The June Culture Review

Once a month, we bring together reviews of Medway’s cultural highlights in a single round-up, produced exclusively for our paid supporters. This month, our team of intrepid cultural reviewers present music, talks, food, and drink from across our towns...

Nigel Kennedy: Virtuoso
Central Theatre, Chatham 24 May

My expectations for this evening did not extend much beyond being pretty sure there would be a spiky haircut, some Vivaldi, and Aston Villa branding on prominent display. True to form, the Villa scarf was on stage before the musicians, and when Nigel Kennedy appeared, if the vertical hair had become less fulsome, it was more than compensated for by the Villa away kit and matching shoes, glowing neon yellow under the lights and the sipping from a Villa mug. So far, so good. Kennedy introduced us to the “mini philharmonic” accompanying him – musicians of world-class calibre and pedigree. On cello is Peter Adams, principal with the Oxford Philharmonic and Sir Alec Dankworth on bass – his lineage as the son of Cleo Laine and John Dankworth is sufficiently impressive to draw its own round of applause.

Pausing to chat to an audience member he has spotted with blue and claret hair. “That’s for us, right, not West Ham?” Kennedy introduces the programme for the first half. 'Firecracker' by Ryuichi Sakamoto, some of his own compositions and a sprinkling of Bach and Paganini. 'Firecracker' is full of verve, the synchronicity between the musicians is mesmerising to watch, and the audience is fully engaged from the outset. We now have a taste of how eclectic and full of surprises this performance will be as Kennedy switches with ease from skeletal electric to acoustic violin and speaks of the “circuit of energy” between audience and performers, growing more comfortable and assured as this becomes increasingly tangible. I have never met anyone else who shares my favourite Elvis song and am caught off guard when the trio play this – Danny O’Keefe’s 'Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues' with Kennedy peerlessly playing the melody I have heard Presley sing a thousand times. It is staggeringly beautiful and defies all expectations. Gershwin’s 'The Man I Love' exhibits how jazz is the genre in which this trio’s inventive fluidity best moves and gels. At one point, Kennedy is simultaneously playing violin and grand piano – his piano playing is also dazzling, complex and expressive. 

In the second half, the away kit has been embellished with a neon acid smiley shirt, and Kennedy exudes confidence and commands attention. The sheer breadth of his musical experiences and references is remarkable. A highlight of this set is a triptych of pieces inspired by Krzysztof Komeda’s scores for Polanski’s films, which opened full of Slavic melancholy and menace and developed into a less moody jazz epic. The timekeeping between the trio is precise and intuitive. Tribute is also played to the Romanian and Serbian violinists Kennedy has played with in a selection of Romany folk music. The Vivaldi does come up, as the official last piece of the second set, with Kennedy acknowledging the debt he owes to this composer before playing part of the Four Seasons with an expression of pure contentment. The audience is unanimous in standing ovation as the music keeps coming in the encore. Just when it seems it can’t get any better, the unmistakable first bars of 'Danny Boy' stun the applauders back into silence and then a groundswell of humming from those who aren’t holding their breath. And it is truly breathtaking finale to a stunning evening of music. - Moira Mehaffey

IntraFest
Intra, Chatham, 13 Jun

Back in the dim and distant past of 2025, I made plans for Saturday the 13th of June, and it was with some small regret that I read the announcement of IntraFest, a one-day event happening across the Chatham Intra (the area between Chatham and Rochester high streets) on Saturday the 13th of June. I had a train to catch and what, if anything, could I make of the day from my limited availability? Quite a lot as it happened.

Under a fairly cloudless sky, proceedings got underway with speeches from the organisers and Vince Maple from Medway Council. From the off, even these were being captured by resident artists in situ across both the main stage, in the car park of the Gray's car centre and the second stage, in the car park of the Decktronix record shop: hats off to Dave Frankum and Curtis Tappenden. Both stages seemed to provide ample crowd space and, weirdly, sound insulation, with little to no sound bleed between the stages only a few meters apart. 

Kicking things off on the Decktronix’s stage were the Burtwick Smugglers, getting to be veterans of the local scene in more ways than one. True to their roots, first-generation punk songs played in a punk style by first-generation punks. After a couple of numbers, I drifted across to the main stage to see what was occurring. En route, I passed a David Bowie impersonator holding court appropriately in semi-drag style in the porch of the Featherstone and a wandering Lulu with inflatable instruments. Rounding the corner, I was suddenly aware of the uncompromising sound of youth in the form of MidKent College band Kamikaze. Self-assured beyond their years, they delivered a tight set of down-tuned riff-based, hip hop adjacent metal, the bassist strap at the longest possible extension. Particularly effective was the track with additional guest vocals from Ava, adding a male-female dynamic to the Marshall-stacked presentation. It was hard to see how local indie stalwarts The Love Family would follow this, with their stripped back fan favourite acoustic set. But follow it they did, with aplomb. They closed with a dreamlike acoustic rendition of Joy Division's ‘Transmission’ with hints of folk drones. It sat well in the sunshine, which you can’t often say about Joy Division. Elsewhere, around the main stage, Electric Medway had an interactive VR space set up in a portacabin, and there were photo and art exhibitions surrounding the stage area, featuring many local artists and visitors to the Medway Towns from the last 70-odd years. It felt, well, like a festival.  

Drifting back to the second stage, I found Pastel Waves mid-set, playing their well-honed Britpop and shoegaze-influenced soundscapes, but hampered slightly by a dodgy microphone. Lead singer Joe always sells it, and this was no exception. A quick changeover, with the slightly incongruous DJ set up in front of the stage (it is the car park of a dance music specialist) acting as continuity, saw Spider Baby take the stage. Fronted by Oli Allen, who, at 18, is a veteran of the local music scene due to his performances in The Singing Loins, this band has more swagger and self-assured drama than is probably good for them. You can’t play a flying-V without it though I guess. Ending with the Jack the Ripper-esque ‘The Breaking Man’, they are a band I will see again. 

The drummer stayed on stage for Mitchell Lane, another bright young hope of the indie faithful. With complex musicianship, instrument swapping and more microphone issues, they proved the soundman’s festival challenge. But they were worth the challenge, with melodic, 80s influenced guitar pop that begged for Ray-Bans and an open road.

Before I had to get my train, there was just time to take in The Flowing on the main stage, essentially at this stage the vehicle for Dave Pickett's gentle sounding, but lyrically complex storytelling songs, and featuring his young daughter on trumpet at one point. He finished with a blistering solo electric number with what more than approached a guitar solo. It filled the car park, itself in turn filled with bodies and an eager queue of people getting in to pack the place as I had to leave to the strains of the effervescent (and award-winning) R’n’B of the Zac Schulze Gang. As I went, it was all going on and all going off. It was a shame to have to leave. - Stuart Turner

Rainham Poetry Festival
St Margaret's Church, Rainham, 6 Jun