Eddie Izzard at Nottingham Capital FM Arena REVIEW

Making a psychedelic hypnotic-swirled light show grand entrance, suited, high-heel booted, kohled-up and with a scarlet kerchief peeping from his top pocket to match his every-other scarlet fingernails, Eddie Izzard launched the first Nottingham night of his Force Majeure World Tour with the immortal words, "Let's get this show started with human sacrifice!"

Thus began the always extraordinary Eddie Izzard torrent of educational historical nonsense consciousness and almost true stories, from monarchical re-enactments to the Clash of the Titans, French asides, Olympic dressage, foreign language misunderstandings, Scandinavian box-sets, make-up and a bit more French.

Confidentially, our favourite routine also happens to be an important psycho-emotional discovery: the cure for fear, which is, rather prosaically but nonetheless very pragmatically: boredom. Explaining through a highly entertaining comparison with the Rock Paper Scissors game using boredom, fear (and... diarrhoea) Eddie insists that boredom cancels out fear, so you cannot be bored and afraid at the same time. Useful in haunted houses, try it yourself!

Meanwhile, audience members can amuse themselves- and have a go at amusing everyone else- by sending Eddie Izzard text messages which will appear up on screens before the show and during the interval. Sexily witty, endlessly fascinating, impeccably made-up, and gloriously downright bloody funny, if you missed him last night, Monsieur Izzard is spoiling us with a second show at Capital FM Arena in Nottingham tonight, ooh la la!


Tickets priced £35 are available for tonight's show, full details are on the Capital FM Arena website here

Nottingham Day Of Kindness

Nottingham group In Kind has declared Saturday July 27 2013 as Nottingham's Day of Kindness to tie in with the UN International Day of Friendship on July 30.

In Kind was set up two years ago to promote more compassion and kindness in the daily lives of local people and also to influence private companies and public bodies to recognise the genuine benefits of adopting a more empathetic and compassionate approach to all aspects of their work.

For the last two years, In Kind has carried out on all-day Random Acts of Kindness event in Nottingham city centre, giving away sweets, cakes, flowers, balloons and hugs and passing on kindness challenges to persuade people to carry out their own random acts of kindness to make a real difference to both the giver and the receiver.

The ultimate aim of the group is to have Nottingham officially declared the first City of Compassion in the UK, joining Seattle (Washington), London (Ontario) and Louisville (Kentucky) and others that aspire to the title, such as Amsterdam, Barcelona and Jerusalem.

In Kind member Jeff Buck said: "As well as doing another Random Acts of Kindness event in the city centre, we'll be encouraging individuals, communities, voluntary groups and local companies to do their own acts of kindness during the week leading up to the 27th or on the day itself. Big or small, they all count and we want everyone to get involved."

Find out how to get involved with the event on the In Kind website http://inkindnotts.awarenessinaction.org/

The Kite Runner At Nottingham Playhouse REVIEW

As part of the Nottingham Playhouse's 50th Anniversary season, the European Premier of The Kite Runner is showing at the Playhouse until May 18th.

Based on the best selling book by Khaled Hosseini and adapted for the stage by Matthew Spangler,
The Kite Runner opens in the mid 1970s in politically unsettled Afghanistan and we meet Amir and Hassan, two boys who have been raised together. One is the master's son and the other a servant. They play together like best friends but their ethnic differences means that Amir is a Pashtun, who are considered superior to Hazzaras like Hassan. Amir and Hassan enjoy competing together in the annual kite tournament. Kites fill the sky and try to cut the strings of the other kites until only the winner is left, Hassan is a Kite Runner, who chases down fallen kites to catch them where they land. A horrific incident makes their friendship fall apart and leads Amir to take actions and feel a guilt that pervades through Amir's life for many years, until he is given the opportunity to make amends for his past actions and to be good again.

It's a powerful story of love, friendship, betrayal, atonement and finally redemption. It's the most human of tales told against the unsettled Afghanistan backdrop. For fans of the novel, you won't be disappointed and for newcomers to the story you will be captivated.  But be warned, make sure you take some tissues, as your heartstrings will be tugged and tears may flow.

Ben Turner plays Amir and Farshid Rokey plays Hassan and together they make convincing best friends, playing together and teasing each other with a darker tinge as Amir makes fun of Hassan's lack of education and Hassan is loyal to the point that he will sacrifice everything to protect his friend. The adult Amir narrates the story, coming out of scenes to move the story along. This is needed as so much happens in the years that follow, Amir's narration is the glue that holds the story together.

Go and see The Kite Runner if you don't mind crying in public and you want to learn a little about the troubled history of Afghanistan. A bitter-sweet story that starts in innocence and ends with a little bit of hope, having gone on a very interesting journey in between.

The Kite Runner is on until 18th May
Tickets £7.50-£27
14+ due to adult themes and occasional use of strong language
Full details can be found on the Nottingham Playhouse website here

Splendour Festival 2013 PREVIEW

The full line up for Splendour Summer Festival 2013, which takes place at Wollaton Park on July 20, has been announced, with fourteen local artists taking part along with Nottingham headliner Jake Bugg.

This will be the sixth Splendour festival organised by Nottingham's DHP and along with Squeeze, Maximo Park and KT Turnstall, Joy Division and New Order bass player Peter Hook will be playing with his new band Peter Hook & The Light.

Nottingham indie band Dog Is Dead and singer-songwriter Indiana will play the main stage whilst other local bands including Kagoule, Harleighblu, Injured Birds and OneGirlOneBoy will play the Jaegermeister and NCN/Leftlion stages.

DHP's George Akins said: "We're really proud to be able to put together this strongest ever line up of Nottingham artists. It's great to showcase all the amazing talent in the city. A lot of these artists look set to break through on the national consciousness with exciting things happening for many of them, so Splendour is a great opportunity to catch these artists on the way up, along with crowd pleasing sets from the likes of Hooky, Maximo Park, KT Turnstall and Squeeze."

Ticket prices for Splendour 2013 have been held at 2012 levels with adult tickets (Citycard holder) £27.50, whilst standard entry is £37.50, 11-17 year-old Citycard holders £15 or £27.50 for non Citycard holders and children aged 10 and under getting in free. Doors open at 11.30 am and full details and updates can be found at  www.splendourfestival.com

Jake Bugg

FULL LINE UP SPLENDOUR 2013

MAIN STAGE 
Jake Bugg
Squeeze
KT Turnstall
Dog Is Dead
Nina Nesbitt
Jack Savoretti
Indiana
NUSIC competition winner

JAEGERMEISTER STAGE
Maximo park
Peter Hook & The Light
Kagoule
Park Bench Society
Rob Green
St Raymond
Ferocious Dog

Dog Is Dead

NCN/LEFTLION STAGE
Ryan Keen
Harleighblu
Joel Baker
Gavin James
Injured Birds
Georgie Rose
Ryan Thomas
OneGirlOneBoy

COMEDY STAGE
Craig Murray- Compère
Andrew Bird
Raymond and Mr Timpkins Revue
Martin Mor
Andy Robinson
Mickey D

Chino Latino Celebrates Its 10th Birthday In Nottingham

Chino Latino Modern Pan-Asian Cuisine and Latin Bar is celebrating its 10th anniversary with special offer discounts and a prize draw for its diners.


With a distinctive menu that draws upon flavours from China, South East Asia and modern Japan, Chino Latino has just been awarded its first AA rosette and throughout 2013 the restaurant will be offering 10% off food bills on the tenth of every month, starting from 10th May 2013. All diners enjoying this offer will also be entered into a prize draw to win a 'Chino Latino Pass' which will entitle them to a complimentary three course meal in each of the Chino Latino restaurants across Europe over a 12 month period.

Following the restaurant's 10th birthday fiesta which featured the venue's sushi and sashimi together with signature Latin cocktails, Tom Waldron-Lynch, General Manager at Park Plaza Nottingham said, "I am proud to be part of Chino Latino's long-standing success and enjoyed celebrating its tenth year anniversary with close friends and colleagues showcasing what we do best. My team put on a great night and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. We look forward to welcoming you all back to continue for many more years and parties to come."

For further details or to book visit www.chinolatino.eu

The Professionals On Ice At Capital FM Arena PREVIEW

Photo © Nottingham Confidential

Professional ice skaters Matt Evers and Frankie from smash hit tv show Dancing on Ice wowed Nottingham skaters at Capital FM Arena this week as they gave them a taster of some of their ice dancing tricks, lifts and spins - including the infamously nerve-wrecking head-banger- from their forthcoming Professionals On Ice show on April 27.


One of the show's producers is former Dancing on Ice champion Suzanne Shaw. "I'm the media producer and creative director producer with Matt for the show," she told Nottingham Confidential. "I'm loving doing this side of things and I want to potentially stay away from the front of the camera a little bit more and do more of this kind of thing!"

Photo © Nottingham Confidential

"As the Dancing On Ice Show isn't going out on tour this year, we thought we'd give the audience what they absolutely love which is to see the professionals skate. It's going to be a very different show, full of stunts and with lots of tricks and lots of fast skating together with lots of intimate skating moments and we'll possibly have a live band with us as well. We're also going to hold a competition to give the opportunity to find the next generation of skating stars from different skating teams, solo artists or duos to appear in the second act of our show, so altogether it's going to be jam packed full of family-fun entertainment!"


The Professionals on Ice will also star many other skaters from the current and previous Dancing on Ice series and you can find out more details about the show, including booking and ticket prices, on the Capital FM Arena website here

And you can watch our exclusive Nottingham Confidential footage of Matt Evers And Frankie showing some of their amazing ice dancing tricks- including that awesome head-banger spin- in the video links below!

***UPDATE: SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY BLUE!***

It's just been announced that pop act Blue will make a special guest appearance at the first Professional On Ice show on Saturday April 27 and will be performing some of their greatest hits together with new single 'Hurt Lovers'.

Suede at Nottingham Rock City REVIEW

Slinking coyly onto stage to the classical strains of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2, before launching straight into Barriers from their satisfyingly-fantastic and back on form top ten album Bloodsports, their first in over ten years, Suede's first visit to Rock City acted as a one-off warm up gig ahead of their Alexandra Palace date in London this Saturday.

With a well-documented back-history of monumental heavy drug use, including crack and heroin addiction, it's some act of God that Brett Anderson is alive and kicking at all, never mind a thoroughly drop dead knockout, whippet thin, snake-hipped swivelling, chiselled-cheek boned, fringe-flickin', foxy forty-something.

Performing nearly every song from their new album, from the sublime Sometimes I Feel I'll Float Away to storming new single It Starts And Ends With You, whilst dipping into that almighty back catalogue with Animal Nitrate, Metal Mickey and The Beautiful Ones, it was Trash that got the biggest jumping, arm pumping response, whilst Hit Me saw the first of many of Brett Anderson's leaps off stage and jumps over the barriers to lovingly fawn and fondle- and be lovingly fawned and fondled by- an adoring and roaring Rock City crowd.

But the iconic stay-with-you Suede moment of the night had to be Brett Anderson, dressed head to toe in black, drenched and dripping in sweat, shirt ripped open, pouting, posturing and casually swinging his microphone lead in huge languid circles to the steamy chorus of Filmstar like a filthy sexy beast- oh dad, he's driving us MAD! Catlike, enigmatic and slick, fronting his legendary band with provocative mesmeric glam, he still absolutely is as always was, the elegant sir rock star performer- and makes it look so easy.

OPERA NORTH La Clemenza di Tito At Nottingham Theatre Royal REVIEW

Photo by Bill Cooper

This season sees Opera North's first ever staging of Mozart's very last opera written when, gravely ill and desperate for money, he broke off working on the Magic Flute to take this commission to celebrate the coronation of the new Emperor of Bohemia.

Written in 1791 and set in Ancient Rome, Opera North's stark, state-of-the-art, high-tech version cleverly combines touches of Roman costume with this season's fabulous must-have lace-up boots, corsets and Mac make-up whilst Annemarie Kremer is thrillingly magnificent as jealous and vengeful femme fatale Vitellia, setting the monochrome backdrop alight with flaming fire-engine red hair and flashes of her crimson linings as she cavorts naughtily on a table top to seduce her hopelessly-devoted admirer Sesto, whilst keeping a dagger handy in her clutch bag.

It's a tale of furious sexual envy, assassination plots and loyalty and honour's wrestle with betrayal as Vitellia convinces Sesto to kill his friend the Emperor Tito when he plans to marry another woman. With achingly-beautiful duets, unmistakeable Mozart phrases and a sublimely-ardent aria by Annio begging for La Clemenza di Tito- the clemency of Titus- this is a powerfully-compelling, all-engrossing and utterly captivating opera, superbly and flawlessly interpreted by Opera North's cast and company.

Treacherous, lustful, obsessive, passionate, moving, touching and at times very funny, La Clemenza di Tito, not always considered one of Mozart's most celebrated operas, absolutely deserves this renewed attention and confidentially, our highest recommendations.

Opera North are performing La Voix Humaine with Dido and Aeneas on Friday March 22 and Otello on March 23 at Nottingham Theatre Royal. Full details and ticket prices can be found here

Bagel Nash Opens In Nottingham

Offering ten different types of bagels baked from scratch in its own bakery, rapidly expanding food chain Bagel Nash is now open on Wheelergate in Nottingham city centre.

Founded in Leeds in 1987, the company has 14 stores around the country and the Nottingham store is the chain's flagship branch in the Midlands and the largest outside Leeds.

Bagel Nash offers a wide variety of fillings prepared for order in store including Breakfast Bagels, Hot Salt Beef and Cheddar Club and the company prides itself on the quality of its fresh coffee, having spent years researching and perfecting the taste of their Rainforest Alliance coffee.

"We are very excited about opening our 15th bagel and coffee shop in Nottingham," said retail operations director Sara Hildreth. "As a small British company, we specifically chose Nottingham because it's such a vibrant and cosmopolitan city, full of great people who are looking for good quality, fresh and convenient food."


More information, menus and deals can be found at  www.bagelnash.com.

Music Week Award Nomination For Anton Lockwood From Nottingham's DHP Group

With a Live Music Business Award for National Promoter of the Year already in the bag last year for Nottingham's DHP Group, promotions director Anton Lockwood has now also been nominated for Live Promoter (Individual) in the highly respected Music Week Awards taking place at The Brewery in London on April 11. He spoke to Nottingham Confidential about nominations, the city's burgeoning music scene and how Rock City initially brought him to Nottingham.


Together with running Rock City, Rescue Rooms, Stealth, Black Cherry Lounge and The Bodega in the city as well as Thekla in Bristol, Nottingham's DHP Group oversees 1200 gigs and nine festivals a year nationally, working with artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Flaming Lips and Ed Sheeran, whilst also now managing Nottingham band Dog Is Dead. "It was brilliant to win the Live Music Business Award, absolutely amazing," says Anton, "and this one's nice too because Music Week is the whole music industry, not just the live sector, it's a wider scope of people." All these award nominations are now coming! "I suppose it reflects that we've got to a certain level now where we're being really taken seriously and we're making an impact, in London especially, but all over the country."

The Music Exchange record shop in Stoney Street in Nottingham has also been nominated for a Music Week award in the Independent Retailer category. "It's great, because post-Selectadisc there was a bit of 'what are we going to do, it's the end of the music scene in Nottingham!' So it's great to see people come through there, doing really well and it's brilliant to see those guys getting somewhere. And Joey, the manager of The Music Exchange, is a really good friend of mine, I used to manage a band called Punish The Atom and he was the lead singer so I know him very well!" Two music award nominations is also great news for Nottingham. "Things seem to be really coming together for Nottingham at the moment, with that Jake fella doing all right for himself and we manage Dog Is Dead who are doing really well and there's another whole wave of people who are coming through, whether it's Harleighblu, Ady Suleiman, Indiana and many more."

What's caused this recent Nottingham music explosion? "It's just getting momentum, once you get a few things together the council starts taking notice and supporting things, and we try to put Nottingham acts on at Splendour festival, last year Jake Bugg opened the main stage, he was in the courtyard the year before and this year with him headlining we'll also have some more of the latest new people. Then there was the Guardian article and all these things conspire to mean people are taking notice and the artists think, I'm not just stuck in a box, I actually can get somewhere, I can be ambitious, they can see a future and think yeah, it's worth the effort."

Are you from Nottingham? "I'm from South Yorkshire, from Mexborough. I came to University in 1984 and this is absolutely completely true, I had good offers and it was down to Manchester or Nottingham, and I saw Echo and the Bunneymen were playing two nights at Rock City and Rock City was pretty unique as there weren't many proper dedicated music venues where bands would play that weren't municipal concert halls or bingo halls, so I thought yeah, I want to go there. I came to Nottingham and spent fourteen years working for Boots- my background is in IT- and I started putting on gigs as a hobby, basically. And then eventually Boots had a restructuring, I got made redundant and at about the same time I got offered to come and do what became Rescue Rooms, so I started from there and have been working for DHP for just over ten years."

With a recently opened London office, their successful Dollop dance music brand and their Alt-Tickets ticketing operation ticking over nicely along with everything else, are there any more future plans in store for DHP Group? "Will we do more festivals, maybe, will we look at more outdoor events, definitely, we really want to keep growing and getting bigger and better tours and also growing the dance music as we have a really strong brand in Dollop. We're also expanding the venues, fingers crossed, we'll have more news soon on that in the next few weeks. Dog Is Dead is doing very well so band management is something else we'll be looking for, if we see the right thing, we'll support that. We like to think we're big enough to deliver but small enough to be personal and a bit more rock n roll and with everything that's now happening with the music scene in Nottingham, we need to work together and we're trying to take our message around the country."

The Music Week Awards 2013 take place at The Brewery in London on April 11. A full list of all the awards finalists can be found on the Music Week website here