Looking for something fun and different for the weekend and into next week?
here's our guide to the best shows in Oxford and around over the next few days
1. Tribute band
THE ILLEGAL EAGLES
New Theatre Oxford
Tonight (Friday)
atgtickets.com
The world’s official no.1 tribute to the country rock heroes return with more vocals, tight harmonies and guitar riffs dedicated to Don Henley’s gang.
The Illegal Eagles are internationally renowned for their uncanny ability to recreate the Eagles’ distinctive sound with flare and authenticity.
Their latest production delivers all of the Eagles’ classic hits including Hotel California, Take it to the Limit, Life in the Fast Lane, Take It Easy, Lyin’ Eyes, and Desperado.
2. Alternative-rock
SHE DREW THE GUN
The Bullingdon, Oxford
Tonight (Friday)
wegottickets.com
Dreamy and psychedelic Wirral four-piece She Drew The Gun call in at The Bully tomorrow for a night of trippy pop-rock.
They come armed with new single Something For The Pain, taken from second album Revolution Of Mind.
“The song is about a conversation with a refugee set in the future,” says frontwoman Louisa Roach. “At the point where the refugee crisis has become so big and automation so ubiquitous, that what is left of the first world finally make the decision to become a people rather than profit based society, one that treats everybody as citizens giving them their basic needs.”
The album was produced at Liverpool’s Parr Street Studios by The Coral’s James Skelly – who funnily enough hit Cowley Road themselves on Saturday.
3. Local talent
UPRISING: DESERT STORM
O2 Academy Oxford
Tonight (Friday)
ticketmaster.co.uk
BBC Music Introducing present their latest Uprising night showcasing the cream of local talent. This one features the mighty Desert Storm along with I Cried Wolf, Lastelle, Drore and Junk Whale.
4. Funny man
JUST LIKE THAT: THE TOMMY COOPER SHOW
Didcot’s Cornerstone
Tonight (Friday)
cornerstone-arts.org 01235 515144
John Hewer portrays the funnyman in a show which played Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the summer to great acclaim - a love letter to Tommy Cooper sealed with a loving kiss, full of lunacy and deep belly laughs.
5. Indie-rock
THE CORAL
O2 Academy Oxford
Saturday
ticketmaster.co.uk
Jangly Liverpool space-rockers The Coral bring their feelgood updated melodic Merseybeat rock to the O2 Academy to promote acclaimed new album Move Through The Dawn. Support comes from Cut Glass Kings and Marvin Powell, both signed to their Skeleton Key record label.
6. Folk
MEGAN HENWOOD & FINDLAY NAPIER
Holywell Music Room, Oxford
Saturday
holywellmusicandfolk.co.uk
Oxford’s award-winning singer songwriter Megan Henwood teams up with Scottish troubadour Findlay Napier for this gorgeous-sounding show at the Holywell Music Room.
The gig will see each artist perform their own solo sets before coming together as a duo to play songs from their joint EP The Story Song Scientist, out on March 15.
Read more: Megan's real life stories make for captivating songs
7. Stand-up
RICH HALL AND HIS HOEDOWN BAND
Saturday
01865 305305
oxfordplayhouse.com
Never has there been a better time to be an American comedian in the UK. Hall’s precise dismantling of the tenuous relationship between the two countries is as freewheeling and deadly accurate as ever.
This Hoedown tour begins as a withering dissection of Trump’s America and all of its twists and turns, but ends up in a celebration of Americana. There’s stand-up, improvised ballads, cracking good musicianship, and ultimately a hilarious, foot-stomping good time to be had by all. Even if you don’t own a hoe.
Read more: Grouchy Rich Hall is a man of principle
8. Showstopper
LIZA PULMAN SINGS STREISAND
The Theatre, chipping Norton
Saturday
chippingnortontheatre.co.uk
Fascinating Aida’s Liza Pulman drops into little old Chippy for a night of Barbra Streisand tunes ahead of a run at The Lyric Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in London’s West End next year.
She brings not only her exceptional voice and compelling storytelling, but her own personal slant on Streisand’s life and music, making it a must see for fans.
Trivia lovers may be interested to learn that Liza is the daughter of screenwriter Jack Pulman (I Claudius and War and Peace) and actress Barbara Young (Last Of The Summer Wine and Coronation Street), and previously starred alongside Michael Ball in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at The London Palladium and alongside Philip Schofield in Doctor Dolittle.
9. World premiere
MILES JUPP : THE LIFE I LEAD
Oxford Playhouse
Tuesday and Wednesday
01865 305305
oxfordplayhouse.com
One of Britain’s leading stand-up comedians and actors brings David Tomlinson’s remarkable story to life.
Best known for playing Mr Banks in Disney’s classic film Mary Poppins and Professor Emelius Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the British actor was renowned for playing the classic English gent.
His meeting with Walt Disney came to encapsulate his incredible life of adventure and heartbreak. As a Second World War fighter pilot, he then suffered huge heartbreak with the tragic death of his first wife, and his fight to have his son Willie recognised as one of the first British cases of autism.
His own father – a remote eccentric, was also hiding an extraordinary tragicomic secret. A comic and moving tale of fathers and sons across the generations which fills in the blanks behind a very well-known face.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here