Highlights of 2010

How does one choose the cultural highlights of a whole year? The answer: with great difficulty.

In an effort to pay homage to all that kept us entertained through last year, we wanted to give a special mention to the exhibitions, performances and gigs that made us that little bit sad to leave them in the past as the bells rang in 2011, relegated to the archives in favour of exhibitions a bit younger and sexier. The arts can be a bitch sometimes. But just like a New Year hangover, or the ill-advised lover who wouldn’t leave, the occupants of 2010’s cultural calendar refuse to go away without one last hurrah…

ART

Mick Rock – Rock: Music in association with Zippo

As has come to be expected from our favourite east London gallery, Idea Generation Gallery gave us another star-studded photographic exhibition this time from the capable lens of Mick Rock, the ‘man who shot the ’70s’. With iconic images of Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Kate Moss, Lady Gaga and the famous Queen Bohemian Rhapsody album cover shot, the exhibition spans Rock’s 40-year career starting when his photo of a little known musician back in 1972 created a bit of a stir.

That musician happened to be David Bowie – thus leading to a photographic love affair between the two, from candid party shots, on stage antics to a rare sight of the more pensive, reserved side to ole Ziggy. It’s impossible not to feel the energy Rock puts into his shoots breaking out of the frame. This is what rock photography should be – sweaty, sexy, dirty, and always surprising. See the angelic, oddly attractive Ozzy Osbourne – case and point.

Mick Rock – Rock:Music continues until January 16, 2011 at:

Idea Generation Gallery
11 Chance Street
Shoreditch
E2 7JB

PERFORMANCE

Hotel Medea

When it comes to performance, we’re not so much a nation of joiner-inners, rather more inclined to sit back and watch quietly. Then not so quietly complain when we don’t like how the show ends. But in 2010, helped by the success of Battersea Arts Centre’s One-On-One Festival, theatre took a strange turn, inviting audiences onto the stage letting us walk alongside the actors and create our own performance.  

You Me Bum Bum Train, Punchdrunk and Coney were finally brought to the forefront of our theatrical consciousness, proving when you buy your ticket to a show – audience participation will be the least of your worries! This is what I discovered when I spent a night at Hotel Medea. Transported into the darkness of Greek mythology, I took part in ancient matrimonial rituals, was dressed in pyjamas and read a story by a Portuguese nanny, got kidnapped, enjoyed full frontal male nudity and then witnessed the brutal and bloody breakdown of a woman scorned. Now you wouldn’t get that in the West End now, would you?

Hotel Medea took place in August 2010.

MUSIC

Eric Ness

Dubbed the ‘musical messiah’ by our reviewer after his gig at Proud Camden in August, Eric Ness has established himself something of a loyal following in the capital, counting The London Word amongst its number. Norwegian born Eric Ness has had a busy 2010 entertaining London crowds with his unique blend of glam rock, funk, jazz – basically genre defying sounds complete with back-up singers and a mandolin player. With a gig next week at the newly reopened Nambuca in Holloway, Ness and the gang show no signs of slowing down in 2011 and are definitely going to be ones to watch for anyone who likes their music loud and energetic. And with a side of glitter.

Eric Ness will be performing on January 15 at:

Nambuca
596 Holloway Road
Islington
N7 6LB

COMEDY

Pork & Pickle Pie Club

Bringing together all our favourite British institutions – beer, pastry and shamelessly laughing at people – into one joy filled evening,  the Pork & Pickle Pie Club proved you don’t need to sell out the O2 Arena or be a-top the Christmas DVD chart to be crowned King of the Funny.  

Showcasing the UK’s best new comedians including Eric Lampaert, Rob Beckett and Jay Foreman, while encouraging us to clog our arteries with delicious pie, Pork & Pickle Pie Club knows what its audience wants – and is ready to give it to them.

Keep an eye on the Pork & Pickle Pie Club Facebook page for details about what they have lined up for 2011.

Photo: copyright Mick Rock 2010