Paul McCartney gave his fans a wonderful early Christmas present with a magnificent gig at The O2 on 5 December. This was the fourth time I’d been lucky enough to see McCartney, and this was easily the best. Macca doesn’t need support artists. Instead, people who took their positions early were treated to a video montage [...]
Reading this story on the BBC website, about Other Lives being hand-picked to support Radiohead, I reflected on some of the support acts I’ve enjoyed in the past. Frightened Rabbit, for example, blew me away at a Gomez concert. And I loved Pure Reason Revolution – whose last gigs I sadly missed this week – [...]
What makes a good cover version? Is it authenticity to the original work, or taking the canvas of the original and painting over it with something entirely different? I think there are good examples of both. Mark Cox, regular commenter on this fine blog, recently introduced me to the mighty fine The Civil Wars. Check [...]
It came, it happened and it already feels like it was a million years ago (OK, it nearly was considering how long it’s taken me to finish writing this blog). However, Glastonbury 2011 was my third favourite Glastonbury. This year, to get things off a novel start, I was convinced to let the bus take [...]
Last Friday, at a Christmas do for a company I used to work for, I was set a monumental challenge: to list my dream lineup for a medium-sized festival (smaller than Glastonbury, but bigger than an arena gig) that was to be watched by millions around the world. There were only two rules (well, these are the [...]
Oh, happy days. I’ve got an Arcade Fire gig on the horizon. Hot off the heels of releasing their excellent new album, The Suburbs, Arcade Fire announced some UK gigs in November/ December. I’ve been lucky enough to snaffle tickets for one of their O2 shows, and I’m thoroughly looking forward to seeing them again [...]
Tonight, listening to a few songs, I was reminded of the unexpected pleasure that was the Magic Numbers bursting into a glorious cover of Neil Young’s Cowgirl in the Sand when I saw them recently at Tapestry Goes West at Shenley Park. There’s been a few times recently, including this one, where I’ve been impressed [...]
Each Glastonbury I go to, I try and see at least one band that I’ve not heard of before. This year, that honour fell to the Avett Brothers. I’d already eyed them up in the programme after they were described as a “folk rolk band from North Carolina who combine bluegrass, punk and pop, and [...]
Long time no speak, loyal reader! I’ve been a tad busy at work since my return to the real world after another fantastic Glastonbury – definitely my second favourite so far – so they’ll be a deluge of Glastonbury-related posts to come in coming weeks. I’ll kick off my recollections of this year’s monumental Glastonbury by mentioning [...]
Ah, it’s nice having something to look forward to. The Glastonbury lineup has been announced – and while there’s not that many acts that take my fancy that I’ve not seen before, it’s still a stellar lineup. U2, Muse, Stevie Wonder, Flaming Lips, Gomez, I Am Kloot, Frightened Rabbit, Grizzly Bear, The Bees, Magic Numbers [...]
Musings on moving moments in music.