First Call, Last Call

First Call

POP IS a bit of a joke to Alabama 3. After all, they admit to not liking techno in the chorus of one song, but are most often seen performing at dance festivals. Yet the group is more concerned with injecting humour than ejecting people from the dance floor, and has merely swapped electronic beats for live instruments. Dressed in stetson hats and suits, Alabama 3 certainly have an individual image, and fast, eccentric music to match.

Riverside, Newcastle (0191-261 4386) 16 Nov; the Garage, Glasgow (0141- 332 1120) 18 Nov

Last Call

IT'S SMALL wonder that Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus was so successfully adapted for the big screen. After all, it has all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster - scandal, sex and murder. However, this dramatic rendering of Mozart's life is also an exploration of what happens when an ordinary man is suddenly confronted with genius. Davis Suchet (right) plays court composer Antonio Salieri who finds himself usurped by the cocky, young Amadeus Mozart (Michael Sheen).

The Old Vic, Waterloo Road, London SE1 (0171-928 7616) opens 21 Oct