Pharrell Williams Manchester, London
As Benjamin Franklin nearly observed, nothing in the world is certain apart from death, taxes and Pharrell Williams. There for the good things (Happy; its associated dance), the questionable things (Blurred Lines; its associated debate) and for Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, which fell somewhere between the two, Williams may now have broken through some kind of semantic wall. Rather than simply being on a lot of good pop records, it can often appear that a pop record isn’t good unless Pharrell is on it. Odd as it may seem for someone who made a 24-hour video for his single Happy, Williams isn’t someone who overstays his welcome. Rather than an endurance test, his current album, GIRL, calls in its favours (Timberlake is on it, for example) and gets its Jackson 5 thing done in just 45 minutes. It’s much the same thing here. Two dates, then he’s off to conquer new territory.
Phones 4U Arena, Manchester, Tue; Roundhouse, NW1, Wed
JR
Sleaford Mods Cardiff, Cambridge
A duo from Nottingham who take social observation and push it till it’s more like class war, Sleaford Mods are essentially the NSFW Streets: like that band would have been if all the charm and jokes were replaced by misanthropy and swearing. Once the solo vehicle for Jason Williamson, a Nottingham resident entering midlife as a failing office temp with a drinking problem, Sleaford Mods took on its current identity when Willamson was joined – in 2009 – by beatmaker Andrew Fearn, who added a little more tunefulness and subtlety to his rants. It’s worth seeing them now while you can still do so up close. Maybe not too close, though.
Portland Arms, Cambridge, Thu; The Moon Club, Cardiff, Sun; touring to 25 Sep
JR
Bestival nr Newport, Isle of Wight
Bestival is an event that’s helped to alter the face of festival-going in the UK. Created by DJ Rob da Bank and his wife, it imagines what a festival would be like if it was more like an undergraduate house party. This year – among the Desert Island Disco-themed fancy dress – stand-out turns include Chic, Beck, Disclosure
and OutKast, while there’s also La Roux and the excellent Caribou.
Robin Hill Country Park, Sat & Sun
JR
Welsh National Opera: William Tell, Cardiff
Liberty Or Death! is the theme of WNO’s autumn season, and alongside a revival of its production of Carmen (19 Sep-27 Nov), the programme features two new Rossini stagings, both the work of the company’s artistic director David Pountney, and conducted by its former music director Carlo Rizzi. Their version of Moses In Egypt will be unveiled next month (3 Oct-28 Nov), but the season opens with William Tell, Rossini’s final stage work and perhaps his most ambitious achievement. The overture to Tell may be one of the best known works in the classical repertoire, but the opera itself is seen much more rarely. It was Rossini’s attempt to combine the bel canto elegance of early 19th-century Italian opera, with the spectacle of the French school. WNO’s production has David Kempster in the title role of the Swiss hero, with Clive Bayley as the despotic Gesler.
Wales Millennium Centre, Fri to 4 Oct; touring to 29 Nov
AC
LOOP →60Hz: Transmissions From The Drone Orchestra, London
John Cale tackles a different sort of drone at the Barbican on Friday and beyond, where selections from his back catalogue will be performed by speculative architect Liam Young’s army of drone aircraft. They’ll be loaded with lights and speakers, and will be dolled up in beefed-up exoskeletons, broadcasting across the concert hall over the audience’s heads. Should the singularity strike mid-performance (or an aicraft suffer an empty battery), a safety net will protect your bonce from falling robots. Cale and his group also perform extended versions of his pieces, some with altered tunings. The performance will mark the end of the Barbican Centre’s Digital Revolution exhibition, and it’s coupled with an online game called City Of Drones, where you play a rogue drone, navigating a cityscape.
Barbican Hall, EC1, Fri & 13 Sep
JLA
Brubecks, London
The name Brubeck will always be identified with an American sound, even if the jazz patriarch’s use of European classical devices was also a crucial part of his appeal. Chris Brubeck (son of Dave) is at an Americana Prom premiering his work Travels In Time alongside Copland’s Appalachian Spring suite. But if Chris has followed his late father’s path in taking a midlife turn toward non-improv classical works, there’s evidence that his roots remain in jazz later in the week, when as a bassist-trombonist he joins his brother Darius at Ronnie Scott’s, for their popular Brubecks Play Brubeck show.
Royal Albert Hall, SW7, Tue; Ronnie Scott’s, W1, Wed to Fri
JF
