

FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: ARE YOU AWAKE YET?
Are you awake yet? Then let us begin. On Tuesday night I was among an enthusiastic crowd at The Bedford in downtown Balham (gateway to...
Nov 19, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: COP OUT
Today marks the close of the COP26 climate summit; a COP being a Conference of the Parties and the parties being all nation states that...
Nov 12, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: 100 NOT OUT
Today marks the 100th post on this website. A small milestone maybe but one that still makes you think about how much good music is put...
Nov 5, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: THE CHALLENGE OF THE NEW
At the end of a month of Fifty3 Fridays largely devoted to live music, it’s back to the recorded variety today. Forgiving the ever so...
Oct 29, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: REACH FOR THE FOIL HAT
It’s one of those occasions when I realise that travelling to distant lands, well County Durham, Cheshire and Derbyshire, is incompatible...
Oct 22, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: CUT THE CHAT
The last couple of Fifty3 Fridays have seen the focus switched towards live music, whose welcome return is tempered by a nagging doubt...
Oct 15, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: BEDFORD BLISS
A deviation from the usual F3F format this week as we focus on a review of a spectacular evening in South-west London on 30 September at the iconic Club Room at The Bedford, Balham. It’s a unique circular space with a narrow balcony that puts you in mind of a mini Elizabethan theatre such is the proximity of performers and audience. Add a state of the art sound system expertly worked by sound engineer Rich, an ebullient host – Tony Moore - and a track record for giving a live
Oct 8, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: SAVING THE WORLD, ONE SONG AT A TIME
To paraphrase Jesse from The Fast Show, this week I are mostly listening to live music. Well, not quite, but then attending two gigs in...
Oct 1, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY
First aired in February 2018, I stumbled across a repeat of For One Night Only in last Friday’s TV schedules; a live studio event to mark...
Sep 24, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: FRESHLY SERVED
Last Saturday we remembered the twentieth anniversary of 9/11; a descriptor that doesn’t feel right in so tragic a context. If you ever...
Sep 17, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: GOOD ENOUGH FOR FOLK
There’s this old chestnut about the guy at the Open Mic night who spends over five minutes in an agonisingly laboured attempt to tune his...
Sep 12, 2021


FIFTY3 FRIDAYS: NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL A FESTIVAL REVIEW
The iconic Isle of Wight Festival returns to Seaclose Park on 16 – 19 September 2021 after the Covid hiatus put paid to last year’s...
Sep 3, 2021

