The sun is up, the sky is blue
LYR in Leeds, watching the Verb, and Bluesky.
When I walked into the Playhouse in Derry on the 20th of December 2003, at the tender age of 14, there was an atmosphere in the room. It was my first ‘real’ gig. My grandparents had taken me to see Daniel O’Donnell at the Rialto Theatre, and later the Millennium Forum, more times than I’d like to admit. That was my only taste of live music up until that Christmassy night in this theatre that sits opposite Derry’s historic walls.
The Frames were the band about to take to the stage. I nearly didn’t get to go to the gig. I was clearly underage, but I had reached out to the Dublin band’s manager in the weeks leading up to the gig and she was happy to accommodate teenage me, to put me in the front row for Glen Hansard and co to blow my tiny mind. It was a game changer.
I haven’t really felt a similar atmosphere in the 20 years that have come and gone since then. Until I went to see LYR at Howard Assembly Room recently. Fronted by the British poet laureate, LYR are Simon Armitage, Patrick James Pearson, and Richard Walters. Watching The Frames back in 2003, I felt like my mind was changing. This is how live music should be. That energy took me through my 20s and into my 30s. LYR are the tonic I need to take me through my 30s. The musicianship on show from Pearson and Walters was the perfect sonic tonic to Armitage’s (obviously) poetic lyrics.
The performance has left an impression and I look forward to seeing the trio come through Leeds again soon.
The night before the gig, my better half and I attended the BBC Contains Strong Language Festival, at the same venue. The venue, by the way, comes highly recommended. Everything perfectly organised and friendly staff. We got to watch the poets Felene M. Cayetano, Chris Tse, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo, Andre Bagoo, Ramya Jirasinghe, Lebogang Mashile and Titilope Sonuga read their poetry at the World in Words – An International Gathering of Poets hosted by Simon Armitage. Yes, Armitage was the man of the weekend.
Later that evening, we got to go and watch a live broadcast of BBC Radio 3’s The Verb. The episode saw Ian McMillan talk to Hanan Issa, National poet of Wales, Chris Tse, Poet Laureate of New Zealand, Nigerian-Canadian poet and performance artist Titilope Sonuga, and (you guessed it!) Simon Armitage.
Finally, as Elon Musk continues to rip the complete arse out of it with Twitter, I was recently invited to Bluesky, an alternative to the toxic, decency destroying dead bird. It’s early days but I’m hopeful that Bluesky can be a new beginning for social media. It reminds me of Twitter in the early days in that it seems to have the power to build and connect communities. Let’s see where it goes. I’m over here hoping that blue skies don’t turn to grey.
Find The Frames here: https://www.theframes.ie/
Check out LYR here: https://www.lyrband.com/
And check out Howard Assembly Room here: https://www.operanorth.co.uk/howard-assembly-room/
If you’re interested in The Playhouse in Derry look here: https://www.derryplayhouse.co.uk/
And if you’re on Bluesky, say hello.
Image taken during a hike down the side of a mountain in Eze in the South of France. It was supposed to take 45 minutes. It took about 90. Beautiful place though.