Find out what’s on in South Wales this week
It’s time for some national pride as St David’s Day comes around! The annual St David’s Day Parade (Sun 1 March, Cardiff – starting at Cardiff City Hall, 12.30pm. Admissions: free) will be overflowing with Welsh folk music, folk dancing, Welsh traditional costume, and lively street bands. Expect papier-mâché versions of Welsh icons and plenty of daffodil hats!
If celebrating St David isn’t Celtic enough for you there is always the Wales Interceltic Festival (Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl, Fri 27 Feb- Sun 1 Mar, Tickets: £8-£13 evening tickets/ £5-£12 afternoon tickets (some events free) / £30-£40 weekend). This weekend festival celebrates the Celtic regions of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, Cornwall and Brittany. Among the events are workshops, streets dance performances and even a beach ceilidh! For folk fans there will be plenty to enjoy as there will be live music from the likes of nine-piece folk band Ar Log, and many others.
We might tell ourselves that spring is just around the corner but there will be plenty of dark nights to embrace, especially the evening of the National Botanic Garden of Wales’ Star Party (Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire, Fri 27 Feb, 6pm-9pm. Admissions: £3 / free for under 16s) this week. Swansea Astronomical Society will be hosting the evening and you’ll not only you get the chance to spot the Orion Nebula and Jupiter, but also learn a thing or two about comets and the forthcoming Solar Eclipse as the society will be presenting a couple of educational talks.
In a completely different vein, the intrepid drag fabulist Dickie Beau take us into a shadowy soundscape of lost souls. His hallucinogenic show Blackouts: Twilight Of The Idols (Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Fri 27 Feb, Tickets: £7-£14) see Dickie take on the words of icons such as Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe, but he won’t be lip-syncing lyrics – he’ll be performing to the starlet’s words instead, including the last interview Monroe did before she died.
For something beautiful and haunting there are the voices of northern folk duo The Unthanks (St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Thur 26 Feb, Tickets: £18). These Mercury Music Prize nominees have brought new life to the traditional music of the North East, and made themselves quite the success in doing so.
For some actual haunting there’s The Woman In Black (Swansea Grand Theatre, Mon 23- Sat 28 Feb. Tickets £13-£23). Based on Susan Hill’s gothic horror story, this play is griping theatrical exploration of terror with blend of suspense, drama and bold stagecraft. If you thought the Daniel Radcliff-starring film was scary then you’ll be in for a a spine chilling surprise with nerve-shredding stage production
If you’d rather an easy laugh than a scare then the stand up comedian specialising in one-liners, Gary Delaney, might be a wiser choice is back on to Wales. Delaney’s shows Purist (Princess Royal Theatre, Port Talbot, Thur-26 Feb, Tickets: £14-£12) won’t be regaling you with anecdotes or following Delaney’s life story, it will purley be a show of inventive puns and short jokes.
And now for something completely different as Brecon hosts it’s first ever activist rock opera. Greed The Rock Opera (Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, Fri 27 Feb. Tickets: £6-£10) is a musical protest and a reaction to austerity, government cuts and bankers. The show depicts a world where 1% of the population own 99% of the wealth and portrays the debt-controlled slavery system called money to which we are manacled.
For music with less theatrics there will be distorted guitars and Velvet Underground-style two chord primitivism in the form of The Jesus And Mary Chain (Cardiff University Students Union, Fri 27 Feb. Tickets: £15). The band’s 1985 debut album Psychocandy} is the ur-text for a certain kind of noisy indie music; its influence runs from the shoegaze scene through bands such as My Bloody Valentine and the Boo Rodleys, and even filters into the space-age disco of Stereolab.
For some tunes going on into the night there is techno of the underground styling’s of DJ Bone (Mood @ Undertone, Cardiff, Fri 27 Feb. Tickets: £15). The Detroit icon will be headlining this all nighter (it’s on until 6am for you late night party people) – which will also be the last time Mood will be putting on a party. Best make the most of it while it lasts.
words JENNIFER MAGUY