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Over the past decade The Black Keys have been jamming their way through consistently applauded albums and a rigorous touring schedule seemingly ignoring any possibility of mainstream success. With an ever growing underground fanbase and continued critical acclaim, it was 2010's Brothers album which suddenly thrust them into the worldwide spotlight, winning, amongst others, three Grammy Awards. |
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Tonight is an early start by most gig standards, the first band, Triggerfinger, take to the stage at 7.10 and having never heard of them before, impress. A three piece who remind me of Screaming Blue Messiahs, they play hard and fast and despite being suited and booted certainly crank out some powerful stuff. |
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I never thought my first gig of 2012 would be a death metal show but I’m always open to new music so it was off to the Birmingham Academy to see The Black Dahlia Murder supported by Skeletonwitch and Fleshgod Apocalypse. |
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Blundering yet ever more confused in to the second decade of the third millennium we can, at least, allow ourselves a moment or two of sage reflection. |
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Earlier this year I was in a pub in York just after a Morrissey gig. All the pubs were heaving so we were out on the pavement taking in the air and a pint, when there was a brief hubbub amongst the locals. Turning, we were met with a small group of blokes surrounding a lean, swarthy individual who looked vaguely familiar. As the conversation about a new tour and old band members getting together again progressed the penny dropped. The chap in question was Rick Witter of Shed Seven. |
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Another full venue marks the popularity of 29 year old Elliot Greaves, the rapper who couldn’t rap from Fulham was back with two sell out national tours and an arena tour next year. |
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The NIA is possibly one of the worse venues to drive to, and given the pre-Christmas traffic slightly worse than normal. The nearby multi-story car-park is also inadequate for the size of the venue, but having located a space the charges are also custom made for punter rip-off. |
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Without an empty seat within the whole arena, tonight it’s time for Bryan Adams to plug back in and rock the stage. The Canadian singer songwriter has won awards galore due to his popular rock anthems, and even has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Tonight is billed as the Anniversary of Waking up the Neighbours Tour, in celebration of the number 1 album; featuring mega hit (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. |
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The venue was packed for the second night of the BBC Radio 1xtra Live tour and the bar was set high from the excellent night before in Manchester. |
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Deep Purple are one of the legends of rock. Formed way back in '68, in a time that gave us local legends Sabbath and Zeppelin, they are too are one of the pioneers, that spawned a million rock fans. And tonight they're here at the LG Arena with a 38 piece orchestra in tow, with "The Songs That Built Rock". |
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Band reformations and seminal album tours are a well rehearsed theme for reviews on Birmingham Live!. But there comes a time when a band cannot merely hang ten on a wave of nostalgia and have to come up with the goods in the form of some new material. The question is will new songs appeal to the stalwart fans and will they fit in with the old favourites? |
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It has been eighteen months since I last saw Glen Campbell and truly enjoyed the family experience of his show. Unfortunately, since then, there has been an announcement that Campbell is suffering from Alzheimer’s and that this current tour will be his last, aptly named The Goodbye Tour. |
