Category: Live Reviews
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A Glastonbury Saturday
By the time Saturday comes at Glastonbury, most festival goers are pretty battle-hardened. Amidst the festivities, the fancy dress and general bonhomie, you begin to notice people who either resemble Vietnam veterans or simply look as though they went for a swim in the mud. But off the beaten track remain lovely areas of calm…
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Glastonbury News: Day One
It was a strange mood that pervaded across Glastonbury yesterday as the overnight referendum news sank in like a heavy boot into the mud. Even rumours of a secret Radiohead performance (still only rumours) weren’t enough to lift spirits. Sir Michael Eavis popped over to cut a ribbon on the Other Stage to open the…
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Neil Young Live at The O2 Arena: A Journey Through The Past
There are two kinds of live artists: those who play the hits, and those who don’t. One of my favourite Neil Young stories is about the time Young played a set of completely new, unheard songs to an audience, then told them “here’s one you’ve heard before” only to then dash their hopes of…
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AC/DC Live at The Olympic Stadium, London: Axl/DC On Song
It was rather an unpopular choice of replacement, and there was much muttering about how things wouldn’t be the same. The longer you do a job, the harder you are to replace. But that’s enough about Top Gear. For a lead singer to be able to replace Brian Johnson, they had to be their own…
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Iggy Pop Live at the Royal Albert Hall: Review of Pop’s Last Stand
Iggy Pop and Josh Homme at the Royal Albert Hall was a top-five-of-all-time kind of gig, and I’m struggling to think of the other four. The merger of Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme with Iggy Pop has produced a result better than anyone might have predicted. In 1995 Josh Homme’s first band, Kyuss,…
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The Raveonettes: Live at The Oval Space
Sometimes it’s hard to know whether you have just witnessed a disappointing performance or a great one… One one hand, last night The Raveonettes played a set consisting solely of songs from their first four (and most successful) albums including “My Tornado” and “Beat City” from their debut release plus a couple of real…
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Operation: Mindcrime – live at Chinnerys, Southend on Sea
The best concept album ever? There’s no contest. *plays the theme tune to Hong Kong Phooey* Is it “The Wall”? No. is it “Tommy”? No. Is it “Operation: Mindcrime” by the mild mannered Queensryche? “….Could be…” I realise that anyone reading this who is unfamiliar with a) Operation Mindcrime b) Queensryche or c) Eighties…
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Chaos and Beauty: The Story of Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev: Live At The Oval Space “Invention….does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.” Mary Shelley. “We just knew (chords) E to A. It was a maelstrom.” Jonathan Donahue, Mercury Rev, last night. It’s funny how the most chaotic of circumstances can give rise to the most beautiful of things.…
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Five Reasons Why You Should See Van Morrison In Concert
Tom Jones and Van Morrison: Live at the O2 Arena According to Sir Thomas Jones Woodward, it was way back in 1965 that he and Sir George Ivan Morrison Jr. first played together in a club called the Starlight Room. Some fifty years later these two Knights of the Realm, with over a hundred years…
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Dave Gahan and Soulsavers – Live at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Soulsavers is perhaps an apt name for Rich Machin and Ian Glover, a couple of former school friends who happen to also be a production duo with a handful of critically acclaimed albums. They do seem to have a habit of collaborating with troubled souls. Their second album, the snappily titled “It’s Not How Far…
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David Gilmour – Live at the Royal Albert Hall
I know that bucket lists are supposed to contain bungee jumps, trips to Pacific Islands and conjugal visits with film stars, but for a good few thousand people last night, seeing David Gilmour play “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” pretty much topped all that. Last night was the second of five dates of David…
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The Strange Journey of Richard Hawley: All Saints, Morrissey and Robbie Williams
It has all been pretty much plain sailing for Richard Hawley, hasn’t it? Two Mercury Prize nominations, a string of gorgeous albums, cameo appearances with Arctic Monkeys, Elbow and Soul Savers…a life free of turbulence and incident? If only. That’s what you might think if you just heard the likes of “I Still Want…
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Sweet Billy Pilgrim At 93 Feet East: Review
It’s a crazy world we live in. For example, egotistical celebrities known for the craziest rants and most bizarre behaviour are filling our TV screens announcing they are running for President of the USA. Crazy. But that’s enough about Donald Trump. More baffling and crazy even than the behaviour of the likes of Trump, Kanye…
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The Replacements Live at The Roundhouse: Review
The Replacements visited the UK for the first time in more than two decades last night to play the first of two dates at The Roundhouse. Reactions to this news vary from uncontained excitement to “er, who?”, so for the uninitiated, here’s what we need to know about The Replacements: Indie-pioneers from Minnesota formed in 1979. Classic…
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Noel Gallagher Joined By Choir At Royal Albert Hall – Review
On last night’s evidence, it looks like we can now quantify how difficult it is to get along with Liam Gallagher, as his brother Noel preferred to play with thirty other people at once – the 23 person strong Crouch End Choir, a three man horn section and four piece band – rather than play…
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