Fascinating Aida's mix of songs and humour will woo audience to live show in Derbyshire

Founder member Dillie Keane gave an insight into what is in store for the audience when the musical trio visit Chesterfield’s Winding Wheel on May 12, 2022.

Dillie said: “You can usually expect to hear mention of current news or ongoing scandals.

"People love our use of language which is, though I say it myself, complex and rich and, yes, occasionally enchantingly smutty. It’s absolutely joyous when you produce an unexpected and possibly smutty image.

"I was born in Portsmouth and I blame my rudeness on the sailors I frolicked with in my girlhood.”

Since the trio’s formation nearly four decades ago, Fascinating Aida have racked up three Olivier Award nominations and more than 25 million YouTube and Facebook hits for their song Cheap Flights and their incredibly rude Christmas composition.

The trio comprising Dillie, Adèle Anderson and Liza Pulman has adopted a more collaborative approach to songwriting over the years. Dillie said: “We attack very big subjects which can take days and days of research and discussion until we find out how to write about it. The Ofsted song took about three weeks to write, our new song about Wokeness took days of thinking and discussion.”

And Dillie still gets a buzz from doing live shows. “The day I stop touring will be a bad bad BAD day. One night stand touring is a dream, because you’re never anywhere long enough to get bored. I adore being home and love my garden… but I’m fatally restless.”

Lockdown robbed Fascinating Aida of 13 dates from their 2020 tour and the cancellation of three more full tours. Dillie said: “I didn’t miss performing nearly as much as I missed seeing shows and going to galleries. That, for me, was a special kind of purgatory – to be denied the joy of inputting culture. My brother-in-law died, and my great friend and co-producer died. And then our labrador died. So I was very sad, grew vegetables and listened to a lot of books. I sent a message to Timothy West to tell him he’d got me through lockdown – I listened to him reading 13 novels of Anthony Trollope. Utterly wonderful.”

Dillie’s musical idol is Randy Newman, whose songs she has listened to for 50 years. She said: “I have finally come round to the greatness of Dylan - his voice annoyed me for ever, and now he sounds like the voice of God. I listen to a lot of country music, French chanson and German stuff. I love Georgette Dee, such a rich voice.”

Fascinating Aida’s show at the Winding Wheel is suitable for 14+ years.

Tickets cost £28.50 (full) and £26.50. Go to www.chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk or call 01246 345222.

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