Please Please You is an independent live music promotion company based in York. Over the past decade – it celebrated its 10th anniversary last August with a suitably musically diverse and action-packed party at the city’s Fulford Arms pub, where it featured performances from C Duncan, SLUG, Theo Verney and Wolf Solent – Please Please You has established a most well-earned reputation for bringing a wide-ranging array of fascinating musical talent to York, Leeds and beyond.
As we move into the New Year we can but marvel at the long list of events Please Please You has already planned for the first half of 2016. Some 18 shows are scheduled between now and the end of June and here God Is In The TV looks ahead to a selection of the early highlights.
The first date on the Please Please You calendar for 2016 is Friday the 15th of January when The Crescent opens its doors to This Is The Kit. The musical project of Kate Stables, This Is The Kit draws from the well of grand folk tradition and with a little help from her friends Stables then transports this sound into the present. At The Crescent – an old working men’s club similar in feel and size to the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds – This Is The Kit will be joined by French musician and Stereolab singer Lætitia Sadier, and the Leeds-based singer-songwriter and artist, Alisia Casper.
Ten days later comes The Drink, stopping off at the Fulford Arms as part of their 12 date tour of the UK and Ireland. The London-based trio trade in the darker currency of an idiosyncratic guitar pop. Expect from them a barrage of top tunes from their debut album Capital, released at the tail-end of last year to consistently positive reviews. Support on the night arrives courtesy of the rather splendid frog – a two person band from Queens, New York – and another duo, Missing Kids, this time from York, complete this rather excellent bill
Less than a fortnight will then have elapsed before the Fulford Arms sees the most welcome return of Please Please You and GIITTV favourite Sweet Baboo. Stephen Black is Sweet Baboo and he clearly likes the Fulford Arms having been here as recently as last September when he and his band put in a typically sparkling performance (reviewed here). Part of the The Boombox Ballads Tour – in celebration of Sweet Baboo’s album of that name – we can expect a similarly superb show on the night of the 7th of February.
Come the 17th of February it is all back to The Crescent to eagerly await the arrival of co-founder and former lead guitarist in The Coral, Bill Ryder-Jones. The West Kirby man will be coming along the M62 to bring us his tales of sadness and joy all wrapped up in a deliciously off-kilter guitar sound. Support on the night comes from local stalwarts Sam Griffiths and Wolf Solent.
We might as well stay at The Crescent because two days later The Wave Pictures will be playing there. It is hard to believe that the Leicestershire trio are now into their 18th year of existence with almost the same number of albums to their name. The next in that noble lineage – A Season In Hull – and the first to be released on their own label, Wymeswold Records, is due out in February. The York date forms part of a UK tour to promote the new record.
Future events include appearances by the indefatigable Japanese cult trio Shonen Knife; a return to York for the Nashvillian singer-songwriter Cale Tyson, this time accompanied by his full band; and those most venerable of Aussie rock’n’roll pioneers, Radio Birdman.
The complete list of all of Please Please You’s upcoming shows can be found here, including details of how to buy tickets for them.
