Tag: Live
-
King’s X: The Return of The Ultimate Cult Band
King’s X, a three piece band from Texas, are hugely influential, have a large and loyal fan base, and last night played a show in London for the first time in six years. They are, perhaps the archetypical Cult Band. But how did they get here? (and I don’t mean “by bus”)… And do they…
-
Steve Hackett Speaks Out About Refugee Crisis
We don’t always turn to the leading lights of progressive music for our daily dose of politics (see: Phil Collins 1997), so it was interesting to hear Steve Hackett’s thoughts on world events last night. This happened mid-way through his set at Southend’s Cliff’s Pavillion, introducing “Behind The Smoke”, the middle-eastern (think Led Zep’s “Kashmir”)…
-
Blondie: Live At The Roundhouse – Review
In 1975, a British rock writer went to see an unsigned band called The Ramones at The Performance Studio as part of a report for the NME in on the burgeoning scene in New York’s CBGB club and the surrounding area. His piece, titled “1975: A Scuzz Odyssey” in the 8 November edition of NME…
-
Kasabian Return With New Album and Rip-Roaring Live Show
Tonight is a Tuesday. Kasabian’s beloved Leicester City are being knocked out of the Champion’s League. It’s surely no coincidence that the band don’t take the stage of Kentish Town’s Forum until seconds after the final whistle… They might be forgiven for being deflated. But the energy from a large crowd in a small venue…
-
Band of Horses: Live at The Troxy
In the midst of Storm Doris last night, Band of Horses braved the wild winds of East London and The Troxy in support of their latest album “Why Are You OK”. Band of Horses are five albums in to their career, so it’s probable you will know all about them, but for those who are…
-
Teenage Fanclub: Live at The Electric Ballroom
It is something of a mystery, akin to that of why men have nipples, as to quite why Teenage Fanclub have not set the world alight in quite the same way as some lesser bands. From the moment Raymond McGinley sold his fridge to pay for the recording costs of their debut single, surely great…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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,…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Why You Should Hear Drenge’s New Album, Undertow
It’s easy to get complacent sometimes. It starts with a War On Drugs album. It has a bit of guitar, you’re a little uncomfortable that it sounds a lot like that Don Henley record from the eighties or Dire Straits, but you let it go. Then you find yourself tuning in to Absolute Radio. You…
-
The Who and Wilko Johnson: Live at The Royal Albert Hall
The Teenage Cancer Trust concerts have become a much loved staple of London’s live scene for over a decade. A week long series of gigs, including one comedy night, curated by Roger Daltrey, all to raise money for an organisation that helps teenagers who have been diagnosed with cancer. The cause is…
-
Josh Tillman is a Rock Star: Father John Misty, Live at the Village Underground, East London
Don’t you just love it when you go to a gig that is so much better than you ever expected it would be? Father John Misty played an incredible show at The Village Underground in Shoreditch last night. Even if they weren’t converts before they arrived, everyone in the audience left a believer in…
-
Which Is The Best White Stripes Live Album? And How Much Does It Cost?
You don’t need to take out a second mortgage to hear the best White Stripes live shows… The Jack White collectables range is getting ever bigger. In the month that Topps announced the release of a Jack White Baseball Card, White was not slow to release his own tour poster for a show in Fenway…
Every record tells a story 