Yusuf Cat Stevens – performed by Keith James

Yusuf Cat Stevens – performed by Keith James

Date/Time
Sunday 20 June 2021
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Ashburton Arts Centre

Categories
Music


£13 or £10 or £6 – please pay what you can:  wegottickets.com/ashburtonarts

Update 19 April 2021:  This concert is now happening on Sunday 20 June 2021. Existing ticket holders for the original date will be offered a refund or the chance to move their booking to the new date.

Keith James has performed at the Arts Centre twice already, in his tribute shows to Leonard Cohen and Nick Drake.

He writes, “To mark its 50th anniversary, Yusuf has entirely re-recorded and re-released his remarkable Album Tea for the Tillerman, with each of the unforgettable 11 songs re-conceptualized and re-imagined and gifted back to us among all the uncertainties of 2020 and beyond. (Release September 2020)

During the early 1970s, the amassed body of music from this hugely popular and sincerely loved singer/songwriter made for a collection of ‘must have’ records across a whole generation. Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat were on everyone’s turntables and on every radio station, live versions are played in concerts, bars and on the world’s beaches to this day. Songs such as Wild World, Father and Son, Moonshadow and Where do the Children play have been covered by hundreds of Artists worldwide.”

Keith James is a long standing, well-respected and inventive concert performer who specialises in playing intimate, carefully researched biographic style concerts of those he has studied and revered as writers over the years. He weaves the story of Cat Stevens’ life from his early pop career, life threatening illness and spiritual journey around a performance of his beautifully-crafted and memorable songs.

This concert will give you far more than just the music itself – there is a huge amount of insight into the history and the spirit of Cat Stevens: his early pop career; his illness that changed him existentially and spiritually into an incredibly thoughtful and loving singer songwriter, such that his songs are remembered instantly for their uplifting sense of vision, truth and human fragility.

Pandemic policies. This information will be updated as things change.

Update: April 2022

  • Face masks: In the Main Hall, on the ground floor, these are recommended at all times, but are optional. Anyone who sits upstairs in the balcony MUST wear a face mask – with NO exceptions (not even those who are exempt). This is to allow people who are clinically vulnerable to have a place to sit where seats are naturally separated, so: (a) to provide a place for people who want to be as distanced as possible from others, and with anyone nearby wearing a mask; (b) as virus particles when airborne are generally heavier than air, this helps to mitigate the risk of transmission from people sitting in the balcony to audience members below.
  • The windows and doors of the venue will be open, allowing fresh air to be constantly moving through. Although we have heating, this might mean that the ambient temperature is a little cooler than some might like, and audience members should dress accordingly.
  • Please, if you can, take a Lateral Flow test before coming to the Arts Centre, and if this is positive, don’t come. These tests aim to pick up anyone who is infectious at the moment of testing, so please take the test as late as possible on the same day before coming to the Arts Centre. If you test positive, a refund or transfer of your ticket to another event can be arranged, if you let us know before the start of the event, by emailing boxoffice@ashburtonarts.org.uk.