Arts diary: Will play for food...

By ANDREW EATON-LEWIS
Published on 22/11/2012 00:00

SINGING in a restaurant is something you tend to associate with cruise ship performers rather than old punk rockers.

On 8 December, though, Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell will be at the Kames Hotel, on the Kyles of Bute, playing an acoustic set followed by a Highland supper, to an audience of just 40 people. Tickets aren’t cheap – £110 – but given that this includes dinner, a cheese board, a bottle of port and a goodie bag, it sounds like a bargain. Email [e-mail] to get one.

Call us middle-aged, but The Diary approves wholeheartedly of this sort of thing – and can see it becoming more popular. As the success of boutique festivals and salon gigs has shown in recent years, there’s a growing demand for more intimate and offbeat gigging experiences – and, as it becomes ever easier to access music for free, an apparent willingness by audiences to spend money that would once have gone on records on a unique live experience. Also, any new way for musicians to earn a living has to be a good thing. Not very punk, you say? John Lydon paid for his last PiL tour by doing a butter advert. Get over it.