Just as the UK’s extended heatwave is starting to break, and with a most perfect sense of timing, Please Please You has reminded us that there is still an awful lot to look forward to in the coming weeks and months. The York-based live music promoter has just revealed its autumn almanac. And it makes for hugely impressive reading as Please Please You has lined up no less than 29 amazing shows between now and the end of the year with what is surely its busiest and best schedule yet.
The bulk of these shows will take place at various venues in Please Please You’s home city but this stellar programme also includes gigs in Leeds, the market town of Todmorden in the Upper Calder Valley as well as just over the Pennines in Manchester. As ever Please Please You will bring to us a veritable treasure trove of some of the most diverse musical talent you are likely to see and hear this side of Christmas. And with all of this very much in mind we have picked out just a few of our forthcoming highlights.
The new programme of events is already well under way by the time that Jim White rolls into town on the 6th of September. Last in these here parts in November 2017 when he appeared at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and “took us all on a compelling journey through the hinterlands of his soul” , this time round the former pro-surfer, snake handler, fashion model and New York taxi driver plays The Crescent in York. Expect to hear some tales of derring-do and some truly wonderful music.
Nearly a month later on the 4th of October, White’s fellow American, the Texas singer-songwriter Jess Williamson plays at The Fulford Arms in York. She released her third album Cosmic Wink earlier this year, a celestial record that packs mystical country-noir, pop and a huge creative punch into its deep grooves.
The following night American pianist, composer and sound designer Suzanne Ciani opens her UK tour in the ethereal surroundings of St Michael le Belfry, Minster Yard, York as part of York Mediale – a brand new media arts festival which will run biennially – where she will perform the live Buchla modular synthesiser in quadraphonic sound. The synth pioneer will be joined for this show by very special guests Stocker/Eyes, (percussionist Beau Stocker and multi-instrumentalist Ben Eyes) in what promises to be an exceptional evening of electronic music. Not surprisingly, tickets are already running very low for this event.
On the 16th of October Dawn Landes appears at The Basement in York city centre. For her very recently released fifth album Meet Me At The River the American singer-songwriter relocated from New York to Nashville to record a whole bunch of great songs that are steeped in the classic country tradition and sound
And as if to prove that it isn’t just American musicians who populate Please Please You’s autumn programme, South London’s Goat Girl play at The Crescent on 27th October in a show that has already had to be relocated from the smaller Fulford Arms due to its overwhelming demand. A packed crowd had better brace themselves for bags of heat, energy and a fearsome, uncompromising blast of experimental noise.
And there is plenty more where all that came from. Just head over to the Please Please You website for full details on all of its upcoming shows and how to bag tickets for them.
