Live Review: The Undertones at Project House, Leeds

The danger with anniversary shows is that they can become purely a way of monetising nostalgia. This was not a problem with the Undertones, who played Leeds as part of their 50th anniversary tour on 16 October. Although they played the hits (Teenage Kicks, Jump Boys, etc), they peppered unreleased material and deeper cuts into the setlist. The band was not asking us to remember how great the 70s were, but to appreciate their music on its own merit.

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Oliver Downes by Willy Pleasance Horizontal B&W

Discovery: Oliver Downes’s Energetic New Album Explores the Emotions of Everyday Life

Oliver Downes’s new album, While The Sun Shines, was written during Melbourne’s Covid lockdowns and was released on 4 September. This collection includes ten tracks and is his third album. Downes describes this album as “a love letter to my daughter, a celebration of domestic life and the mundane, and a trawl through the entrails of a fracturing relationship.”

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The chorus with Greek masks in The Penelopiad at York Theatre Royal. Photo: Pamela Raith Photography

Live Review: The Penelopiad, York Theatre Royal

Best described as pure theatre, The Penelopiad, The Odyssey: Her story, is a reverse image of the age-old Homer classic. An adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel by Director Juliet Forster brings an untold story to life. It is Penelope’s version of events. It tells of women in a time of war, a war caused by the compelling lure of Helen of Troy’s beauty, a war, if you like, caused by a woman.

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