rock
CD: Kings Of Leon - Mechanical BullSaturday, 21 September 2013
I once got quite excited by Kings Of Leon. Way back in 2007 I saw them play at the Astoria, and witnessed a band who appeared to be ready to parlay indie credibility and southern-states rocker charm into a genuinely interesting kind of mainstream... Read more... |
CD: Manic Street Preachers - Rewind the FilmSunday, 15 September 2013
The punchline about angry upstarts journeying to po-faced middle-aged is an easy enough one for a band to make, but over the past few years the Manic Street Preachers have managed something far harder: they’ve started to make good records again.... Read more... |
Eels, Shepherd's Bush EmpireSunday, 08 September 2013
The last time Mr E toured these shores he looked as if he might be heralding the end of the world. Dressed all in white with a Moses beard and gangsta bandana, his songs were about inner struggle and personal redemption. Between songs he remained... Read more... |
CD: Arctic Monkeys - AMSaturday, 07 September 2013
There’s something about the Arctic Monkeys that calls to mind the Rolling Stones. Not now, obviously - it might feel like it’s been forever since four messy hairdos and northern accents burst out of Sheffield, though in truth it’s only been about a... Read more... |
Prom 40: 6 Music Prom, The Stranglers, Laura Marling, London SinfoniettaTuesday, 13 August 2013
“That was a bit of a dog’s breakfast,” said the guy in the row behind. Yes, but then the said canine repast can also no doubt be nutritious and delicious, for dogs anyway. The most dogs-breakfasty (in the bad sense) moment was right at the end, when... Read more... |
CD: Johnny Borrell - Borrell 1Saturday, 27 July 2013
Is the former Razorlight singer Johnny Borrell really the arse that many music fans seem to think? After his debut solo album was announced, the hubris of titles like “Pan-European Supermodel Song (Oh! Gina)” prompted a fresh round of ridicule. JB... Read more... |
Imagine... Rod Stewart: Can't Stop Me Now, BBC OneWednesday, 10 July 2013
Rod Stewart isn't cool and he doesn't care. He made a complete pillock of himself with the likes of "Hot Legs" and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?", but they were some of his biggest-ever hits. He plunged gleefully into the WAGS-and-riches fantasyland of Los... Read more... |
CD: Benin City - Fires in the ParkSunday, 07 July 2013
This is not an easy record to get a handle on. When I first got it, I bounced through a couple of tracks idly, and it felt like it was coming from the messy genre fusions of the mid-90s – somewhere between trip-hop, indie-dance, rap-rock and mildly... Read more... |
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Hard Rock Calling, Olympic ParkMonday, 01 July 2013
"Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park" is a wonderfully grand name for the venue for this summer's Hard Rock Calling festival, but the reality doesn't quite match up. Rather than basking in the glory (and shiny new stadium architecture) of Mo and Jessica's... Read more... |
CD: Deap Vally - SistronixSunday, 23 June 2013
It is unfortunate that those who hate Deap Vally find it way easier to articulate why than those who love them. There’s little new in the bluesy, garage-rock riffs that pose and swagger their way through debut album Sistronix, and it’s not as if -... Read more... |
Iggy and The Stooges, Royal Festival HallFriday, 21 June 2013
Having witnessed Neil Young’s shambolic O2 concert on Monday – Young treating the occasional venture into his back catalogue with listless contempt whilst serving up multiple banalities from his recent albums – I considered skipping seeing more... Read more... |
Neil Young and Crazy Horse, O2 ArenaTuesday, 18 June 2013
"Don't say it's over," wailed Neil Young at the end of "Hey Hey, My My", his raging anthem against the dying of the light which still sounds as bellicose and cantankerous as it did in 1979. And happily it isn't over yet, because on this evidence the... Read more... |
