LIVE REVIEWS
Kasabian/Chase & Status
Indie interview fact #352: when asked about their career ambitions, nine out of 10 bands will mumble and reply that they “just want to keep on making music”. Whether through humble self-deprecation, an all-too-sensible awareness of reality or...
Manic Street Preachers
What would the proverbial alien/person who has been living under a rock make of this spectacle, you wonder? Stage left there’s this lanky guy in a skirt/hooded top combo, with knee-protectors, make-up and a nice line in scissor kicks and...
Coldplay, Alan Partridge, Rob Brydon, Tinie...
Chris Martin tells Alan Partridge to fuck off. Rob Brydon fronts Coldplay , singing ‘ White Christmas ’ in the voice of Tom Jones . And, at several points, everybody’s wrists light up in rainbow neon colours and make The O2 look like...
Live Review: Lana Del Rey
So the Scala gig comes and goes, giving the UK’s media their chance to experience this quite preposterously talked about singer ‘in the flesh’, so they can ascertain whether or not a) she is ‘authentic’ and b) she has another song in the...
Live Review: Azealia Banks
“ I was about to give more of a show than I came over here for, know what I’m sayin’? ” smirks Azealia Banks , clutching her red-and-white striped bustier to her chest. It’s teatime on Sunday, and Azealia’s clothes appear to be...
Live Review: Hurts
Twenty-one months ago, Hurts played their debut UK gig, in tiny St Philip’s Church in Salford, attended by a smattering of curious journos and industry folk. Now look at them, playing the final show of the ‘ Happiness ’ world tour at a...
Live Review: Jay-Z And Kanye West
The problem with supergroups is that they are, almost by definition, a breeding ground for complacency. When you’ve realised virtually all of your musical goals and become used to fame and adulation, summoning the will to earn it all again is...
Live Review: Noel Gallagher
Anyone walking in four songs late to Noel Gallagher ’s debut show with his High Flying Birds could be forgiven for thinking it had all gone the same way as United in the Manchester derby hours earlier. “ That is piss poor, that is ” he...
Live Review: Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls
The glorious rise and rise of Frank Turner has been such a heartening climb that only the meanest of indie fans could take umbrage against the good man and his trusty acoustic steed. And, brilliantly, it ain’t over yet. A pair of monumental...
Live Review: Bestival
With 55,000 folk in annual attendance, Bestival is undoubtedly one of the biggest draws of the UK festival season yet, this year, it’s also one of the strangest. In a summer where curators have resolutely played it safe, Rob da Bank ’s...
