News: Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll

Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll
 

 The Junction, Cambridge

Thursday 01 December  / J2

The ultimate celebration of the music, the myths and the madness

Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll is a two-sided tribute to five decades of music, and all the lunacy and magic they have spawned. To start, John Harris dispenses a quickfire rock foundation course. He celebrates the greatest records ever made, and then damns the worst (this part features Brian May, the Stereophonics, and U2). He asks whether Elvis was actually Welsh, and proves the very real link between Igor Stravinsky and Status Quo.

And then we reach the main event: the Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll Quiz, an 8-round interactive spectacular with full audio and video support (and prizes, obviously) that offers an altogether more entertaining kind of quizology than the average Monday night down the pub – and a mixture of challenges for both rock’n’roll rookies and hard-bitten fans. Could you recognise the 18 year-old Paul Weller? Do you remember Dizzee Rascal’s legendary clash with Jeremy Paxman? Might you know what Jimi Hendrix might do with a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face? You soon will.

John Harris is a regular voice on Radio 4, a panellist on BBC2’s The Review Show, a columnist for The Guardian, a long-standing writer for such music magazines as Q and Mojo, and the author of four books, including the acclaimed history of Britpop, The Last Party. He has been writing – and shouting – about music since 1989.

Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll is adapted from the acclaimed book of the same name, designed and illustrated (as is the show) by Hywel Harris, and published by Sphere. Copies will be available – and, to extremely lucky people, given away – at the show.

The show has already played to packed houses at – among other places - the Hay Festival, the Big Chill, Hull’s Humber Mouth festival, and the Henley Literary Festival.

Praise for Hail! Hail! Rock’n’Roll

“As inventive, untamed and adorable as a John Squire guitar solo. John Harris is one of the true greats of music writing.” Tony Parsons

“Music's equivalent of Schott's Miscellany.” Mojo

“It drips with lashings of popular, everyday appeal. Neither scholarly tome nor single-flick fluff, it occupies that rare, must-read space in-between. Highly recommended.” Classic Rock Magazine

“Harris may be making waves today as a serious critic for The Guardian and Newsnight Review, but he's never lost the adolescent thrill evident in his earlier writing for NME or a range of glossy music monthlies. This compendium of facts and figures, both essential and superficial, delights at every turn.” Record Collector

Thursday 01 December / J2 / 8pm (Doors 7pm)
Tickets: £10
Box Office: 01223 511 511 or book online at www.junction.co.uk