Painting pictures of colliery life and a passion for rugby union
AFTER a series of sell-out performances in 2018, Max Boyce’s tour has been extended into 2019 due to overwhelming public demand, with three venues easily accessible to North Wales audiences among the dates.
Max Boyce has been entertaining people all over the world for more than 40 years with his ability to paint pictures in word and song, and rose to fame during the mid-1970s with an act that combined musical comedy with his passion for rugby union and his origins in the mining communities of South Wales.
At the age of 15 he left school, to go to work in a colliery. In his early 20s he found work as an electrician’s apprentice at the Metal Box factory in Melin Neath, but his earlier colliery experience was to play a major influence on his music.
He started to write tunes about life in the South Wales mining communities, and in around 1970 started performing in local sports clubs and folk clubs, where his original set began to take on a humorous element, interspersed by anecdotes of Welsh community life, and the national sport – rugby union.
He has sold more than two million albums in a career spanning four decades. These include Max Boyce in Session (which includes several tracks that were later to become his signature tunes, including Hymns and Arias, Duw It’s Hard, and Slow - Men at Work), and Caneuon Amrywiol (a collection of Welsh folk songs), both released in 1971 by Cambrian Records.
His subsequent album, Live at Treorchy, released by EMI in 1974 brought him to the public eye.
His next album, We All Had Doctor’s Papers, was recorded live at Pontarddulais Rugby Club, and released in late 1975, and reached the Number 1 position on the UK Albums Chart for the week ending November 15. This recording has the distinction of being the only comedy album to ever top the UK Albums Chart.
More albums followed, but his career was to enjoy a resurgence in the late 1990s. At Christmas time in 1998, BBC Wales screened An Evening With Max Boyce, which broke Welsh viewing records.
This was followed by performances at the opening ceremonies of the 1999 Rugby World Cup, and the Welsh Assembly, which brought him to the attention of a new young audience, making him a true modern day folk hero.
Max’s live performances need no introduction; the audience’s reactions and standing ovations speak for themselves.
You can catch him at the following venues: ● Theatr Clwyd, Mold on Thursday, January 24: ring the Box Office on 01352 701 521 or log on to http://www.theatrclwyd.com. ● Rhyl Pavilion on Saturday, January 26: ring the Box Office on 01745 33 00 00 or log on to http://www.rhylpavilion.co.uk. ● Theatr Hafren, Newtown on Saturday, February 2. Call the Box Office on 01686 614555 or log on to http://www.thehafren. co.uk. laced with humour. Featuring soprano, tenor, baritone and piano, MVE’s programmes take audiences on an imaginative journey through song, showcasing well-known and often-neglected pieces by composers both familiar and new, set to texts by poets and historical figures that encompass published works, correspondence and other anecdotes. This program also includes works by Tchaikovsky, Handel, Poulenc and Hans Eisler.
The concert will take place at Welshpool Methodist Church, and begin at 7.30pm. Membership of the Welshpool Music Club costs £40 (£5 student), and tickets for individual concerts are available at £10 adult and £2 student.
See https:// welshpoolmusicclub. com/ for more information about the club’s programme.