Postcard from the stage

Birmingham's Symphony Hall has perfect acoustics. This means it's a fantastic venue for classical music. It doesn't mean pop music should not be heard there; although the plush auditorium can have a restraining influence on the crowd.

The last time I saw Chris Difford, he was playing an intimate gig in an organic garden centre/cafe. So to find him reunited with Squeeze in grand surroundings was quite a contrast. In a good way. All the classics (my photo captured Difford and Tilbrook during the nostalgia of 'Pulling Mussels from the Shell') and a few new songs made for a great gig. There's been yet another change to the line up and the fantastic Steve Nieve on keyboards, for me, stole the show.

The popularity of the old songs is testament to the quality of the songwriting. Living up to the reputation of Symphony Hall was testament to the musical talent on stage. Good things come out of Greenwich...

Postcard from mac

mac (the Midlands Arts Centre) has reopened after being closed for refurbishment for far too long.  It's been worth waiting for.  Smarter, brighter, and bang up to date - the building feels revitalised.  It's largely the same layout (a labyrinth), but the atmosphere of grim has been dispelled.

The opening day crowds were testament to how much mac has been missed; and the welcome was warmer than ever.  Studio doors were thrown open for people to try out art, dance, music and craft workshops.  The galleries were so packed I need to go back another day to actually see the exhibits.  The theatres are refitted and the cinema reupholstered.

mac has never been a place to visit only when a specific event or performance attracts you though.  Now the hoardings are down, it's once again fully integrated with Cannon Hill Park.  Even if none of the varied programme would convince you to visit, the cafe and bar will always offer tempting refuge from the rain.

Postcard from the arena

Elvis, the ultimate showman, is still wowing the crowds.  Many of the musicians playing in Birmingham this weekend were members of Elvis's original band, but obviously centre stage was bare.  The star of the show made his appearance via archive footage from the early seventies and even in 2D his charisma filled the arena.  The fact that the projection of him is about 4 times the size of the figures on stage helps I suppose.

No one in the band even tries to outperform him; they just stick to what they do best: playing great music.  Several audience members had a go though.  Sales of quiff wigs must have shot up last week.  Eager to join in with the experience of the many girls the footage showed Elvis bending from the stage to kiss, one woman yelled out in a brief quiet spot 'I luv yow, El-vees!'  The man himself may never have toured the West Midlands in his lifetime, but he was made welcome here last night.

I normally hate gigs in huge venues because the distance from the band destroys the atmosphere.  So a show which makes a virtue of the fact you have to watch events on the video screens is an interesting alternative.  Of course, it takes a performer of Elvis's star quality to pull it off.  No need for a phone vote to tell Elvis he's got the X factor; the fact he's still packing arenas more than 30 years after his death says it all.

Postcard from The REP

The Birmingham Rep is a hideous building. I suppose elephant-hide concrete cladding was the height of architectural design in the 1960s, but it now stands between the classical proportions of Baskerville House (named after John Baskerville, an innovator in typesetting, writing-trivia fans) and the 1990s plate glass and tubular steel of the International Convention Centre. The Rep doesn’t bear up well to the comparison.

What goes on inside, however, makes you forgive surface ugliness. I saw the Kneehigh Theatre production of Don John - Mozart’s Don Giovanni revisited as 1970s rock opera. Hilarious stuff with a quality soundtrack. Kneehigh deserve the accolades they attract, I loved their version of Brief Encounter with song and dance. I wonder if they had to tone down the Brummie accents when they took it to the West End though?

One other thing makes the Rep stand out from other theatres - their restaurant: WineREP. Not only is the food delicious and keenly priced. Not only, as you’d guess from the name, is the wine list superb. But the stroke of genius is the showtime deal. Eat your starter and main course before the performance, return to your table for your pudding and coffee in the interval. So civilised I can’t imagine why nowhere else does it. They should.

Postcard from ArtsFest

I haven't been inside Birmingham's Museum and Art Gallery to look at the art for a long time; but a display of images of some of the most popular works enlarged to epic sizes and projected onto the outside of the council house to a soundtrack of classical music was quite something to see. It was called 'Light Night' and was part of the annual ArtsFest – a weekend of free arts events.

I sampled comedy and poetry in a pub on Friday night and had an incredibly varied day on Sunday. Robin Bailey, the 'bard of Moseley', just about managed to make his great poems heard over the air conditioning in one of the rooms of the Art Gallery; the Notorious choir demonstrated how good the acoustics of the Industrial Gallery were for an acapella rendition of the Doctor Who theme tune, and KerrangFest on the Centenary Square stage left a ringing in my ears.

Council Tax in Birmingham is high, but subsidising events like this makes it sting a little less.

Postcard from The Retort

Kings Heath High Street is 'paint by numbers' – put a Boots just there, a Sainsburys up the top, you'll need a McDonalds, then fill in the gaps with charity shops and take aways. Venture into the side streets though, and things start to improve (well, choose your street carefully…).

The first Sunday of the month is Retort Cabaret night at the Kitchen Garden Café on York Road. They host a mix of live music, comedy, poetry, magic and almost anything else that can be performed. The quality is mixed but this month I was impressed by two headlining acts familiar to national tv and radio. Shazia Mirza made us all laugh and Rebecca Hollweg strummed and sang a blend of folk and jazz that sent everyone home happy. And there's a great selection of organic wines and beers too!

Kings Heath's not boring, you just have to know where, and when, to look.

Postcard from the Proms

Tradition, grandeur, eccentricity – the Proms could fill the Albert Hall several times over. The best thing about Prom 62 though – some Beethoven and Sibelius, played by the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester – was that they did it differently.

Think classical music is boring? The way these guys play it, it's packed with energy. And it's a treat for the eyes as well as the ears. The predominantly female string section used bare arms to draw elegant arcs with their bows, while the dapper double bassists dipped their instruments in an embrace like lovers on the dance floor. If it wasn't choreographed it could have been. And, when it was all over, the orchestra shared the type of celebratory hugs usually reserved for the football pitch.

OK, so it'll take more than this to bring classical music to the masses. Must the orchestra wear black tie? Couldn't someone speak to the audience occasionally? But, last night at the proms, I enjoyed a performance that was modern, accessible and down to earth.