Kubix Festival, Sunderland

I went to the Kubix festival in Herrington Park, Sunderland at the weekend. I saw the line-up last year and thought it looked like fun. Nineties pop groups – what’s not to love? Luckily the weather was good – although frankly a bit too hot for me.

We got to the festival in time to see Ultrabeat and Alice Deejay, who solved the problem of only having two memorable songs by simply performing several covers. Vengaboys were, well, Vengaboys – hearing twenty thousand people sing along to ‘Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom’ was quite something.

Aqua surprisingly lacked stage presence, although it was fun to hear ‘Barbie Girl’ performed live. I didn’t recognise a lot of their songs – apparently they played through their whole album.

The highlight of the evening was of course Steps, who always put on a brilliant show. I just wish their set had been longer.

Unfortunately we had a bit of a nightmare getting home. The bus was nearly an hour late, and only went as far as the Galleries shopping centre, meaning we had to walk half an hour back to my friend’s house. At least it wasn’t raining.

Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia

This week has seen the Dylan Thomas in Fitzrovia festival happening in central London, based around the part of Bloomsbury where the writer used to hang out in the middle of the century. Talks, readings and performances have all been taking place, and I have booked to see Clown in the Moon, a performance about Dylan, tomorrow. Yesterday I took advantage of the fact that I work incredibly close to the area where the festival is taking place, and popped out to see Dylan’s writing shed, which is on tour around the country.

The shed is a near-exact replica (it has been scaled down slightly to allow it to be transported around the country on a trailer) of Thomas’ real writing shed in Laugharne. It is full of bookshelves, papers and other odds and ends, with Dylan’s coat draped over the back of the chair – just as if the poet himself could come inside at any moment.

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The shed

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Words, words, words

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The desk

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Bookshelves

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Coat