December and Early 2015 Gig Highlights at Southbank Centre:

December and Early 2015 Gig Highlights at
Southbank Centre:
Pictish Trail & Sweet Baboo, Owen Pallett, Buke
and Gase – plus Gaz Coombes, Tune-Yards and
Phil Selway in 2015
www.southbankcentre.co.uk/gigs
Alongside the full range of festival fair (see Southbank Centre’s Winter Festival with
NatWest line-up here) Southbank Centre will host some intimate contemporary music
shows in December to lift the spirits and warm the cockles. Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire and
Beirut collaborator Owen Pallett will play a one-off show, songsmiths Pictish Trail and
Sweet Baboo will bring their brand of off-centre pop to the Purcell Room and Buke and
Gase will inspire with their array of handmade instruments. There will also be a range of
free gigs throughout the month ranging in styles from klezmer to classical, at lunchtime and
after work.
Highlights:



Pictish Trail and Sweet Baboo will play together at the Purcell Room fresh from a recording
session on a remote isle of Scotland, where they collaborated on creating ale-gargling, thighslapping future folk classics (4 December)
Described by Rolling Stone as a ‘pop treasure’ Owen Pallett will perform tracks from his
latest album In Conflict (3 December)
Brooklyn based indie-rock duo Buke and Gase will play the Purcell Room with support from
one-man-band Denis Jones (14 December)
Free Concert highlights:




World-fusion band Colomboloco will get the crowd dancing with music inspired by the
Italian countryside (20 December)
Laura B & The Moonlighters will play their jazz infused 1950’s Rock and Roll at The Clore
Ballroom (21 December)
Melissa James will serenade the lunchtime crowd with her soulful songs (19 December)
Energetic party music will be provided by the London Klezmer Quartet (12 December)
Looking ahead – highlights for 2015
1








Spanning blue grass, modern classical and alt-rock, New York based quintet Punch Brothers
are set to dazzle the Queen Elizabeth Hall in January (22 January 2015)
Ex Supergrass frontman, Gaz Coombes will play the Queen Elizabeth hall, featuring music
from his sophomore album Matador (6 February 2015)
Transatlantic Sessions returns celebrating common ground between Celtic and Americana
musicians, featuring fiddler Aly Bain and dobro legend Jerry Douglas amongst others (6
February 2015)
Radiohead drummer Philip Selway will follow up his sophomore album with a much
anticipated show at the Royal Festival Hall (11 February 2015)
Ocean Colour Scene will play a selections of songs from their back catalogue with an
acoustic twist (18 February 2015)
The percussive indie-pop act tUnE yArDs will come to Royal Festival Hall as part of WOW
Festival (5 March 2015)
Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset will delight jazz fans as he debuts his new album due
to be released early 2015 (18 March 2015)
Following her 22nd album, folk legend Peggy Seeger will play the Queen Elizabeth Hall with
support from her sons Neill MacColl and Grammy nominated Calum MacColl (6 June 2015)
ENDS
For further press information please contact Hugo Mintz - Press Officer
Hugo.mintz@southbankcentre.co.uk / 020 7921 0917
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of
London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an
extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain.
Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the
Hayward Gallery as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. For further
information please visit www.southbankcentre.co.uk
FULL LISTINGS BELOW IN DATE ORDER:
Cuban Classics: A Night in Havana
Tuesday 02 December, 7:45pm,Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, £16.00 £12.00
Making his Southbank Centre debut alongside opera and tango singer Ann Liebeck and Cuban jazz violinist
Omar Puente, Marcos Madrigal performs music for solo piano and violin from Cuba, Spain, Argentina and
Brazil.
Owen Pallett
Wednesday 03 December, 7:30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £17.50 £12.50
2
Canadian indie-pop musician, classical violinist and Polaris Prize winning composer will play songs from his
latest album In Conflict. Previously performing under the pseudonym Final Fantasy, Pallett has secured a
reputation as a idiosyncratic and original artist.
Pictish Trail & Sweet Baboo
Thursday 4 December, 7:45pm, Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, £13.50
Lyrical singer-songshapers Stephen Black and Johnny Lynch (Sweet Baboo and Pictish Trail, respectively) will
provide folk-tinged winter hymns, lo-fi audio wizardry and sweet ‘Eigg-nog’ kisses under the casio. Black
(Sweet Baboo) is something of a fixture within the burgeoning Welsh psyche-pop scene, whilst from a static
caravan up on the remote isle of Eigg, Scotland, Lynch (Pictish Trail) creates self-professed ‘wonky-pop’.
The Gildas Quartet
Friday Lunch with MasterCard
Friday 05 December, 1:00pm, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, FREE
Classical clarinettist, Jack McNeill will play H.Skempton, M.Feldman aand S. Birtwistle pieces with The Gildas
Quartet, in a slight change in style for Friday Lunch Sessions.
Henry Spencer and Juncture
Friday Tonic with MasterCard
Friday 05 December, 5:30pm, The Front Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, FREE
Drawing on influences from jazz, rock and minimalism, the ensemble creates an expressive world of
contemporary sound. They have won awards for Best Newcomer at the Marlborough Jazz Festival, Emerging
Excellence Award and the band are recording their debut album with Grammy Award-winner Dave Darlington.
Science Fiction Re:Scored
Saturday 6 December, 7:45pm, Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, £16.50
A trio of jazz musicians presents a live soundtrack to sci-fi movie scenes. VJ Soopanatural will help to create a
completely improvised narrative whilst jazz composer and musician Mark de Clive-Lowe plays keyboard
alongside saxophonist Jason Yarde and a surprise guest jazz drummer.
London Klezmer Quartet
Friday Lunch with MasterCard
Friday 12 December, 1pm, Central Bar Foyer at Royal Festival Hall, FREE
The London Klezmer Quartet combines the original klezmer tradition with a kick-the-chairs-over ability to
party. The arrangements are acoustic and the playing is energetic and fresh. The line-up is fiddle, clarinet,
accordion and double bass.
Nicky Schrire Quintet
Friday Tonic with MasterCard
Friday 12 November, 5:30pm, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, FREE
Nicky Schrire is an award-winning vocalist and composer performing her own music as well as arrangements of
South African jazz repertoire. Schrire has earned comparisons with Norma Winstone, Joni Mitchell and Karryn
Allison.
Ian Shaw's Early Xmas Cracker with Very Special Guest Madeline Bell
3
Friday 12 December, 7:45pm Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall , £18.50
One is a BBC award-winning vocalist and the other a US soul and pop legend, famed for her hits with Blue Mink
and her big band appearances all over the world. The two old friends perform an early Christmas show. Expect
Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Nat King Cole sung in their inimitable style.
Gamelan Christmas Chimes
Saturday 13 December, 1-6pm, The Clore Ballroom at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, FREE
The annual Gamelan Christmas Chimes celebration includes Javanese gamelan, shadow-puppetry and dance
performances. Musicians from Southbank Centre's gamelan programme will come together to usher in the
festive season with an eclectic showcase of gongs, chimes and a hint of mysticism.
Christmas No.1 Singalong – With Rainer Hersch, Charlotte Page And The Christmas Crackers
Saturday 13 December, 7.45pm, Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall, £20
Comedian Rainer Hersch hosts a jamboree of Christmas number ones and seasonal favourites with Charlotte
Page and The Christmas Crackers.
Buke and Gase + support from Denis Jones
Sunday 14 December, 7.45pm, Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall , £10
Arone Dyer and Aron Sanchez formed Buke and Gase, through invented instruments and collective curiosity.
Their atypical stringed hybrids will be backed by minimal beats from foot-activated percussion, creating consist
rhythmic groove topped with vocal melodies. Denis Jones has developed a live performance style based
around loop pedals, rhythmic guitar-playing and rich, soulful voice.
Deacon Blue
Monday 15 November, 7:30pm, Royal Festival Hall, £39.50 £29.50 £19.50 – SOLD OUT
Formed in Glasgow in 1985, Deacon Blue went on to become one of the city's most famous and successful
bands. Their debut album Raintown was followed up by the chart-topping When The World Knows Your Name
and Top-20 album The Hipsters.
Melissa James
Friday Lunch with MasterCard
Friday 19 December, 1pm The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, FREE
Melissa James' music fuses blues, folk, country and jazz bundled in a package of soul. Her sound combines
Roberta Flack and Joan Armatrading as they cross paths with blues man Eric Bibb.
Gypsy Hill
Friday Tonic with MasterCard
Friday 19 December, 5:30-7pm The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, FREE
Gypsy Hill play a mix of Balkan brass, Mediterranean surf rock, ska and swing.
Featuring guitars, horns, tuba, a scratch DJ and a mix of live and electronic beats, Gypsy Hill effortlessly mix the
traditional with a uniquely modern sound.
Colomboloco
Saturday 20 December, 6-7pm, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, FREE
4
The Colomboloco five-piece band bring their world-fusion and hi-energy, gypsy-Mediterranean music to
Southbank Centre. Inspired by the mountains, sea and classical and folk music typical of leader Francesco
Filizzola’s Southern Italian home village, this London-based band of Italian and Spanish musicians inspire and
uplift.
Laura B & The Moonlighters
Sunday 21 December, 12.30-2pm, The Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall, FREE
Laura B and the Moonlighters are an eight-piece 1950s style, good time, rhythm and blues band featuring the
vocal talents of Laura B described as the 'UK's New Diva of Rhythm and Blues', alongside some of the best R&B
players in Europe.
FB Pocket Orchestra
Tuesday 23 December, 1-2pm,The Clore Ballroom Royal Festival Hall, FREE
Blues, Ragtime, Hot Jazz, Songs and Dances from long ago: working backwards from the 1930s, the FB Pocket
Orchestra explore a repertoire that formed the embryo of what is now known as popular music. The aim of the
orchestra is to present a contemporary slant on popular acoustic music from the late 19th and early 20th
Centuries.
Five Go Jiving
Tuesday 24 December, 12-2pm,The Clore Ballroom Royal Festival Hall, FREE
Bandleader John Bayley presides over the usual pre-Christmas mixture of jive, jazz, jump, dancing and humour.
2015 HIGHLIGHTS:
Punch Brothers
Thursday 22 January 2015, 7:30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £20 £17.50
New York based quintet Punch Brothers span blue grass, modern classical and alt-rock. They were featured on
the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers’ film Inside Llewyn Davis, as well as the Hollywood blockbuster The
Hunger Games. Made up of guitar, mandolin, bass, banjo and violin, Punch brothers will be touring music from
their new album.
Transatlantic Sessions
Friday 6 February 2015, 7:30pm, Royal Festival Hall, £27.50 £25 £22 £20
Back for a sixth year Transatlantic Sessions will return to celebrate common ground between Celtic and
Americana musicians. Fiddle maestro Aly Bain will head the house band with dobro legend Jerry Douglas and
will be joined by special guests
Gaz Coombes
Friday 6 February 2015, 7:30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £17.50, 15
Former Supergrass frontman and multi-award winner Gaz Coombes will play the Queen Elizabeth Hall
following the release of his supremely reflective sophomore album Matador.
Philip Selway
5
Wednesday 11 February 2015, 7:30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £20 £17.50
Four years after the unexpected and exquisite treat that was Philip Selway’s debut album Familial, the man
formerly known as the drummer of Radiohead returns with his sophomore record, Weatherhouse.
Ocean Colour Scene
Wednesday 18 February 2015,7:30pm, Royal Festival Hall, £35 £27.50 £20
In their 25 years together, Ocean Colour Scene have enjoyed five Top 10 albums, six Top 10 singles and a string
of awards. To celebrate, they are playing stripped back and acoustic, accompanied by Q Strings.
Tune-Yards
Thursday 5 March 2015, 7:30pm, Royal Festival Hall, £22.50 £20 £17.50
The celebrated indie-pop band tUnE-yArDs will bring their live experience to Royal Festival Hall on the back of
a new album Nikki Nack. Headed up by Merrill Garbus, the band is known for its explosive performance style
and brilliantly eccentric songwriting.
Marius Neset
Wednesday 18 March 2015,7:45pm, Purcell Room, £15
Described by the Telegraph as making his ‘instrument dance like a gazelle and soar like an eagle’ Norwegian
jazz saxophonist Marius Neset will delight European jazz fans as he debuts his new album slated to be released
early 2015.
Peggy Seeger
Saturday 6 June 2015, 7:30pm, Queen Elizabeth Hall, £22.50 £20 £17.50
nd
As she enters her 80th year, folk legend Peggy Seeger shows no sign of slowing as she releases her 22 album,
Everything Changes. She’ll be playing songs new and old at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, with support from her
sons Neill MacColl and Grammy nominated Calum MacColl.
6