Gareth Taylor Archives - North West End UK

17Feb

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

Wales

Glitch – Theatr Clwyd

Written by Zannah Kearns and directed by Gareth Taylor, Glitch is the story of a sub-postmistress, Pam Stubbs, whose life is left in tatters after she is falsely accused of deceiving the Post Office out of thousands of pounds. But with meticulous bookkeeping and the strength to keep fighting for what is right when she knew she had done nothing wrong; she finally receives a positive outcome. But at what cost? Glitch takes us right into the centre of one of the biggest “scandals” when the Post Office brought in the Horizon computer system and when Pam Stubbs, back in 2009, moved into a portacabin while the building underwent a redevelopment. The monthly Trading Statements produced shortfalls on the Horizon system and the Post Office demanded Stubbs pay it back, even though she ha...

Queen Extravaganza – Manchester o2 Apollo

50 years ago, the late, great Freddie Mercury and his fellow Queen bandmates put the finishing touches to a bombastic six-minute piece of prog rock, featuring one of the most famous moments of rock falsetto that, despite mixed critical reaction, would go on to top the UK charts not once but twice. Tonight, Queen Extravaganza, the official tribute band with members hand-picked by Roger Taylor and Brian May, roll into Manchester as part of a UK tour to celebrate Bohemian Rhapsody’s Golden Jubilee, alongside a set-list crammed with other greatest hits. To pay homage to a band like Queen is like picking low-hanging fruit, in that you are assured of a fantastic catalogue of music that weaves through hard rock, heavy metal and operatic sensibilities. Queen Extravaganza, to their cre...

Queen Extravaganza – Edinburgh Playhouse

If you love Queen… scratch that, if you like Queen just a bit… don’t miss this. A sell-out crowd was clearly up for it but the first ‘act’ began with a peculiar, muddy version of ‘We Will Rock You’, the band in dull, pub-band regulation black and as the following two tracks travelled past the chief positive was that the sound clicked sharply into place. Though hang on, that vocal pirouette Gareth Taylor dropped at the end of ‘Somebody To Love’ was a bit special, wasn’t it? Then came ‘Under Pressure’, a lump in the throat reflecting that this was written before mental health was a thing; we all had stuff going on, it just wasn’t ok to talk about it. Except that David, Freddie and the band did, producing an epic four-minute pop song that resonates more heavily every single year si...