Fairport Convention: Press Release

Fairport Convention celebrates forty-fifth
anniversary in Ivybridge

Folkrock legends Fairport Convention will be celebrating their forty-fifth anniversary in Ivybridge when the band visits The Watermark on Saturday 26 May.

Formed in 1967′s ‘summer of love’, Fairport Convention has been delighting audiences for 45 years making them one of the most enduring bands to emerge from the fertile 60s music scene. Hailed as the originators of British folk-rock music, the band is still as vibrant and inventive as ever.

The 2012 anniversary tour will feature songs from the band’s recent studio album, the critically-acclaimed Festival Bell. However, with such a long history  the band has a vast repertoire to draw on so this year the tour concerts will also include a selection of favourite songs and tunes specially chosen in a poll of the band’s fans.

“Forty-five years is a milestone,” says Simon Nicol who co-founded the band in 1967, “but we don’t intend to rest on our laurels or hark back to the past – Fairport is a band that always looks to the future. All five of us are looking forward to getting back on the road – in fact, we’re raring to go – because our first love is live performance.”

“We’ve played in Devon many tims before and this will be our second visit to The Watermark,“ Mr Nicol adds. ” The venue has a very welcoming audience so we are looking forward to meeting them again on Saturday evening. This year, the concert will be rather different – not only have we got the new material from  Festival Bell but this will be the first time we’ve invited our audiences to help us select the repertoire for a concert tour.”

As well as Simon Nicol on guitar and lead vocals, Fairport Convention features Dave Pegg on bass and backing vocals, Chris Leslie on fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and lead vocals, Ric Sanders on violin and Gerry Conway on drums and percussion.

Fairport Convention has won a coveted BBC Lifetime Achievement Award and Radio 2 listeners voted Fairport’s groundbreaking album Liege & Lief  ’The Most Influential Folkrock Album of All Time’.

Fairport Convention’s concert at The Watermark starts at 8pm. Tickets and booking information from 01752 892220 or online ivybridgewatermark.co.uk

Posted in >Day to Day Goings On, Live Performances, Special Events
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Toy Hearts – Press Release

An evening of solid kicks and red hot licks!

We are delighted to announce that on the 4th May 2012 at 8pm, one of the Uk’s most exciting country/bluegrass/western swing bands, who are undoubtedly one of the country’s finest live groups, The Toy Hearts will be playing at the Ivybridge Watermark to celebrate the release of their fourth studio album ‘Whiskey’.

The Toy Hearts have been making music together for over ten years, Sisters Hannah (lead vocal/mandolin) and Sophia (guitar/harmony vocals) front the band, and along with their father Stewart (banjo/dobro) they carry on the established tradition of the family aspect within country music. Blood harmonies, original songwriting and arrangements, instrumental virtuosity and a deep love for that high lonesome sound means that despite being geographically removed from the bluegrass state, the Johnson family have successfully created their own kind of sound that encompasses both Bill Monroe in Kentucky with a dash of hot club straight from the Continent. They have honed their skills the hard way by gigging across the UK, USA and Europe, the result being that they deliver an exciting, energetic and dynamic live show, packed with just the right amounts of sweetness, sass and style.

The new record ‘Whiskey’ is an original mix of old and new material, The Toy Hearts prove their songwriting worth with more than just a nod to the good old country tradition of ‘the drinking song’, while also including in their own takes of material by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, Ronnie Self, Moon Mullican, Bessie Smith and Wayne Hancock. The new record, and indeed their live show, is as sincere as it gets: their love for the music they play and the conviction of their delivery far exceeds any simple mimicry of American music. They manage to tip their hats to their influences from Bluegrass, Western Swing, Country, Rockabilly & Blues, while making their own mark, and having their own distinct style, which is quite different to that of those whom inspire them. From the heartbreak in Hannah’s voice, to her sister’s take-no-prisoners guitar playing, to their father Stewarts multi instrumental talents, this unlikely trio demonstrate what it really means to want to play this kind of music and truly love doing so.

This Birmingham based outfit have been not-so-quietly carving out their own niche in the Americana and Roots music scene for a while now, so if you haven’t been to one of their shows before you are in for a real treat, there brilliant musicianship and stunning stagecraft combine to leave audiences gasping for more. And, although it may seem improbable that two young women from the midlands would have the ability to produce authentic and innovative Country music, you really should leave those pre-conceptions at the door.
With an extensive UK tour, and with fans in people as diverse as Bob Harris, Ronnie Wood, Rob da Bank, and Imelda May isn’t it time you saw them for yourself?

Tickets are £12/£11 Box Office 01752 892220

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Coming Soon to The Watermark (April Edition)

What’s happening in Ivybridge this April & May?

The next couple of months promise to be exciting ones here at The Watermark. Not only have we got some great Cinema Screenings coming up (they can be found here on our Cinema Page) – but we also have some fantastic Live acts joining us this May. 

First, some cinema dates for your diary! 

Woman In Black (12A) – Wed 18th, Thurs 19th, Fri 20th & Sat 21st April. 

Bel Ami (15) – Wed 25th, Thurs 26th, Fri 27th & Sat 28th April

The Iron Lady (15) – Wed 2nd, Fri 4th & Sat 5th May

War Horse – Thurs 10th, Fri 11th & Wed 16th May

The Artist – Wed 30th, Thurs 31st May & Fri 1st June

We have lots of other films screening so be sure to pick up a What’s On Guide at The Watermark or Check our cinema page here on the site. 

This May we will be bringing you our very fist Opera Screening at The Watermark. Puccini’s Tosca will be screened on Saturday 19th May 2012, starting at 7.30, the showing is 2hrs & 05mins and there will be an interval. Here’s a bit more info: 

Set in the Rome of 1800, a political world of control and suspicion, Tosca is a beautiful diva in love with idealistic painter, Cavaradossi, whose beliefs and loyalties bring him into conflict with the malevolent Chief of Police, Scarpia. Conducted by Antonio Pappano, the score includes great set pieces such as ‘Te Deum’ and the arias ‘Vissi d’arte’ and ‘E lucevan le stelle’. Drama, passion and fabulous music – Tosca is one of opera’s brilliant nights out. For more info and a clip, see this link >> http://cinema.roh.org.uk/content/tosca

As for our Live Events, we’re back to our folky roots, with The Toy Hearts & Fairport Convention visiting the Watermark on Friday 4th May & Saturday 26th May respectively. Tickets are booking now. We’ll be posting more about these events in the coming weeks. Tickets for The Toy Hearts are £12 and £11 Concession & Fairport Convention Tickets are £20 & £19 Concessions, as with all our events you can find more info on our Live Events page.

For frequent updates from The Watermark, you can sign up to our Online Newsletter by clicking here, or like us on Facebook, or Follow us on Twitter. 

Posted in >Day to Day Goings On, General, Live Performances
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The Albion Review

When I was thinking about writing this, one of the titles that came to mind was ‘New Found respect for the Accordian’, seriously, the instrument almost blew my mind this evening. Sounds ridiculous, but when you don’t hear it played that much and its one of four instruments on stage and the guy plays it blindfolded whilst dancing round eggs (more about that later), it is an amazing instrument. 

The Albion Christmas Band currently consists of four members, Simon Nicol, Ashley Hutchings, Kellie While & Simon Care, they have recently released a new album which can be purchased on their website: http://www.thealbionband.co.uk. 

This is the second time The Albion Christmas Band have been to The Watermark (let’s face it with 50 weeks off a year, they’ve got a very small ‘gig window’), but, I can safely say that both times they have been a huge success. This one was yet another Box Office sell out, and we had a fantastic crowd, everyone who attended had a great time, they were all singing along (unfortunately no dancing – maybe next time!) 

I see a fair few performances at The Watermark, and maybe it was all the festivities but this was a particularly amazing one, The Albion Band are of course very well known, they are indeed folk icons, and they lived up to expectations!

We want to hear from you! Were you at The Albion gig? If so, drop us a comment (scroll down) and let us know! We look forward to reading all the posts. In the mean time here are some pictures from the gig below: 

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Posted in >Box Office Sell Outs, Christmas!, Live Performances
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Ivybridge Has Got Talent!

Believe it or not, its true!

This evening The Watermark played host to ‘Ivybridge Showcase’ or ‘Ivybridge’s Got Talent’. The event was fairly well supported, the more the merrier as they say, however, a great night of entertainment was had by all! Some of the acts included, The Ivybridge Choir, Ivybridge Musical Theatre Group (From Ivybridge Community College), 2 Local Bands! , A fantastic Classical Duo, a guitarist, gymnasts and Compering from Morag (Beaconville Nursing Home) and our very own Ex-Mayor, Frances Reeves.

We’ve put together a short (2 minute) video so you can experience at least some of the event, the video is on our YouTube Channel you can view it by clicking the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGoHWrASj-I

We also had the trusty camera handy so we were snapping away all night, here are some of the best pictures from the night! Click to read more….

(more…)

Posted in >General, Live Performances, Special Events
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An Evening with Ann Widdecombe

From the dance floor to the Watermark stage, Ann Widdecombe had a sell out audience of over 200 people at The Watermark for an evening of witty banter, questions and answers and a book signing in the library after the performance! 

We’d love to hear what you thought of the performance (leave a comment below!) and if you have any pictures of the event then e-mail them to us at info@ivybridgewatermark.co.uk and we may post them up here on our blog!

Posted in >Box Office Sell Outs, Live Performances
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Jackie Oates

On Thursday 6th, Jackie Oates performed Live at the Watermark! A great night was had by all, but we want to hear from you! What did you think of the gig and what would you like to see at the Watermark? Leave a comment below, you can log in with your facebook / twitter account or create a new account, its up to you!

We look forward to hearing from you. 

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Barbershop, Barbershop, Barbershop, Barbershop.

Saturday was the day of Barbershop here at The Watermark. We played host to the Kingsbridge based, Barbershop Harmony Chorus, ‘The Kingsmen’ and The Great Western Choir, and what a night it was. First of all, the night was a complete sell out, all seats were filled and we were looking at a great night. The Kingsmen started off the proceedings with five of their songs, finishing on an absolutely hilarious rendition of ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’. The stage was then set for the 8 times winners of the British Association of Barbershop Singers’ Championship, The Great Western Chorus. 

Two highlights of the night must have been their performance of  ’Hooked On A Feeling’ and the finale ‘Is This the way to Amarillo’ although after a pretty spectacular performance its hard to single out the ‘best’ part of the evening, however, one of the most impressive things I have heard in a long while was a version of Bach’s Fugue in D Minor……..I’ll leave you to figure that one out!

After the curtains closed and the crowd went home a select few were treated to what I was informed was called ‘The Afterglow’, at first I thought this might have been a joke, but a pan pipe was blown, the Tribute Ale hit the deck and all the Chorus and all the Kingsmen (see what I did there) rushed to the stage to do another few songs. 

Overall it was a fantastic night and if you missed it, we will be updating this post with a couple of audio clips & pictures later on for you to have a listen!

If you have any pictures of the night we’d love to see them! You can e-mail them to us at info@ivybridgewatermark.co.uk and we may even feature them on our website! Coming up at The Watermark, The Jackie Oates Band will be playing as part of her Saturnine tour, phone 01752 892220 to book tickets, or you can visit www.jackieoates.co.uk for more info. 

Posted in >Box Office Sell Outs, Day to Day Goings On, Live Performances
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