Preview: Pretty Vacant at Darlington Hippodrome

Kevin Kennedy returns to Darlington Hippodrome

Pretty Vacant

Darlington Hippodrome

Saturday 25 January 2025

Kevin Kennedy joins riotous new tour bringing iconic punk songs to life at Darlington Hippodrome in January 2025 with Pretty Vacant – The Story of Punk and New Wave.

Bringing to life iconic punk songs and legends is the riotous new show Pretty Vacant, heading on tour this winter across the UK and Ireland! Joining the previously announced show as the Narrator is Coronation Street star Kevin Kennedy. Taking audiences on a nostalgic journey from the beginnings of punk in the 1970s, to later movements in the 80s and 90s, this high energy, punk rock show tells the story of a music genre that changed the world for the first time ever. 

Kevin Kennedy, who was in Paris Valentinos with Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke, who later formed The Smiths – brings his real-world band experience to this epic punk show. Kennedy is best known for his role as Curly Watts in Coronation Street, and his stage career including We Will Rock You and Rock of Ages on the West End and the show’s recent visit to Darlington Hippodrome.

Kevin Kennedy comments, “I’m so excited to be joining the cast of Pretty Vacant. When punk exploded on the scene in 1977, it truly was a revolution it changed our music, our fashion and every aspect of the arts! I witnessed it all… Let’s do it again… together.”

Pretty Vacant will see Punk and New Wave hits, attitude and fashion brought to the stage by a talented cast of musicians, singers and dancers on a punk journey that will thrill audiences, from original punk fans to audiences new to the genre. Pretty Vacant will feature hits originally performed by The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Blondie, The Damned, Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Undertones, The Police, The Jam, Siouxsie and The Banshees, The Pretenders, Joy Division, The Stranglers and many more.

Tickets:

Pretty Vacant comes to Darlington Hippodrome Saturday 25 January, 2025. For more information or to book visit darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk or call the Box Office on 01325 405405.

Available from our affiliates Townsend Music:

NOW That's What I Call Punk & New Wave 4-Disc

NOW Music proudly presents NOW That’s What I Call Punk & New Wave - a collection encapsulating the spirit of the times, and of the movement that changed the course of mainstream pop music.

89 tracks across 4 CDs, present the era’s most iconic artists, including The Clash, Blondie, Ramones, U2, Buzzcocks, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Adam & The Ants, The Jam and The Cure.

‘London Calling’ by The Clash, The Undertones’ breakthrough hit ‘Teenage Kicks’, and Buzzcocks ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)’, kick off the first disc - alongside classics from The Stranglers, Siouxsie And The Banshees and Ramones.

Link to Townsend Music Website

Available from our affiliates Waterstones:

Punk 45: The Singles Cover Art of Punk 1976-80

Jon Savage (editor), Stuart Baker (editor), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream) (foreword)

This book is a revelatory guide to hundreds and hundreds of original 7” record cover sleeve designs – visual artefacts found at the heart of the most radical and anarchistic musical movement of the 20th century.

As well as the encyclopaedic visual imagery featured inside, the book also includes interviews with a number of significant figures in punk music: artists and groups including Richard Hell, Martin Moscrop (A Certain Ratio), Richard H Kirk (Cabaret Voltaire), Glenn Branca and David Thomas (Pere Ubu); record label owners including Seymour Stein (Sire Records), Geoff Travis (Rough Trade), Roger Armstrong (Chiswick), Martin Mills (Beggars Banquet), Dave Robinson (Stiff Records), David Brown (Dangerhouse); and the celebrated designers involved in creating punk’s original iconic imagery – Peter Saville (Factory Records), Gee Vaucher (Crass Records), Jamie Reid (Sex Pistols), Gee Vaucher (Crass Records) and Dennis Morris (Public Image Limited).

Link to Watersones