What was the last live performance you saw?
We’ve not been to many live performances recently. Having kids put a cramp on going out at all, and we’d lost the habit of going out by the time they were old enough to leave alone in the evening. When we do go out together, it’s a comedy night. We are both fans of comedy, though mainly on telly1.
Last January Mrs S got us tickets to see Bill Bailey in London in January ‘25. This was just after I’d been made redundant, so the mood lift was needed. This is the fifth time we’ve seen him and he didn’t disappoint.
First time was in 1992, when he was part of a double act called The Rubber Bishops with Martin Stubbs. They performed at Loughborough Uni at one of the regular Saturday night shows. During my time at Loughborough, I also saw Eddie Izzard and Lee Evans during their early years, and Rory Bremner who was quite a big star to get at a little uni in the Midlands.
We saw Bill a few more times in Brighton on various occasions, whenever we could get a babysitter.
This was the first time we’d seen him since his ‘dramatic’ haircut, but that didn’t affect his act. Highlight was the account of getting a cappuccino in Amsterdam. Yes, really.
Prior to Bill, we saw Ed Byrne at our local theatre in September ’24 and The Mousetrap at St Martins Theatre for its 29,692nd performance in July ‘24.
I’ve seen Bill more than any live performer. Second place would have to be New Model Army (four times), probably the only other multiple-watched performers.
I should get out more.
- We mostly agree on comedy. Except for Stewart Lee. Mrs S can’t understand what’s funny about his stuff. ↩︎
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