Birmingham Evening Mail from Birmingham, West Midlands, England • 11

11 EVENING MAIL THURSDAY JUNE 4 1987 NE SW SE Mystery group joins U2 stars BIG CHANCE FOR PUB BAND By PAUL COLE Mail pop writer A mystery Midlands pub band played the show of their lives guesting with rock superstars U2 in front of 12000 fans The big break came during concert at the National Exhibition Centre last night and stunned the capacity crowd Mid-way through his sensational set U2 singer Bono pulled a young fan from the front of the crowd and invited him to sing When the fan was asked if he was with friends he replied that he was in a band better get the lot up then!" said Bono Three members of the Midlands band got up onstage and joined the group to sing Bob Dylan's Knocking On Heaven's Door After the song they climbed back down into the crowd and vanished in the rush to the car parks after the show came to an end said Bono have to do something special when in Birmingham This place has been like a second home to us over the years remember playing a bar here in Birmingham in our early days There were so few people in the audience that I joined the fans for a drink in the middle of the Better-known faces in the audience included Simple Minds star Jim Kerr Mike Peters singer with The Alarm and Dave Hill U2 return to the NEC for more shows on August 3 and 4 Review Page 15 Bass guitarist Adam Clayton during sellout concert at the NEC Singer Bono: He pulled the Midlands mystery band out of the capacity audience In the name love Another top star announces shock decision Singer takes a year off! EXCLUSIVE By PAUL COLE Rock star Jim Kerr leader of supergroup Simple Minds is to take a year off in a bid to patch up his troubled marriage Scots singer Jim is married to Pretenders pop star Chrissie Hynde but long concert tours have thrown their romance on the rocks Both have been playing world tours with their respective groups seeing each other only briefly when they appear In the same town Speaking exclusively to the Evening Mail during a flying visit to Birmingham Jim revealed his plans to heal the breach "Chrissie and 1 are under great pressure just at the moment and very tough Maybe 12 months off the road will help am going back to Glasgow to be with my family and friends to plan my future incredibly hard to sustain a marriage over long distance "We are both strong personalities and quite a volatile situation a big big pressure and it can really get on top of you Success no magic formula for marriage and I know if we will ever conquer the problems a challenge we have to face up Jim brought his band to Birmingham to celebrate the smash success of his new No 1 hit album Live In The City Of Light As hundreds of fans waited to greet him at the Virgin Megastore in Corporation Street record-breaking news was flashed to the hotel The album has just become the fastest-selling live double LP set in the history of pop beating Midlands supergroup Led long-standing record Kerr meets fans and signs copies of his new record-breaking double album at the Virgin Megastore (top) while outside (bottom) crowds clamour to get a glimpse of the Scots superstar Chrissie Hynde: Pressure on their marriage Mum holding Checkhov at its best Vintage bedroom comedy Not Now Darling Lichfield Players Lichfield Arts Centre row with her boyfriend but when officers arrived she and her boyfriend fled Inside the house officers found a loaded double-barrel shotgun and cannabis Later in interviews Hazell said she had the shotgun to protect herself from the National Front after threats from them Mr Jones told the jury In evidence Hazell said she knew nothing about the gun or cannabis and that they might have been brought into her home by her boyfriend (Proceeding) A Birmingham mother found herself in trouble with the law when she was holding the after her live-in boyfriend fled from police a court heard Defence barrister Mr Christopher Hotten said the was a sawn-off shotgun and about lib of cannabis which had nothing to do with mother-of-four Elaine Hazell He told Birmingham Crown Court: woman was the victim of a man who was prepared to have a shotgun and cannabis in his possession for whatever reasons found herself holding the baby when he ran off and could not be Hazell (31) of Aner-ley Road Kingstanding denies possessing a shotgun with intent to endanger life unlawfully possessing a shotgun possessing cannabis with intent to supply it to others and possessing cannabis Mr David Jones prosecuting said Hazell called police to her home after a domestic Nearly 20 years after taking the West End by storm Not Now Darling can still raise belly laughs The Lichfield Players exact the most from the Cooney and Chapman script and by the end there is a laugh a line The plot concerns the attempts of furrier Gilbert Bod-ley (Phil Shaw) to lure a lady Into his bed with the promise of mink Their spouses are supposed to be out of the way but turn Excellent performances abound Gabrielle Bullock as the mother and Keith Bridgwater as her eccentric brother are a strong partnership in a production which is well served in every role There are comeos of lovely humour from Peter Jones Paul Humphreys Janet Soley and Jos Carr and Charlie Bennett brings a sparkle of roguishness to Lopakhin's ambitions The play continues until Saturday JOHN SLIM The Cherry Orchard Arts Centre Theatre Co Evesham An authoritative and mannered production brings story of the people involved in the last days of a family estate quite beautifully to life A host of characters all emerge as identifiable and individual and the director Sally Swift has achieved a happy mingling of the personalities the politics the laughter and the anguish up at the wrong moments A rollicking pace is set as scantily-clad women are hastily pushed out of sight and the fur begins to fly The biggest laughs fall to Les Gilbert who plays long-suffering partner Audrey Hall and Mandy Davies reveal acting skill and a lot more besides The play runs until Saturday JIM jILATER.