New Music Reviews
Glastonbury Festival 2019: hot as hell and a thousand times as funThursday, 04 July 2019
As ever theartsdesk’s Glastonbury report arrives after all other media coverage. Despite management pressure Caspar Gomez refuses earlier deadlines. He told Editorial, “The press tent is like an office, a place of work, full of laptops and coffee. Who needs that?” His annual saga doesn’t attempt to compete with Tweeted micro-reviews or ever-available BBC iPlayer festival highlights. Read more... |
Janelle Monae, SSE Wembley Arena review - strong in both sound and sentimentThursday, 04 July 2019
Janelle Monae says her show is all about making memories. She tells the crowd: “I hope that I can become a memory for you that you access when you’re feeling down – a memory that’s rooted in love and freedom.” Read more... |
Carrie Underwood, SSE Hydro, Glasgow review - country cliches brought to lifeWednesday, 03 July 2019
“We didn’t come all the way from Nashville, Tennessee with just one fiddle,” says Carrie Underwood, halfway through her Glasgow show. The onetime American Idol turned multiple Grammy award-winning country superstar isn’t one for doing things by halves: hers is a show with a big band, big boots, big earrings and her gigantic, arena-filling voice. Read more... |
The Killers, Cardiff Castle review - The Man arrivesMonday, 01 July 2019
With the fabled fields of Glastonbury on the horizon, The Killers chose the equally mythic Cardiff Castle as their practice run. Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Jambú e os Míticos Sons da AmazôniaSunday, 30 June 2019
Belém’s population is one-and-a-half million. Located 100km south of Brazil’s north coast on the east bank of the Amazon feeder river Pará, it’s the capital of the state sharing its name with the waterway. The city is only 160km south of the equator, an entry point into the rain forest and closer to Trinidad and Tobago than Brazil’s cultural magnet Rio de Janeiro. Read more... |
Joan as Police Woman, Folkestone Quarterhouse review - a living legend excelsFriday, 28 June 2019
This woman is a phenomenon. I’m not the first to write that and I won’t be the last. Yet the vast majority of the population won’t have heard of her. She’s the muso’s muso (BBC Six Music couldn’t lay any more praise at her door) and maybe the crazy name is a bit off-putting. But why isn’t she recognised as she should be? Read more... |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 50: Depeche Mode, Black Midi, Primal Scream, U2, Nazareth, Quantic and moreWednesday, 26 June 2019
So theartsdesk on Vinyl reaches its 50th edition. That’s at least a novels’ worth of words. Maybe two! But we’re not stopping yet. The heat of the summer has arrived but the vinyl deluge hasn’t dried up, so check in for everything from Germanic electro to Scottish Seventies pop-rock to Japanese minyo music reimagined. And much more. All vinyl life is here. Dive in! Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Pink FairiesSunday, 23 June 2019
Like Lemmy, the bassist with their fellow London-based freaks Hawkwind, Pink Fairies crossed the bridge between the late-Sixties underground and the great British punk rock boom of 1977. After being sacked from Hawkwind Lemmy formed the punk-friendly Motörhead, whose debut album was issued in ’77. Their short-stay first guitarist was the Fairies’ Larry Wallis. Read more... |
P!nk, Principality Stadium, Cardiff review - stunning theatrics astoundFriday, 21 June 2019
“I want to be just like P!nk,” a little girl screams as the lights begin to dim and the introductory music grows louder. It’s no wonder this leg of the Beautiful Trauma World Tour sold out in under 15 minutes. The whole stadium is packed full of adoring fans, in a sea of varying shades of pink, visiting from all over the UK and some further afield. Read more... |
Metallica, Twickenham Stadium review - heavy metal titans bring the noiseFriday, 21 June 2019
“You want heavy?” Metallica frontman James Hetfield already knows the answer to that question, and he and his three fellow horsemen of the apocalypse certainly deliver that tonight. This stop on Metallica’s mammoth Worldwired tour is the second of only two UK dates this year – they played an extremely rainy Manchester a few days ago – and they are very pleased to be back. Read more... |
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