Jul 05

The Black Keys + The Features @ The O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK – 5th July 2010

The Black Keys I love this time of year. Hot sunny days, long warm nights, shorts and BBQs… And if you’re a music lover or Gig Junkie it means music festivals going off up and down the country every weekend. Of course there’s the biggie, the one every band wants to play – Glastonbury. By far the greatest asset of Glastonbury is it’s sheer power in bringing some of the worlds greatest bands to these shores. And whilst here why not turn one festival appearance into a mini tour and play a small handful of gigs in the few minutes you have spare. Taking this into account means that London, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham get the chance to see alternative Blues / Rock duo ‘The Black Keys’ before embarking on a full US tour.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 27

Ghostfest DAY 2, Leeds University, UK – 27th June 2010

Ghostfest DAY 2 Headliners Gallows stepped onstage 25 minutes late, lapping up the air of anticipation which permeated the room. They dedicated a song to Yorkshire in honour of their headline performance in Leeds, renaming ‘London Is The Reason’ to ‘Yorkshire Is The Reason’ which had the crowd chanting along. They played almost an hour of their trademark sing-along hardcore punk, peppered with Frank Carter’s uninsightful, cheeky and cocky banter.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 26

Ghostfest DAY 1, Leeds University, UK – 26th June 2010

Ghostfest DAY 1 Headliners The Acacia Strain stormed onto the stage with one goal in mind: to make a much noise as possible. As vocalist Vincent Bennett announced ‘We are a very angry fucking band’ they ripped into a sound that epitomised their hatred. The American deathcore band decided they would dedicate a song especially to the UK Hardcore and straight edge scene. The crowd reacted well to the headline act’s aggressive performance.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 16

Keane + The Helio Sequence @ O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK – 16th June 2010

Keane It was much of a surprise when I turned up at the venue to find a crowd of all walks of life and more surprisingly ages at this gig. This band obviously attract the masses so it seems. From the moment the doors opened, the crowds got bigger and bigger... Keane evidently have evolved over the years into a band who have an affinity with everyone. Their radio friendly tunes appealing to all has definatly proved successful for them this evening as I can only assume that ticket sales have been rewarding for them tonight...


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 22

Fuzzbox + [dweeb] @ The O2 Academy2, Birmingham, UK – 22 May 2010

Fuzzbox From scuzzy punk schoolgirls to glossy pop vixens, Fuzzbox crammed a fair amount in to their brief career (just three years from first album ‘Bostin Steve Austin’ to their demise not long after scoring a string of top 30 hits with follow up ‘Big Bang’). In fact I’m struggling to think of many other bands who went through such a rapid change of sound and vision – which might partially explain their disintegration at the height of their powers. I’ve no doubt that, had they carried on, they’d have settled into their own distinctive style and it’s one of pop’s great tragedies (if you can have such a thing) that they didn’t. But dry your tears pop kids. Put down that tatty copy of Smash Hits and bin that scratched to buggery Big Bang CD ‘cos they’re back, back, BACK!


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 16

Dinosaur J. + Built To Spill, O2 Academy1, Birmingham, UK – 16 May 2010

Dinosaur Jr There seems to be a bit of an indie revival going on at the moment. What with Slint marking the release of their landmark album 'Spiderland' last year by playing it live, and with Pavement currently hitting the road, now it's the turn of Built To Spill, who sound eerily like Stephen Malkmus and co, although a three guitar line up gives them a lush edge to their jangly antics, with their Hendrix-esque freakout moments. Frontman Doug Martsch is a low key but steady presence at the microphone, but then the crowd weren't here for flashy.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 16

Bellowhead + Jackie Oates @ Town Hall, Birmingham, UK – 16 May 2010

Bellowhead Having previously thought of 'Folk' as being synonymous with quant country fairs, even in its most modern reinvention a genre that lends itself to being played in a natural setting (such as our very own Moseley folk festival). I was surprised and pleased to learn that a whole weekend devoted to folk, was being held at Birmingham's Town Hall. 'English Originals' a 'mini' folk festival, over a weekend in May featured the likes of folk greats Scott Mathews, Beth Orton and new to the scene Graham Coxon. I went for the Sunday helping, with performances from Jackie Oates and the band they call Bellowhead.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 15

The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble @ Town Hall, Birmingham, UK – 15 May 2010

The Graham Coxon Power Acoustic Ensemble Old Albarn may be the most famous Blur-ite but GC’s been putting out all kinds of good shit over the last decade or so, culminating in 2009’s 'The Spinning Top' – an ambitious concept album that tells one man’s story from birth to death (actually, as Graham pointed out tonight it doesn’t... not really... he just said that in an interview and now it’s all people talk about... and I’ve just gone and compounded this misconception... balls).


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 12

Marina and the Diamonds + Spark @ The Glee Club, Birmingham, UK – 12th May 2010

Marina and the Diamonds I love Marina and her Diamonds (ahem!). She's everything a woman should be... Young, sexy, curves in all the right places, sassy, seemingly intellectual, talented both musically and vocally and generally just awesome! In short - she hot! And any girl that can still look tidy in a Micky Mouse jump suit certainly has that je ne sais qua!


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 11

Florence + The Machine @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK – 11th May 2010

Florence + The Machine Florence casually sauntered on stage suggesting a relaxing gig, but I was wrong. Wearing in a black lacy dress over knickers and vest, she kicked off her shoes quite quickly and built up more and more energy with each song. Banging on a drum at her side and jumping around on stage, the audience were soon eating out of her hand. Her interaction with the audience created a really good atmosphere in the hall, which was just the right size, not allowing the intimacy she created to be lost and not letting her powerful voice overwhelm the room.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 10

The Drums @ The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK – 10 May 2010

The Drums Is too much hype a good thing? According to the NME The Drums are "New York's official coolest new band". Thankfully I had no idea of the hype or the NME statement proclaiming them to be so cool when watching them warm up the Civics crowd prior to the emergence of Florence and her ever-expanding Machine.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 09

Hole + Little Fish + Tiffany Page @ O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK – 9th May 2010

Hole I don’t think I’ve ever been excited about a gig as I have tonight. I’ve idolised Courtney Love since around the age of 15, and now at 27 years old and 6 and a half months pregnant, actually getting to see them play live was just one of those events that I’d resigned myself to believing I’d missed out on forever.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
May 04

The Temper Trap + Sarah Blasko @ O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK – 4th May 2010

The Temper Trap

Over the years there have been quite a mixed bag of bands emerging from Australia. From the great: AC/DC, INXS, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to the truly awful: Ermmm, this includes pretty much anything involving daytime soaps and the talents that soon emerge onto the popular music scene with voices you’d rather forget. Obviously this list excludes Kylie and maybe the other Minogue but has to include Australia’s very own version of the Hoff – Stefan Dennis and who could possibly forget Craig McLachlan?



Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 18

Robyn Hitchcock + Mike Heron and Georgia Seddon @ The O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK – 18 April 2010

Robyn Hitchcock In a world that (quite rightly) holds the psychedelic ramblings of Syd Barrett in such high esteem why the chuff isn’t Robyn Hitchcock much better known and respected? It’s a mystery to me, just like some of his lyrics in fact, but as I’m discovering, that’s part of the charm of a man who has, for over 30 years, seemingly ploughed his own sweet furrow through the musical landscape.


Want to see and read more? Click here
TAGS: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Previous Entries