Archive for the ‘Live’ Category
Billy Talent – Ian D’Sa
“…So what I am trying to say is that this here is the real shit, this is the real deal.” Ben Kowalewicz is soaked to the skin and grinning from ear to ear. Looking out over the bowels of Camden’s Underworld surveying a devotional sea of faces rammed to the venues rafters that has spent the last hour screaming back every syllable of the bands back catalogue and even, via the onslaught of internet fan frenzy, songs from their latest record, Billy Talent III, which is still over a month from release.
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Hove Festival – Day Two
Hove Backstage by boat
Day two at Hove Festivalen and we kick off the morning with a little exploration of the festival Island and surrounding coast by jumping aboard a gorgeous motor boat and pootering along the coast. Our captain is more than happy to extol the virtues of the surrounding countryside, which is by now revealing itself to be so breathtaking it will undoubtedly be slapped with a government health warning sooner or later. Revelation of the trip though is perhaps that last year the captain played host to those lovely Kooks boys who were such models of British politeness that they left a lasting impression. Good to hear!
Musically the second day of the Hove Festival in Norway opened with exemplary exponents of the new Bergen Wave, The New Wine, who those of you in the know may have seen rammed into the top floor of the Lock Tavern last december or possibly whipping up a frenzy at Komedia stepping into Golden Silvers shoes at The Great Escape. Tonight in their home country they seem like a band where everything has been taken to the next level, commanding the stage with a mature confidence that belies their youth.
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Hove Festivalen – Day 1
Hove's second stage
Blogging for Spoonfed
The 3rd annual Hove Festivalen opened to glorious sunshine on the south Norwegian coast yesterday as 12,000 revelers made the journey to attend the festival that the likes of Jay Z, Franz Ferdinand and the Ting Tings have declared “the best festival on earth”.
Franz Ferdinand headlined the main stage yesterday and treated the crowd to a raucous set that ran the full gamut of their hit laden back catalogue as well choice cuts from their third album ‘Tonight’. In supremely relaxed mood the Scotsmen got particularly rapturous reactions for ‘Take Me Out‘ and ‘Ulysses’ . The band had spent the afternoon cruising the coastline and then grilling their fresh catch on the backstage BBQ, so it was no wonder that the band were in benevolent form when they hit the stage in the quasi twilight of Norwegian high summer.
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Isle Of Wight Festival 2009 – Final Thoughts
They say that Sunday is funday and there was certainly a celebratory air present as sunshine greeted the final day of this years Isle Of White installment, not least due to the heady double bill headlining the main stage that would see Neil Young following the mythic Pixies.
Before that though there was a world of entertainment to be absorbed. Not least the exciting prospect of the Bog Top Stage being curated by Tim Burgess of The Charlatans. The wily old fox has managed to snare an incredible line up of buzz bands including the likes of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, S.C.U.M., The Horrors and topped it all off with a turn from the Charlatans themselves.
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Isle Of Wight Festival – Day Two
The second day of the isle of White festival saw temperatures soar on and off stage. Following friday nights storming headline set from the Prodigy the weather decided it needed to follow suit raising temperatures to skin blistering heights.
Enjoying the vibe were the likes of Paolo Nutini and The View who treated the assembled crowd to high octane versions of ‘5 Rebeccas’ and ‘Temptation Dice’ in a set showcasing the highlights of their Which Bitch album. Over on the Big Top stage The Maccabees followed up a successful jaunt in Europe with a celebratory set that saw the crowd spilling out of the massive tent. Lead singer Orlando capped off a performance of ‘Precious Time’ by declaring “I am so pleased for you with the weather, you couldn’t of had it better could you?!” The band capped their performance with a version of ‘Love You Better’ off of their sophomore LP Wall Of Arms with guitarist Felix noting, “it’s been great to be a part of the Isle Of Wight Festival, we didn’t expect so many people, it means a lot”. The band will be heading out on a headline UK tour in October where alt-folk legend Adam Green is expected to support after the band talked with him at this years Great Escape Festival.
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Isle Of White Festival 2009: Day One
The Isle Of Wight Festival 2009 kicked of last night with a racous headline set from veteran Essex boys the Prodigy. In a set that featured a potent mix of new and old material with highlights featuring a burning rendition of Voodoo People and the mini aural revolution of Firestarter alongside Invaders Must Die that showcases that Liam Howletts men have no intentions of resting on their laurels just yet.
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Stag & Dagger: Round Up
My lord, festival season is coming thick and fast already this year, and with Camden Crawl, Great Escape, turning Point and various other flashes of pre summer brilliance setting the standard high it is with a sense of delirious expectation that a night roaming Shoreditch courtesy of Stag & Dagger ganders into view. Fortunately those sensational chaps in their booking machines at Vice, and Adventures In the Beetroot Field know their music and have assembled a staggering line up that is bound to cause numerous heart attacks and spontaneous indie boy combustions as people try and master the simply impossible task of seeing every hot band on offer over the course of one manic evening.
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Sparrow & The Workshop @ The Fly
Deep in the bowels of The Fly there is something special taking place. Ridiculously early on a Friday evening three figures are on stage, laughing and joking, tinkering before launching into a swirling song that builds and swoops, seeping out from the stage into the crowd, unfurling along the cracks of The Fly’s low basement ceiling. The crowd start to nod in appreciation as the music takes hold, and then Jill O’Sullivan starts to sing.
Throwback : Cluster & Chromehoof
Entering Rich Mix to see German electro-psychsters Cluster is an adventure in itself. The event is held on the fourth floor so we are ushered into lifts and emerge into a darkened, throbbing room that ebbs and flows with pulsing electro and scattershot blastbeats. This is Throwback and tonight we are in for a treat. The unique series of gigs is designed to show the original grandmasters live and then their sonic offspring by bringing together those from the cutting edge of a scene and those charged with starting it. Which is how we end up hidden on the fourth floor of Rich Mix looking forward to a rare live set from seminal German minimalists Cluster and the arch avant London orchestra Chrome Hoof. Let’s get it on.
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My Toys Like Me
Another month has flown by and it’s time to head north of Hoxton Square again to The Macbeth for the mighty Twisted Licks monthly residency. This months edition featuring the helium sluiced stylings of My Toys Like Me.
It’s a strange week in London’s music world as many movers and shakers have hot footed it over to that Texas in order to swap buzz bands and 50oz steaks with the great and good at SXSW. As such the crowd is a little Spartan on arrival compared to normal, but by the time My Toys Like Me take to the stage it’s getting hard to swing anything let alone disgruntled felines.
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