Outfit So what’s the state of music like in 2012 then eh? Discuss. I guess to a certain extent it depends on your age. Try as you might it’s impossible to resist the lure of the stuff that appealed to you during those formative years (13-18) and as you grow older you’re actually legally obliged to start moaning about whatever’s in the charts. The truth is that there’s a lot of crap around right now... but then again there always was. It’s only years later with the benefit of distance that we’re able to conveniently filter out the rubbish and bask in the warm glow of the good stuff. I mention all this because tonight’s gig was a perfect example of that ‘good stuff’ featuring a trio of bands that might well be operating under the radar right now but who each prove that, for all the musical effluent out there, 2012 has plenty to offer.


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The Black Keys The packed Apollo crowd of 3,500 revellers were lapping it up. From the minute they kicked off with 'Howling for You' through to the oh so catchy ‘Gold on the Ceiling’ the crowd went bonkers. ‘Little Black Submarine’ with its beautiful vocal melody and mesmerising guitar solo, was most definitely the live performance highlight from the new album.


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Capital Sun 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.


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The Maccabees 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.


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The Magic Tombolinos 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.


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Dirty Old Folkers 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.


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Circulus 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.


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Kasabian 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.


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Goodnight Lenin 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.


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Twin Atlantic 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.


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Yellowcard It's been over five years since Yellowcard last headlined in the UK, and this short tour - just four dates across England and Scotland - marks a welcome return since the band reformed in late 2010. Despite such a long absence, their fans clearly haven't forgotten about them, and the small Library venue was packed to the rafters.


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Dimmu Borgir An evening with Dimmu Borgir, and what an evening it was! The Norwegian symphonic black metal band, graced England for their nationwide tour, which is a rare occasion indeed for this band. The tour marked a rare opportunity to hear their album in its entirety, live 14 years after the release and it was one that neither I, or the rest of the fans tightly packed into the Academy 2 (Birmingham) wanted to miss. Nosiree!


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Lana Del Rey Predictably this gig was so sold out that I wouldn’t have been surprised if Lana herself hadn’t got in. Simply the hottest ticket in town.


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Red Hot Chili Peppers We're lucky fellows at Gig Junkies. We got to photograph the incredible Red Hot Chili Peppers in Sheffield at the Motorpoint Arena. We hope you enjoy the photos and would love to hear what you thought of the shows. Click here to get in touch and we'll post the best ones, right here alongside the photos...


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