http://www.gigjunkies.com Live music reviews & photography of your favourite bands and artists by Gig Junkies Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:40:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/roots-manuva-the-hmv-institute-birmingham-uk-30-january-2012/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/roots-manuva-the-hmv-institute-birmingham-uk-30-january-2012/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:13:27 +0000 Bianca http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3870 My Christmas Day Facebook status read "Christmas Present list: A heavily embroidered Maharishi hoodie, lots of cash, 2 bottles of rum, the Nile Rogers autobiography, aftershave I would actually wear and tickets to Roots Manuva”. I certainly did well on the last one, as tonight's show was immense! Over the years I have seen Roots Manuva live many times, and with several different line ups, but tonight ranked up there with one of his finest performances ever. Tonight Rodney Smith was on point, highly refined and most definitely splendid. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/roots-manuva-the-hmv-institute-birmingham-uk-30-january-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/capital-sun-the-tone-thieves-the-chris-whiting-band-the-rainbow-birmingham-uk-28-january-2012/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/capital-sun-the-tone-thieves-the-chris-whiting-band-the-rainbow-birmingham-uk-28-january-2012/#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:00:00 +0000 DB http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3857 Slowly but surely... well, slowly at least... I’m getting back out there into Gigland and tonight was back in my old stomping ground (I attended pretty much every one of the weekly 444 club nights there a few years back), The Rainbow, which always manages to seem both further away from ‘town’ and closer to it at the same time. I reckon they keep moving it to avoid sniffy post-yuppie types moaning about all the noise it doesn’t make any more after they were forced to seal up all of the windows, doors, gaps in the floorboards etc and fit little woolly booties on the local pigeons just in case the sound of their feet on the roof disturbed someone’s ruddy beauty sleep. Gah! Good grief. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/capital-sun-the-tone-thieves-the-chris-whiting-band-the-rainbow-birmingham-uk-28-january-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-maccabees-trailer-trash-tracys-the-hmv-institute-birmingham-uk-27-january-2012/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-maccabees-trailer-trash-tracys-the-hmv-institute-birmingham-uk-27-january-2012/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:40:31 +0000 Bianca http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3875 The Maccabees undoubted panache for celestial teen-angst agendas pureed in swathes of cathedral histrionics, basking in the ghost-light of Tate Modernesque backdrops and Radiohead/Soft Cell James Joyce dreams of sub-consciousness had to be forsaken. And they continued to get ever better Tweets tell. A sublimely good-natured, capacity Institute crowd were clearly convinced. Many thanks to Susie & Morad for review passes. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-maccabees-trailer-trash-tracys-the-hmv-institute-birmingham-uk-27-january-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-magic-tombolinos-the-hare-and-hounds-from-world-unlimited-promotions-birmingham-uk-25-january-2012/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-magic-tombolinos-the-hare-and-hounds-from-world-unlimited-promotions-birmingham-uk-25-january-2012/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:03:34 +0000 Bianca http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3852 Ensemble troubadours, The Magic Tombolinos*, led by founder, vocals and stax of sax, Alejandro Toledo, brought their celebratory eclectic mongrel mash up genre-busting, idiom defying music to The Hare this evening. And what fun it was and full on credit to promoters, ‘World Unlimited’ for their ever valiant, non-profit making ethos of lending deserved support for all manner of diverse artists. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-magic-tombolinos-the-hare-and-hounds-from-world-unlimited-promotions-birmingham-uk-25-january-2012/feed/ 0 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-dirty-old-folkers-panto-sylvia-ola-brown-compere-the-hare-and-hounds-birmingham-uk-22-december-2011/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-dirty-old-folkers-panto-sylvia-ola-brown-compere-the-hare-and-hounds-birmingham-uk-22-december-2011/#comments Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:00:10 +0000 DB http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3840 Well, nearly there. The turkey’s already on, the mulled wine’s bubbling away and Bad Santa’s in the DVD player. Bliss. Just before I attempt to consume my own body weight in stuffing however time for one last review...almost literally given the sheer insanity on offer this evening. The night kicked off with local folk collective, Sylvia, who endeared themselves to my heart simply by covering Frankie’s Power Of Love track, not a traditional Christmas classic I’ll grant you but for people of a certain age (i.e. ancient) always associated with this time of the year. Covers aside they’ve got some fine self penned tracks too, with gentle harmonies giving way to slightly rockier riffs. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/the-dirty-old-folkers-panto-sylvia-ola-brown-compere-the-hare-and-hounds-birmingham-uk-22-december-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/one-direction-the-civic-hall-wolverhampton-uk-21st-december-2011/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/one-direction-the-civic-hall-wolverhampton-uk-21st-december-2011/#comments Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:12:13 +0000 Bianca http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3847 Have we got a Christmas treat for you...? We got to photograph the the boy-band of the moment One Direction in Wolverhampton at the Civic Hall. We hope you enjoy the photos of Niall, Zayn, Liam, Harry and Louis, and would love to hear what you thought of the shows. Tweet @GigJunkies and we'll post the best ones, right here alongside the photos... ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/one-direction-the-civic-hall-wolverhampton-uk-21st-december-2011/feed/ 1 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/circulus-the-burdock-band-the-moseley-all-services-club-birmingham-uk-16-december-2011/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/circulus-the-burdock-band-the-moseley-all-services-club-birmingham-uk-16-december-2011/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:00:19 +0000 DB http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3832 So where do you stand on the whole ceilidh thing then eh? I guess that might depend on how many glasses of egg nog / Christmas ale you’ve consumed. For the uninitiated a ceilidh’s a bit of a knees up, involving a bit of the old folk dancing thing (you know, all that taking your partners by the hand dosey-doe business). Whilst some folk are born to dance others aren’t, but at least folk dancing offers those of us with a complete lack of rhythm the chance to get on down whilst looking marginally less stoopid than we normally do, mainly because everyone else is too busy flailing around merrily to notice that you’ve just tripped over your feet/the floor/thin air... again. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/circulus-the-burdock-band-the-moseley-all-services-club-birmingham-uk-16-december-2011/feed/ 2 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/kasabian-miles-kane-the-nia-birmingham-uk-6th-december-2011/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/kasabian-miles-kane-the-nia-birmingham-uk-6th-december-2011/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 23:30:01 +0000 Bianca http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3818 December is a great time for going to a gig. Christmas is a coming, everyones in the mood for a party, the beers are flowing and if you're going to see the right band then you're in for a belter. So that poses the question... Were Kasabian the right band, to whip the crowd into a frenzy, to get everyone singing in response to the front mans instruction and generally get things rocking? Abso-blummin-lutely!!! There's no-one better. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/kasabian-miles-kane-the-nia-birmingham-uk-6th-december-2011/feed/ 5 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/goodnight-lenin-paul-murphy-birmingham-cathedral-uk-3-december-2011/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/goodnight-lenin-paul-murphy-birmingham-cathedral-uk-3-december-2011/#comments Sat, 03 Dec 2011 20:00:46 +0000 DB http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3788 Ho ho ho Merry Christmas... what’s Santa got in his sack? Why... it’s Paul Murphy and Goodnight Lenin! Ho ho ho! Yes, it’s that time of the year again, time for the second annual Goodnight Lenin Christmas gig thingy, this year held in the rather lovely Birmingham Cathedral, duly decked out for the festive season with all the good taste you’d expect from the big man and his disciples. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/goodnight-lenin-paul-murphy-birmingham-cathedral-uk-3-december-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/twin-atlantic-dinosaur-pile-up-arcane-roots-o2-academy-2-birmingham-uk-december-2011/ http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/twin-atlantic-dinosaur-pile-up-arcane-roots-o2-academy-2-birmingham-uk-december-2011/#comments Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:03:20 +0000 Bianca http://www.gigjunkies.com/?p=3798 It's a Friday gig at the 02 Academy 2 Birmingham, so it's an unusually early start to see a bunch of new rock kids on the block. Back after a pretty successful few months, to round of their year, it's time to bounce along with Twin Atlantic. ]]> http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/twin-atlantic-dinosaur-pile-up-arcane-roots-o2-academy-2-birmingham-uk-december-2011/feed/ 1