Tag: London
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Beck Pays Warm Tribute To Taylor Hawkins At Intimate London Acoustic Show
Beck paid a warm tribute to Taylor Hawkins at an intimate London show last night, while delivering a masterclass, digging out deep cuts from his three-decade-long career. In the U.K. to watch the Taylor Hawkins tribute show at Wembley, Beck appeared relaxed having decided to play a last minute acoustic show. Playing on rented guitars […]
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ABBA – Voyage – “Live” Review from a London’s ABBA Arena
You only had to be at the Genesis farewell concerts earlier this year to wonder about the future of rock music. The O2 Arena looked on as Phil Collins, stymied by age and illness, gamely sung their greatest hits sitting in a chair and moving to the stage with the aid of a walking stick, […]
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WH Lung: Live at the Scala
With everyone having been stuck indoors for a year and a half, might WH Lung just be the band we need right now as we emerge, blinking, into civilisation once again…? Naming your band after a Chinese supermarket; Featuring a lead singer who dances like the guy from Future Islands crossed with Bez, only more […]
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Fantastic Beats And Where To Find Them: A Guide To London’s Independent Record Shops
London may have its downsides: traffic jams, crowds, the £10 gin and tonic, but it also has sixty-odd places to buy records. Sixty-odd reasons to put up with the stresses and strains of life in the capital. Even with a backdrop of retail woes (British Retail Consortium figures show consumer spending fell more sharply last […]
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Yes Overcome Sparse Crowd at Stone Free Festival, O2 Arena
It was the climax of the Stone Free Festival at the O2 Arena, and the 20,000 seater was less than a third full. Perhaps a reflection of the bill which veered from Supertramp to Megadeth but stuck to a “classic rock” brief, but perhaps just a reflection of the popularity of Fathers Day and a […]
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Belle and Sebastian in Health and Safety Regulation Flaunting Shock: Live at the Troxy
Stuart Murdoch walked out intrepidly into the crowd last night during “Dear Catastrophe Waitress”. It’s a Belle and Sebastian crowd, so it’s a friendly, unthreatening and relaxed crowd, more likely to offer him a Tunnock’s Wafer than trouble. But then Murdoch ascended the Art Deco stair case and climbed over the safety railing right at […]
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Gaz Coombs Unveils Songs From New Album At ULU
It has been quite a journey since Gaz Coombs began his rock career as the teenage lead singer of…. The Jennifers. Signed to Nude Records in 1991 – the contract signed by his mum as he was too young – The Jennifers tilted a vain lance towards stardom, but their songs, with titles such as […]
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Fleet Foxes Swap Columbia University for Brixton Academy
Seattle. Early 2000’s. Robin Pecknold meets Skyler Skjelset at school and they bond over a love of Mike Wilson, Bob Dylan and Neil Young. They form a band, and give it a quirky name that people will remember and could lead them to greatness. The Pineapples are born. Thankfully they realise that’s a terrible name […]
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Queens of the Stone Age – Live In London
Josh Homme has come a long way since his formative teenage years when his band, Sons of Kyuss, filled the hot, star-filled Palm Desert sky with cacophonous noise, bonfire smoke and teenage attitude, playing gear powered by generators to a seething crowd of bored desert kids. A far cry from tonight, where Josh Homme has […]
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Beck Pays Tribute To Tom Petty With Cover of American Girl: Live at The Electric Ballroom
A new album by Beck is something to be celebrated, and the man himself has been in London all week to promote the new LP “Colors”, an upbeat, shiny, modern pop record, a million miles removed from its predecessor, the gorgeous but melancholy “Morning Phase”. Even better, Beck and his band eschewed the chance to […]
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Ty Segall: Live at The Coronet, London.
Gentrification. “The process of renovating and improving something so that it conforms to middle-class taste”. Or “the process of making a person or activity more refined or polite”. Last night, the thankfully ungentrified Ty Segall and his ungentrified band played the equally ungentrified Elephant and Castle, at The Coronet, a South London Art Deco-styled venue […]
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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 […]
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Depeche Mode: Live in London – Review
Their biggest ever show. 80,000 fans. It’s a far cry from their humble origins. Leaving school in 1979, Martin Gore worked as a bank clerk for Nat West in Fenchurch Street, saving the money he earned to buy a Yamaha synth. He joined a band featuring Andy Fletcher, an insurance clerk for Sun Life, and […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
Every record tells a story 