Something For The Weekend

Post apocalyptic theatre for the masses – Stomp live at The Ambassadors Theatre

Imagine that if instead of a super car, Mad Max was stuck in the outback with some old dustbins, a broom and a couple of sinks. Then imagine that the nuclear blast had left him stack full of rhythm, obsessed with sweeping his floor and with a passion for Brazilian, Calypso and  African music. Then finally imagine that he walked into a Australian bar that is chock full of people suffering with the same affliction. That bar would be called Stomp.

Now this isn’t a normal West End theatre show, there is no interval and no people walking round selling ice cream. If you want that then you need to book something slightly different. However if you want to be blown away then come here as fast as you can.

There are only a few shows In the West End that stay open for than 5 years (Blood Brothers,The Lion King, Mamma Mia, Les Mis and Phantom to name a few). And there is a reason, you have to be totally different to everyone else and play to packed houses every night. Stomp is now entering it’s eight year.

This is a full on treat for the senses, 1h 40 mins of non stop performance. It’s like a hyped up Britain’s got talent, where they have fast forwarded through the singing dogs and naff comedians, and only kept in the tricks and future YouTube highlights. And it’s funny, really funny and they don’t even have to speak. They even get the audience to interact without putting pressure on (surely the hardest trick of all).

Expect to see a show that appears to be run by those annoyingly cool kids at school (those who can moonwalk, do the robot and do back flips) and make sure you are awake before you get there because these guys use every bit of the set and even perform when they are moving bits about.

And the location is perfect too. Right in the heart of the West End, close to the bars and restaurants and, because there is no annoying interval, you get out before the rest of the shows so you can get great restaurant seats, or home that little bit earlier (perfect for a school night).

The kids from Fame have grown up, got a bit dirtier and a whole lot cooler.

Stomp tickets - The Ambassadors Theatre - from only £10

Sean Collins

Sean moved back to the UK after living all over the world for years. He basically writes about shows, booze filled antics, about avoiding tourists and not paying top whack to get in anywhere. He still misses Mark and Lard being on Radio 1 and is possibly the clumsiest person in the Northern Hemisphere. Also he is stupidly scared of dogs and thinks that everyone needs at least 7 cups of coffee a day to keep their heart running (all with biscuits to dunk of course).

Mexican Thumb Wave - The Making of UK Media History

 

We’ve just posted this for your viewing pleasure. Keep your eyes out for the ad on Saturday night.

Sean Collins

play a part in tv history

On Saturday 28 February at 9.50pm, watch us on telly and win a big bundle of good stuff.

We're creating a television first - and we want you to be part of it. Tune into ITV on Saturday 28 February at 9.50pm. Three 60 second adverts will be aired, straight after each other, starting on ITV, moving to Channel 4 and then ending on Channel 5.

It's going to be the world's first Mexican wave of thumbs up... spanning the channels and spreading the good stuff, right around the UK. Watch the three adverts and guess the number of thumbs you see.
Visit this special page after the ad and tell us how many thumbs you think you saw. Simple!

• You could win a great big bundle of good stuff including:
• a two-night 4* city break to Barcelona for 2
• a two-night spa break at Thoresby Hall, Nottinghamshire with use of spa and treatments
• a pair of theatre tickets to see Sister Act
• a 3 course meal for 2 and a bottle of wine at Brasserie Roux, London
• plus a Silverstone Thrill drive experience in Northamptonshire for two
• And we have great runner-up prizes with 5 four night stays in top hotels.

Visit here to enter on Saturday night

Dan Pilkington

Credit Crunch London – The National Portrait Gallery

We’re all looking for for great things to do in London, but in these times of banking bumbling finding a great deal is more important than ever. The word FREE ENTRY is ideally what we are all out there looking for. Well we’ve set ourselves a challenge to try and find the best things that you can do on a visit to London on a fraction of the normal city break budget. Today I revisited an old favourite – the National Portrait Gallery in Trafalgar Square.

Hidden away to the left of the big brotherish National Gallery, this gem of a gallery is one of the most serene places in London. While the Tate Modern attracts most of the plaudits (and let’s face it visitors), the NPG quiets does what it does best – being the most accessible and fun art gallery in London.

Now this isn’t the way that you imagine to an art gallery to be. it doesn’t solely exist for people artists and art people. Also, it isn’t solely full of images of far away places and fêted muses of rich artisans. This is an art galley for the people as crucially it is full of images of people you know and have heard of. They’ve reorganised the lower galleries recently and this has made it even easier to get involved as soon as you pass the revolving doors.

The first gallery is dedicated to the 20th century and manages to swiftly combine celebrity portraits of Gwyneth Paltrow (by Michael Thompson) and Michael Sheen (by Zac Mead)  with surreal pictures of Sir Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela. These aren’t though, throw away magazine style images. These are portrait photographs taken by some of the best photographers on the planet. And the scale is amazing. Photos that dominate entire walls, far larger than a 50” plasma screen and far more impressive. Pay particular  attention to Miles Aldridge’s picture of Lilly Cole (think of a Victorian miniature) and to Allen Jones’s stunning image of prima ballerina Darcey Bussell (we loved the amazing Disney style colouring, a little like a fully grown Hannah Montana).

As you wander the galleries and see the enormous breadth of the collection, the time simply passes effortlessly. You’ll be able to finally put faces to names that you remember from school or your grandparents stories, while at the same time seeing your own heroes idolised on the walls for posterity. It really helps to plan a visit here either before or after you take in any of London’s numerous historical tours and monuments. It’s like your own interactive walking encyclopaedia, a large scale Madame Tussauds with images rather than waxworks.

Here are a few things that you really need to keep your eye out for on a visit to the NPG.

• The champions exhibition – a series of amazing black and white nude portraits of some of the world’s biggest sports stars (in support of the Elton John Aids foundation)
• Keep your eye for the aristocrat murdered at the Tower of London whose body was exhumed, head stitched back on and portrait painted (as they needed one for the families wall)
• In the underground gallery there is an exhibition of some of the most famous photos from the pages of Vanity Fair
• There is a fabulous little cafe and book shop in the basement
• The are free tours and talks each day  (on different subjects each time) – times vary but they tend to be in the afternoon
• JK Rowling is immortalised in a 3d painting by Stuart Pearson Wright. The cafe setting echos the writing of Harry Potter, whereas her dinner of eggs represent the children she had and connected with while finishing the novels.

 

oh and if we need to underline it’s unpretentiousness any further, you can even take home most of your fav images of the likes of Becks and Madonna for only 60p

Book a a London hotel in the hotel sale – save up to 50%

Sean Collins

Sean moved back to the UK after living all over the world for years. He basically writes about shows, booze filled antics, about avoiding tourists and not paying top whack to get in anywhere. He still misses Mark and Lard being on Radio 1 and is possibly the clumsiest person in the Northern Hemisphere. Also he is stupidly scared of dogs and thinks that everyone needs at least 7 cups of coffee a day to keep their heart running (all with biscuits to dunk of course).

Kate, Dan and Sean’s need to know – our top 6 deals of the week

Sorry it’s only short but here are our favourite deals that we’ve spotted so far this week

• T in the park tickets – available 9am on Friday
• Ski holidays for £99 – available 10 am on Thursday
• 50% off tickets to Carousel
• Pamper day - £20 spa deal, includes a treatment and you can take your mate for free
• Have a meal on us – free meal with top show tickets
• Eurostar to Paris + champagne for £69 return

Kate is our resident ski angel and is unbelievably competitive. Never ever ever ever ask to join her training groups and if you see her coming down the mountain then get out of her way quickly or you will be sorry. She also loves The Killers, Kings of Leon and Chris Hoy.

Dan is a former music journalist, is our resident musical expert and loves bands named after inanimate objects. Never ever ever ever ask him if he knows anywhere good to go when the pub shuts,unless you want sit on sofas held together with gaffer tape in bar that only sells 1 lager (always overly strong). It will however have a great stereo and will have featured on the album cover of a 1960s EP that only ever sold 60 copies,

Sean moved back to the UK after living all over the world for years. He basically writes about shows, booze filled antics, about avoiding tourists and not paying top whack to get in anywhere. He still misses Mark and Lard being on Radio 1 and is possibly the clumsiest person in the Northern Hemisphere. Also he is stupidly scared of dogs and thinks that everyone needs at least 7 cups of coffee a day to keep their heart running (all with biscuits to dunk of course).

Good stuff legends #2 – Stephen “Burnley Ste” Henaghan (travel blog guru)

We’re keeping our eye out for the leaders in the field of doing more good stuff and we stumbled upon this amazing travel story online. Leaving their sunshine jobs on the sunshine island of Ibiza behind, Ste and Aimee set of round the world doing as much good stuff as possible on the way.When your Facebook status reads “in Hanoi. It's darn cloudy!”, then you tend to make us back home damn jealous.

We first heard about Ste back in 2002 when he was making himself a legend to golden oldies of the Costa Del Sol. Then via stops across Europe he ended splitting his time between Ibiza (amazing), Burnley (not so good, but better than Blackburn) and the frozen alps. Sounds like something out of cocktail – summers in New York and then Winters in the Caribbean, pure genius.

Now he’s doing us proud. South America has been conquered. Australia has been reclaimed and now South East Asia trembles at the thought of his incredibly accurate and uncompromising blog reviews. If you like your reviews to be impartial and straight to the point, then Ste is definitely the man to know.

You can subscribe to Ste and Aimee’s blog here or if you they inspire you to travel the world (or simply go on an amazing holiday) then you can book multi stop round the worlds flights here

Sean Collins

We’ll keep you updated on Ste and Aimee’s world tour over the coming months. If you know someone else with an amazing story to tell then why not let us know by leaving a comment on these pages. You can even add this blog as note on your facebook page and it will automatically keep you in the now.

Sean moved back to the UK after living all over the world for years. He basically writes about booze filled antics, about avoiding tourists and not paying top whack to get in anywhere. He still misses Mark and Lard being on Radio 1 and is possibly the clumsiest person in the Northern Hemisphere. Also he is stupidly scared of dogs and thinks that everyone needs at least 7 cups of coffee a day to keep their heart running (all with biscuits to dunk of course).

Good stuff legends #1 – Ed Vanson (Facebook crusader)

We’re keeping our eye out for the leaders in the field of doing more good stuff and the first person to come to our attention is this guy. Ed has set himself a seemingly impossible challenge for 2009. Simply put he has to visit, have a beer with (and have a photo taken with) every single person that he is friend’s with on Facebook.

Now this would be easy if you only had 10 mates and they all lived round the corner from you. However if you have hundreds of friends stretching from Cape Town through Perth onto New York via Vancouver and over to the UK. Too see them in 1 year involves a lots of sacrifice, loads of begging emails and tons of financial planning. If you want to do this when you are also trying to complete the full list of 92 league clubs and recovering from being knocked off your bike by a idiotic driver then in our eyes you have entered legend status.

But that is why we love this guy so much, nothing seems to faze him. If it involves getting of a coach from a game at Old Trafford at silly o’clock, then going to work and trying to organise your football teams anniversary match, while learning to teach English as a foreign language and at the same time trying complete a journal of your travels – then this guy will do it.

Good luck on your quest Mr Vanson, we’re behind you and your mission all the way. 27 done, 165 to go.

If you fancy tracking your mates down, and need somewhere to stay, why not book a hotel in the hotel sale – save up to 50%

Sean Collins

We’ll keep you up to date with Ed’s mission over the course of the year. If you’ve got a friend who is amazing at doing good stuff (or simply want to wish Ed good luck) then why not leave a comment on this blog and tell us all about it.

more bang for your buck – The Killers live

Is there anyone on Planet Earth that hasn’t heard of The Killers? Perennial band of the year, best album winners and best single winners at awards ceremonies across the globe, they have now started to dominate the best live act category as well. We’re a picky bunch here at the pink palace and we have argued for weeks about where is best to see them; at a festival or in an arena. The split tends to happen on gender lines. Kate is favouring the arena option whereas Dan and I are sticking up for the rather more raw setting of the festival mosh pits.

Kate and Grace went to see them at the 02 arena in London this week. Here’s what they thought:

It’s brill, but you really want to be in the standing area in front of the stage, the people down there look like they are having so much fun. The set is ace (not quite Take That or Timberlake esque, but still great). They open to Spaceman and go through a really long encore. You defo get your money’s worth because the set itself is around 90 mins long. It’s great singalong fun but you need to do two things. Firstly get in the mood before you go as they start their show earlier than most bands, and secondly resist the urge to leave early. One of the best things of the night is seeing (the divine) Mr Flowers salute the crowd that sing every single word of Mr Brightside back at him. Yes girls, he really is that fit. The encore is 4 songs long and contains the classics so you need to stay. Also don’t try and hold a drink in your hands for the last 30 mins because you will dancing far too hard and will certainly loose all your hand eye coordination. Brilliant night, but really jealous of the peeps who got stand at the front.

Dan and I went to see the Killers at festivals across Europe. Here what we thought:

The first thing that you notice about the Killers at a festival is the size of the crowd. The second thing is the noise. When these guys are headlining it doesn’t matter who is on the other stages, there will be no one there. So bear in mind that if you are at a festival which sells 90’000 tickets, there will 90’000 people in the crowd so don’t wander over with 5 minutes to go and expect the best view. And bring the earplugs, because you are getting a wall of sound and noise coming up at you full pace for 90 minutes. Have a think about your favourite Killers songs and see if you can find a slow song or a ballad. You can’t; they don’t make them. So prepare yourself to jump, sing, be jumped on and sung into for the whole set. This is the festival equivalent of the last 20 minutes at your best mates wedding (but 90 minutes long). Forget taking drinks into the crowd, forget leaving half way through for a toilet break, forget finding your mates in there and forget staying in the same spot the whole gig. These guys are brilliant live, and they know it. Prepare yourself for a really long encore and for aching muscles all of the next day. Are they the best live band in the world (for me that’s the Stereophonics and for Dan it is Glasvegas), but are they the best at a festival – hell yeah. (oh and girls that isn’t lager that is being thrown backwards from the front).

Sean Collins

Sean moved back to the UK after living all over the world for years. He basically writes about booze filled antics, about avoiding tourists and not paying top whack to get in anywhere. He still misses Mark and Lard being on Radio 1 and is possibly the clumsiest person in the Northern Hemisphere. Also he is stupidly scared of dogs and thinks that everyone needs at least 7 cups of coffee a day to keep their heart running (all with biscuits to dunk of course).

The Killers are headlining Benicassim and T in the Park in 2009 – buy your tickets here from 9am Friday

To see the Killers live in Paris – click here

Competitive Kate's guide to the mountains

Great news, Europe is having amazing snowfalls this winter (yay); some of the best for a few years. Saas Fee, Chamonix, Zermatt and Argentiere have over 300cm of snow on the upper slopes and most of the on piste runs throughout France are rated as excellent. The lower slopes in Bankso already have over 215cm of snow and most of the ski lifts are open.

All this snow does come at price though; it is blinkin' cold, especially higher up the slopes at the moment. I’ve just come back from a few days in Chamonix - perfect as it is only an hour from Geneva - the slopes were very quiet so no wasting time queueing either. The temperature (with wind chill) was dipping as low as minus 30 so you need to be prepared : take plenty of layers with you, invest in some good quality mitts to keep your fingers warm and take care to protect your neck properly (an old rugby scarf just won’t do). Make sure that your hair is perfectly dry before you venture outside and that you have located a fantastic bar to drink some vin chaud and defrost. The weather is making for even better après ski as the bars are fuller, earlier. Try and get to the slopes midweek if possible as the great snow is pulling more and more weekend breakers to the mountains.

Kate Walton

Kate is our resident ski angel and is unbelievably competitive. Never ever ever ever ask to join her training groups and if you see her coming down the mountain then get out of her way quickly or you will be sorry. She also loves The Killers, Kings of Leon and Chris Hoy.

Book a £99 pound ski holiday here from 9am Thursday

Dan and Grace's festival tit bits

 

T In The Park is once again looking like a cracker this year, with greying, cheese-making legends Blur headlining alongside The Killers and the now stadium-humping Kings Of Leon. Lower down the bill is looking equally exciting with the much anticipated return of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Katy Perry for your faux-lesbian pop kicks.

Our band to look out for at this year’s festivals is Ra Ra Riot. Fresh from supporting Vampire Weekend across Europe last year, they’re an exhilarating concoction of Arcade Fire’s orchestral beauty and the poppy thrills of the aforementioned Weekend and The Strokes. Don’t miss them.

Dan Pilkington

Dan is a former music journalist, is our resident musical expert and loves bands named after inanimate objects. Never ever ever ever ask him if he knows anywhere good to go when the pub shuts,unless you want sit on sofas held together with gaffer tape in bar that only sells 1 lager (always overly strong). It will however have a great stereo and will have featured on the album cover of a 1960s EP that only ever sold 60 copies,

Book T in the Park tickets here from 9am on Friday