Ronan Keating struggles with time, space

Simon Price, taking his reviewing duties seriously, plodded down to see Ronan Keating play at the Brighton Centre for the Independent On Sunday:

Brighton Centre, Brighton
Simon Price on pop: Lonely Ronan Keating clings on for grim death

The heading makes it quite clear, this is the Brighton Centre, in Brighton.

The review is fair, albeit unenthusiastic:

One song stands tall: the encore "Life is a Rollercoaster", written by Gregg Alexander of New Radicals, is a life-affirming anthem. Before that, however, Ronan goes into a weird, semi-humorous speech inviting us to meet him "on the pier for fish and chips", or "at the bus stop if I miss the bus". When he gets there, though, he'll be alone.

Ronan Keating - or rather, his "official", blue-ticked account - are fuming:

@nduffy8083 @simon_price01 Simon ya waffler the fish and chips gag was in Brighton so u were obviously not at the O2 tonight ha ha

— Ronan Keating (@ronanofficial) January 27, 2013

As Price points out on Twitter, this is taking "were they even at the same gig as me" to a new height - yes, he's reviewing a different gig to last night's one at the O2. That's why it's headed "Brighton Centre, Brighton".

What's even more interesting is that Ronan's official Twitter, thinking Price was passing off a Brighton review as a London review, doesn't take issue with Simon describing "an embarrassing singalong", the onstage camaraderie between Keating and his band as "fake", or the fanbase as "dwindling". No, it's just worried that a joke about the beach has been relocated to Greenwich.

Cerys: It's over

Further to our comments last week about the difference between the gentle touch of the regional press and ther harder-nosed nationals, having elected to avoid discussing the status of her marriage with the Western Mail, Cerys Matthews blurted the truth to The Independent on Sunday:

So when is Seth going to arrive? The gulls circle overhead. Cerys slumps in her chair and stares at her glass of white wine from behind huge pink wraparound sunglasses. "Well," she says quietly. "I am now divorced."

That's news to me, and I have read everything anyone has written about her recently. This split is not public knowledge, is it? "No, not really. I've not done an interview about it. What am I meant to say?"

The sun seems to have gone in. Judging by her mood we had better brace ourselves for hail stones. I am still going to ask, though, if that's why she's back. Which came first: the split or the decision to return? "Erm," she says slowly, "they both became apparent at the same time."

Even though he's from London, Cole Moreton knows when probing has gone far enough, and moves on himself.