SpideWriter

Zero BPM (Beats Per Minute) Drone Festival The Church Piano Bar, Redwell Street, Norwich NR1 This was less festival, more celebration.  There was the popping of corks for the ‘soft opening’ of Norwich’s latest live music venue, converting St Michael at Plea, smack in the heart of the city, from an evangelical tea, cake and event venue into a dedicated ‘quality’ jazz and blues venue.  There was also champagne metaphorically cracked open on the hull of Zero BPM (Zero Beats Per Minute) to launch an enthralling drone music mini-festival, which I hope can be expanded to be run over a couple of days in the not too distant future, whether in St Michael at Plea, or any other setting. The Zero BPM concept is excellent.  Stimulating, challenging, provocative and food for thought and subsequent conversation.  It would be fun to have more time to talk with performers, organisers and other audience members about what has been played and heard.  The i...

The Church Piano Bar, St Michael at Plea New Music Venue for Norwich City Centre in 15th Century Church St Michael at Plea is listed as a Grade 1 historic building.  It was built in the early C15 th  and has perfect acoustics.  There is a broad nave which easily accommodates 9 seats across and about 100 in total, with plenty of room for an aisle.  The new tenants have worked to ensure ease of access for wheelchair users and people with limited mobility.  A very beautiful piano has been lifted carefully into the building, ready to be wheeled on and off stage as necessary.  The performance space is positioned in front of an impressive wooden screen, one of several attractive architectural features adorning the church.  The host of The Church Piano Bar is affable, enthusiastic and working hard to bring this city centre located building back into regular use.   Things I hope can be addressed before any future event that d...

Kiefer Sutherland Live at The Adrian Flux Waterfront, Norwich Wednesday 13 th  May 2026 Kiefer Sutherland sets The Adrian Flux Waterfront a Quiver    This crowd loved Kiefer and his band.  As the set progressed, country turned to rock and songs, expressing sincere concern for East Coast neighbours, family-owned, small-scale farmers, turned to celebrating raunchy Friday night feelings that love is crayoned in the diary, despite this being Wednesday.  The crowd, many of whom would most likely have attended Sutherland’s previous visit to Norwich in this role in July 2023, lapped it up.   Sutherland was close to selling out this gig at one of the country’s legendary regional music venues, in a city famous for its love of all things musical.  Is the country facing a cost-of-living squeeze, when a man rich beyond his wildest dreams, is able to ride into town and charge £42.00 a ticket for 90 minutes work?  To be fair, Norwich City s...

Vieira and The Silvers Headline Show at The Waterfront Studio, Norwich   Rock'n'Roll Brothers and Sisters, Rock'n'Roll! Friday 12 th  June 2026 It’s been a while since I saw Diogo Vieira take on a crowd, toss and hurl them around a venue, wipe the floor with them, then put them all through the rock’n’roll mangle to complete the job.     That was when Vieira and The Silvers blew away the Red Rooster Festival from the main stage in June 2024.     Sadly, Red Rooster has had to pack up the big tent for good, but a lot further down the A11, Vieira and his band have continued to blaze a trail on stages round London and south, reinforcing their reputation as one of the most exciting live bands in the land.   The Silvers have always existed with a fluid line up, with Vieira working with various combinations, adding, then taking out, then adding a saxophone, a duo of backing singers, then a trio, then none, more guitars, fewer guitars and a changing cast. ...

Front Seat Drivers The Holloway, Norwich, Friday 24th April 2026 It is not good form to post twice in a day, but this is an emergency.     I have just got home from The Holloway , a small grass roots venue that barely lets a night go by without something different going on.   It’s always worth a visit.     Tonight, not really thinking much more than it’s Friday, don’t stay in, go somewhere, I grabbed a couple of tickets and met Sean The Cyclist of Sean Cycles (at your home bicycle repairs and servicing) at the top of St Lawrence Steps, for a trip to the increasingly popular basement music hotspot. Upstairs, there is really cool bar, (bottles and cans only), bookshop and magazine display and retail area.  The books are on the fascinating end of the interesting spectrum.  On display, available for immediate purchase are tomes on music, politics, folklore, witchcraft, various belief systems.  I don’t think the stock has been assembled...