80s singer Toyah Willcox to headline Crick Boat Show
Pop singer and TV presenter Toyah Willcox will headline this year’s Crick Boat Show & Waterways Festival.
The annual event, which showcases the inland waterways industry with over 250 exhibitors from across the canal world, takes place at Crick Marina, near Daventry in Northamptonshire, on the weekend of May 24 to 26.
The show is expected to attract 25,000 visitors and Toyah will be performing her ‘Acoustic, Up Close & Personal’ set during the Saturday evening entertainment programme.
Her gig will include renditions of her most well-known singles, such as It’s A Mystery, Thunder in the Mountains and I Want to Be Free and she will tell stories from her colourful 35-year career.
• Continue reading at Northampton Chronicle & Echo.
A new page at Dreamscape Gallery for photos from Toyah’s 2014 tours, PAs and festival appearances. Thanks to Angus, Jill, Alyson and Jeff who have already given me amazing photos from a couple of this week’s dates. If anyone would like their photos included get in touch. Click below to visit the new page.
More great shots of Toyah, Acoustic, Up Close & Personal, on the opening date of the tour in Buxton, at the Pavilion Arts Centre on Wednesday night. Please click below to view the full versions at Dreamscape’s Gallery. (Photos © Angus Turner)
Toyah began her Acoustic, Up Close & Personal tour last night at Buxton Pavilion Arts Centre. The tour continues tonight at Lowther Pavilion. Here are a few photos of Toyah taken last night. Click on these for info on the Acoustic… tour at Toyah’s Official Website. (Photos © Jill Perlstrom)
• I hear, on good authority, that the very wonderful ‘Dreamscape’ was included in last night’s opening gig set. Tickets for The Duchess, York Acoustic… gig are also now on sale, here.
Toyah’s first Acoustic, Up Close & Personal date takes place tonight; there’s been news of the digital reissue of The Acoustic Album; a great collection of acoustic rarities has just been gifted to fans by Toyah; and there’s even an acoustic Live Track Of The Month… So there’s definitely a nice acoustic feeling in the air (I’ve been playing The Acoustic Album and the rarities collection while readying Issue Two of my fanzine for the printers).
Toyah tweeted yesterday: “Photoshoot for Mail then I head up north. Running set for Acoustic show….it sounds fresh and exciting. Guitar arrangements r so clever“. She also mentioned recently that ‘Obsolete’ was sounding “great unplugged”.
Here’s some interesting details on Acoustic, Up Close & Personal from the latest Breaking Through newsletter: Without giving the full set list away the show will feature unplugged versions for the first time ever of… Bird In Flight, Be Proud Be Loud (Be Heard), Broken Diamonds, Love Is The Law, Dawn Chorus, Latex Messiah (Viva La Rebel In You) and Sensational, amongst others.
The show is acoustic but is intentionally very lively and uptempo! The set list for this show is likely to also alternate throughout the year. It’s a show not to be missed so do try and make it along to hear these unique versions of classics from Sheep Farming, Love Is The Law, Anthem, Crimson Queen, The Changeling and more.
• News Source: Breaking Through: The Official Toyah Newsletter. (Image by Dreamscape, inspired by the recent acoustic artworks by toyahwillcox.com – View a larger version here)
It’s the beginning of a very busy week for Toyah, with the launch dates of, not one but, two tours. Acoustic, Up Close & Personal begins on Wednesday night, at Buxton Pavilion Arts Centre, and continues on Thursday at Lowther Pavilion. The following night, Friday 21st February sees Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits… Live! get underway with a gig at the Holmfirth Picturedome. This tour continues the following night also, at Queens Hall, Nuneaton. Both tours continue through 2014 with various dates over a number of months.
• New live dates have also just been confirmed: Acoustic, Up Close & Personal at The Duchess, York, and Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits… Live! at the Tivoli Theatre, Wales. There’s also a new “Live Track Of The Month” at The Official Gigs page – ‘We Are (Acoustic)’ from one of Toyah’s trio of great live dates at Bourbon Street, Glasgow in early 1997. A new Breaking Through newsletter has also been mailed out with more info on the tours and digital releases to coincide.
New live dates have just been confirmed by Toyah’s Official Gigs page: An ACOUSTIC, UP CLOSE & PERSONAL concert at Harlequin Theatre & Cinema, Surrey on 2nd October, and a full-band gig at New Quay Music Festival 2014, taking place near Cardigan Bay in West Wales, on 2nd August. View Toyah’s full 2014 Gig Diary by clicking below.
Toyah was interviewed on the Andy Potter Show on BBC Radio Derby yesterday, ahead of her Acoustic, Up Close & Personal gig in Buxton next month.
The interview, which runs for seven minutes, is available to listen to online at the BBC Derby website here. View Toyah’s full confirmed Acoustic, Up Close & Personal tour dates here.
Six new ACOUSTIC, UP CLOSE & PERSONAL Toyah dates have recently been confirmed, bringing the total shows, so far, to eight.
ACOUSTIC SET WITH CHRIS WONG & COLIN HINDS
19 FEB: BUXTON / PAVILION ARTS
22 FEB: LOWTHER / PAVILLION
24 MAY: NORTHAMPTON / CRICK BOAT SHOW
22 JUN: BISHOP’S CLEEVE TITHE BARN
25 JUL: SETTLE, N YORKSHIRE / VICTORIA HALL
2 SEP: NORWICH / MADDERMARKET THEATRE
3 OCT: SHOREHAM / ROPETACKLE ARTS
10 OCT: NR FLETHCING, E SUSSEX / TRADING BOUNDARIES
• View more details on the Acoustic… dates and links to book tickets here. View all of Toyah’s confirmed live dates for 2014 at The Official Gigs page.
Toyah’s Gig Diary for 2014 is packed full of concerts, PA’s, festivals and appearances. There are also live US dates for The Humans in April.
The first Acoustic, Up Close & Personal date is at the Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton on Wednesday 19th February, while the opening Crimson Queen/Greatest Hits… Live! gig is at the Holmfirth Picturedome on Friday 21st February. The Crimson Queen dates will run throughout 2014 as an extended series of gigs rather than in a single-month tour.
Toyah’s first festival appearance of the year is on Sunday 30th March at The Great British Alternative Music Festival, Minehead. Also playing at that are The Damned, Buzzcocks, Bad Manners, The Blockheads, The Rezillos and many more. View the promo image for that here.
• Further info, ticket links and the full confirmed list of live dates is available at the Official Toyah Gigs page. Find out where the nearest gig to you is taking place here…
