New month, new post, and it's not as if much happened during May? Further developments after my little challenge in Barbados mean that I have detached the gel sack from the back of my eye socket. In practical terms that means I will have 'floaters' which my brain will eventually allow me to adjust to. The good news though is that I will not get a detached retina in that eye as the potential pressure has been relieved by the tear.
SWMBO and I paid a visit to Hillside Golf Club when they hosted the British Masters golf tournament. There were not too many top players in the field so we decided to go to the pro-am day. It was chucking down so we only stayed a couple of hours, but it was long enough to see a very jaded Robbie Fowler stuff a few into the undergrowth. Liverpool had beaten Barcelona the night before, so drink had definitely been taken. In contrast Kenny Dalgleish sunk a birdie putt on the 4th as it Alan Shearer. Stuart Broad sliced one into the grandstand at the 18th and that signalled to us it was time to go.
The following weekend, 'Off the record' Dick and his wife Gill came up for a couple of days to do the Oxton Secret Gardens festival with us. This is the traditional time of year when home owners throw open their gardens for people like us to nose around. It was a baking day and they must have made a goodly sum for the nominated charities. I do hope Dick and Gill enjoyed the trip. It is a fair old poke from their new home in Middle Wallop, or is it Nether Wallop? We were very pleased to see them.
Then last week we went to see Bill Bailey in concert at the newly named M & S Bank Arena in Liverpool. I suspect this arena will always be known as the Echo Arena, in the same way the one day cricket competition is still known as the Nat West trophy amongst the diehards, and the Santander bicycle system in London will always be referred to as 'Boris Bikes'. Whether that will change when he becomes Prime Minister is anybodies guess.
So back to Bill. There is so much talent bestowed on one man, it is criminal. His impersonation of Teresa May was brilliant, and his musical talent is so wide and diverse that every school child should be made to watch a video of him. We had a great time. This great time was then enhanced with a few hours in the flesh pots of Liverpool with number 2 daughter so that we got back home after 1am a little worst for wear.
Finally we had that greatly boring event which was the European Cup final. Nobody will remember it in Liverpool than anything other than a hugely one sided massacre of a poor team for London. Truth be told, UEFA go the final they deserved after making the teams wait three weeks to play it, it was like a pre-season friendly. Was it a penalty? In Europe possibly, in England, never, but the VAR boys were not going to throw their referee mate under the bus in the first minute. still it's water under the bridge, and we can now look forward to the start of the cricket season. Oh, hang on, that started six weeks ago!! I am sure footie used to be September to April and Cricket was May to August, when did the calendar change?
Showing posts with label Echo arena. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Echo arena. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 June 2019
Monday, 17 December 2012
You can't cancel Christmas....
....but that is exactly what the Echo arena tried to do this weekend, when they decided to pull the plug on their scheduled pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.
The Friday performance was billed as a preview, so while the cancellation of that performance was bad, there is always a risk that there could be teething problems. To cancel the Saturday matinee with 40 minutes notice was, however, scandalous. It was our grand daughter, Ava's, first ever panto and she was inconsolable as was her mother. Ava had on her Princess Aurora dress and tiara and had really been looking forward to going. We were just one of hundreds of families who were in the same boat. Just what do you tell the little ones.
The panto had been rocked earlier in its build up, by the news that its star Andrew Lancel had been arrested for alleged child sex abuse claims. He stepped down to be replaced by Charlotte Milchard.
One line of reasoning for the cancellations was that she had not got up to speed with the part.
The setting for the performances is the riverside big top, and the technical difficulties for which the cancellation was blamed relate to the Christmas market and festival component of the tented village. It may be, of course, that they just hadn't sold enough tickets!!
So, off to the box office to get a refund, and I knew as I approached the window that it was not going to go well. Sure enough, as my name was not on the bottom of the tickets, I could not have a refund, 'they may have been stolen sir'. Liverpool really does let itself down sometimes, and it tries so hard to cast of the chains of its past.
The tickets are now in the post with a serious letter of complaint and claims for the £15 of parking charges which my party paid expecting to stay for 3 hours, not 30 minutes.
Santa was able to work his magic, however, and we managed to pick up tickets for the evening performance of Cinderella, at the Liverpool Empire. Ava changed into her Cinderella ball gown, the production was spectacular and at the end of the day we all lived happily ever after. Ho ho ho!
The Friday performance was billed as a preview, so while the cancellation of that performance was bad, there is always a risk that there could be teething problems. To cancel the Saturday matinee with 40 minutes notice was, however, scandalous. It was our grand daughter, Ava's, first ever panto and she was inconsolable as was her mother. Ava had on her Princess Aurora dress and tiara and had really been looking forward to going. We were just one of hundreds of families who were in the same boat. Just what do you tell the little ones.
The panto had been rocked earlier in its build up, by the news that its star Andrew Lancel had been arrested for alleged child sex abuse claims. He stepped down to be replaced by Charlotte Milchard.
One line of reasoning for the cancellations was that she had not got up to speed with the part.
The setting for the performances is the riverside big top, and the technical difficulties for which the cancellation was blamed relate to the Christmas market and festival component of the tented village. It may be, of course, that they just hadn't sold enough tickets!!
So, off to the box office to get a refund, and I knew as I approached the window that it was not going to go well. Sure enough, as my name was not on the bottom of the tickets, I could not have a refund, 'they may have been stolen sir'. Liverpool really does let itself down sometimes, and it tries so hard to cast of the chains of its past.
The tickets are now in the post with a serious letter of complaint and claims for the £15 of parking charges which my party paid expecting to stay for 3 hours, not 30 minutes.
Santa was able to work his magic, however, and we managed to pick up tickets for the evening performance of Cinderella, at the Liverpool Empire. Ava changed into her Cinderella ball gown, the production was spectacular and at the end of the day we all lived happily ever after. Ho ho ho!
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
And a fruit based drink for the lady
We went to see Al Murray at the weekend, aka The Pub Landlord. He was on at the Echo Arena, and we were curious to see how he would get on as he has had a rough ride in Scouseland on a few occasions.
His act started off as I expected, with him effectively identifying his foils who would be food and drink for him throughout the rest of the show. So, we had the fat bloke, the old bloke, the good looking girls, the intellectual, the getaway driver, a few nurses and secretary's, the lad who worked for a bank, and a few randoms which for this show included a 'finisher' and some stock takers from Morrison. Finally he found the ugly bloke batting way above his average, with a good looking girl.
He then ran a series of gags aimed at or involving each of these stereotypes, and frankly it was all a bit tedious. The stock takers took offense at the 'well you would in Liverpool wouldn't you' joke, and the Gordon Brown stories told in a Scottish accent, so they decided to heckle a bit. Sadly they were not very good at it, and after ten minutes or so they were shown the door.
He proved God was British with a few parables probably not from the Bible, which included alluding to the fact that he always stood his round, even if there were 5000 in the pub, which was amusing, he lambasted the London 2012 initiative, presumably to get the out of town sympathy vote, and ended by extolling the virtues of bacon as a hangover cure.
Would I go again? no, would I recommend him? only if he was doing a 30 minute slot in a comedy club, frankly he should stick to his TV chat show, but as SWMBO indicated, comedians only have a short shelf life so you have to go with it while you can.
His act started off as I expected, with him effectively identifying his foils who would be food and drink for him throughout the rest of the show. So, we had the fat bloke, the old bloke, the good looking girls, the intellectual, the getaway driver, a few nurses and secretary's, the lad who worked for a bank, and a few randoms which for this show included a 'finisher' and some stock takers from Morrison. Finally he found the ugly bloke batting way above his average, with a good looking girl.
He then ran a series of gags aimed at or involving each of these stereotypes, and frankly it was all a bit tedious. The stock takers took offense at the 'well you would in Liverpool wouldn't you' joke, and the Gordon Brown stories told in a Scottish accent, so they decided to heckle a bit. Sadly they were not very good at it, and after ten minutes or so they were shown the door.
He proved God was British with a few parables probably not from the Bible, which included alluding to the fact that he always stood his round, even if there were 5000 in the pub, which was amusing, he lambasted the London 2012 initiative, presumably to get the out of town sympathy vote, and ended by extolling the virtues of bacon as a hangover cure.
Would I go again? no, would I recommend him? only if he was doing a 30 minute slot in a comedy club, frankly he should stick to his TV chat show, but as SWMBO indicated, comedians only have a short shelf life so you have to go with it while you can.
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
The Long and Winding Road.....
Last weekend saw the start of the year in which Liverpool will be the Capital of Culture. The beginning was marked by two events in the centre of the city.
The first, on Friday night was billed as the peoples opening and took place outdoors in front of St Georges Hall. The event was pretty average to be honest, and a bit disjointed, the highlight being the appearance of over 100 guitarists on top of the Hall, the nearby shopping centre and Lime Street station. It tried to emulate Brian may when he played God Save the Queen from the top of Buck Pal, for the Queens Jubilee.
The event was beamed live around the world, except to the UK of course, as Liverpool shot itself in the foot by failing to agree sufficient performing rights deals to allow that to happen. So all the UK saw were highlights on the news, and a review programme on Sunday evening. The sign of things to come perhaps?
Phil Redmond, of Grange Hill and Brookside fame had been running the organising committee, and he described the whole venture as similar to putting on a Scouse wedding, lots of fighting in the buildup but a great party on the night. Trouble is, this has become the byline for the whole event, and its a bit tiresome to hear every commentator or pundit using the expression. The wedding is over, get on with married life!!!.
The second event on Saturday was in the brand new Echo Arena in the Albert dock area of the City. We managed to blag tickets for the event.....good old e-bay......and the arena certainly matched the occasion. It holds about 10,000 people and it was packed.
The Liverpool Philharmonic provided the backdrop to the event, being presented vertically on a wall of scaffolding behind the set. Amongst the acts were Echo and the Bunnymen ( good choice for the arena!!), The Wombats, The Christians and the Lightening Seeds. They were good, but the orchestra stole the show, and I had the chance to sing Jerusalem, although nobody else seemed to join in.
There was also no rendition of 'Ferry Across the Mersey', or 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and where were the Zootons?
Headlining both nights was Ringo Starr, who cemented his reputation for being the Posh Spice of the Beatles. When he sang 'A Little Help from my Friends', you just hoped Joe Cocker would suddenly appear to help him out.
Still, all in all a good night out, finished off with a pint of bitter in the Baltic Fleet, and a scoff in Chinatown. The Arena does not sell bitter, the only down side I could find in the venue.
The first, on Friday night was billed as the peoples opening and took place outdoors in front of St Georges Hall. The event was pretty average to be honest, and a bit disjointed, the highlight being the appearance of over 100 guitarists on top of the Hall, the nearby shopping centre and Lime Street station. It tried to emulate Brian may when he played God Save the Queen from the top of Buck Pal, for the Queens Jubilee.
The event was beamed live around the world, except to the UK of course, as Liverpool shot itself in the foot by failing to agree sufficient performing rights deals to allow that to happen. So all the UK saw were highlights on the news, and a review programme on Sunday evening. The sign of things to come perhaps?
Phil Redmond, of Grange Hill and Brookside fame had been running the organising committee, and he described the whole venture as similar to putting on a Scouse wedding, lots of fighting in the buildup but a great party on the night. Trouble is, this has become the byline for the whole event, and its a bit tiresome to hear every commentator or pundit using the expression. The wedding is over, get on with married life!!!.
The second event on Saturday was in the brand new Echo Arena in the Albert dock area of the City. We managed to blag tickets for the event.....good old e-bay......and the arena certainly matched the occasion. It holds about 10,000 people and it was packed.
The Liverpool Philharmonic provided the backdrop to the event, being presented vertically on a wall of scaffolding behind the set. Amongst the acts were Echo and the Bunnymen ( good choice for the arena!!), The Wombats, The Christians and the Lightening Seeds. They were good, but the orchestra stole the show, and I had the chance to sing Jerusalem, although nobody else seemed to join in.
There was also no rendition of 'Ferry Across the Mersey', or 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and where were the Zootons?
Headlining both nights was Ringo Starr, who cemented his reputation for being the Posh Spice of the Beatles. When he sang 'A Little Help from my Friends', you just hoped Joe Cocker would suddenly appear to help him out.
Still, all in all a good night out, finished off with a pint of bitter in the Baltic Fleet, and a scoff in Chinatown. The Arena does not sell bitter, the only down side I could find in the venue.
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