FAMILY RAVE COMES TO YORKSHIRE
Award-winning ‘family rave’ Big Fish Little Fish is launching its first party in Leeds and Sheffield this year. Sheffield's first indoor family mini-festival will be held at Plug on Saturday 9th July, between 2pm - 4.30pm. Sheffield DJ Chris Welch (Sounds Like This // Phonetics) will be playing an eclectic mix of dance music from the last 20 years to a crowd of around 600 parents and their children aged 0 to eight. The Leeds event will be held at The Warehouse on Sunday 11th September, 2pm-4.30pm. Underground DJ Legend Mixmaster Morris will be playing.
Voted 'Best Family Event 2014 & 2015' at the Arts Council’s National Family Arts Festival, Big Fish Little Fish has been running regularly in London since 2013. It has also been named in the top 10 of Time Out London's '101 Best Things to do with Kids in London'.
The family raves include a multi-sensory dance floor with top DJs playing club classics. Club visuals, bubble machines, glitter cannons and a giant parachute dance help to create the atmosphere of a real rave. As well as a play and chillout area for babies, the events have a high quality themed craft area with a colouring mural and a playdough table.
We caught up with Verena Scrimshire, Regional Manager Yorkshire & East Midlands, and she is really happy to be bringing the social family fun to Sheffield where she worked for a time in her previous life in housing management. ’Sheffield has a great musical history and some fantastic club night so I’m thrilled to be bringing BFLF to the city. I can’t wait to see the families enjoying time together on the dancefloor - happy smiley faces bouncing around is what it’s all about’.
Just Music and Just Families will be in attendance for a full report, wonder what Joe will make of it!
Tickets for the Sheffield launch party and the Leeds gig which both have an ‘Intergalactic Planetary’ theme, are now on sale. For more information log onto www.bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk; www.facebook.com/bigfishlittlefishevents
Reviewed by Asst Editor Karen - as you know my ears reject anything since 1996 by Radiohead!
'A Moon Shaped Pool' is unarguably experimental, but feels like an exception to the rule. It's strange yet familiar, like recalling a dream from a week ago while doing something mundane in your day. This album is an exercise in the uncanny, in part because several of the songs on here are previously heard but unreleased favourites by fans. It's emotional in a similar vein to 'In Rainbows', and there's still some hints of cryptic notions about paranoia and anxiety, but with that Thom Yorke has never sounded so clear and vivid in his vocal delivery. It seems to be an album of tenderness and acceptance of those insecurities. Perhaps this is their most personal release to date, as a lot of discussion has arisen concerning Yorke's separation from his partner of 23 years, and Nigel Godrich has mentioned the death of his father while making the album and the impact that's had on 'A Moon Shaped Pool'. It's melodically one of their most accessible albums to date, yet with enough meticulous detail to make one always feel some pang of anxiety and uneasiness. Patience is the virtue of 'A Moon Shaped Pool', and it benefits entirely from it.
The musical arrangements and touches of ambience-bordering-psychedelia swirl 'A Moon Shaped Pool' together to feel thematically consistent which is an impressive feat. Credit must be given to long time collaborator, producer, and unofficial sixth member of the band Nigel Godrich with some of his best work since Beck's 'Sea Change'. To consider the knife-sharp strings of the first track 'Burn The Witch' with its wry lyrical listing of groupthink in comparison to the following track 'Daydreaming'. A subdued, sighing ballad with a distorted piano melody with such delicate simplicity metamorphosing into vivid detail before drifting back to its skeleton clauses, the effect is hypnotic. The melody for 'Dark Decks' is the quintessential Radiohead melody. It could have comfortably belonged on OK Computer with its science-fiction led lyrics, its sense of scale, gravitas and impending doom. 'Ful Stop' and 'Identikit' breathe in some energy and brooding synths within the album. Identikit particularly is a standout, its driving bass at the beginning by Colin Greenwood, it's shingling guitars at the break, and a moment of pure bliss with an ethereal choir chanting "Broken hearts, make it rain" while synth chords build, ending with a wonderful guitar solo will leave you short of breath. The startlingly blunt 'Glass Eyes' depicts a man experiencing a panic attack on a commute, which is borderline melodrama so rarely personalised by Yorke's lyrics. All this is accompanied by Jonny Greenwood's string arrangements swaying above, which although beautiful throughout 'A Moon Shaped Pool', stands out particularly here and on 'Tinker Tailor Solider Sailor Rich Man Poor Man Begger Man Thief'.
After all that, we reach the climax of the album which has been a fan favourite for the better part of twenty years. Prior to this it only has canonization within their catalogue as a live acoustic guitar-led recording. 'True Love Waits', although a sad song, always felt like it contained a glimmer of hope whenever Yorke sang the line "Just don't leave." It's a lyric that brings the mental image of someone being shaken with adoration, the pouring of emotion to another person and feeling able to do that only to them in that moment. On 'A Moon Shaped Pool' however it finds itself morphed into a discordant piano ballad which is heart-wrenching to endure. 'True Love Waits' has instead of being a song about infatuation and the beginnings of love is now a song of love lost. "Just don't leave" is now breathed into dense air in a dead room, no one is there to hear it anymore.
This album, as luscious and rich as it is, reaching points of utter bliss and transcendence is contrasted by just how bleak it is. 'A Moon Shaped Pool' is a rather blunt and indifferent way of describing a planet flooded due to global warming, and following that defeatist attitude there is almost nothing left to lose in ideas of honesty and emotional truth. It situates the political and the catastrophic as a backdrop, demonstrating their insignificance in comparison to our inherent need for love and how painful it may be to lose that. This is a powerfully sad and immersive album which only gets denser and more apparent with each listen. Patience is the greatest virtue, and with time, the idea of surrendering yourself may be one of the most difficult things you can do - but never have Radiohead sounded so liberated and free
GERONIMO - NO - NO
The advertising got us – Glastonbury for kids. Now we have taken our kids to Glastonbury and a whale of a time was had by all so Geronimo was going to have some heights to reach.
One of our lovely contributors went on the Sunday with her husband and two kids, aged 3 and 6. They tell a tale that has by now been well documented on social media and on ITV and BBC news..
It’s fair to say that Harewood is not really suited for accessing big events. Its nigh on impossible to get there on a bus (especially on bank holidays), there are no rail links, there is one road from the A1 several miles away. The site itself has a one car at a time archway which again severely restricts the flow of traffic. There are several other access routes available although since filming of Emmerdale moved here these seem largely out of action.
So the queues that met our intrepid reporter could perhaps have been predicted, the disorganisation of the ticket issuing and associated queues could have and should have been arranged much much better. Its bad enough as adults but when you have excited little ones in two complete with buggies it’s a horrendous experience. Nobody seemed to know what was going on, where tickets could be collected from, what was happening with prepaid parking, the lack of knowledge from staff working Geronimo would be one that recurred through the weekend.
Entering the festival it seemed like things were spread out to create the effect of a bigger festival. Tents dotted randomly with no clue what was in them until you go right up to the entrance. No maps to help guide or plan were given nor available on the site, no main stage could be seen and this is where most headed as various luminaries from CBBC were to be found. Not that you could see anyone when you got there. A very low and small stage, a wide area in front of it meant that as an adult you were struggling, when everyone, of course, put their little ones on their shoulders, it was clear from the comments around us that even the kids couldn’t see. The simple answer to help this would have been a higher stage and video screens, why there were no screens is a mystery. I heard that the weather was to blame for the non-arrival of planned screens. Get better screens then as I have been at many a wind and rain lashed event, far worse than anything Geronimo experienced and always had screens that worked.
Not far from the stage was an area with a large carousel and a couple of other fairground rides, all were free and included which meant that, well everyone wanted a go. It was like the first few minutes of the Next sale every time the ride started to slow with kids almost dragged off the ride so adults could barge through and plonk their kids on the nearest thing. No point the kids saying “I want to be on the bus”, it’s the tractor for you my lad and be happy about it.
It was clear that there was not enough of any substance to entertain the kids, the huge main arena was randomly used and bore no relation to prior advertised timetables nor did the two or three tents they trudged over hill and dale to. Seeing the horrendous queues everywhere our reporters and family opted to leave and make the most of what remained of Bank Holiday Sunday. There simply was not enough on site for this amount of people. Very poorly planned.
By contrast (in some sense) we arrived on the Monday at around 10.00am, no queues, a handful of cars in the car park and a casual stroll up the ticket booth. 10 minutes after parking the car we were in and straight away got the same sense of a vast expanse with tents flung to its far corners. There was hardly anyone on site and so heeded advice and headed for the carousels where our son had several rides on whatever he wanted, a fire engine, a police car, the bus.. the onto the train, again a couple of rides there…he had a look at the big carousel and didn’t fancy that (he is 2) shame because I really did!
There was something going on at the main stage and the few people on site seemed to be there. I could see my colleagues point completely, even with just a few rows of people it was difficult to see, such a small and low stage, apparently something was happening on the ground but we had no idea what.
By now the rain had come, and it did come. Any organiser should know that if it’s over the bank holiday there is at least 50% chance of rain and rain makes people want to get out of it if they can. So everyone headed for the tents, tents that were having some activity in or other – we agree that until you got to the tent and had trudged through the mud you had no idea what was happening inside. Invariably it was people huddled over cups of tea or trays of pale chips. The rain thankfully didn’t last that long but it added to the quagmire outside. It turned into quite a nice day and we opted for lunch.
Now a big part of any festival for us is the food, gone are the days of a dodgy burger van, street food and innovative caterers are what adds to the experience. On the website Geronimo promised a variety of interesting things to eat including good options for our son, the Fabulous Fish Finger company offering a kids meal box which ticked several boxes for us.
However 75% of the outlets advertised simply weren’t there, and had never been there. The remaining 25% that were, were the sno-slush type places that are barely worth a mention. Instead, it was the standard burger grill, the standard fish and chip van (very pale and soggy fish and pale hard chips, yay!) and two corn on the cob places. Not the cutting edge of modern festival cuisine. Why were these places advertised, even today after the vent they are still being advertised. That is false advertising, the catering was not of the same quality nor quantity as advertised and that’s wrong. We opted to give our son his back up lunch pack that we brought from home and we decided we would get some late lunch off site.
Although the rain had stopped, because it was lunch time people wanted seating and save for 6 picnic tables – yes just 6 – there was no seating outside. So everyone remained in tents and sat at tables where it was clear activities had been taking place earlier. The only other tent we found housed Tumble tots and we were keen to experience this as the only class that runs in our area does so at a time inconvenient to us. Joe, our son loved it and got to go around twice. As we looked in the tent next door, Joe noticed it was soft play (well soft play with a leaky roof), there was no stopping him, not even the woman who said he was a bit big (tall / old I assume) for this and if more smaller children came we would have to leave. Thanks for that, it was billed as the 3ft and under section, never expected my son to be profiled at the age of 2.
As we made our way towards the exit we noticed stalls packing up and going, at 12.30! I have no idea what they were as they were in the final throws but this added insult to injury and we decided to call it a day. A very poorly organised and planned festival. Little though as to what actually works for kids of ALL ages, little thought about how to lay festivals out safely, no thought of signage, direction and many caterers / features just not as advertised.
From the official website FAQ
- Are all activities free once you pay entrance for the main stage?YES YES YES. Main Stage - Full Circus - Theatre Tent - Live Music - Fairground Rides - Craft Tents - Donkey Rides - Face Painting - Parkour - SPI school & lots more.
Well No No No, all activities were not free graffiti tshirt, dress up photos, amongst others were chargeable items.
- What happens if it is raining?We want to ensure that you can enjoy the event come rain or shine and many of our activities will be under cover and in marquees.
Well yes except many of those activities couldn’t be carried out as people sheltered from the rain / used the only existing tables and chair for dining.
This was not a cheap festival to attend with tickets £25.00 each (including children over 2) and mandatory parking. Did we get value for money, hell no we did not, did Joe enjoy it? Yes he did, but would he have enjoyed going to the local Jungle Jim and then to the Bank Holiday Fair? Yes he would and we wouldn't have spent £75 in doing so. We respectfully suggest that if this excuse for a kids festival should reappear next year you spend your money elsewhere.
It's been 14 years since Nia Vardalos' warm comedy about her raucous extended family became the sleeper hit of the 2002, and now she's back with more of the same silliness. It all feels rather predictable this time around, although there are some terrific comical moments along the way. And the cast is genuinely likeable, even if the characters are fairly thin.
So after all this time, Toula (Vardalos) and her husband Ian (John Corbett) are still living on the same street as Toula's many relatives. She's also running the family cafe with her parents Gus and Maria (Michael Constantine and Lainie Kazan), who are bickering because they just discovered that they're not legally married. Meanwhile, Toula and Ian are struggling to rekindle the spark in their marriage as they both worry about the coming day when their 17-year-old daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) goes off to university. As meddling Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin) tries to find a suitable Greek boy for Paris, everyone is planning Gus and Maria's wedding. Which of course can't be a small occasion.
None of the movie's interwoven plot threads has any tension at all in it, so the film meanders amiably along. There's never any doubt that Toula and Ian will reawaken their romance, that Gus and Maria will renew their vows or that Paris will find her independence. And without any proper conflict, the film struggles to get the audience involved in any meaningful way beyond laughing at the engaging characters. Director Kirk Jones (who made the original Nanny McPhee) occasionally tips things over into physical slapstick or full-on farce, plus several very cheap gags, but most of the humour is centred on the wacky cultural antics of these colourful family members. The actors invest plenty of charm into their roles, with Martin once again stealing the film as the uproariously over-involved Voula.
Fans of the original film will get pretty much what they expect here, but there's nothing more on offer: no additional depth, no bigger laughs, no surprising revelations. It's so oddly un-ambitious that it feels more like the next episode of a sitcom than a proper movie sequel. At least the film is assembled in a messy style that reflects this family's nonstop chaos, as the large number of hyperactive characters barge in and out of scenes with noisy abandon. And it's all so undemanding that the audience is free to just sit back and smile at the vaguely recognisable goofiness. Although it only occasionally feels anything like real life.
The filmmakers behind Tangled and Wreck-it Ralph join forces for this entertaining animated action comedy, which has clearly been planned as a franchise-launcher. Energetic and funny, the movie is packed with wonderfully engaging characters and animated with clever visual inventiveness. But even though it's a lot of fun, it's difficult to escape the feeling that Disney is trying to sell us a whole new range of products.
![Zootopia [aka Zootropolis] Movie Still](http://www.contactmusic.com/images/home/zootopia-fr-670-380.jpg)
The setting is a world populated only by animals, where predators and prey have learned to get along. The story centres on feisty rabbit Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), who grew up under pressure to work in the family carrot-farming business. But she wants to be a cop, even though no bunny has ever made the force. Top of her class at police academy, she's assigned to the Zootropolis Police Department, where Chief Bogo (Idris Elba) makes her a meter maid. But she's too ambitious to write parking tickets all day, and teams up with con-artist fox Nick (Jason Bateman) to look into the strange case of a missing otter, which might be linked to a series of unexplained events in which predators suddenly became aggressive and dangerous.
The writers and directors have a great time with the premise, peppering scenes with knowing references mainly to other movies but also to resonant aspects of society, such as the genius casting of sloths as government workers. And there are also much bigger themes rattling around the edges, from how other peoples' expectations constrain us to how politicians use fear to control the public. There's also a cleverly pointed undercurrent about prejudice and diversity. And at the centre, Goodwin and Bateman give solid vocal performances as natural enemies who find a way to trust each other. Of the supporting cast, Elba is the standout as a buffalo who is all bluster.
The setting also offers the animators with a lot to play with, mainly in Zootropolis' various zones, including a desert, a snowscape, a rainforest and a miniature neighbourhood for rodents. The movie is a riot of colour and motion, with a steady stream of hilarious one-liners and a naggingly catchy Shakira song. It's also so carefully constructed that everything promises more to come, from party costumes to toys, plus the possibility of videogames, theme park rides and, of course, sequels and spin-offs. Thankfully, it's so enjoyable that the audience will be looking forward to new ways to enter into this world. And Disney is going to make a lot of money from it.
After 2013's beefy Man of Steel, director Zack Snyder goes even bigger and darker with this sequel, cross-pollenating Clark Kent's story with flashbacks to the origins of Bruce Wayne and his Dark Knight alter-ego. The problem is that the film is so big and loud that it can't help but feel bloated, especially since so much of what's on screen feels rather vacuous. But it looks amazing and is relentlessly gripping.
After a Bat-origin prologue, the story kicks off with the climactic battle from Man of Steel as seen from the perspective of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), watching his city being destroyed by Superman (Henry Cavill). This further fuels the rage that began when his parents were murdered. And that fire is stoked by the mischievous millionaire Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). Meanwhile, Superman/Clark is struggling with how the world is revering him as a god, which is straining his relationship with intrepid reporter Lois (Amy Adams). As these very different vigilante heros head toward a climactic confrontation, Luthor is up to something seriously nefarious. And the ensuing chaos brings another hero into the open, Wonder Woman Diana Prince (Gal Gadot).
While the various plot threads are fascinating, and Snyder maintains a snappy pace, the overall story centres on the fact that Affleck's prickly, bitter Bruce is easily manipulated into doing terrible things, which makes him rather unlikeable. And Cavill's fundamentally good Clark isn't much easier to identify with. Both are also oddly constrained by their costumes and bulked-up physicalities, which leave them unable to move properly. This allows the side characters to steal the show: Adams adds emotion and passion, Eisenberg provides the nutty nastiness, Irons is hilariously cynical as Bruce's butler Alfred, and Fishburne is all bluster as Lois' editor. But in the end, the film belongs to the gorgeous, clear-headed Gadot, instantly making her stand-alone movie the most anticipated superhero project on the horizon.
Snyder gives this film such a massive scale that fans get plenty of bang for their buck. But while it looks amazing and feels hugely emotional, it's difficult not to notice the problems. All of the dream sequences are utterly unnecessary (especially when Bruce bases his entire quest for vengeance on a dream in which he's in a Mad Max-style desert dystopia). And there's also the issue that much of the gadgetry seems to have been created by a 10-year-old boy, which actually makes it boring (like the indestructible Batmobile). It may look achingly cool, and there's never a dull moment, but in the end it's so brutally violent and full of itself that it leaves us gasping for fresh air.
Propelled by the commercial success of the ultimately annoying 'Ho Hey', The Lumineers self-titled debut album was a top ten success in multiple territories, with sales in the US alone topping 1.3 million units. Anticipation is high for the quintet's second effort, with their busy touring schedule for the next six months featuring many sold out shows, such as all of the UK dates.
But all too often when a band makes a commercial breakthrough, the desire to capitalise on it leads to a second-rate batch of material or evidently desperate attempts to repeat the tricks that got them noticed. To that end, the four year wait for 'Cleopatra' is evidence of a different approach - and there's certainly no contrived recreation of their best known hit. They do, however, continue what they know and create - this is no MGMT second album crisis - warming indie folk. 'Sleep On The Floor' is a slow, stirring opener which will have you convinced that starting over again is the greatest idea, while 'Ophelia' has an urgent piano melody that'll lodge itself in your mind. The title track tries a little too enthusiastically to raise the tempo, while 'Angela' proves an almost alluring acoustic cut. A couple of the latter tracks, namely 'Long Way From Home' and 'Sick In The Head' see any momentum curtailed, but 'My Eyes' is a reminder before the record ends of what The Lumineers are capable of when they dont try too hard.
We caught up with Verena Scrimshire, Regional Manager Yorkshire & East Midlands, and she is really happy to be bringing the social family fun to Sheffield where she worked for a time in her previous life in housing management. ’Sheffield has a great musical history and some fantastic club night so I’m thrilled to be bringing BFLF to the city. I can’t wait to see the families enjoying time together on the dancefloor - happy smiley faces bouncing around is what it’s all about’.
