In his memoir, Prince Among Stones: That Business With The Rolling Stones And Other Adventures, which I’ve just reviewed for the next Uncut, Prince Rupert Loewenstein, who was the band’s financial adviser for nearly 40 years, reflects at one point about how time as he gets older has started, as they say, to fly. Thinking about this, he is reminded of a famous quote by the grand old thespian, John Gielgud, who wryly remarked that in his old age time had started to speed by at such a pace that it seemed like breakfast was being served every 10 minutes.
I rather think I know how Sir John must have felt, although in a more general sense perhaps than being brought bran muffins and warm tea on a bedside tray by a doting manservant with The Times tucked under his arm, which you sense is how the great actor may have started his day. What I mean, I guess, is that it barely seems possible it will soon be a year since we were last in Brighton for the annual Great Escape Festival, but here it comes again, galloping over the horizon at a fair old clip.
This year’s festival runs for three days between May 16 and 18, and once again Uncut will have its own stage, I think at the Pavilion Theatre, where you will have found us for the last few years. You may already have seen on www.uncut.co.uk that the first two acts confirmed to appear under the Uncut banner are The Allah-Las and Phosphorescent (pictured above). This was news I must say that especially cheered me, as I’m a big fan of both.
The Allah-Las were terrific when they played London in December and the new Phosphorescent album, Muchacho, is tremendous. Ahead of its release I was recently in New York for a few days to interview Matthew Houck for a feature in the next Uncut. We spent a Sunday afternoon and early evening at the Bowery Hotel, running up quite a bar bill, as Matthew was drinking his way out of a hangover. At the rate he was knocking them back by the end of the interview he probably woke up with another one the next day, which may not have been how he intended to start his week, which I hope wasn’t ruined or otherwise compromised by our carefree carousing.
There are more details of the line-ups for the three Uncut Great Escape shows in next month’s issue, which will be on sale from the end of next week. Sorry I can’t give away any more here, but suffice to say, it’s our strongest festival bill yet.
Early bird tickets for the concert and conference are £45 and £145 respectively and can be found on the Great Escape website.
Have a good week.
Allan
Phosphorescent pic: Pieter M Van Hattem