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The brown word: Death on the Throne @gatehouselondon

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We’re warned at the start of the show with an upbeat number that this is not the usual sort of musical. And it turns out to be just that. But with boundless enthusiasm and energy from its two leads, who deploy a range of voices and breathtaking energy to create a series of voices for puppet characters, a bedtime story becomes a silly oddball tale about four souls stuck in purgatory. With puppets. And various toilet humour references. It’s currently playing at Upstairs At The Gatehouse . The piece starts as a bedtime story. Daddy (Mark Underwood) is about to read a bedtime story for Louise (Sarah Louise Hughes). But her stomach felt funny, and soon, she went to the bathroom. Then, for reasons that seem to only make sense in the confines of the show, they start telling the story of four people who died in unfortunate circumstances in the bathroom. Depicted as puppets, they’re stuck in purgatory as St Peter doesn’t have enough space for each of them in the afterlife. And so begins a puppe...

Events: Snow Patrol at the O2


One of the great things about London is the range of sensible and not so sensible events on offer at any time of the year. All you need is a decent London Guide to start planning things. A frosty Saturday evening seemed very appropriate to catch Snow Patrol's second of three sellout concerts at the O2.

Snow Patrol are best categorised as an alternative rock group from Northern Island via Scotland (where they originally formed), but they have evolved to be firmly in the mainstream fare and ensuring mega stardom. That isn't such a bad thing as an audience of 15,000 singing (surprisingly in tune) the chorus of their song Run is certainly an experience to take in. It is also amazing to see the glow from hundreds of camera phones across the venue recording footage like the clip above. Given you can't smoke indoors anymore, they are the modern equivalent of the lighter wave.


All their big hits featured in Snow Patrol's 100 minute show, along with music from their new album Fallen Empires. It was fairly simple staging that was supplemented by projections and a moving lights and a giant snowflake. But the main thing was the music.

There was a little cute repartee as lead singer Gary Lightbody paid tribute to his mother and his four year old niece in the audience. It was the second show for his niece and he was sure she was going to get tinnitus. He also wore (briefly) an animal hat that was offered to him by someone in the front row. It was an unusual look for a rock star, but then again it was that sort of night out.

The O2 is a great venue for concerts as they sound great and they look great too. The venue gets better every time I visit with more bars and restaurants and developments opening up nearby, and it is less than 20 minutes from Westminster tube station.

Also f you can get a seat in one of the VIP lounges it's even better as you get your own dedicated slave barman, coat check, an area to chill out, and a few more dining options.  And if you're not staying at one of the nearby hotels and have to face getting the Jubilee line home, you're closer to the exit than everyone else... Of course the tube ride home was an opportunity to get close to the fans of the group. But the burning question I had for them was why they all looked like they dressed themselves from charity bins? Surely the music can't be blamed for that...

As an added bonus for the evening, one of the support acts was indie group Everything Everything, who with their catchy beats and dreamy music won quite a few new fans and were worth getting there early to see...

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