previews, reviews, interviews, and recommendations with Steve Cooke
MIDWEEK COLUMN WEDNESDAY 14 AUGUST 2024
South Asian Heritage Festival
Preview by Steve Cooke
Living Well and partnering VCFSE organisations, are extending a warm invitation to join them at this year’s South Asian Heritage Festival.
An amazing opportunity to celebrate some of the work done and partnerships created in the South Asian community.
This festival will be a joyous celebration of the rich cultural tapestry, vibrant traditions, and diverse communities that make up South Asia.
An exciting line-up of workshops, performances, and activities that promise to captivate and inspire.
From traditional dance and music to crafty art workshops, there is something for everyone to enjoy.
Each session will commence with a short speech from Rochdale's Mayor and a flag raising ceremony.
A great opportunity to get together to honour South Asian heritage, share stories, and create lasting memories.
Free
Phone: Sanya Karim or Mohammad Moheeb 07492 424648
Thursday 15 August 2024
10am - 12.30pm & 1.30pm - 4pm
Rochdale Town Hall, The Esplanade, Town Centre, Rochdale OL16 1AZ
The Chameleons return to Middleton after decades – performing at SUMMER OF M24 – Middleton’s Community Wealth Building Festival.
Preview by Steve Cooke
Middleton’s The Chameleons are recognized as a profoundly influential force in music, having left their mark on bands like The Verve, Oasis, White Lies, The Slow Readers Club, Interpol, The Killers, and Editors, among many others. Known for their deep and powerful live shows and their impact stretches well beyond their four studio albums.
The Chameleons’ distinctive sound captured the public’s attention with its unique blend of melancholy yet robust and dynamic tunes, entrancing ethereal guitar riffs, and poignant, enduring lyrical themes. The Chameleons are celebrated as one of the pivotal guitar-driven groups of the ’80s and ’90s, making significant contributions to the post-punk, shoegaze, and indie genres. Despite their broad influence, they remain one of our most undervalued musical exports.
While their last studio album came out over two decades ago, in a surprise move, the band is currently on tour and has released brand new single, Where Are You.
“It’s exciting to finally be putting out fresh Chameleons material for the first time in over twenty years, although initially I found it quite daunting,” admits vocalist/bassist Mark Burgess. “The question about new music is one I had been asked the most from people coming to the shows, a great many of whom weren’t even born when those records were originally made but nevertheless were excited and inspired by the music enough to catch multiple shows on multiple tours.”
Currently on a round of North American dates that began on May 30th in San Diego and working their way East to Washington, DC on August 17th, the band are celebrating their 1986 breakthrough album Strange Times, which spawned the singles Tears and the alt-rock club staple Swamp Thing.
“I initially wasn’t a huge fan of album performance tours,” Burgess admits. “I believed instead that they ought to have been confined to one-off, special events.” Marking the difference between the highly personal experience of enjoying an album alone with a “good pair of headphones” versus the collective social coming together at a concert, he muses that, in general, the track listing of an album doesn’t take into account a live show’s needs for crest and drama. “Performing Strange Times changed my mind,” he says. “For one thing, the album marked a significant evolution by the band both in its sound and the maturity of the writing. Secondly, it’s a challenging album to perform live and thus, it’s much more fun to play. When all is said and done, we look forward to recreating this particular album for our North American fans!”
The current Chameleons are Reg Smithies (guitar), Mark Burgess (bass, vocals, lyrics), Stephen Rice (guitar), Danny Ashberry (keyboards), and Todd Demma (drums).
Steve Coogan, a Middleton’s TV and Film comedy legend, says "It’s great to see The Chameleons helping to bring arts, mutual support, and activism together again in Middleton’s ‘Summer of M24’."
The festival is organised by Middleton Co-operating, a community-led organisation dedicated to benefiting the people of the M24 postcode.
Mark Fraser, founding director of the Community Benefit Society, emphasised the importance of the event, saying, “Our mantra is all about strengthening the identity of Middletonians by acting as a catalyst organisation in M24. We’re crazily ambitious at Middleton Co-operating and want to promote community wealth-building in any way, shape, or form. From the old Middleton Civic Hall, which saw bands from The Smiths to The Jam, to The Beatles playing Middleton Co-op Hall, we’ve got loads to celebrate but not many places to celebrate it. So why not give the tools to our brilliant pubs, cafes, and community centres to turn themselves into small music venues? This is the perfect way to encourage and nurture Middleton’s next generation of musicians.”
Steve Coogan, recently speaking at Middleton Arena as part of the Middleton Co-operating Launch emphasised Middleton's rich heritage in the arts and community activism: “From local writer and poet Sam Bamford leading 6,000 Middleton people to Peterloo in 1819, to Jim Allen’s plays and Raining Stones, to the music of the Mock Turtles and the Courteeners, we have a heritage to celebrate.
You can catch them AT SUMMER OF M24 - Middleton’s Community Wealth Building Festival. With support acts from M24.
All proceeds will go towards grass roots music/venue development in Middleton including supplying PA systems across budding venues in Middleton, bolstering the local music scene.
Summer of M24 Presents – CHAMELEONS + Middleton Supports.
This event will be a standing/partially seated, all admitted with one standard ticket per customer.
Tickets from £33.00
Saturday 31 August 2024
6.30pm – doors open 6.pm
Middleton Arena, Lance Corporal Joel Halliwell VC Way, Middleton, Manchester M24 1AG
4h 30m
RECOMMENDED
Thursday 15 August 2024
The Festidale - Tales of Touchstones
Join Touchstones at The FestiDale for family-friendly drop-in activities full of fun, magic, creativity, and tales!
From 11.30am to 4.00pm you can expect storytelling, a mini museum, community sharings, performances, music and food with Touchstones, Rochdale.
Scrumptious by Beggars Belief
11.30am – 12.30pm and 2.00pm – 3.00pm Age: 4+
Join Sylvie, the sweetshop owner and her friends from Storybook World as they try to make the world’s finest ice-cream.
Activities in the Afternoon
12pm – 4pm
Get a Portrait with Len Grant, have a look at some fascinating objects in our Mini Museum, Make with Clay drop-in with Aaliyah Hussain, Badge Making, and an Exhibition of young people’s art created as part of Side-by-Side.
Story of the Museum
12:30pm & 3pm
Discover our fascinating artefacts through a unique story, telling the tales of the treasures found at Touchstones Art Gallery & Museum with two special performances in The Den.
Gut Feelings Meri Jaan Screening
1pm – 2pm
A film made with Rochdale residents, responding to the ‘Ethnic Minorities’ section of the local history archives held at Touchstones Museum and Art Gallery. Together they asked: what do we find when we go looking for ourselves in the archive? How can we alter the course of history through a new script?
Side by Side Sharing
3.15pm
A new community programme is happening in and around Rochdale to celebrate the reopening of Touchstones next year. Find out how to get involved and what we’ve been up to!
Stick around afterwards for the first performance of Tales of the Dale followed by music from Shenanigans.
The FestiDale is part of Local Exchange, the Royal Exchange Theatre’s ambitious long-term programme co-curated with ambassadors and champions in communities across Greater Manchester.
Pay What You Can
11.30am - 4pm
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Friday 16 August 2024
The Festidale - Creative Writing
For budding writers and poets, both new and old, explore your creative voice and share your joys.
Join Cartwheel Arts for a 2-hour creative writing & spoken word workshop focusing on what brings you joy and giving you an opportunity to share what’s important to you.
Cartwheel Arts is a Rochdale-based company who work with communities of all shapes and sizes to devise and deliver exciting, colourful participatory arts projects, which can be all shapes and sizes too, and sometimes quite noisy.
Participation and collaboration is key to their work. It can develop confidence and skills for the individual, and build active, stronger communities with a positive self-image. They don’t say that everyone can be a brilliant artist, but they do believe that many people have untapped potential because they have not had the opportunity or the confidence to take part in creative activity. They encourage people with talent to make the most of their opportunities and believe in themselves.
Pay What You Can
3pm
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Friday 16 August 2024
The Festidale - Katie and the Bad Sign
A voice that pours with emotion and fills a venue, Katie and the Bad Sign have played across the UK, and we are delighted to welcome them to the Den.
Hailing from Manchester and proud Northerners, they describe their sound as a mix of Americana, Blues & good ole Rock n’ Roll. Their 70s inspired music takes you on a journey of catchy melody to gritty guitar sounds and gravelly throttling vocals, giving an essence of Janis Joplin brought into modern-day rootsy rock.
Katie and her band have played up and down the UK at Festivals including Weyfest Festival and Upton Blues, sharing bills with Jools Holland and Ocean Colour Scene and received radio play from BBC Introducing and Planet Rock Radio.
Katie and the Bad Sign follow the evening’s performance of Tales of the Dale.
Entry fee: Pay What You Can
9pm - 10pm
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Saturday 17 August 2024
Celebrity Piano Duet Concert - Scott Brothers Duo (Jonathan & Tom Scott).
Contact Jill to book in advance.
£10 on the door (includes light refreshments)
Phone: Jill Midgley 01706 639162
3pm
Rochdale Parish Church of St Chad, Sparrow Hill, Town Centre, Rochdale OL16 1QT
Saturday 17 August 2024
The Festidale - Five Ways to Wellbeing
This inspiring workshop takes place before lunch and can be paired with the Creative Corner workshop
Learn about connecting with other people, learning new skills, taking notice of how you are feeling in the here and now, being active in a very easy way and giving something back all helps with everyday life’s stresses and eases mental health issues.
The workshop will include:
Learning about the 5 Ways to Wellbeing
Making your own 5 Ways to Wellbeing
Incorporating these into your day
Pay What You Can
11.30am
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Saturday 17 August 2024
The Festidale - Creative Corner
Bring out your inner creativity.
This workshop session with Rochdale and District Mind, your local mental health Charity, encourages everyone to find their inner creativity, to make something beautiful and take that home with you.
Pay What You Can
1pm
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Saturday 17 August 2024
The Festidale - Writing inspired by place
An incredible workshop open to all, for budding writers both new and old.
Chris Hoyle will lead a practical creative workshop on how to craft a unique story inspired by place.
Chris will explore our relationship with place and space and how we can create characters and narrative from our own experience and memories.
Chris is a playwright, director, actor and theatre maker. He studied acting at The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. He worked as an actor from a very early age appearing in various TV roles including The Ward, Coronation Street, Clocking Off, Heartbeat, The Bill, The Last Train and The Royal Today.
Pay What You Can
4.30pm
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Saturday 17 August 2024
The Festidale - PoolEra
An energetic, up-and-coming Indie/Rock band - no need to book just turn up and enjoy the music!
Meet Ed Jamil, Alfie Duke, Seb Parry and Calum Lucas, who make up PoolEra, who came together after meeting at Hollingworth Academy school in Milnrow, Rochdale where they had music tuition.
PoolEra follow on from an evening’s performance of Tales of the Dale.
Pay what you can
8.30pm - 9pm
The Den, Kingsway Park High School, Turf Hill Road, Rochdale OL16 4XA
Saturday 17 August 2024
Merhaba - Halal food festival
Merhaba (welcome), a celebration of food, live music and artisan crafts from the Islamic world. Our first ever halal food festival in the borough of Rochdale.
Merhaba is a family-friendly festival with free activities and rides for the children, live entertainment for everyone including:
Amazing homemade street food from Rochdale’s diverse community. Choose from dozens of great value dishes. There'll be Turkish, Pakistani, Ethiopian and more dishes to explore.
Live music from regional bands from around the world.
Artisan markets with handmade crafts from local and regional artists.
Art workshops, with children's art activities and games, free activities and fairground rides.
Live art show.
Free
11am - 5pm
Rochdale Town Hall, The Esplanade, Town Centre, Rochdale OL16 1AZ
celebrating creative arts and artists - an oasis of positivity supporting individual and community wellbeing.
Comments