By Graham Hiley. Bruce Springsteen delivered a scathing attack on US president Donald Trump branding him a traitor as he kicked off his Land of Hope and Dreams tour in Manchester. Before the Boss had even sung a note, he launched into a carefully-scripted and deeply felt monologue highlighting...
Entertainment Reviews
Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Chichester’s Minerva Theatre
By Graham Hiley. It was hard to imagine how The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry could be brought to the stage – let alone turned into a musical. And yet the hit novel and movie has been transformed into an astonishing production which has just had its world premiere...
Review: Wanderlust Festival 2025 – Southampton
By Darren Grayer. Additional reporting: Anita Foxall, Russell Foxall and Dan O’Farrell. Saturday After a highly successful first year, Southampton’s Wanderlust Music Festival returned at the weekend. Expanded to two days this time around, it saw well over 50 artists appear, spread over Saturday and Sunday at three local...
Review: Brighton Fringe Festival by Revel Punk Circus – Opening Gala
By Joy McKay. I was delighted to be invited to the Opening Gala night of the Brighton Fringe Festival by Revel Puck Circus on May 1st. As is common for Fringe Festivals, this runs alongside the main Brighton Festival but brings together the smaller, weirder, more esoteric and (for...
Review: The Government Inspector – Chichester Festival Theatre
By Graham Hiley. If you thought Fawlty Towers was ahead of its time, just imagine the reaction 139 years earlier when Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector hit the stage! It would be wrong to say it follows the same premise as the 1975 classic episode the Hotel Inspectors because...
Review: The Marriage of Figaro, Welsh National Opera – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
By Martin Brisland. Have you watched the Shawshank Redemption film? Then you will have heard a beautiful Mozart aria from the Marriage of Figaro. It is the scene where Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) breaks into the warden’s office and plays it over the loudspeakers to the inmates in the...
Review: The Courettes – The Joiners, Southampton
By Darren Grayer. The Courettes are currently the best rock n roll band on the planet. Not convinced? Then let me try and persuade you. Husband and wife duo, Flavia and Martin Couri play a blend of music that perfectly encapsulates explosive garage rock, Girl Group, Wall of Sound,...
Review: Peter Grimes, Welsh National Opera – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton
By Martin Brisland. Benjamin Britten’s 1945 opera Peter Grimes saw the young composer’s emergence as a fully formed musical dramatist, and it remains his defining work. A near capacity Mayflower Theatre audience witnessed a real treat with one of the Welsh National Opera’s best productions (30/4/25). Fisherman Grimes is...
Interview: Rob Clamp
By Charlie Hislop “Ok……. jump” and everyone did if they weren’t already jumping. It’s the close-out of Southampton’s Rob Clamp’s recent hometown gig. The place is rammed, the audience is bouncing. The energy coming off the stage is visible. The set is a mix of album tracks and new...
Review: Frank Turner, O2 Southampton Guildhall
By Graham Hiley. Back in 1996 a young Frank Turner came to the Southampton Guildhall to watch a Battle of the Bands contest. There and then he vowed he would one day be standing on that stage taking part in the competition. Although he never actually got to...