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NIA audiences must have learnt their lessons during the last year, as there is hardly an empty seat when the lights go down at 7:30. No fear of turning up half way through the set, that had infuriated many a gig-goer recently, who had not believed the times on their ticket. |
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This was the second of my “reliving my childhood” gigs that I had been to this week. Earlier in the week was the mighty Shed 7 and they pulled out a night that was just superb. To be honest I have really struggled to write this review. You need a bit of background information to really understand some of the comments that I am about to make. The Wonder Stuff was the band that got me into alternative music... |
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Supergroups - some are famous (Cream, Traveling Wilburys, Blind Faith, and more recently A Perfect Circle, Audioslave and Velvet Revolver) and some, to me, are not (has anyone heard of Tinted Windows? Go and look them up and try not to snigger at the line up). Them Crooked Vultures are, and will forever be, famous. TCV are Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme on guitar and vocals, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl back behind the drums full time for the first time since Nirvana, and Led Zeppelin bassist extraordinaire John Paul Jones. |
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Since the demise of Edwards No 8 on John Bright Street Eddies Rock Club has flirted with a residency at the Newt pub before settling into this, its current location, on Gough Street. It's a strange location; off the beaten track geographically and musically, it represents the real alternative to the O2 Academy's slew of fashionable indie gigs... |
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Looking forward to another wet cold night in darkest Digbeth can only mean another Capsule show, this numbering three out of ten for their tenth birthday celebrations this month. Boasting a return to Birmingham for perennial favourites and sonic demolition artists Lightning Bolt the lineup was bolstered by two support acts spanning widely varying styles, yet with a shared love of volume. |
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Critically reviewing a birthday party seems a bit off, but that's essentially what I'm about to do here. At heart this evening wasn't so much about the bands on stage, but the history behind how they came to be put up there. |
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Are you sitting comfortably? Right, then I’ll begin. Once upon a time in a magical kingdom far, far away (oh alright then, it was Birmingham) there was a rather fine band called The Allies. They had more than a touch of the Arctic Monkey’s about them (no bad thing), but one or two tracks hinted at a more unusual Celtic flavoured direction. For some reason they split up (‘musical differences’ no doubt). Now several of them (there seemed to be about 97 people in The Allies) have returned as part of a brand new five piece, Goodnight Lenin. |
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A large crowd of sweaty, friendly, enthusiastic fans were there to greet him and his 2 supports of the night. The first, a comedy-musician going by the name of ‘Beans on Toast’ warmed the crowd up nicely with a fantastic blend of gritty, down to earth comedy and some truly melodic songs, a lot of which echoed the semi-anarchic folk-punk we were all waiting to hear from Frank. |
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The last time that I saw the Twang was back in May 2007. It was in a room full of hot and sweaty post 25 year olds and the only real material that anyone had heard were the singles that they had released. More than two years down the line and two albums on I was really looking forward to seeing how far they had developed, and I certainly was not disappointed.. |
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The support act for tonight’s show is One Eskimo, unfortunately they were on stage so early that I missed them. After a listening to Blondie for quite a while, the house lights are finally dimmed and the stage is bathed in green. The drums begin enhanced by haunting electric sounds as Tori Amos enters, in a striking outfit, and stands in front of her piano, moving dramatically to the beat, before she commences with Give... |
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Local band Mindless Torture kick-off this evenings proceedings of Thrash and Metal mayhem at the Wulfrun Hall. With barely anyone in the venue at the start of their set, aside from a smattering of people up front whom I can only presume are die-hard fans, I find myself barraged with a wall of noise from on-stage... |
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“We're not doing this for the money – we're doing it because we love playing for you guys” - a good job too because it takes dedication to put in a blistering performance on one of the hottest days of the year. The Academy 2 is like a reverse TARDIS; it always seems smaller on the inside and gets hot and sweaty very quickly and tonight was no exception. |
