Music: Fringe Club

The Warren hosts a Fringe Club this May

Last year, the people behind the intimate Three & Ten theatre decided to organise a pop-up venue at the The Wagner Hall, a little known space behind the huge gothic looking church on West Street. Using their contacts and resources they were able to fully equip the venue which has a natural stage, as well as providing theatre style seating. Attached to the venue is a large garden, which contained the all important beer tent. The result was by some distance the place to be at last year’s Fringe, an oasis within the centre of Brighton, and good enough for even The Great Escape to use it as its Guardian Band of the Day stage without having seen it in action. This year they have expanded the idea with more activities going on in the garden, and the use of the church’s function room, which is called The Burrow, a 50-seat theatre that will host smaller, more intimate shows, including a keenly anticipated show by folk singer Mary Hampton and poet Gary Goodman, as well as shows by Sharon Lewes and Rachel Reis, all under the banner of the Philosophy Garden (www.philosophygarden.co.uk).
As well as the return of The Great Escape (16-18 May), The Warren will also be hosting a Fringe Club, featuring some great local acts plus DJs to take you into the early hours. Kicking off on Fri 3 May are the 10-piece Afrobeat sensations The Kalakuta Millionaires, followed by the rock’n’roll jive of another big band, the 11-piece Fat 45 (Sat 4 May). Continuing the bank holiday weekend Voodoo Love Orchestra (Sun 5 May) will take you back to the big band sound of ‘60s Latin America via the back streets of New Orleans. The Swing Ninjas sextet brings you a heady mix of dance music infused with a colourful and brassy New Orleans stomp on Friday 10 May, while the nine-piece Dende fuse calypso, reggae, cumba and afro-latin vibes on Saturday 11 May. There’s more vintage swing action on Friday 24 May courtesy of Zoot Zazou, a quartet formed by members of live electro swing band Swing Zazou, with support from the live-mixed DJ based electro swing trio Zoophonium and DJ Don Dapper. Featuring members of Elastica, Los Albertos, The Kooks and Kalkuta Millionaires, Oscillator (Saturday 25 May) fuse ska, electro-funk, psychedelia and jazz, ably complimented by the 8-piece Meow Meows, a happy muddle of ‘60s garage, dirty pop, rocksteady and ska. With support slots for the likes of Shuggie Otis, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, James Taylor Quartet and Fred Wesley & The New JBs under their belt, The Impellers (Sunday 26 May) are a 10-piece heavy soul and funk powerhouse. And Friday 31 May sees Jacquemo and Mynie Moe provide the dance sounds, with Saturday 1 June a yet to be confirmed grand finale.
www.warrenvenue.com