Tag: London
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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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Picture This: A Blondie Photographic Exhibition at Somerset House
As someone who thinks that Art is someone who sang with Paul Simon, it is nevertheless enjoyable to walk around the galleries of London and allow some of the good stuff to soak in to the brain, hopefully adding something a little more beneficial than the other things London has to offer at this time…
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Jack White: Live at the O2 Arena
“Ten years ago I was in a band called The White Stripes and we were going to play the O2 Arena, but we had to cancel the tour, so that’s one reason we’re playing here tonight.” The world most important trinket-maker and blues guitarist, Jack White, returned to the UK and London’s O2 Arena last…
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The Black Crowes’ First London Show: The Marquee, 1990
The Marquee Club, London. June 1990. I was there to see a band I had only ever read about, who were on the tiny stage just three feet in front of me, lean as rakes, hungrily playing up a storm on their debut UK show. The band was The Black Crowes and they had released…
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Michael Katon, a UK Tour, Two Letters and a Special Cat
Have you ever written to a musician? What happened? Unless you are currently enjoying supper with Bono, I suspect the answer is “not very much”. Not that I would generally blame the musicians. I’m sure at least sixty percent of all letters to pop stars are written in green crayon and contain uncomfortable adolescent confessions…
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Paul McCartney Plays Covent Garden. Best. Busker. Ever.
Friday lunchtimes don’t get much better than today’s. If it wasn’t enough stopping the traffic on Hollywood Boulevard and Times Square, Paul McCartney decided to add the woes of London’s traffic wardens by parking his great big lorry outside the Punch and Judy Tavern in Covent Garden today. “This is a change from the sixties…
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The Day I Appeared In An AC/DC Video
Ask a teenager now if they would stay up all night to watch TV on the off chance of seeing one of their favourite bands’ music videos and you’ll probably get as baffled a look as the one that Wayne Rooney might give you were you to ask him a tricky question such as “What…
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London Grammar – Strong First Impressions
I had an hour to kill before taking a train and a friend called to say he was going to see a band instore at Rough Trade East and did I want to join him? I said I’ll see what I can do… I’m glad I did too, because the band we saw were London…
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The Clash Pop Up in Berwick St, London
What has London ever done for us? Well, obviously there’s the literature, theatre, drainage system, architecture, trade and transport. That goes without saying… There’s the shopping, the parks, the restaurants, museums, the multi-cultural mix, the vibrant night life – I’ll give you that…* Oh yes – then there was The Clash. I’ll leave it to…
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Drenge – Live at the St Moritz Club, Soho
The St Moritz club is named after a part of the world more normally associated with Swiss efficiency. I don’t approve. To paraphrase Orson Welles, what did 500 years of peace get Switzerland? The cuckoo clock? I can only assume the name for this venue is somewhat ironic, as the St Moritz club, Soho is…
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London’s Rock Venues: Now And Then…
Let me set the scene: 1987. As yuppies carrying brick-sized mobile phones drank Champagne, wearing garish pin-striped suits and highlights in their hair, London enjoyed the benefits of a booming economy as well as its unfortunate side effects. These included a widening gap between the haves and have-nots, and the ghastly sight of yuppies wearing…
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Look Out For…Tom Hickox
I wanted to mention Tom Hickox today. Since I mentioned Tom’s song “The Pretty Pride of Russia” last year, he has secured an opening slot with Richard Hawley, including the latter’s forthcoming Somerset House concert. “The Pretty Pride of Russia” was one of my favourite songs that I heard last year and now Tom has…
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Look Out For…Temples: Live Review
“The best new band in Britain” declared Noel Gallagher about Temples on the recent Russell Brand show on XFM. Gallagher has form with such proclamations, having praised eight of the last three most successful new artists in the UK, including Jake Bugg. But if Noel Gallagher is sometimes profligate with praise, on this occasion…
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The Bowie Bet part 6 – London’s Record Shops
The story so far: I have made a bet that I can buy a full set of Bowie‘s albums (in their original vinyl versions – and in excellent condition with all the inserts) from The Man Who Sold The World to Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). That’s fourteen albums in fourteen days. Total budget: £100.…
Every record tells a story 