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Articulate, engaging, well turned out and with an eccentric turn of mind. Sanderson Jones is the man you take home to mother to charm and then stun her with his random ideas. As this was an Edinburgh preview it had a mixed bag of material. Some was bang on the mark, other parts not so much but had promises of comedy gold sparkling in the raw ready to be mined and polished up. The top five things David Blunkett wishes were airy fairy and internet shopping topics were fab, his discussions on slavery and Islam close to the bone but with a fine seam to be mined if he’s careful enough. With so many gags on each topic all that remains for him to do is pick the ones that work best and leave or hone the rest. I can’t wait to see the finished result in Edinburgh.
Royal Albion Hotel, 15 May
3/5
Victoria Nangle

Nick Kent, rock journalist, surviving spectator and active participant of many rock, punk and popular music’s seminal moments mosied onto the stage and into conversation with journalist Garry Mulholland. Throwing about snippets from his experiences from the book he’s promoted at this event – Kent hasn’t spoken to Iggy Pop in 10 years as Pop’s unbearable when he’s got the hair dye, allegedly – and from his life – his first major love affair was with Chrissie Hynde – this is an incredible time to witness. When asked about the recently deceased Sex Pistols manger Kent’s response was; “Malcolm Maclaren. Interesting lot of guys.” After almost dying from his addiction to hard drugs and relocating to Paris to live a cleaner life, this is a remarkable life recorded, and although we ran out of time for questions the sales exercise worked as I was itching to buy the book as I left.
Pavilion Theatre, Brighton Dome, 15 May
3/5
Victoria Nangle

Introducing the evening the Artistic Director of the Brighton Festival Brian Eno decribed himself as a huge fan of Tony Allen and afrobeat in general, citing Allen as the ‘greatest drummer in the world’. High praise indeed and as the band launched into the first of their many groove-based songs, it became apparent why Eno would think that. Fluid, expressive, economical, flamboyant, and indeed highly technical, Allen is all these things at once, without ever being flash nor overwhelming. Backed up by a diverse group of musicians who easily locked into each and every groove and imprinted their own individuality upon each track, and fronted by the classy presence of Audrey Gbaguidi, the band worked up a mid-tempo sweat that had the audience gyrating by the end.
Dome, 14 May
5/5
Jeff Hemmings

The Brighton Swimming Club celebrated their 150th year in a nine-part show that took the audience on a swim through time. Spanning from 1860 to the present day, they performed water polo ballet, ballroom inspired dancing and a tribute to Esther Williams. The highlight was a demonstration by the beach patrol, pulling an arm-tossing casualty to safety, and a brief appearance by the five original members of the 1950s Life Saving Belles. The synchronised swimming, although not always to perfection, paraded several of its teams flipping their legs, forming letters and minor acrobatics through the air.
Prince Regent Swimming Pool, 15 May
3/5
Simon Robb