Feb 21

Kanye West and Jay-Z Confirm First Dates of European ‘Watch the Throne’ Tour

Kanye West and Jay-Z After the phenomenal success of their chart topping album WATCH THE THRONE, a 35 date sold out, critically acclaimed North American tour and hot on the heels of their huge success at the 2012 Grammy Awards, winning the award for ‘Best Rap Performance’ (for their track ‘Otis’), superstars Kanye West and JAY Z’s collaboration ‘The Throne’ have today announced that they will be bringing the WATCH THE THRONE tour to Europe in 2012. The European leg will visit arenas in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Belgium, Germany and Ireland.


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Feb 18

Outfit + Swim Deep + The Mighty Young @ The Rainbow, Birmingham, UK – 18 February 2012

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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Feb 12

George Barnett and The Ninth Wave @ The Yardbird, Birmingham, UK – 12 February 2012

George Barnett And The Ninth Wave At 6ft 3 (with an unruly mop of curly brown hair adding an extra inch or two) and a ceiling that’s probably not much taller, bouncing up and down might not be the wisest thing to attempt. Somehow the hair’s owner manages to avoid serious brain damage though, even if members of the audience end the set risking their own craniums by quite literally dancing on the tables. Welcome to the world of George Barnett, a 17 year old multi instrumentalist, vocalist and producer recently described by Beardyman as “one talented muthafucka”...and he should know. Given his capacity for playing pretty much every instrument ever invented George (winner of Young Drummer of the Year way back in 2008) and his band take a similarly catholic approach to musical genres, deftly embracing everything from blues rock to piano ballads, ska, boogie woogie...sometimes in the same track. Of course all this could end up sounding like a dog’s dinner, that it doesn’t is down to George’s seemingly instinctive knack for just knowing what works.


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Feb 02

Biohazard + Heights + Lionheart + Dripback @ The HMV Institute, Birmingham – 2nd February 2012

Biohazard With all of the other bands’ gear removed from the stage, it now looks like Biohazard sound: stripped back to the core. With the bare minimum of amps and the drum-kit behind them, Billy Graziadei takes centre-stage for lead vocals; Bobby bounces around stage right, the swirling embodiment of New York hardcore; and while Evan Seinfeld has absconded, new bassist/vocalist Scott Roberts’ towering larger-than-life presence more than fills the space he left behind. With a set that spans their entire career and peppered with a couple of tracks from their latest, ‘Reborn In Defiance’, Biohazard are both cool and powerful in their energetic straight-to-the-point delivery.


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Jan 28

Capital Sun + The Tone Thieves + The Chris Whiting Band @ The Rainbow, Birmingham, UK – 28 January 2012

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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Jan 27

The Maccabees + Trailer Trash Tracys @ The HMV Institute, Birmingham, UK – 27 January 2012

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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Jan 25

The Magic Tombolinos @ The Hare and Hounds from World Unlimited Promotions, Birmingham, UK – 25 January 2012

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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Dec 22

The Dirty Old Folkers Panto + Sylvia + Ola Brown (Compere) @ The Hare and Hounds, Birmingham, UK – 22 December 2011

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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Dec 16

Circulus + The Burdock Band @ the Moseley All Services Club, Birmingham, UK – 16 December 2011

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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Dec 06

Kasabian + Miles Kane @ The NIA, Birmingham, UK – 6th December 2011

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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Dec 03

Goodnight Lenin + Paul Murphy @ Birmingham Cathedral, UK – 3 December 2011

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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Dec 02

Twin Atlantic + Dinosaur Pile-Up + Arcane Roots @ O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK – 2nd December 2011

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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Nov 29

Yellowcard + Saves The Day + The Wonder Years @ HMV Institute, Birmingham, UK – 29 November

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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Nov 26

Dimmu Borgir @ O2 Academy 2, Birmingham, UK – 26 November 2011

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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