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The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
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Kitchen W8
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London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
Description: The political folk singer-songwriter fronts a big busk of popular songs.
Phone: 0845120 7500
Website: www.barbican.org.uk
Email: info@barbican.org.uk
Trains: Tube/BR: Moorgate/Barbican 
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9am-8pm, Sun 11am-8pm
Extra info: Parking, Food, Pub
Billy Bragg's alternative St George’s day celebration was, he told us, “part of an ongoing campaign to reclaim the icons of English identity”, the most obvious being the flag of our patron saint, who, he said, was a Lebanese immigrant worker. It was a fitting metaphor for an evening that framed our nation as fighting fit for its diversity.
Before his own stirring set he played compere to his guests Rachel Unthank and the Winterset — a quartet of folksingers from Northumberland — rock guitar strumming and Paul Welleresque Tom Clarke from The Enemy and the skiffle-rocking Kitty, Daisy and Lewis whose songs prompted a lone — and quickly isolated — heckler to question their music’s Englishness.
It gave Bragg some witty ammunition for his inter-song banter-come-manifesto that called for a Bill of Rights and Blake’s Jerusalem — which he made us sing — to be made the national anthem instead of one about “a little old lady in Windsor and her relationship with the supreme being”.
He might have been up on his soapbox but it was passionate preaching. And it came out in his music too, notably in a poignant reworking of the folk song Hard Times of Old England — where Tescopoly has forced small farmers out of business and villages are sold to rich people for holiday homes.
But when he sang the lyrics that gave this show its title — “I don’t want to change the world I’m not looking for a new England, just looking for another girl” — he comically confessed mid-song that he’d changed his mind about its central premise. He was looking for a new England, and he successfully challenged us to look for one, too.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
It was a great idea and he pulled it off. In addition to some great songs - old and new - from BB, Rachel Unthank & The Winterset were terrific, it was a great showcase for the talents of Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, and (for me) an introduction to Tom Clarke & The Enemy. Even in a hall the size of the Barbican, it felt like an evening with your mates. Whatever you think of Billy Bragg's views, you have to both welcome and admire his passion and commitment as well as his talent.
- Gareth James, London UK
