The Met

Fur Coat and Magic Knickers can be seen at The Met on Wednesday 27 May More »

The Town Hall is darkened and the audience is quiet as Fiona Knowles takes to the stage and picks up what most women in the audience have probably had to pour themselves into at some point - a pair of magic knickers! And this is the start point for her one woman show - Fur Coat and Magic Knickers - that had all of us in great guffaws of laughter and occasionally silent knowing tears.

She took us on a shopping trip seen through the eyes of three women - a woman looking for an outfit for her daughters wedding, the personal shopper assigned to help her and a sweet old granny with a bit of a criminal shopping habit...

Her performance was mesmeric - although we knew she was the same actress for each part she convinced us entirely that they were each different, unique, and believable. This seemed to come from the truth that each of us could believe in the back story of each character - truths about modern life and its complexities. Broken relationships and their fallout, debt problems and the credit card culture - love, self esteem and the value we put on people and things.

The simple set with atmospheric lighting and sound just further enhanced her performance and we genuinely felt for each character as they were portrayed . And there was a happy ending!

Thanks to Fiona and Roddy for putting on a fantastic show and we hope they will come back again next year with their new show - we're sure they'll be made more than welcome.

The Stanegate Magazine Newbrough May 2009

The Lancashire Hotpots @ Bury Met
Craig Nelson
15/ 9/2008


WISE old musical sage once proclaimed that "Modern Life is Rubbish" and that's a sentiment that the Lancashire Hotpots might well agree with.

This traditional working men's folk quartet from St Helens has created quite a loyal following amongst like-minded Lancastrians struggling to cope with life in the Noughties.

It's not that they haven't embraced the technological age.

Lead singer Bernard Thresher readily admits in his ode to a Lancashire Town that he upped and moved to Coventry after being offered a "double money" job working as an IT technician.

No, it's not gadgets the lads have a problem with, it's our modern mentality - watching cookery programmes and acting all PC while cowering at the site of a gang of hoodies - and there seems to be a growing army of fans ready and willing to agree with them.

The boys hit the right note from the off at The Met in Bury, setting the mood with their drinking song - Bitter, lager, cider, ale and stout.

Agreed

Clearly, the crowd agreed with Bernard's plan to stop kids hanging out outside at the local shop drinking alcopops. "If I was their babysitter," he said, "I'd soon have 'em drinking bitter. No more Asbos, just barley, malt an' hops."

The funny thing was that a quick look around a three-quarter full Bury Met and it dawned on me that I wasn't standing in a room full of 40 somethings, there was a full cross-section of society signing along.

In short - normal folk, old and young.

The fact that Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray played a couple of tracks from their last album, Never Mind the Hotpots, on his late night show might have accounted for the youthful audience.

Expect

But this is still not the kind of thing you would expect to have a young following.

Yes they are very funny, yes they are excellent musicians, but the Hotpots are hardly cutting edge.

For instance, the tracks Murray played on his show included a ditty about traditional Lancashire fayre - "Don't give me posh nosh, it's Friday night and it's my right, I want a chippy tea".

For me, the secret is that the Hotpots are just saying what everyone is thinking. Like a musical version of Peter Kay.

Yes, the 40-something majority in the audience might not think much of needing an armed escort to walk to their local Co-op after dark, but neither do the teenagers standing beside them.

Common sense

It seems to me that the Hotpots' common sense observations could quite easily trigger a quiet revolution in these parts, given the right exposure.

The fight back could start with their northern tour, in which they will be promoting a new set of mantras from their forthcoming album, Pot Sounds.

With dates in Burnley, Blackburn, Liverpool, Wigan and Preston, as well as a show at Club Academy in Manchester on December 5, I am sure that word of mouth will soon get around.

I can hear the battle cry now: "Us Lancashire folk are not standing for it anymore, we are going to reclaim the streets."

If I was a tooled-up hoodie living in Little Hulton I might think about moving south very soon if the Hotpots' new songs are anything to go by.

Take CHAV. It didn't take long for the crowd to join in the chorus "C is for Clone, H for Horrible, A is for Arrogant and V is for . . . Very annoying".

Chanted en masse, with gusto, it felt more like a political rally than a boozy night out.

All I can say is, until the revolution comes, I will be waiting.

This is a new page! as you can probably guess by there only being 5 concerts that are up and not the 200+ that are in the brochure!

Anyway, it would be super awesome if you could share this page with as many of your friends as possible.

If possible i could use some help in updating this page as its going to take years to add all the concerts and events that are coming up so if you fel up to the task let me know.

Cheers Lewis From Box Office!