Jun 01

Villagers + John Fell @ The Glee Club, Birmingham, 1 June 2010

Villagers Whilst the name may conjure up an image of a huge band of angry country folk waving pitchforks and burning huge phallic symbols made of straw Villagers is, essentially, just one bloke, Conor J. O’Brien. Attracting gushing reviews for his/their debut album, earning comparisons with such greats as Laughing Lenny Cohen, Elliot Smith and king of the cabin blues Bon Iver, he’s got himself well and truly stuck on the tastemakers ‘ones to watch’ lists. First up tonight though someone who’s in a band that’s well and truly on my own personal ‘ones to watch’ list (smooth link eh...I should be on local news), it’s John Fell from Goodnight Lenin.


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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).


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May 14

Grace and Danger: The Songs of John Martyn @ Town Hall, Birmingham, UK – 14 May 2010

Grace and Danger: The Songs of John Martyn Part of the English Originals Weekend tonight saw a veritable cornucopia (yep, I’ve been reading the dictionary again) of artists pay their own tribute to a man who, in my humble opinion, is hugely underappreciated. Of course John did himself no real favours during his 40 odd year career... what with all the drink and drugs... and more drink... and... oh go on... just a few more drugs. Having his leg lopped off in 2006 probably didn’t help matters either, but the overwhelming feeling that you got after he passed away last year was that John well and truly lived life to the full. Inevitably if you’re going to do that you can expect massive highs and crashing lows and listening to John’s songs it’s clear that’s just what he got. Anger, love, hate, bitterness, regret, joy... he covered pretty much every emotion under the sun and tonight’s gig gave us a chance to see how others manage to interpret what are, often, intensely personal songs.


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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!


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May 07

Rihanna + Pixie Lott @ The LG Arena, Birmingham, UK – 7th May 2010

Rihanna Nothing to do with the performance - that was stunning - but more to the point, the fact that Rihanna didn't come on to the stage till nearly 10pm - almost an hour and a half after Pixie Lott had finished her performance. Now, it didn't really bother me, I had my iPhone to potter about with and there was a LOT of eye candy about, but - and it's a big BUT - the majority of the crowd were young girls, many of whom would be reliant on lifts off beleaguered parents/public transport to get home. I think even superstar Divas have a responsibility to their fans. It could have been a technical fault or she could have been applying another layer of make-up, who knows, but not a word of explanation or apology was uttered from either Rihanna or her management amongst the multitude of boos from the increasingly frustrated crowd as to why it was sooooo late to kick off. Bad form! Rant over!


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Apr 19

Boy George @ The Town Hall, Birmingham, UK – 19 April 2010

Boy George It’s hard to appreciate just what a big deal Boy George was back in the early 80’s. First of all the ‘is he a she debate?’ was, I recall, something of a national obsession, helping to catapult Culture Club into the big time all over the world. Then the drugs took hold and George was all over the papers again, this time literally fighting for life (at one point he was even outed by his own brother who claimed George had just days to live...looking at footage of the time he had a point). In recent years it’s been all about his battles with the law, culminating with what he tonight called his ‘holiday’ at her majesty’s pleasure last year. The fact that he’s arguably better known for all this other stuff right now than he is for his music is a real shame. Strip away the fuck ups (and boy, George has made his fair share) and there’s a lusciously rich vein of classic pop and dance anthems to get stuck into. Tonight, happily, George decided to do just that, covering all bases from early Culture Club through to his early solo stuff on to Jesus Loves You and right up to date with current single ‘Amazing Grace’.


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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.


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Mar 26

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip + B. Dolan + Sound of Rum @ The O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK – 26 March 2010

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip You say ‘rap’ to a lot of people and they still think of some blinged up moron banging on about how much pussy he’s had for breakfast, and I ain’t talking about no Whiskas munching ball of fur here neither. Either that or they’ll single out wannabe gangsters threatening to pop a cap in the ass of anyone who disses ‘em...other rappers, cops, their grandmother etc. Yawn. Happily of course there’s an equally rich seam of artists out there who use the genre in far more positive and creative ways and tonight was jam packed with them.


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Mar 21

Frank Turner + Chuck Ragan + Crazy Arm @ The O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK – 21st March 2010

Frank Turner It’s been a couple of months now since I last spent an evening enjoying the company of Mr Frank Turner and it’s fair to say he’s obviously gone up in the world since his autumn 2009 tour. Back in 2009 I went to see him in Wolverhampton with a couple of songs in my head and a budding interest in the self proclaimed ‘Skinny, half-arsed English country singer’ and his unique brand of folk/punk. Since that show, I’ve become a bona-fide Frank Turner fan, and Sunday’s gig in the more prominent venue of Birmingham’s O2 Academy 1, was absolutely phenomenal!


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Jan 20

Jamie T @ O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK – 20 January 2010

Jamie T A number of things very quickly become apparent at a Jamie T gig. Firstly, he's got a loyal, passionate urban youth following, all of whom seem to know every word to every song. rust me that's a lot of lyrics. Led by their onstage conductor, they sing along with gay abandon, and shout, whoop and holler at all of the key points. LLOOOONNNDDDOOOONNN!!


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Dec 11

Scott Matthews + Jo Hamilton + James Summerfield @ Town Hall, Birmingham – 11 December 2009

Scott Matthews Do you ever wonder why some experiences stay with you for a long time yet others are forgotten the very moment they end? Well I’m still pondering that very question since attending Town Hall, Birmingham to see Scott Matthews play on Sunday night. For me I’d been looking forward to the gig for a while, and yet with some quite high expectations I was niggled; niggled that the live performance might not live up to his two recorded albums ‘Passing Stranger’ and this year’s release ‘Elsewhere’. Or that his live persona would be haunted by comparisons to the likes of Nick Drake and Jeff Buckley.


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Dec 10

Lily Allen @ Trent FM Arena, Nottingham UK – 10 December 2009

Lily Allen Just over a week after Lily appeared on Radio One’s Live Lounge with Sara Cox where Lily announced that she intends to take a year or so off from music and writing. So tonight’s gig/tour has even more excitement around it as we're all wondering how long it will be before we see Lily strutting her stuff on stage again? Despite being a poorly girl (suffering with laryngitis) during her Live lounge performance her voice sounded great tonight, powerful yet sweetly angelic, not a croak was heard.


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Dec 03

Paloma Faith + Josh Weller @ O2 Academy 2, Birmingham UK – 03 December 2009

Paloma Faith Retro pop anyone? Yes, tonight had a distinctly retro feel. Hop in your Tardis (other time travelling devices are available), flash back 30 years or so ago and Josh Weller’s brand of quirky New Wave would be perfectly at home. Hop back in and go back a further 40 years and you can just see Paloma doing her thing in some swanky Manhattan club. Tonight we were in the slightly less swanky (but still rather nice… boy is this an improvement on the ‘old’ Academy) Academy 2 as part of sell out crowd that literally ranged from 6 to 65.


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Nov 11

Just Jack + Ed Sheeran @ The 02 Academy 2, Birmingham UK – 11 November 2009

Just Jack Isn’t it strange how the nights you’re not overly excited about are always the ones that knock you sideways and imprint strong memories that you know will stay with you forever. Well that is exactly what happened at this gig and god I love it when that happens.


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