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‘All the world loves lovers. All the world loves (young) lovers in love,’ sang Prefab Sprout. Presumably in anticipation of this charming crowd where everyone is just so damn nice and polite. Born in the UK but living in Australia, Lisa Mitchell has carved a considerable name for herself for one so young (nineteen) with her muse being variously described as ‘Teen Pop/Candy-coated Folk Pop...with a dark heart’. |
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I heard an Interview with Mumford & Sons on the radio the day before embarking on their headline UK tour. There were two comments that struck a chord with me whilst listening; Neither Marcus, Winston, Ben or Ted came across as having a single serious bone in their bodies. Banter and honest joviality were the order of the day. The second related to the forth-coming tour. The name of one particular stop was singled out as being one they were really looking forward to playing as “the city has a lot of heart”. That city was Wolverhampton. |
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It's been a few years since I heard Jim Moray live so I'm really looking forward to this evening. Jim Moray, of course, is the singer who burst on to the folk scene back in 2003 with his debut album, Sweet England winning the BBC2 Horizon award for most prestigious album of the year and winning him the accolade of best newcomer. |
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Mastodon return to Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall on this chilly Tuesday evening in support of last year’s album “Crack The Skye”, and how do they support it? By playing the album in it’s entirety! If you didn’t know the album before, then you knew it by the time the main set ended. |
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This review is likely to be quite biased! I hold my hands up to being a big fan of Texan indie/folk rockers, Midlake but I’ll try to be to be as constructive as I can. Tonight’s gig at the Town Hall in Birmingham is part of Midlake’s tour in promotion of their third album, ‘The Courage of Others’. The album is their first in four years after their breakthrough release, ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ in 2006. |
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My thoughts leading up to tonight’s NME Tour gig were mainly, ‘the audience is going to be young!’ And indeed they were. Well mostly anyway. To be fair, there was a decent number of older, more experienced gig goers huddled together in the sensible viewing areas i.e. the ones where you’re less likely to be either a) hit in the head by flying drink container or b) hit in face by a pogo-ing teenager’s elbow. |
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This being my first time at the new, improved, and moved-over-the-other-friggin’-side-of-town Academy, I was looking forward to experiencing what this revamped venue had to offer. First impressions were favourable, with a much brighter and distinguished atmosphere in this room, certainly when compared to its Academy 2 predecessor. |
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Being a big John Mayer fan for a long time it was a great pleasure to be able to finally get to one of his gigs. The anticipation had set in earlier in the day and I was "up for it". Awesome seats, 3rd row middle balcony gave a great view of the stage. I've never sat down at a gig but I was liking the feeling of a Roman Emperor at the Colosseum (in my strange fantasy world). A great night was to be had. |
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For the final time this year, the Vivid warehouse in Digbeth housed another chapter in the celebrations of local promoters Capsule's tenth birthday. Tonights extravaganza was coupled with the renowned Capsule Christmas party which over the years has seen everything from West Brom math-rockers Solway Fifth setting the scene for years to come, to Pelican and Mistress laying waste to the Medicine Bar, to Jesus Lizard Icon David Yow wanting to take Beestung Lips’ Thom home with him. |
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I am surrounded by mostly middle aged men in leathers shouting longingly for ‘MSG, MSG!’ No, I’m not at the queue for the Big Wok all you can eat buffet, I have gone to see the Michael Schenker Group in Dudley. The German wunderkind guitarist, who debuted with The Scorpions at the age of seventeen and then shot to fame as guitarist for UK rock legends U.F.O, has returned to these shores with his band for what is reputed to be the ‘sober tour’. For a man who has a long history of personal problems, mostly alcohol related, including selling his own tour bus on an internet auction, and who once put an end to U.F.O reunion talks by hitting vocalist Phil Mogg over the head with a metal chair, this is a significant claim. |
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The life of Brian (Warner) aka Marilyn Manson is a strange one. Is he absurd? Is he a Blaine? No, he’s the uberman, spawn of the Devil; come to Earth to impregnate ever anticipated horrors in the expectant wombs of the virgin Daughters of the American Revolution: possibly! |
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And so the celebrations start. Capsule, Birmingham’s leading promoters are 10 years old, and from their humble beginnings at the start of the new millennium have now taken over Vivid, a warehouse space in Digbeth for a series of shows to commemorate. |
