Joe Stilgoe's Chichester date to be streamed as new album comes out

Joe Stilgoe is delighted to say that his Out Of The Shed concert at Chichester Festival Theatre on November 25 has been saved.
Joe StilgoeJoe Stilgoe
Joe Stilgoe

He will be performing to an empty theatre, but his performance will be live-streamed to a potentially global audience.

Yes, it will be strange, Joe admits, to have no one in the auditorium, but if that’s the way it’s got to be, then that’s the way it’s going to be.

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In a sense, Joe has got used to it. From early lockdown through to mid-July, he performed 67 online shows from his “shed” to more than 150,000 worldwide YouTube viewers.

He came out of his shed when the world seemed to be opening up.

But in early November, he went back in again to resume his daily broadcast.

It’s just a question of adapting to the times.

“I was there at Chichester Festival Theatre for the wonderful Sondheim concert which (CFT artistic director) Daniel (Evans) put on (on November 1).

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“And I spoke to him the day after. They had live-streamed the show – and it went very well. He said ‘What about we save your concert and do it as a stream?’

“So I will be performing to an empty theatre. I did a stream from Ronnie Scott’s in October, a venue I know so well that is usually so full of life.

“But I think you have just got to get used to it.

“Part of the thing is that we have just got to be adaptable. You can’t just sit with your fingers in your ears in a cave and say ‘I do what I do and I am not going to change it’ because actually everything has changed.

“Obviously Chichester Festival Theatre is such a great theatre for an audience, but I will just have to imagine the audience.

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“Yes, I will imagine everyone sitting naked at home which is how everyone really ought to enjoy a live-stream!”

Originally, the idea was that it would be a solo concert; in fact, Joe will now be appearing as a trio – in a date which celebrates the release of his new album which reflects his shed experiences, Stilgoe in the Shed.

“I didn’t choose the songs myself. They were chosen by the people.

“They were collated and collected through the shed, through the shows that I did online where people were shouting out requests, and I told people I was going to do an album, and people were underlining the songs that they wanted included.

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“It was a really lovely process. I focused on the ones that had been requested most or the ones that meant the most to people or the ones that meant the most to me.”

Inevitably, it’s a very different album to the album he would have made had he been choosing the songs himself, but that was a big part of the fun.

And with the release, earlier this month, Joe went back into his shed to resume the daily shows.

“But it is lovely to have a document of the times we are going through. And I never expected to do an album out of it.”

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Tickets for the live-stream are available from Chichester Festival Theatre box office.