Wilby - Just the Tonic, Tron Bar, Edinburgh, 24/8/2011
by John Clarkson
published: 28 / 8 / 2011

intro
John Clarkson finds much to enjoy in comedian Rosie Wilby's self-deprecating new show, 'Rosie's Pop Diary', which tells of her time in the Brit Pop years trying and ultimately failing to make a success as a singer-songwriter
Rosie Wilby spent the 1990s working in music as both a journalist and a singer-songwriter. The Lancashire-born, London-based Wilby abandoned writing songs for stand-up comedy in 2004. Her new show, 'Rosie's Pop Diary', which she brought to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for three weeks, takes its name from a column she wrote for the long defunct magazine, 'Making Music', between 1996 and 2001. It is an anecdotal account of her life in her twenties in the Brit Pop years during which she tried and ultimately failed to make a success of her band and then, after the other members left, eventual solo project, Wilby. The amiable Wilby's humour is largely self-deprecating, and certainly very funny as the confessed "big gay" looks back with obvious great affection on some of her loves of her era. There is a hilarious tale in which Wilby, whose songwriting was largely melancholic, recounts how she was invited to perform some of her songs at the wedding of a girl whom she had a massive crush on. In another equally tragicomic story, she describes how her and her shaker-playing girlfriend's flat burnt down and their clothes were destroyed two days before the launch gig for her only album, 'Precious Hours, 'at the fashionable Camden Monarch. These stories are peppered with personal slides and photos from the time, including an unlikely promotional photo of her dressed like a wannabe lad's mag favourite in a fur coat and bra. Wilby also, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, plays several of the songs from her song book. Stripped of the lush arrangements of 'Precious Hours', which came out in 2000, tracks such as 'This Time', 'You Amaze Me', 'I Want You' and her final single 'Reward' still carry a punch, and her soaring vocals have a wistful, but earthy beauty. As funny as she is, 'Rosie's Pop Diary' serves also as a long overdue reminder of what a neglected musical talent Rosie Wilby was.
Band Links:-
http://www.rosiewilby.com
interviews |
Interview (2002) |
![]() |
Rosie Wilby is unique – not just because she is a renaissance-woman media mogul in the making – but also because she is astonishingly patient and empathetic for a woman who seems to have more ‘hats’ |
profiles |
Profile (2014) |
![]() |
John Clarkson reflects on musician-turned-comedian Rosie Wilby's new stand-up show, 'Nineties Woman' |
reviews |
Precious Hours (2001) |
At a first glance, the front cover photograph of ‘Precious Hours’, the new album by Wilby, seems both conventional and also relatively unassuming. It shows a thoughtful young woman walking up the isla |
most viewed articles
current edition
Peter Doherty - Blackheath Halls, Blackheath and Palace Halls, Watford, 18/3/2025 and 21/3/2025Armory Show - Interview with Richard Jobson
Liz Mitchell - Interview
Lauren Mayberry - Photoscapes
Deb Googe and Cara Tivey - Interview
Max Bianco and the BlueHearts - Troubadour, London, 29/3/2025
Garfunkel and Garfunkel Jr. - Interview
Maarten Schiethart - Vinyl Stories
Clive Langer - Interview
Sukie Smith - Interview
previous editions
Heavenly - P.U.N.K. Girl EPBoomtown Rats - Ten Songs That Made Me Love....
Trudie Myerscough-Harris - Interview
Doris Brendel - Interview
Beautiful South - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Dwina Gibb - Interview
Kay Russell - Interview with Kay Russell
Pulp - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Barrie Barlow - Interview
Sound - Interview with Bi Marshall Part 1
most viewed reviews
current edition
Davey Woodward - Mumbo in the JumboNigel Stonier - Wolf Notes
Wings - Venus and Mars
Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn - Songs For The Trees
Only Child - Holy Ghosts
Neil Campbell - The Turnaround
Philip Jeays - Victoria
Darkness - Dreams On Toast
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
Charles Ellsworth - Cosmic Cannon Fodder
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart