Gladiator star Russell Crowe to sing with band in Inverness this summer

He was named Rome’s Ambassador to the world in 2022, awarded as a Global Icon by GQ magazine, but he was also barred entry from a suburban Japanese restaurant in Melbourne for not wearing the correct attire, on a Friday, at lunchtime, in 37° heat. Whether he’s telling the story, or people are telling a story about him, life’s always interesting if you’re Russell Crowe.   In July 2024, he’s playing music and bringing his Indoor Garden Party back to the UK and Ireland for the first time since 2017. An “Indoor Garden Party” is, he says “an event, a band, a happening. It’s fluid. The personnel changes, but it’s always big. It’s like a festival where I gather people I admire, musicians and storytellers, and we put on a show.”   The concept started in 2009 in a pub outside London owned by the chat show presenter, Michael Parkinson, and it has kept going in a haphazard, ad-lib way ever since. With this configuration, Crowe brings to the foreground The Gentlemen Barbers, the band he has been quietly tinkering with for the last four years.   “There’s an attitude about this band. It’s got a groove. We do a lot of story songs, but we also know we are here to blow out the cobwebs and give the audience a good night” Russell adds.   Grabbing time between the shoots of films like Unhinged, Thor: Love & Thunder, The Greatest Beer Run and The Pope’s Exorcist, the band have been gathering, sometimes for weeks at a time just playing, recording, talking.   The relationships within the band go back 30 years. Dave Kelly (drums) and Stewart Kirwan (trumpet) were members of Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, as well as playing with Crowe in The Ordinary Fear of God, which included Stu Hunter (piano), and in its touring form also included Chris Kamzelas (guitar). James Hazelwood (bass) shares decades-long friendships within the band.   For a night of music and stories, Russell Crowe brings his Indoor Garden Party, featuring his band The Gentlemen Barbers, Lorraine O’Reilly and special guests to Inverness on Friday 26 July. Tickets go on sale Friday 8th March via gigsinscotland.com.

Russell Crowe's Indoor Garden Party Mon 1 July - Dublin Gaiety Theatre, Ireland

Thu 4 July - Warrington Parr Hall, UK

Wed 24 July - London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire, UK

Thu 25 July - Leeds Brudenell Social Club, UK

Fri 26 July - Inverness Eden Court, UK