What’s On: Keith James. Forest Arts, New Milton

THE music of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Cat Stevens, will be celebrated when much-loved solo performer Keith James returns to New Milton’s Forest Arts this Saturday (2nd November).

A venue favourite, who has played at Forest Arts many times during his five-decade career, Keith is back with a new show combining the best of everything audiences have seen him perform so far.

Keith’s passionate solo performances have seen him visit just about every theatre and arts centre in the UK as well as venues in Spain, Italy, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. In concert, Keith is a unique and delicate performer, specialising in re-interpreting the music of writers for whom he has embraced a deep, lifelong, heartfelt love.

These concerts, along with a 10-year sidestep during the 1990s as a record producer, have sustained Keith as an independent musician since his initial wine bar circuit, which began in 1974.

Included in this concert will be many stand-out songs from his vast back catalogue: Nick Drake’s Northern Sky, Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, Cat Steven’s Moonshadow and Lorca’s El Mascaron, as well as many of Keith’s own songs which have found their place on his albums across the decades.

Keith has performed more than 2,000 concerts in the UK and across Europe and has released 14 albums.

This concert celebrates Keith’s 50 years in music and spans an entire year of 85 concerts in a tour running through to July 2025.

See Keith at Forest Arts on Saturday 2nd November. Tickets are £18.50. For more information and bookings visit www.forest-arts.co.uk or call the box office on 01425 619983.