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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Chris Elwell-Sutton's rating
Reader rating
Phone: 020 7589 8212
Trains: Tube: High Street Kensington 
, Tube / Bus: 9, 10, 52, 360 
Stunning: show hostess Uma Thurman wore a very revealing outfit
Dazzling: Kate Moss at the Royal Albert Hall in a Swarovski crystal dress to be auctioned for the Trust on eBay
Still got it: 60-year-old Iggy Pop with Donatella Versace
It's a no-brainer, really. Create a superb pop line-up that could hold its own against any music festival, combine it with the spectacle of beautiful girls cavorting in the latest creations of the world's finest designers and bring in crystal company Swarovski as sponsor. The result is a glorious night of silly, star-studded fun.
Gallery: Swarovski Fashion Rocks in pictures
Enjoying a relaxed, chatty rapport with her cool, amiable co-host Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman set the tone for the Fashion Rocks show in a Valentino dress that was almost completely transparent. The audience provided plenty of entertainment. With a guest list including Kate Moss in a £40,000 dress she created to be auctioned today, Naomis Campbell and Watts, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Sienna Miller and Claudia Schiffer, it was always going to be a glamorous night.
The format of the show, whose profits are shared with the Prince's Trust, involved fashion designers and musicians sharing the same stage. It worked particularly well for the opening performance: Hey Big Spender, sung with wonderful gusto by Dame Shirley Bassey, while models draped in Marchesa finery strutted around the stage. Accompanied by an Armani fashion show, Alicia Keys was stunning, demonstrating the soulful, Grammy-winning beauty of her voice in a minuscule top.
Everything was rosy when consummate professionals such as Miss Keys, Dame Shirley, Marc Almond or Roisin Murphy were performing. Things became slightly awkward when the stage was occupied by artists whose livelihood depends on an air of rock'n'roll rebellion. As Razorlight played In The Morning, Johnny Borrell lit a cigarette, accompanied by models wearing Burberry. With each ostentatiously illegal lungful of smoke he expelled, the singer seemed to be telling us that while he might be prepared to play at a posh event connected with Prince Charles, he remained, nonetheless, an angry, dangerous young man, hell-bent on overthrowing the powers that be.
Borrell's ham-fisted, puerile foolishness found a female counterpart in Lily Allen. Looking slim and stylish, she delivered her hit LDN with gusto. But as she finished she was flanked by a semi-circle of statuesque Karl Lagerfeld models. Unable to see a clear path off stage, she opted not to hold still until the lights went down but pulled faces like a stroppy teenager before making a clumsy, undignified exit.
The only person to bring a thrilling air of genuine mayhem was 60-year-old Iggy Pop. Impatient to entertain, the cheeky old rogue interrupted the presenters to launch into his 1969 Stooges classic, I Wanna Be Your Dog. Stripped to the waist and rippling with muscle, he interacted saucily with Versace's models before leaping off stage and into the front row.
Fashion and rock may not always be ideal bedfellows, but this was undoubtedly an unforgettable show for a very good cause.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I cannot believe for a moment that you thought that was a great do, Chris. It was anything but. It's the worst organised event I've ever been to - and one of the most expensive - at £85 for the cheapest ticket, it was a joke.
The performers themselves were all fantastic - Iggy and Alicia Keys were the best - but the rest of the time, it was dreadful. It started late, it was under-rehearsed, the changeovers took forever, with films in-between acts that were dull and were repeated, and the half-hour interval lasted nearly an hour. We left after Iggy Pop because we got so bored waiting for the acts, which was a pity because I really wanted to see Beth Ditto, but just couldn't face any more. If it had been set up so that there were two or three acts, then an interval, rather than a lengthy one after each act, it would have been bearable. I would never go to anything like this again - it's better to watch it on TV, it really is, because the intervals are all cut out and we just get the good bits - namely the performers. A total waste of time and money.
- Disappointed, London
