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  • THEATRE REVIEW | Muzik, London

    THEATRE REVIEW | Muzik, London

    ★★★★★ | Muzik, Leicester Square Theatre, London

    It takes someone with a lot of talent, energy, charisma and pizzaz to keep you mesmerised, enthralled, entertained and laughing non-stop in a one hour show. Frances Barber does just this playing Billie Trix in the show ‘Muzik.’

    Barber is, in a word, brilliant in her one woman show where she recounts the life, and acting as, Billie Trix, who was an icon, rock star, screen goddess, and drug addict.

    In a show written by Jonathan Harvey and with songs by the Pet Shop Boys, Barber (Trix) tells of her life when she belonged to the Warhol crew (there is a funny joke about a gun and Valerie Solanas – the woman who shot Warhol), to her time in Paris, and how her and her mother never saw eye to eye. The jokes are fast and furious and hilarious. Barber keeps the momentum going singing the hilarious songs about anything and nothing. No stone is left unturned when she, truth or not, recounts the time when she was Donald Trumps lover and how she could’ve been the princess to Prince Harry.

    This one hour show is jam packed with her stories; Madonna is in disguise in the audience, and her agent, also in the audience, is happily eating away. If you get a chance go see this show. I knew nothing about Trix, and Barber until now – Barber made me laugh until I cried.

    MUSIK
    Written by Jonathan Harvey
    & Pet Shop Boys

    Leicester Square Theatre
    6 Leicester Place
    London WC2H 7BX

    Wednesday 5 February – Sunday 1 March

    Tues-Thurs £22.50, £34.50 & Premiums £42.50
    Fri-Sat £22.50, £42.50 & Premiums £49.50
    Sun £22.50, £37.50 & Premiums £45.00
    These prices are inclusive of all booking fees and theatre levy

    Ticket Booking Line
    0207 7342222

    www.leicestersquaretheatre.com

  • The biggest selling singles by a British gay artist

    The Brits are here, queer and releasing music by the millions…

    biggest selling singles by gay artists,
    Which gay British artist has sold the most records?

    From Sam Smith to Elton, Freddie Mercury to Will Young but which are the biggest sellers? We collated this list from available sales figures available online. Actual sales figures may be higher or lower than printed here.

    Joe McElderry <1 million

    X Factor’s Joe’s debut single, a version of Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb” went on to sell over 800,000 copies in the UK. Like another constituent of this list, Joe’s sexuality was unknown during his time on the talent show which made him famous.

    Pet Shop Boys 1 million (at least)

    “Always On My Mind” ending up selling over 1 million records for LGBT+ identifying duo Pet Shop Boys. It’s the biggest selling single of their career.

    Callum Scott 1.363 million

    Relatively unknown and newcomer Callum Scott managed to secure a million-selling single with “Dancing On My Own”. Released in 2017.

    Will Young 1.7 million

    When Will won the first ever Pop Idol nobody actually knew he was gay, until the very next day when there was a huge splash across the tabloids. His debut single, “Evergreen” / “Anything Is Possible” went on to sell a huge 1.7 million records

    Boy George / Culture Club 5 million

    Culture Club, fronted by Boy George sold a whopping 5 million records globally with their song “Karma Chameleon”. The song was released in 1983 and became a huge disco hit for the group.

    George Michael 6 million

    George’s biggest selling record to date is “Careless Whisper”, which he released after splitting from WHAM! The song was a huge world-wide hit for the singer. It went to number 1 in 25 countries selling over 6 million singles. His most charted song is “Last Christmas” (2 million copies and counting) which reenters the top 10 almost every Christmas. It’s the biggest selling song to never get to number 1.

    Freddie Mercury / Queen 8 million

    “Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of the biggest selling singles (and apparently the most expensive ever made) of all time and it was written by Freddie Mercury. During his life, Freddie admitted his sexuality fears to his ex-girlfriend, apparently, that he didn’t know whether he was gay or straight.

    Sam Smith 8 million

    Sam Smith’s is the second newest artist on our list after Calum Scott, but he’s already racked up 6 number ones, including, incredible the only number 1 song for a Bond film. The song “Stay With Me” has sold over 8 million copies (digital).

    David Bowie 10 million

    It’s impossible to know how exactly how many copies of “Let’s Dance” David Bowie sold, but the album with the same name sold 10 million copies when it was released in 1983, making it his best selling album and single of all time. Note: David Bowie never identified as gay, but his sexuality was often considered to be bisexual.

    Elton John 33 million

    The granddaddy of music, Elton John has sold millions and millions of records. His biggest-ever seller single was the 1997 tribute to Diana Princess Of Wales, “Candle In The Wind”. It apparently sold over 33 million singles. It has a double A-side – the other song was “The Way You Look Tonight”.

     

    ** UPDATE: A previous version incorrectly labelled David Bowie’s track “Let’s Dance”, “Just Dance” and has been corrected.

  • GIG REVIEW | The Pet Shop Boys Super Tour – Leeds First Direct Arena

    GIG REVIEW | The Pet Shop Boys Super Tour – Leeds First Direct Arena

    ★★★★| The Pet Shop Boys Super Tour – Leeds First Direct Arena

    32 years ago, The Pet Shop Boys burst onto the music scene with West End Girls, their first single and their first of many number ones. 32 years later, they have kicked off their UK tour, Super, at Leeds First Direct Arena, touring off the back of their latest two albums, Super and Electric, their set featured selected tracks from those albums along with a host of classic tracks and a few unexpected songs. The question is, have The Pet Shop Boys still got it? TheGayUK were there to bring you the lowdown.

    (c) Tej

    Opening with Inner Sanctum, the band rattled though some of their more recent tracks, including The Pop Kids, Burn, and The Dictator Decides from their latest album, Super, and Love is a Bourgeois Concept and Inside a Dream from their Electric Album.  These latter two albums have had a heavy dance music slant, and the songs sounded great performed live, with the crowd on their feet and the bass reverberating in your chest. Scattered amongst the set list were some unusual, but welcome choices, such as In The Night, New York City Boy, The Sodom and Gomorrah Show and a beautifully subtle version of Home and Dry, the latter being a real highlight of the show.

    But it was, of course, the classic hits including West End Girls, Love Comes Quickly, Domino Dancing, Always On My Mind and new versions of Left To My Own Devices and Go West, which really got the crowd going; and the seminal It’s A Sin was a clear winner within the sold out arena.

    Accompanying the music was a projected backdrop and a jaw dropping light and laser show, creating a visual feast and an assault on the senses, as the lasers reached out into the audience, jabbing them with bony coloured fingers, before bathing them in soft sheets of light which penetrated the smoky atmosphere of the arena. Dispensing with the need for backing dancers and elaborate dance routines, the band’s presentation of electronic entertainment neatly mirrored their pioneering electronic sound. The visuals in themselves are worth the price of admission.

    Tennant’s voice still sounds as solid as ever, the vocals were clear and songs that were over 30 years old still sounded contemporary as they neatly nestled between the new tracks. However, whilst the light show was incredible, there were times when you were so blinded by the constant flashing lights aimed directly at you, that the movement on stage and the band themselves were obscured as they became washed out in a sea of light; and judging by the reaction of the crowd, a few more of the classic hits would have been welcome, although with such an extensive back catalogue to choose from, it is inevitable that there will be some omissions.

    With an extravagant stage show, breath-taking visuals and a sound which never seems to age, the question is have the Pet Shop Boys still got it? And they absolutely have.

    The Super Tour kicked off on the 18th February 2017 and tours at various locations including Manchester, Nottingham, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, London and Blackpool. Visit the official website at http://petshopboys.co.uk/tour for details.

  • Olympic Stars Enter Charts After Closing Ceremony

    After a rousing night of music at the Closing Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics many of the stars are enjoying placement in the UK’s iTunes chart.

    (more…)

  • LGBT Stars And Allies Help Close The Olympics

    In a show to end all shows the London 2012 Olympics came to a triumphant conclusion yesterday at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, London.

    The televised event was seen by an estimated 1 billion people across the globe and a crowd of over 80,000 in the stadium.

    In an extraordinary show of British talent the Closing Ceremony hosted some of the finest talents of the UK music and fashion scenes both past and present as the cast of thousands was joined by George Michael, The Spice Girls, Annie Lennox, Jessie J, Pet Shop Boys, and controversially Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, causing an immediate Twitter backlash.

    The Daily Mail reported that Piers Morgan wrote on twitter: ‘I suspect Kate Moss might fail her drugs test later’, in reference to her alleged drug abuse and Jojo Mayes wrote: ‘Naomi Campbell: gold medal in phone throwing’, while Charles Arthur wrote: ‘Kate Moss! Who represents the Olympic ideals of not doing drugs, or smoking, and achieving lots. Work with me here.’

    Campbell and Moss weren’t the only stars to feel the wrath of the Twitter audience as thousands of users used the service to Tweet their frustrations of Emeli Sandé’s double appearance in the show.

    The show had moments of sheer joy, eccentricity and contemplativeness, in what turned out to be a show to rival that of the Opening Ceremony in July at the beginning of the Olympic games.

    George Michael wowed the audience with a two song set of arguably one of his greatest hits ‘Freedom’, and his forthcoming single ‘White Light.‘ He looked trim and healthy wearing an all black ensemble complete with trademark sunglasses and leather jacket.

    Annie Lennox a long time campaigner for LGBT rights sang in great voice for her moment in the spotlight. The singer sang her hit ‘Little Bird’ whilst surrounded by pirates and was brought on to the stage in a giant skeletal ship.

    However it was the reformation of The Spice Girls that really lifted proceedings, producing an incredible buzz on social networks across the globe. As five brightly lit London taxis parked centre stage, the crowd roared almost uncontrollably as Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Baby and Posh alighted to sing two of their biggest hits: ‘Wannabe’ and ‘Spice Up Your Life’. Their appearance at the show set a new record of 116,000 Tweets per minute on Twitter. Even London Mayor Boris Johnston couldn’t resist a boogie to the sounds of 90’s ‘Girl Power’.

    Jessie J was featured heavily in the proceedings having sung her own hit ‘Price Tag’ and then joining Brian May on the main-stage to sing the iconic ‘We Will Rock You’. A poignant moment in the show however was when the 80,000 strong crowd echoed Freddie Mercury in a video installment in the middle of the stage.

    The Pet Shop Boys also enjoyed their moment in the spotlight, appearing in orange chariots, singing ‘West End Girls’.

    The closing ceremonies brought an end to a record breaking games for Team GB having secured 29 Gold medals, 17 Silver and 19 Bronze to make a total of 65. Team GB came 3rd in the Olympic leader-board, with China in second place and the USA in poll position.