London Calling

Best foyer event was  in National Theatre

Poster at RAF Church

Top London Destinations 

• Concert   Holst Singers Pizetti and Palestrina at Temple Church

• Free  Foyer Event  Rive Gauch Gypsy Band at National Theatre

• Best Building British Library

• Best Dining Experience Strada Italian Restaurant at RFH

• Best Late Night Venue Ronnie Scotts’ Late Night Jazz Tim Thornton and friends

• Best Pub  Pat and Dave pub singalong at Soho pub Coach and Horses

• Opportunity Missed Saudi Air Force Musicians at St Clemens Danes Church  
• Musical London Road at the Cottesloe

Mileson at Cello Factory

Birds Eye View from Terrace at NT

The murder of five Ipswich prostitutes and the reaction of local residents may seem a most unlikely plot on which to base a successful musical  but London Rd running at the Cottesloe Theatre,  part of the National Theatre complex on the South Bank doe this. Operatic in the sense that it is all sung in the manner of a sort of recitative  with the speech patterns recorded verbatim  but  with some repetition of lines in the manner of a chorus, the cast of eleven actors play a range of characters from London Rd residents, press photographers and reporters and  prostitutes .  The characters are so well drawn, you can’t quite believe that actress playing an elderly Neighbourhood Watch committee  is the same one playing a drug ravaged girl on the streets .  The Cottesloe is an intimate space it is easier to chat to other theatre goers than in the larger West End spaces. 

South Bank Busker

Arabian Air Force Music Group

The foyer offering is a  Hot Club de Paris style jazz band,  Rive Gauch with  violin, guitar , accordion and the sound wafts around  the open plan foyer space .

On passing the St Clements Danes RAF church opposite the Courts of Justice , I notice some turbaned gentlemen gathering in the doorway.  They are the musicians of the Royal Arabian Air Force getting ready for their lunchtime concert of Omani folk music   I am tempted to forgo my original plan, more tempted by the promise of  lunch afterwards than the prospect of unfamiliar musical treats but I  hesitate and press on to my destination.

Later in the evening I return to the same road and seek out Temple Church

Repaired and beautified

  in the tranquil  leafy law chambers district existing mere metres from the bustle of Fleet St  in a Harry Potteresque sort of way where I learn that Pizetti is not edible accompaniment to the Palestrina  but a very fine 19^th century Italian liturgical composer.

Stephen Layton takes a bow

The high backed stall type pews arranged  at perpendicular angles give an unusual feeling of being in a private listening space which may account for the hushed concentration of the audience, the silence unbroken even in the short interval between works.

With time to kill before I meet my travelling companion I wonder around a bustling Soho and am lured by the  tinkling sound of an old Joanna . Pat and Dave are installed in the Coach and |Horses

Pat and Dave

where they lead an old fashioned singalong for any punters wishing to partake .  (Don’t know the words? Copies of the lyrics are provided ) 
And indeed a young Welsh  man seated at the bar launches into a rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone . Sadly the Chas and Dave hit    There Ain't no Pleasing You which I associate with cockney singalongs is not included in their repertoire yet. 

Researching at British Library

Soho Sing a Long

We arrive at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club 

Ronnie Scotts

for the  late show just as headline act Michel Le Grand is leaving via the front door .  (You could say we rubbed shoulders) The red velvet  cushioned banks arranged in tiers  with atmospheric subdued lighting make it a seem a sophisticated space for late night jazz where substantial business types rub shoulders with college students .  The MC  hovers  front of house and does a good job of creating an intimate atmosphere and does an creditable  turn at  scat singing himself.

 .....He who tires of London

Soho Gig Listing

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