Skunk Anansie , UK Tour 2025, O2 Academy, Glasgow. Thursday 10th April, 2025

When I retired, I didn't expect to feel like a pensioner quite so quickly (especially as my pension is not due for another decade). My knees ache, I pull muscles easily, and I sometimes need a nap. My crankiness mid-afternoon today went off the chart when, on the drive home from Mokka Jaks (who mucked up my order twice), a man in an open-top convertible decided he had right of way on the narrow road, contrary to the street signs, because his car was more expensive than mine. The way I felt after he brushed off my expletive-filled overreaction with an eye roll made me realise today needed to be a nap day.

It's just as well I did go back to bed because I ended up out cold for over an hour and felt a great deal better for it afterwards. I don't think I could have coped with this gig without that sleep.  

Traffic was a bitch on the way there, with both a four-way temporary traffic light system at the junction of Broomlands Street and Maxwellton Street and heavy Rangers traffic on the M8. I managed to arrive before the doors opened and, once inside, found a great spot to watch the gig behind the accessibility seats in the first seated area. I could have gone down the front, as at this point, it was only one person deep at the barrier, but I remembered my achey bones. Let the young uns claim this space.  

The support act So Good was striking. Consisting of three blokes in white boiler suits and pink balaclavas, a lead singer, and two backing singers/dancers, they commanded the stage with their energetic performance. I'd never heard of them before but would search them out again if they were ever to return. 

Setlist

Inheritance

Hate

I Hate It Here

Hot

If I Had A

Industry Plant

1994

I Rewrote The F**king Bible

I Will Love You 

I Rewrote The F**king Bible

As a prelude to the main act, the PA played New Rose by The Damned, signalling the direction Skunk Anansie are moving in nowadays. Touring again as a four-piece, they present their punk rock credentials firmly to the fore. Prepare to mosh.

The stage is decorated with spikes reminiscent of Skin's costume on the previous tour. Tonight, she's dressed in an oversized bomber jacket and cargo pants. The lighting initially is oppressive, keeping the band in shadow with flashing and pulsating lights. It's a rousing start to the proceedings.

This Means War

The fierce mood continues with Charlie Big Potato and Because of You before moving on to a new song, An Artist is An Artist. By the time we reach God Only Knows You, Skin gets a round of applause for an impassioned speech opposing so-called Christians who spread hate for marginalised groups. The fire is still alive in her heart and soul. 

The gig highlight for me was when Skin jumped into the crowd during I Can Dream, making her way to the back of the hall before crowd-surfing her way to the stage again. She's older than me and still behaving like a teenager. What a gal!

They indeed tear the place up with the rest of their set, ending, unusually, with another new number only released two days ago.   

For a band that's been around this long, I expected the audience to be older, but this one was mixed in terms of age, gender, and sexuality. The setlist contained tracks from all eras of their career, heavily expressing their punk rock credentials. I hate to admit it, but I think I preferred their last tour, where there was a backing singer who played a larger role in complementing Skin's vocals (I'm not suggesting that Skin's vocals were anything less than perfect). However, the band has moved on from that era, even if I haven't. I was so glad I didn't go down the front, given how lively it got.

Maybe I'm getting too old for this, or I just need more naps. I did enjoy it, though.

Afterwards, it was nice catching up with some old school friends, Colin and Kirsteen. I hope she doesn't mind that I pinched her photo.

Rare photographic evidence of the Anonymous Punter,
with Colin and Kirsteen.

Ticket Price (From GigsAndTours.com)

1 x Stalls Standing £42.85 Including booking fee

(The booking fee includes a Restoration Levy charged by the venue £5.35 per ticket - £1.60 per ticket)

Transaction Fee £1.50
Total £44.35

Setlist

This Means War

Charlie Big Potato

Because of You

An Artist Is an Artist

I Believed in You

Love Someone Else

God Loves Only You

Secretly

Weak

I Can Dream

Twisted (Everyday Hurts)

My Ugly Boy

Animal

Yes It's Fucking Political

Tear the Place Up

Little Baby Swastikkka

Encore:

Hedonism (Just Because You Feel Good)

Cheers

Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover) (Snippet with band introductions and thanks)

The Skank Heads (Get Off Me)

Lost and Found

An Artist Is an Artist

Weak & I Can Dream (with crowd-surfing)

Cheers (Not the sitcom title song)

It's wine o'clock during the encore

Hanging around to 'Wishing I Didn't Miss You' by Angie Stone 
(according to Shazam)

Ghost Stories, Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Wednesday 9th April, 2025 (Matinee)

On a rather bright and sunny day, we headed into Glasgow for this matinee performance. We took the train, me using my Club 50 card for the first time (saving £1.25 off the off-peak day return fare). After a quick drink in Walkabout (where I discovered the gents' toilet was flooded, only after I walked through it), we made our way to the theatre and up the stairs to the Dress Circle. Front-row aisle seats meant not having to ask anyone to move.

Despite the pleasant weather outside, the atmosphere inside the theatre was foreboding. A dripping sound intermittently penetrates the tremulous howl of a gale (or could it be spooks?). The safety curtain is down across the stage, where a lectern sits on the front left. The audience is made aware that anyone who leaves the auditorium during the performance will not be let back in again. There is no interval. The lights dim.

The theatre requested that no spoilers be made about the show. All I will say is the shocks are telegraphed but well done. I noticed the emergency sign lights getting switched off from time to time and knew something was going to happen. Complete darkness is utilised well to hide the scares, especially in the finale. During one scene, I detected a smell of bleach in the air, a subtle theatricality. 

One warning: if you've seen the film based on this play, you'll know the ending. This stage production still has some clever tricks up its sleeve, though.

Cast

Dan Tetsell - Professor Goodman, 

David Cardy - Tony Matthews, 

Clive Mantle - Mike Priddle, 

Eddie Loodmer-Elliott - Simon Rifkind

Ticket Price: £48.50 x 2, plus £3.95 transaction fee = £100.95 from ATG. 

About the Show

When Professor Goodman, an arch-sceptic out to debunk the paranormal, embarks on an investigation of three apparent hauntings—as recounted by a night watchman, a teenage boy, and a businessman awaiting his first child—Goodman finds himself at the outer limits of rationality and fast running out of explanations.

Enter a world full of thrilling twists and epic turns, where the ultimate love letter to horror is imagined live on stage. A fully sensory and electrifying encounter, Ghost Stories is one of London’s best-reviewed plays of all time and will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a theatrical experience like no other.

After exhilarating audiences for two years in the West End and across the world with record-breaking, sell-out productions and a smash hit film, Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s Ghost Stories is “Genuine scary fun” (Sunday Times), a worldwide phenomenon more spine-tingling and fantastically terrifying than ever.

Are you brave enough to book?

Stuart Mitchell "Tips Not Included" UK Tour 2025, Paisley Arts Centre, Saturday 5th April, 2025

This was my first visit to the Paisley Arts Centre since its revamp. We arrived at 7:30 p.m. for an 8 p.m. show start, expecting the doors to the auditorium to be open. The show was sold out, so the bar area was busy—too busy to get in. It's just as well the planners added that extra space at the front. 

Paisley Arts Centre

The auditorium, with its red padded seats, looked plush. The stage was on the floor level, the folds of the theatre curtain drapes catching the illumination. What looked like four light sabres stood vertically across the back. No Force battles occurred during the performance, so they must have been there as decoration.

Stuart announced himself and did crowd work for the first twenty minutes. He peppered this with a few jokes to keep us amused, but his interactions failed to hit comedy gold. Then, after the interval, he returned to deliver his prepared material. 

I was disappointed that he didn't have a support act. I suppose, as it was his debut hour, he wanted to keep the box office for himself. The show itself was okay, with lots of funny lines. In Edinburgh terms, you'd call it his Dead Parents' hour. He explained how he came to lose his finger tips, how his mum had killed herself and how he lost his dad to cancer. He also nearly lost his wife, too, before their wedding when an ovarian cyst burst, leading to her developing a systemic infection. 

I'd heard some of his material before, during his Christmas show. I felt his delivery tonight wasn't totally smooth, and I noticed he repeated one punchline, inserting it later in the correct place. It's early in the run, though, so he can be forgiven for the odd fluff. Given the dark subject matter, he could have enhanced the comedic responses by playing more with the emotional weight of the tragedies. But then, he admits he's no actor, despite once playing Bible John in an ITV show. 

He killed then, but not so much tonight. It was acceptable as a debut show for a club comic. Perhaps my expectations were too high.

Ticket Price:
2 Full Price Tickets £20.00 x2 = £40.00
Per Item Fees £2.00 (Service Charge Full Price Ticket) x2 £4.00
Order Processing Fees Handling Fee £1.35
Total: £45.35 from Ticketmaster

Russell Kane "Hyperactive", King's Theatre, Glasgow. Sunday 30th March 2025

I have never seen Russell Kane live before (or any of the comedy Russells, for that matter), but I knew he was good. I didn't realise just how good. 

His support act was a pleasant surprise: local boy Liam Farrelly (local as in Paisley). This twenty-five-year-old crafted a clever set about gerbils, accents, spider swastikas and graffiti on his house about a slut called Jenny. I've never seen a relatively unknown support comedian command the stage and win over the audience so quickly. His material was brilliant. 

Russell was on another level, however. So much of the early set appeared improvised, chucking in local references knowingly and appropriately, building the laughs as he strutted from side to side, weaving in audience work to make his points, his mind operating as fast as he was moving, notably only slowing down when he crouched or lay on the stage. His regional accent work was impeccable, his physicality impressive, and his material was thoughtful and astute (under 28s don't go to comedy gigs because they get too easily triggered; mobile phones are killing memory and attention spans and shoving bad messaging down our throats; we should live for the moment, not tomorrow, because we only have today). He spoke with passion and humour, and not a single gag missed. He was like an Essex Robin Williams, only less dead. He shared the same pace, wit, and messaging as that genius comedian. 

He gave us seventy minutes because he knew that was all we could take. We gave him a well-deserved standing ovation. Thank you, Russell Kane, best of the Russells.

The journey home afterwards was an experience, too. Walking down Hope Street, heading for Central Station, I saw an inebriated blonde woman dressed all in green battering at a hackney cab's driver's window, demanding to be given a lift. In her hand, she clutched a shopping bag, so it too struck the driver's window. Her language was barely intelligible, so I couldn't tell where she wanted to go. Waiting at the junction only because the traffic lights were at red, the male driver didn't let her in, fobbing her off with some excuse I couldn't lipread. A police van pulled up behind him. The lights changed to green. The cab moved off, but she refused to accept this. She clung to his door, lasting five yards before her bag went flying, and she tumbled across the road, doing more spins than an Olympic diver. The cab continued on its way, and, eventually, the policeman got out of his van, the woman still on the ground, now an obstacle to traffic. He spoke to her, then messaged someone on his radio, likely for an ambulance. So, ultimately, she would get a lift, just not home. Either she was going to hospital or to a police cell. I didn't wait to see the outcome. I had a train to catch, where three drunk multi-generational women serenaded the entire carriage in whatever key they could achieve, regardless of whether they knew the lyrics or not. But that's another story.     

Ticket Price: 1 Artist Presale Ticket £31.75
Per Item Fees: (Service Charge Artist Presale Ticket) £3.50
Order Processing Fees Handling Fee £2.95
Total £38.20 from Ticketmaster

GICF Comedy Gala 2025. King's Theatre Glasgow. Sunday 30th March, 2025

The great thing about the GICF Comedy Gala is that it exposes you to comedians you wouldn't normally see. Each of the hand-picked comedians gets five minutes to show off their talents in a sampler of their work. And boy, what a feast it was.

On hosting duties was last year's recipient of the Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow award, Susie Mccabe. First up was Zoe Lyons, who was probably the most famous act on the bill. She was followed by Chris Thorburn, Viv Gee, Ayo Adenekan and Kim Blythe. Rounding off the first half with a beat-heavy, blistering impromptu rap involving objects from the pockets of the first two rows was MC Hammersmith. He was my favourite from this group. 

At this point, the event organisers surprised Viv Gee with a special one-off award issued by the Lord Provost of Glasgow in recognition of outstanding Glaswegians during its 850th year. She received a bespoke trophy (a plate) in recognition of her extraordinary contribution to the comedy community in Glasgow. 

After the interval, Susie introduced Kate Hammer, Stephen Buchanan, Alana Jackson and Connor Burns before finishing off the comedy with a set of her own. Connor was my fave from this half, even though I'd heard him deliver the material only a few weeks ago.

Then, all that remained was for Festival Director Krista MacDonald and Elaine C Smith to announce who had won this year's Billy Connolly award.  2025’s Shortlist included Craig Hill, Kim Blythe, Marjolein Robertson, Paul Black, Rosco McClelland, Scott Agnew and Viv Gee. I was surprised that only two of the acts performed, although my wife noticed Paul Black appearing from backstage at the interval. I wonder how many of the others were present to hear Rosco McClelland win the award. He seemed flabbergasted to have won, finding it difficult to express how much it meant to him to have Billy Connolly, his comedy hero, pick him. 

A friend and former colleague was also in the crowd. We both agreed it was a great afternoon and hoped to attend again next year. It's a great way to celebrate comedy in Glasgow.

Ticket Price: £24.10 x 2 plus £3.95 Transacton Fee from ATG Tickets. 

Richard Herring "Can I Have My Ball Back?" Stand Up Tour. The Stand, Glasgow. Friday 28th March 2025

My wife puts up with a lot. Dragging her along to a standup comedy about testicular cancer wouldn't normally be her cup of teabagging, but she knew Richard Herring was funny so agreed to attend.

Doors opened at 6pm, so taking the car wasn't an option without paying through the nose to park (on-street parking is £1 for 15 mins up to 10 pm). The plan was to drive to Ibrox, get the subway to Kelvinbridge, and then walk to the venue. I figured half an hour for the drive, 20 minutes for the subway, and five for the walk. We left at 5 o'clock (pm, obviously). Either I was lucky, or I'd overestimated my timings. We got there at 5.40 pm. There was only one person waiting, so we didn't join the queue but rather initiated it. The cold stare from my wife mimicked the windchill as a rain shower dampened her enthusiasm. 

I was happy, though, to be second in the queue, later third when the woman's partner arrived. The seats I preferred on the balcony had been reserved, so we sat close by in the same row. Sorted. I bought my wife a red wine. She was happy that it came in a proper glass.

We had an hour to kill before the show started. I noticed the songs being played all had a common theme. Richard must have searched Spotify (other music streamers are available) for any song containing the word "Balls". We got Chef from South Park's "Salty Chocolate Balls", Pulp's "Can I Have My Balls Back, Please?", "Bouncing Balls" by The Wiggles, "Big Balls" and  "She's Got Balls" by ACDC, among a myriad of other ball-related tracks. Talk about setting a tone.

I passed the time reading the programme, which could be downloaded via a QR code. That's a clever, money-saving technique for adding value to the show. I'm sure after the tour, he'll make it available on his website, www.RichardHerring.com. 

The show itself was much as expected. I've listened to (and attended) his RHLSTP podcast often enough to understand his sense of humour. There were lots of jokes and silliness (such as a spot of ventriloquism with his talking bollock) as he raced through his timeline, from his initial awareness of the testicular swelling through all the different stages of diagnosis to its eventual removal and post-treatment therapy. The heart of the show shone through his love for his family, despite his evil witch of a daughter randomly predicting he would die in fourteen months, long before the cancer diagnosis (she was four at the time). The pictures of him falling into lava and being eaten by a crocodile were amusing.

One shock I had during the show was when he leaned to one side and said a line, addressing the audience on his right. Then he leaned to his left and said the line again for the other side, before repeating the process for comic effect—a play straight out of Stewart Lee's book. Sacrilege or taking the piss? Regardless, it was still funny, just out of character for Richard.  

After the show, Richard remained in the corridor to sign autographs, sell merch, and pose for selfies. We didn't wait. Given the length of that queue, I sensed that would be pushing my wife too far. She enjoyed the show but wanted to get home.

The Subway ride back to the car reminded me of being at the Transport Museum, only with real people instead of video passengers. We sat at the end of a carriage near the rubber connectors. A tannoy message said to report anything suspicious to the staff. I said I'd have to report my wife because she'd been nice to me, and that qualified as suspicious. I got that look—the eyes tightened—that said 'ha ha', but not in a funny way. She did laugh after I banged my head against the carriage wall, the unexpected turbulent rocking motion catching me unaware.  

It was a good night with only minor concussion. I was still able to drive home.

Ticket Price: £44.60 for two (including £1.60 booking fee) directly from The Stand.