Originally aired online on the 18th August, this Manchester Pride special edition Tongue And Groove Open Mic Variety Night, was shown again over this Bank Holiday weekend, since, due to coronavirus restrictions, an actual Pride Parade was (obviously) not allowed this year.
Compered as always by Hayley Cartwright, this concert showcased 14 different acts as varied and as colourful as the rainbow flag!
Some of the acts were regulars to this monthly event - under normal circumstances hosted live at The Goose Pub in Salford , and some were new to the evenings. We were treated to a veritable smorgasbord of both talent and styles, from Cherie Bebe's retro style Burlesque routine, through Greta Gasser's piano playing (The Maple Leaf Rag), a sketch (Lynn Touil and Val Ashall in the dentist's waiting room), performance poetry from Melanie Moulton, to stand-up comedy from Fran Winston. And of course, almost all the acts were peppered with a generous dose of LGBTQ-ness for this special editrion. Acts such as Morgan Black's sardonic 'Highway 666', Grandmaster P's Churchillesque rendition of 'Over The Rainbow', Rez Kabir's song about LGBTQ freedom, and no variety show of this nature would be complete without a drag artiste, and this evening it was The Danny Clifford Show.
Eimie (a three piece folk rock outfit) impressed, as did Harriet Hamilton's rendition of "Follow Your Arrow". However my favourite act of the evening was the one to open the show; a 7-piece all-girl close harmony group singing 'Gentleman Jack'. The Syncing Violets proving to be a very talented group of a-capella folk music singers with a modern twist!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 31/8/20
No comments:
Post a Comment