Find out what’s on in South Wales this week
What better way to launch the official opening of Portland House in Cardiff Bay to invite a Jamaican reggae legend as Lee Scratch Perry (Portland House, Cardiff, Bay Sun 5 Apr, 7pm. Tickets: £20)? The ‘godfather of reggae’ has worked with the cream of the crop in the dub/reggae scene (including Bob Marley and Max Romeo). Perry is a popular and visionary artist whose oddball charisma certainly won’t leave you indifferent.
There will be more classic tracks as disco trio Shalamar (Cardiff, Fri 3 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets: £25-£50) come to St David’s Hall. Jeffrey Daniel, Howard Hewitt and Carolyn Griffey have joined forces again and will be belting out some of their biggest hits such as I Can Make You Feel Good, There It Is and Friends.
Both Olly Murs and Ella Eyre (Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Fri 3+Sat 4 Apr, 6.30pm. Tickets: £45-£61.50) will be landing in Cardiff this week, as part of Murs’ Never Been Better Tour. The soulful R’n’B singer will be supporting the former X Factor contestant as he brings out his addictive pop hits Troublemaker, Dance With Me Tonight and Please Don’t Let Me Go.
More music still at the Mermaid Quay Music Festival (Cardiff Bay, Fri 3-Sun 12 Apr. Admission: free) and, best of all, it’s all free! During 10 days, the heart of Cardiff Bay will animate with great live music including funk to opera. The line-up includes John Adams (former X Factor contestant), Ragsy (former The Voice contestant), Rocket Joe Joe & The Old Time Bangers, Soul Lotta Funk and many others local performers.
That’s not the only festival in Cardiff this week, as the indie-pop fueled Wales Goes Pop! (The Gate Arts Centre, Cardiff, Fri 3 – Sun 5 Apr. Tickets: £40 weekend /£14-£16 day / free under 12s) returns. This year Emmy The Great, The Pooh Sticks and The Lovely Eggs will all be performing, as will many other talented folks.
Psychedelic hiphop music star Dizraeli (The Queens Hall, Narberth, Sat 4 Apr, 8pm. Tickets: £12 adv/ £15 on the door) will be heading to Pembrokeshire this week. Despite Dizraeli’s name being at the top of the flyer, this is actually something of a collaborative tour, with Bellatrix, Reeps One and Rex Domino also on the line-up.
Now for musical theatre that you’ll need to get your best 70s style gear ready for. Saturday Night Fever (New Theatre, Tue 31 Mar- Sat 4 Apr. Tickets: £10-£34.50 / conc £6-£31) brings the 1977 John Travolta starring film and brings it to the stage. With fresh new choreography the show tells the tale of Tony Manero (a young man in a dead-end job) and his friends, who find a way to stay alive by hitting the dance floor every Saturday night.
1920s swing tunes will be jolted into the modern day by some strong electronic beats as The Electric Swing Circus (Llanelli, Sun 5 Apr, 7.30pm. Tickets: £14 / £12 conc) play at the Ffwrnes. The team of six bring together a multitude of genres including reggae, dubstep and (of course) swing.
Comedy?, Opera? Yes please. Benjamin Britten’s humours Albert Herring (Cardiff, Wed 1 + Thurs 2 Apr, 7.30pm – pre-performance talks at 6.45pm. Tickets: £15 / £12 conc) gets the Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama makeover. This comic opera is set around the small town of Loxford in which Lady Billows is on the lookout for a May Queen for the May Day Festival. Unfortunately none of the girls in the village are free of a bad reputation, so she decides to choose a May King instead – the virginal greengrocer, Albert Herring!
This week will be the last chance you can catch another comedy: The Harri-Parris: The Big Day (Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Tues 31 March-Sat 4 Apr, 8pm. Tickets: £14 / £10-£12 conc). The Harri-Parris are a fictional farming family from Pembrokeshire whose idiosyncracies have previously toured Wales in the form of The Harri-Parris: The Leaving Do, a comedy musical. For 2015, their adventures continue, with the main event being the wedding of daughter Anni Harri-Parri; it’s the eve of the nuptials, and the family still haven’t met the groom-to-be. Honouring the tradition of dastardly theatre villains, he’s an English, vegetarian indie musician.
words JENNIFER MAGUY