Author: Suzanne Hawkes

Phil Bates – Up Close & Personal

Phil Bates – Up Close & Personal

Saturday 11 October 2025, 7:30pm
Phil Bates connection with ELO began when his band Trickster signed with ELO’s record label, Jet Records and being managed by the infamous Don Arden ( Father of Sharon Osbourne). The band featured as support band on ELO’s ground-breaking and spectacular 1978 Spaceship world tour. When Jeff Lynne decided he no longer wanted to tour with ELO.

Phil Bates and Band. He has often appeared live on German, Swiss and Polish TV playing ELO songs. He played in a duo with former colleague Tina McBain for nearly twenty years playing venues all over the UK. These days in this country he plays as a solo artist playing songs from his own repertoire his set consists of his own compositions a little bit of blues a touch of Beatles and of course lots of those classic Jeff Lynne songs that made ELO one of the biggest and most successful bands in the world

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Eb and Flo on the Beach

Eb and Flo on the Beach

Friday 5 Sep 2025, 7:30pm

Ebenezer and Florence in: Eb and Flo on the Beach.

A poetry reading/performance with sound and music. Eb and Flo meet on The Beach of Infinite Possibilities. Two somewhat Becketian characters waiting for the tide. To come in? To go out? They’re not sure and neither are we. As they wait they gather up the poems
and songs that wash up from the unpath’d waters to the undream’d shore and try to fashion something out of them, their poetic exchanges ebbing and flowing, overlapping and tangential, cohering and refracted. Poetry in flux, rippling with magic, mythology and fable.
A musician bobbing by stops to lend a hand.

With Roger West, Lynne Nesbit, Paul Gunn

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LADY J’s SUMMER MARVELS

LADY J’s SUMMER MARVELS

Friday 20th June 7.30pm Tickets £10 www.ticketsource.co.uk/two-sisters-arts-centre Come along and join us for a curated night of some of the most entertaining local music and spoken word acts.Featuring:The Larks  (https://www.thelarks.me.uk/)An award winning folk pop duo whose songs feature mermaids, nightingales and vampires and have been known to describe a lifeboat disaster or warn of climate …

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The Semibreves

The Semibreves

Saturday 10 May 2025, 7:30pm

The Semibreves – three singers and a pianist, are a group of friends, who share a love of music and singing and have sung in a variety of concerts, shows and even pantomimes. They sing a wide range of music; songs from the shows, some pop, a splash of folk music and some light opera. The performers for the concert are:

Andrew Burke
A lifelong resident of Ipswich, Andrew studied at the Royal Academy of Music as a composer and pianist.

Louise Cockerill
Louise is the instigator and organiser of the Semibreves. She has been singing for several years with a variety of groups, singing a range of solo and chorus work. Louise especially enjoys singing and performing with her friends from the Semibreves.

Mark Ellis
Mark provides the low notes. A keen bass/baritone, he has been singing in the Essex/Suffolk area for many years and has been fortunate to sing a wide range of repertoire in choirs in the region, from Renaissance to modern.

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ORCHESTRA OF SAMPLES

ORCHESTRA OF SAMPLES

Sunday 25th May 7.30pm Described as “ingenious and compelling” by The Times, ‘Orchestra of Samples’ is a unique musical journey without borders by ethno-sampling mavericks Addictive TV, bringing together musicians and instruments from around the world. For over a decade, artists Addictive TV filmed recording sessions with hundreds of musicians internationally, all improvising, then sampled …

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Performance Poetry with an Edge from James Domestic & Virginia Betts

Performance Poetry with an Edge from James Domestic & Virginia Betts

Friday 23rd May 2025 7:30pm

An Evening with James Domestic & Virginia Betts

James Domestic and Virginia Betts team up for an evening of poetical entertainment that you will not want to miss!

Domestic has been wowing crowds across the country throughout 2023/24 with his quirky, humorous, and often poignant observations on the minutiae of everyday life effortlessly crafted into irreverent, punk-ish poems. He’s appeared on BBC Radio a number of times, guested on various podcasts, and even performed on BBC Breakfast telly as part of a feature on the 50th anniversary of Ceefax. With several books to his name, most published by Earth Island Books, and support slots with Luke Wright, Attila The Stockbroker, and Andy Riley, he’s feted by poets and musician alike:

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THE SEMIBREVES

THE SEMIBREVES

Saturday 10th May 7.30pm

Tickets £15/£13 01394 279613 or www.ticketsource.co.uk/two-sisters-arts-centre

The Semibreves – three singers and a pianist, are a group of friends, who share a love of music and singing and have sung in a variety of concerts, shows and even pantomimes. They sing a wide range of music; songs from the shows, some pop, a splash of folk music and some light opera.

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Luke Wright JOY

Luke Wright JOY

Thursday 8 May 2025, 7:30pm

Following the smash hit success of his Silver Jubilee show (“the best thing he’s done and that’s saying something.” ★★★★★ Telegraph) Luke Wright returns with a new set poems that get to grips with the idea of JOY. Is it possible, as a 42 year old to feel pure unbridled happiness, and what does it look like?

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Strange Outsider Folk

Strange Outsider Folk

Wednesday 7 May 2025, 7:30pm
Joose Keskitalo is described as one of the most original Finnish songwriters. A member of the Cult band Paavoharju, Joose has been doing music professionally for over 20 years, and has recently published two albums in English.The music is a mix of different folk traditions, strange stories of Alchemy, devils and King Henry IV with a strange Outsider Folk feel to it.
Joose Keskitalo will be touring the UK in May 2025 as a three man band:
Joose Keskitalo: guitar, flute, violin and vocals.
Ville Linna: banjo, slide guitar and various other string instruments and vocals
Eero Tikkanen: Double bass, vocal

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