunglasses, off we toddled to one of our favourite watering holes, The White Bear, for a much-needed dose of great original songs. Good beer and good music are all that anybody needs. Obviously other choices were available, notably up the road at The Southgate, but for us it was a very easy choice. Vince is, without doubt, one of our local heroes, and it had been a few months since we’d last had the chance to hear him.….
Vince’s first-half set was full of his fine self-penned songs, the lyrics coming across clear and loud, accompanied by some fine guitar work. I sometimes make the mistake of slightly under-rating his great work on the strings, but not at all yesterday. He was on absolutely superb form, carefully explaining and introducing each song, but never dwelling for too long, allowing the material to speak for itself. The subject matter was downbeat and extremely personal, each song striking home and eliciting warm and enthusiastic appreciation from the gathering audience.
Pub gigs can sometimes be a bit weird, with some folks inclined to compete with the singer by trying to talk over the top, and spoiling it for everyone else who’s there and actually wants to listen. Not so yesterday – the conversations gradually died down and, at times, you could almost hear a pin drop. Great to hear an artist as good as Vince being shown some well-deserved respect. And before we knew it 45 minutes had slipped by and it was time for a top-up pint.
Chatting to Vince at half-time revealed that there were personal reasons why Vince’s mood and demeanour seemed a little low with his particular choice of songs, which I won’t go into by discussing here. But suffice to say that the Monty Python lyric “Life’s a piece of shit, when you look at it” was not an entirely inappropriate way of summarising certain feelings. He promised us a slightly more upbeat second spasm, and so it proved to be.
Joined for most of the second set by his friend Chrissy Chapman (of Burn The Midnight Oil fame), there was some lighter material, mostly penned by her. They worked well together, both in guitar playing and in harmonising their vocals. We were also offered a couple of covers, including (I suppose inevitably) The Stones’ “Paint It Black”, which brought a wry smile to many faces. But, yet again, another 45 minutes disappeared in no time. And then we were treated to the much demanded encore of one of Vince’s signature songs “Spiderman Pyjamas”, and the gig was suitably wrapped.
Just time for another quick pint, a short chat, then a walk home in the still-glorious sunshine. I did get the chance before leaving to tell Vince that I genuinely thought that it had been one of his best-ever gigs. There were a lot of friends in the room, and lots of love, but I do hope that such a fine performance helped to win over a few new fans to Vince’s corner. He’s a local hero – he deserves it!
- Live Music in Devizes, Anyone? Meg & Seren at The Fold
Friday afternoon at The Lamb, tucked away behind the Town Hall in our market town, with my aim to introduce two aspiring local singer-songwriters who haven’t played in Devizes before, and present them at The Fold, a venue once renowned and hopeful to recreate its former reputation. I was anxious about the prospect. Their magnificent soundchecks filled me with confidence, though their wonderful talents were never the questionable element to this venture…..
From Chippenham, Megan Hoy, or M3G to the local music scene, is a breathtakingly unique singer-songwriter. At nineteen she has built the kind of reputation, in both live performances and recorded, which welcomes her to the South West’s best venues and festivals. Her music and autism blend to become one, and exhausts something so personal you take a little of her emotions away with you; a skill usually reserved for only rare, professional acoustic performers decades down their journey.
If M3G’s outpourings are translucent windows into the souls of contemporary youth emotions, anxieties, cogitations and reservations, and those on the spectrum, she unites with her Warminster match. Seren, the same age as Meg, bypassed my vetting process of only booking acts I’ve already seen live, based on Meg and other’s recommendations, and the videos she posts on social media. They were plentiful to confirm Seren had something special, still her performance came as a pleasant surprise compared to my readymade affections for Meg’s music, based upon the numerous times I’ve witnessed her magic.
If both define it as indie-folk, either fits nicely for a support set to an indie band, and allows scope for such bookings such as at The Pump, where they are welcomed by young punters awaiting a punky band. Yet I see it still as timeless folk, that rawness and unrivalled valour to open yourself up to an audience, stripped back instrumentally, just you and guitar, alone in the spotlight; that is courageous. And both Seren and Meg wowed. Just as folk was here, at The Fold, even before Kieran cut his teeth with Sheer Music within these very walls, it was again with a new generation. Everything about this gig fitted, in my opinion.
And it was a wonderful evening. As the sun fell to the moonlight through the high windows of the Fold, Seren opened with her original songs, sublimely. Though shy to talk, Seren commands an audience and holds them spellbound through her honest, ingenious songwriting and her talent to deliver them with soothing, evocative vocals.
A short break and Meg’s is complementary to Seren’s set, matching with similar appeal but not rivalling; they’ve gigged together before and there’s a genuine mutual respect. This sweeping package of excellence was tied and united by a third set, where they joined forces, and this really was something to behold. Each complimenting each other’s original songs and perfectly balancing their vocal arrangements for some covers.
Obviously this review is an encomium, as it was my doing! Still, I wouldn’t say it so if it wasn’t, I’d bury my head in the sand, pretend it never happened! If you question my honesty, read on. I’m left bewildered and somewhat frustrated, because those who witnessed this astounding gig were few, few enough for it to cause an issue and serious doubt about hosting more in Devizes.
Reintroduce The Fold they said, a gathering of support on social media welcomed it, but unfortunately, not in reality… yet. I heard the opening night with the fantastic Bluebeard was also poorly attended. Let’s be honest with ourselves, I thank everyone who came, but poor attendance leaves me dubious as to why. Varied illogical reasons spring to mind, which could be debated until the cows come home. Maybe it’s teething issues at The Fold, or the market is already flooded? There could’ve been any number of reasons, but it certainly wasn’t the quality of the music, nor was it the price when we state you “pay what you can.”
Friday night isn’t a Saturday, lots of folk work Saturday mornings, I could tell myself. Booze ain’t cheap anywhere these days, but another event, ticketed with a hefty price-tag, sold out, understandably reducing footfall. Perhaps though, not through the want of trying, The Lamb has yet to regain the popularity it once held. It is a great watering hole, as it ever was, I’d be horrified should it go the same spiralling downward route of so many others.
That’s our motivation behind putting gigs on at The Fold, relaunching this venue, for the sake of original live music and the upkeep of the pub. Easy to yodel “support live music,” or “support your pubs” on your Facebook page, it might be another to attend, but that is only where it will impact.
Here were two young aspiring artists, singing their hearts out beautifully, and producing something unlike anything else you will currently witness here in this traditional market town. Yet, a majority would rather ignore, to either stay at home kissing Netflix, or attend a tribute act to prog-rock hasbeens. This is saddening for local music. You. Missed. An. Outstanding Gig.
The Fold is not out to rival the cover-band ethos popular at The Three Crowns, despite this glory having its place equal to the blues at the Blues club and Southgate. The Fold doesn’t intend to better any other event or venue happening in Devizes, only to add to the options we already have, and bring to town a variety of original grassroots music in an intimate setting. But the intimacy of the room has to have a minimum for it to be viable.
The first open mic at the Fold This should NOT be a negative reflection on the acts or venue. I find myself paranoid, if it’s me, and you’ve lost trust in my judgement to book acts? Yet I’ve been to other events which made no sense for their failings. I only got into event organisation to better understand what organisers undertake, being I was to appraise them, after our first birthday party left me completely unprepared for the tasks involved. It is still a learning curve, but everything previous has been successful for me; now I know the heartfelt emotions of an event organiser who worked tirelessly but whose event didn’t attract attention. So, if this comes off bitter, it is genuinely upsetting.
Perhaps if I host tribute acts to Meg and Seren fifty years from now in Devizes we’ll sell out! Or are we really this shallow? I prefer to hope we are willing to give upcoming local talent a chance to shine, to move between the little circuits carved by the fields dividing us.
But for now, do I continue, pick up the pieces and try, try, try again, and if so, at what cost? Phil Cooper arrives at The Fold on Friday 22nd May, with Jamie and Tamsin. Here is a gig from the gang very well known to Devizes, which, hopefully will attract some attention. l wait in hope, concerned for the future of local live music in Devizes.
- Vinyl Realm Settles Into New Home
A median haul of vinyl can weigh in, but there’s no longer a trek down Northgate Street for record collectors and musicians alike. Vinyl Realm has settled into their new location on Devizes High Street and shopping there is a much more spacious and airy experience …..
Much as I loved the idea of a record shop opening in Devizes, being just the way I remember and loved them in days of yore, eight years ago on that inception, I confess I put a time limit on the place. Even then the threat on High Street shopping was real, and the want for vinyl records in this digital era was questionable. But Vinyl Realm is not only bucking both trends, locally it’s been a detrimental influence on them, proving well managed music shops are here to stay.
You can browse there, flip through those twelve-inch cardboard covers, remembering their look and feel, and the anticipation of taking one home and dropping your needle on that beauty. But then, perhaps, you consider the phone in your pocket, and the infinite digital stash of music it can provide with one click; sacrilegious here! Maybe you sold your hi-fi or record decks years ago. Streaming changed the music industry to a throwaway culture rather than the thrill of treasuring a physical disc, but one half of Vinyl Realm provides record decks and hi-fi, or fixes your old ones, effectively returning you to the retro game like Jon Bon Jovi in a newfound blaze of glory, should you require to.
Vinyl Realm remains one of the very few surviving secondhand record shops in the South West, and whilst Devizes loves tradition, visitors to the store will arrive here from destinations much further afield, for a range of vinyl too vast to fit into the shop, though the scope to display more is greater here at their new home.
More spacious too, allowing a freedom of movement somewhat previously restricted at their Northgate location. You might know how it goes; reunited with a long-lost record you once worshipped, just resting in that library of memories, praying for a new owner, and now nothing exists in the world other than you and the piece of vinyl you’re jumping up and down with, waving enthusiastically in the air yelping, “I found it! I found it! For the love of the almighty David Gilmour, I found it!” not even the beatnik browsing dangerously nearby. The risk of bumping into him through your excitement, and him spilling his freshly boiled flask of vegan broth over you and your must-buy is greatly reduced with the space to move around The Realm’s new shop!!
Tamsin Quin outside the original location of Vinyl Realm at Long Street, in 2018. Image: Hennessy Bitching to a rising retrospective trend in vinyl, a brand new Taylor Swift long-player could pinch the best part of fifty quid from your purse. At Vinyl Realm you’d return home with a substantial stash for that cost, as the prices here are nearly as retro as the records. For a want of more surprises, they flog CD’s and cassettes too, owner Pete tells me “tapes” sell equally as well as records. I could suppose they were the post-internet music sharing format, after all, but Pete suggested Walkmans were back in, really? Whatever next? Etch A Sketch?!
And if you’re one for creating music yourself, there’s a range of instruments and accessories like guitar strings, the odd display of merchandise, and related handmade crafts. Long live Vinyl Realm, where you can buy a record, chat music, grab the tools to make your own or purchase equipment to play them on. Even get that broken hi-fi repaired, as all repairs are done onsite and nothing is shipped off to a company; making this beloved Devizes shop sustainable and, by its very name, a realm for all things music. The move to the High Street and the fact it’s not easy to grab a quote from Pete or Jackie as they busily attend a constant flow of customers, is evidence of its long-lived success.
- Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 Announces New Venue, New Date, and Rebrand
The Wiltshire Music Awards is proud to announce an exciting new direction for its 2026 event, marking a bold evolution for one of the county’s anticipated celebrations of musical talent…..
Due to unforeseen circumstances surrounding the closure of the previously proposed venue, the Wiltshire Music Awards will no longer be associated with The Kingston Group. The organisation extends its sincere thanks for their past contributions and wishes them continued success in their future endeavours.
A spokesperson for the awards said, “this change has created an opportunity to reimagine and elevate the event. As part of this new chapter, the Wiltshire Music Awards 2026 will undergo a full rebrand, including the launch of a new logo and refreshed visual identity designed to better reflect the vibrancy and diversity of the local music scene.”
The organisers are delighted to confirm that the 2026 awards ceremony will now take place at The Assembly Hall, Melksham. Centrally located within Wiltshire and easily accessible from surrounding towns and cities, the venue offers seating for approximately 500 guests, alongside full bar and catering facilities, providing an ideal setting for a high-quality, professional awards evening.
The event has been rescheduled and will now be held on Saturday 14th November 2026. “This is an exciting moment for us,” the organisers continued. “While change is never easy, it has allowed us to rethink, refresh, and ultimately strengthen the event. We’re incredibly excited about what 2026 will bring.”
The Wiltshire Music Awards remains committed to celebrating and showcasing the very best musical talent from across the county, and 2026 promises to be the biggest and most dynamic edition yet. For further information, media enquiries, or partnership opportunities, please contact: Stone Circle Music Events UK at: events@stonecirclemusicevents.uk
- Radium on Liddington Hill
Swindon-based adrenaline pumping five-piece Liddington Hill released their first EP for three years, and Radium is highly radioactive…..
For most on the North Wessex Downs, the clump of beech trees at 900 feet high at Liddington Hill is a landmark to get your bearings. Without a carpark and a mile from the Ridgeway, its Iron Age hillfort isn’t nearly the tourist attraction as its neighbouring sites, Barbury and Uffington. But with fables of King Arthur and as Swindon’s World War 2 decoy control bunker, it overlooks the town with a safeguarding history of its own. For Swindon music aficionados its name doubles up as a contemporary local band….
Devizine first mentioned Liddington Hill when their front girl took to wearing a cow’s head in 2021, summarising their sound as Celtic punk. Two years later their second album, Edge of Insanity, carved a more unique angle we could best describe as “Celtic grunge.” Horrifically it expressed narratives of serial killers and inmates in sanitoriums, and gave plenty of the edge you expect from such morbid subjects. But often the merger between Celtic folk and grunge felt segmented; each track lent mostly towards one or the other. Liddington Hill returns to the studio after three years with an EP which better combines and merges the two fractions, and masterfully deploys them as one almighty blast.
Radium has five dynamite tracks, three with different historical narratives, and two more commonly concerning relationships. With nods to past punk styles, they swap between male and female vocals. With the latter there’s elements of riot grrrl, as in particular the opening track Peterloo. Not to be confused with anything by Abba, it kicks down the door with a heavy rolling electronic guitar riff and fiddles. The cavalry of the Yeomen charged into a crowd, gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation at Manchester’s St Peter’s Field in 1819, and with its unnerving driving chorus the song represents the fear of the charge.
But if Peterloo sits in England at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the economic slump which it caused, Tarrare’s Stomach, third track in, rests earlier on the timeline, in France during the conflict. Tarrare was the real Mr Creosote from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life, a gluttonous showman whose insatiable appetite was his act. He scoffed his way through the French Revolutionary Army rations, so General Beauharnais put him to military use, as a courier who would swallow documents, pass through enemy lines, and recover them from his poo when safely at his destination! Tarrare’s fate could suggest Liddington Hill are implementing at least four of the Seven Deadly Sins, if Peterloo represents wrath. This track belts out grunge style, but again with those fiddles gives it the ambience for its historical context.
The fourth song moves forward in time to America at the beginning of the twentieth century, and serves as the ultimate health and safety in the workplace regulation. Luscious Radium concerns factory workers dubbed the “Radium Girls,” who were encouraged to lick their brushes when painting clock faces to maintain a fine tip, consequently ingesting radioactive material from the paint, and their landmark legal battles which established workers’ rights against corporate negligence; and you thought you were treated unfairly having your day off cancelled!
Again, Lucious Radium is rich in this blend of ladened guitar and rolling drums, with the added Celtic instruments to provide this unique take on grunge and give it a sense of west country geography. Female fronted this one teases vocally, with deriding irony and the nonconformity of Siouxsie Sioux.
The other two songs deal more commonly with relationships; I could call lust from our deadly sins list. Pretty Boy, and Ever Shot a Gun Before both deal with suicidal tendenses due to romantic troubles, and both reference guns. With swapping vocals, Pretty Boy reeks with emotional outpour and should come with a government health warning. The finale is less three minute hero thrash than Pretty Boy, and more epic building grunge layers, with a memorable simple concept.
The long-term effects of a relationship considered concrete by the character in the song, playfully chants on the ill-thought solutions and depicts the emotions of loss. Yet there’s a “little help from my friends” epilogue, placing you concluded by the end and safely back in your armchair. Phew, radioactive factory women, a charging Yeoman army, a gluttoness cannibalistic French soldier, and your mate going to shoot himself because he broke up with his missus was all just a nightmare, evoked by this unique and intelligent grunge trip!
Radium is solid throughout, it never delves into ambient sympathy breaks. It may not be recommended by your history lecturer, but is an adventure in guitar crashing, drum rolling fiddle flashing with a historical reality. It takes no prisoners, and is the natural progression for Liddington Hill you need to take heed of. There’s a strong grunge scene in Swindon, but perhaps no other band has this unique spin on it. Radium is exclusive.
The EP was released on 17th April, on streaming sites and is available for digital download on Bandcamp and CDbaby. Vinyl and CD versions are available through their website. www.liddingtonhill.com
- Great Band, Shame About the Poster; Stop Using AI For Promotion!
Mixed emotions over one of those eye-catching social media “reels” a few months ago, for two reasons. Firstly, attraction; the singing girl was a vision of beauty, perfect in every way. So perfect in fact, orally she cast no shadow, like she had a torch wedged into her oesophagus, and her sparkly array of exemplary toothy-pegs seemed to levitate in her mouth without the need of gums, ugly as gums usually are…..
The second reason it drew my attention was irritation; she was faultlessly singing, “The Rivers of Babylon,” with a caption claiming the song was by Boney M, but in a funny kinda way it was apt. A disco rehash cover by pop band Boney M, yeah, when, ironically, neither its producer, conman Frank Farian, nor the creators of this saccharine AI abomination either understood or cared to understand the meaning behind the song, for it goes against everything they’re backing.
The Rivers of Babylon is a Rastafari prayer, originally recorded by The Melodians in 1970. A biblical lament of Psalm 137, representing exile, sorrow, and yearning for home among the Jewish captured in Babylon. It is a song about oppression and liberation, using the Rastafari disambiguation of “Babylon” to mean any unjust, restrictive system.
If Frank Farian, pop manufacturer of Milli Vanilli, who were models and didn’t sing a note, isn’t restrictive and unjust enough for this modern era, perhaps an AI generated singer with more likes and follows on its social media than every local musician I know combined, is. And if it irks musicians who practice so hard to achieve their talents that I could prompt AI to create me a song near as good as theirs when I’m tone deaf, then it bloody well should!
It should enrage them, and often it does. But more and more abruptly turn to invite AI to create them a gig poster, or worse, an album cover. Event organisers too, with much to organise, hence the name, bypass the requirement and cost to commission an artist, photographer or graphic designer, and gung-ho a cringeworthy AI image to represent their event. Neither are fooling anyone anymore; it is, quite frankly, off-putting, and if your poster is tacky it gives the impression your event will be too.
Former editor of Doctor Who and Star Trek magazines, John Freeman ranted on Facebook last week, about a “crap” AI poster by one of the participating companies taking part in the 2026 Brighton Fringe, saying, “was this the idea of someone who spent the art budget on a slap up lunch in some overpriced beach view restaurant rather than, say, commission one of the hundreds of talented artists in the Brighton area to create one instead?!” Seems crazy, if you cannot find an artist in Brighton, you won’t find one elsewhere, but it has since been updated, explaining it’s not the official poster for the Fringe, and in speaking with the organisers of Brighton Fringe, they confirmed the ‘artwork’ is “not of their making.” There you have it, AI images are not a good look, frustrates artists and puts them out of pocket; no one wants to own up to using it.
Looky here, all creatives are in the same sinking boat, and the crew must work as a team for survival. If, as a musician, you’d be the first to complain about our gumless singing girl, then you should also be the one who says, “I’m going to find an artist to design me a poster.” And, if, as a designer, you’re charging £100 an hour to add some fonts to a photo, then you must realise the musician is struggling to keep afloat too, and make as best concession as you can, before they fire up Chat GTP. These connections must be realistic, or you all suffer like Sarah Connor, while complaining about the other! Meanwhile, AI companies are laughing at both your swollen mugs, as their programs harvest your tears for future reference.
While we’re using Rasta’s meaning of Babylon to illustrate unjust hypocrisy, there was an interview with Bob Marley which always rings true in such dilemmas. The interviewer attempted to catch him out, while he piled a colossal mixing board to construct a dubplate, by asking him why he used, “the fruits of Babylon.” “Babylon no have no fruits,” Bob wryly replied, and continued to explain it wasn’t the technology which was the problem, but those “pushing the buttons.”
It’s convenient, tempting, I know it is, to feed the machine. But it’s a genius invention we should only use as a tool to assist us, not to put us in the Job Centre. I might occasionally use AI to think of a word or expression, but I wouldn’t allow it to write for me; it loses the personal touch, and face it, it can’t do “funny.” In all sci-fi of yore, robots were placed helping us with the mundane tasks so we could concentrate on creating, not the other way around. Rosey the Robot did the Jetsons’ washing up, she never painted a Renaissance masterpiece for their wall.
I asked an AI app if it would create me some political propaganda, theoretically of course. An interesting conversation ensued, whereby it sucked up, apologising it couldn’t due to its regulations, but confirmed other apps could. It computed their wrongdoing, creating fake images for propaganda, but often its comments were deleted by the regulations when we got too close to the truth; my concern then being it could refuse the request of a human, based on its own moral judgement; are we in Skynet territory yet?!
Regulating AI will never happen while we pet its capacity, because the owners are happy pocketing our treats, and couldn’t care less about morals. Elon pulling a Nazi salute should’ve been a stark warning, but we laughed it off, kept calm and carried on. I’ve seen reels of Navy vessels gunning dinghies, Muslim women complaining about dogs in parks, and gammon flagshaggers forming human chains across the white cliffs of Dover, but they’re all products of their sick imaginations, hoping to fool likeminded spanners.
Don’t be like them, don’t jump that bandwagon. Your band doesn’t look like blued-eyed post-apocalyptic warriors, your drummer is not Immortan Joe, and when punters arrive to see him with one hand down his joggers, scratching an itch, it’ll be more disappointment than glory in Valhalla.
Look, if you want I can design your gig poster for you, for a tenner; message me, rather than reduce your promotion to uninspiring AI fartists. And I’m certain there’s plenty of designers locally that would be willing to help too. If you are such an artist, comment in our social shares and we’ll add your links to this article. Although that’s hitting Megatron with a spud gun shot, it’s still a small strike for the resistance.
Ah, you cry, so that’s the reason for me coming over all Dave shutting down HAL 9000, it’s a shameless plug for my artistic wares! But, where does this leave me and my gumless girlfriend? She’d probably dump me for not believing in her before I made my excuses; what appeared under her summer dress did nothing for me, because literally there was nothing there. Yet thousands complimentary comment on her video, about her voice or features, seemingly oblivious to the reality, she’s fake. Though, pointing out to my daughter how worrying their gullible idiocy is, and how that might affect political sway, should a reel be political rather than artistic based, backfired, upon my daughter admonishing my concern that the ones commenting are “bots” themselves.
“AI bot” art critics critiquing AI art, whatever next?! Let them battle between themselves, I say, while you, please find a real artist or designer to design your poster, or find a photographer, they’re always snapping happily away at the front of gigs, and plonk some text onto their efforts with your phone. “The future is not set,” Sarah Connor said, “there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.” A tenner… is all I ask!
- The Party” at the Rondo Theatre, Larkhall, Bath, April 22nd – 25th 2026
by Ian Diddams
images by Platform 8
Take Abigail’s party, add some Aykbourn, a touch of Coward and a liberal sprinkling of 2010s socio-political background and what do you get? The answer is simply Sally Potter’s “The Party” – a rattling roller-coaster ride of a kitchen sink drama with a darkly comedic edge in places.
Janet – whose home this one set play is set in – has just been promoted to a Shadow Cabinet position, in what is a thinly disguised but not mentioned, Labour opposition party. The story revolves around her relationship with her husband Bill, and the relationships of the other two couples visiting them to celebrate Janet’s news. Janet’s best friend April is in the throes of separating from her German partner Gottfried; the couple are chalk and cheese in not only appearances but also life styles and beliefs where Gottfried is very much a philosopher with a holistic outlook and April a hugely cynical ex-political agitator, while Martha – Bill’s oldest friend from university days – is with her much younger wife Jinny who is pregnant and whose future dreams may not particularly align. To complete the party is Tom, a hugely successful and rich banker who is stressed, introverted and isolated throughout the play while he waits for his wife Marianne to join them.
While not wishing to give away any plot twists or developments, nonetheless then story investigates the various couples’ relationship strains, and the external antagonisms between the group’s characters. We learn of a terrible piece of news, potentially life changing for two people, of nefarious goings on, and of historical liaisons surfacing causing disquiet. Amongst these spinning plates of interactions, we also see philosophical discussions, the best stage punch I have ever seen on a community theatre stage and a kitchen disaster complete with burning dinner smoke. Oh – And a gun. And it must also be said some very funny lines amongst it all.
Potentially the star of the show however is the set. Another Rich Canning super-set, in the limited space of the Rondo stage Rich has fitted a front room, a kitchen, a toilet and a garden patio, with two working doors and a pair of French doors, two working sinks with running water and a toilet. Despite their enforced proximity the four areas are totally distinct in their use and are used superbly to flip the action between various conversations and scenes
Tech is provided by Will Ward, Luke Emmet, Julie Dallimore and Lola McGregor as they trip seamlessly though a tsunami of sound and lighting cues, and direction is from the masterful Mark Hale who has kept the pace high as the drama unfolds before us. Publicity tasks are shared between Jacci and Alexia Jones and Richard Caddick, and Amanda Ward makes it all run smoothly back stage.
And so the cast … it’s a tight run ship and the cast members work slickly with each other. Hayley Jack plays the committed politician Janet and Rich Canning her somewhat distanced academic husband. Terry Butler is the chalk of Gottfried, healer and life coach to the cheese of Alexia Jones’ cynical April. Then there’s Nadine Comba as the older, less excitable professor to Leanna Biggs’ younger wife and superb amateur chef. Leaving Chris Constantine to play Tom, husband of Marianne, an anger suppressed banker with all the obvious City banker traits and habits.
This is an excellently produced performance that is done and dusted in seventy minutes with no interval, but that seventy minutes packs in an awful lot. Blink and you’ll miss something, and the background action is often as important and incessant, as the forefront scene being played out.
I’ve tried very hard to not give any spoilers and I’m pretty sure I’ve succeeded – if you want to learn the pitfalls, the shocks and the final ending you’ll have to get along to see “The Party” but if you haven’t got a ticket get in quickly – as of opening day afternoon there were three left over the entire run!
“The Party” is performed by “Platform 8” at the Rondo Theatre April 22nd-25th at 7.45pm each evening, and the few remaining tickets can be found at https://rondotheatre.co.uk/the-party/
- REVIEW – King King @ The Corn Exchange, Devizes – Tuesday 21st April 2026
Acoustic Tuesday
by Andy Fawthrop
Not my favourite night for going to a gig but, hey, sometimes you just have to roll with it. On a night to fit in with their current short seven-date UK tour, Tuesday it just had to be, and King King rolled into town with their stripped-back “acoustic set”.
First up, alone on stage, was support act Felix Rabin, a young man with plenty of talent. The Frenchman gave us a cracking first twenty-five minutes, and did an excellent job at paving the way for the main act to come. Here was a man with a mic, a few loops and pedals, a stomp-box and a (gasp) electric guitar. Over just six or seven songs, he easily won over the audience with a wide variety of songs, ranging from full-on loud, almost screaming anguish, through to some really thoughtful and tender material. With an easy, comfortable, personality he fully engaged the audience. The loud applause and the long queue at his merch desk at the end were both fully deserved. A worthy support to the main act for the night.
After a somewhat over-long interval, during which we were able to “enjoy” the Corn Exchange’s excuse-for-a-bar, it was time for the main act. With beer, cider and (cans of) Guinness at £6/ pint, served in plastic glasses by less-than-friendly staff, this is the venue’s Achilles heel. The offering is so limited, depressing and expensive. Such a shame, when the overall surroundings of the hall are great, the entertainment was top-notch, and the sound quality delivered from stage was clear and crisp. Pity they can’t offer music fans something better. However, I digress.
King King are a British blues rock group, formed in in Glasgow back in 2008 by Alan Nimmo and Lindsay Coulson, both formerly of The Nimmo Brothers. The band has released five studio albums and two live albums. The current line-up features Alan Nimmo (guitar and lead vocals), Stevie Nimmo (guitar and vocals), and Jonny Dyke (keyboards). In this acoustic-only line-up, there was no room (or need) for bass and drums. Back in 2014 British Blues Awards, the group won five awards including the Best Band and Best Album Awards. Normally, in their full electric line-up, they’re widely praised as one of the UK’s premier blues-rock bands, and known for their high-energy live performances.
Full disclosure: I’d never seen King King before, so I’d no idea what to expect. However, I quickly gathered that the almost-full hall of the Corn Exchange was well packed with plenty of their fans. By the time I took my seat I’d already had several fanboy conversations with folks I knew, and seen plenty of King King t-shirts. The merch desk was also pretty busy. So I was coming at this with a completely open mind and open ears. “Come on,” I thought, “show me what you can do!” Suffice to say, dear readers, I was not to be disappointed.
So not a full-on blues/ rock band then, but an acoustic version of that band. Last night, which Alan introduced as “an experiment”, was all about keeping things much more stripped back, intimate (compared to their usual format), and with a strong focus on the quality of, and the stories behind, the songs themselves.
For the next ninety minutes, through a flowing single set, they demonstrated very clearly their superb musicianship, vocal harmonies and song-writing skills. There was plenty of inter-song chat, building up a picture of their back catalogue, but never straying into that tedious trap of doing more talking than singing. There was plenty of cheeky humour, music business anecdotes, and an easy patter and interplay with the audience. The songs really spoke for themselves. Hauled up from various parts of their back catalogue the two Nimmo brothers, both seated with acoustic guitar, introduced songs of great power. The acoustic format allowed the vocals to really shine through, but never at the expense of some great work from the guitars and keyboard.
There were some nice riffs, some great choruses, plenty of audience participation. Most of the audience didn’t need much winning over in the first place, but as a newbie I was fairly quickly convinced too. Gotta say that I really loved it, and now feel prompted to go and see the band in their more “normal” full electric format. Another time, another date – but hopefully not on a Tuesday!
- BecFest2 – Stonehenge Campsite, April 25th 2026
by Ian Diddams
images by Sarah BecHave you got an empty weekend coming? Fancy a last minute, first field festival of the year? Don’t want to travel far? Then fill your boots with BecFest2, this Saturday, with camping available for those that want to over imbibe or just get into the festival groove around a late-night campfire.
The brainchild of Sarah Bec and following the huge success of her first foray into low key affordable festivals last year, BecFest2 promises all the festival fun to kick the festival season off in style, with great independent bands, great food, great drink, great merch and a chilled vibe without having to deal with tens of thousands of others. Think of it more as a family gathering, of like-minded souls, rather than a field of strangers. And the weather is looking FABULOUS BABY!!!
The line-up features fully independent musicians – no covers bands here folks – and the day headlines with the phenomenal Revelation Roots, the energetic reggae, ska and dub band from the South-West, more than ably aided and abetted by
- James Harriman, a Bristolian performing a Brit-Pop, folk-rock inspired sound
- Plot 32, a party ska band from Leeds
- Tabitha Wild, a mischievous singer-song writer with a sparkle in her eyes and a ukulele in her hands,
- Mexican Dave, all the way from Swindon with his whacky approach to music, fun and drinking games
- F.M.I. Clatters, who likes Cornish pasties amongst other hilarious musical offerings
- Andras Droppa, delivering a hard rock blues style set
- Dub Catalyst, with a reggae/dub/hip hop feel also from then South-West
- with Ed Liner as compere and DJ throughout the festival.
The music stage is in a barn, but the weather is looking fine anyway, and camping is available from Friday 2th April through to Sunday 26th. For post music festivities there’s a campfire for a jam session and chat with new found friends including undoubtedly many of the musicians – no “green room” away from the fans here at BecFest2!
Food is provided by the fantastic festival feeders Events Horizon with breakfast and all-day menus with snacks and spuds, chips, burgers, nachos, curry, pies and toasted sandwiches, with carnivore, vegetarian and vegan options amongst those.
Tickets are priced from £40 for Saturday, through to £70 with Saturday camping and Friday camping an additional £22, which in effect is for the campsite itself. And the best bit – kids go free, with just a small fee for camping, and pre-schoolers not even that! There’s even bell tent glamping options fo0r extra – truly a festival catering for everybody.So, grab a ticket, and your tent or live-in vehicle – or glamp! – and get down to Stonehenge campsite for a wonderful weekend of music, meals and madness
Tickets and further information from https://wegottickets.com/f/13935, and there’s a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ApfzDaXrW/ for chat and further information.
- Phil Cooper & Friends to Play to at The Fold
Excitement for the rebirth of The Fold music venue at The Lamb in Devizes is building. As you’ve probably seen me posting on social media, Devizine presents two astounding Wiltshire singer-songwriters, M3G and Seren to Devizes this Friday (24th April,) and Gaz Brookfield with JP Oldfield in support has only gone and sold out for the 5th June, but between them we have something else to announce…..
Trowbridge’s hardest working musician Phil Cooper says he’s “mega-excited” to bring his show to the Fold on Friday 22nd May. With him he brings a Canadian friend, multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, arranger and producer LG Breton. Phil explained, “LG told me he was coming from Canada to the UK for a holiday, and asked if there was a chance we could share a stage once again. I jumped at the chance!”
And if that’s not enough for you, the other two original members of The Lost Trades, Jamie R Hawkins and Tamsin Quin will be doing solo support slots, before LG and Jamie join Phil for a Phil Cooper Trio show; I haven’t seen Tamsin for sooo long, and Devizine was the Tamsin Quin fanzine too!
The Lost Trades original line up with Tamsin Quin Again the event is “pay what you can afford,” and here’s the link to reserve your spot. Phil is such a wonderful musician in whatever guise he delivers, be it The Lost Trades, solo, as The Slight Band or the experimental project BCC, but the best thing about this talented and kind fellow, is either him standing in for missing band members for too many groups to name, or, most importantly, his production and engineering wizardry which has blessed so many artists as well as himself, including our M3G, of whom Phil has produced her last few singles; welcome to the small world of Wiltshire live music!
So, I hope to see you at The Fold on Friday, please bring some cash to donate if possible. The success of these early gigs for the new Fold really will be critical to our ability to put on more, so I hope you can make it, because there’s plenty of other brilliant local acts I’ve discovered on my journeys yet to showcase here in Devizes, and they’re queuing up, waiting for the green light!
And don’t forget, there’s an open mic up there every first Tuesday of the month.
A huge thanks then must go out to JP Oldfield who has masterminded the project and Sally at The Lamb. We’re so excited at Devizine we’ve a whole page dedicated to it, which I’m off to next to update with this news!
devizine.com 