The XX have been much hyped over the past 12-18 months by all the music press and tonight Academy 2 is ram packed with only a few spaces left before the exit door at the rear of this large room. The other reason is their beautifully crafted CD having done well in the charts thanks to songs like “Crystalised”,”VCR” and “Heart Skipped a Beat”.

On CD The XX sound much more laid back and soothing with the softly spoken lyrical exchange between Romy Croft and Oliver Sims, But live they lose a bit of that laid back chilled sound, and the backing DJ/Percussionist is the main reason for this. The bass he was producing was enough to have any teen boy/girl racer in their supped up Citroen Saxos salivating. It was in fact so strong that when I was photographing the first 3 songs from the security pit, when the bass kicked in it was hard to stand still as it was pushing my legs backwards with its ferocity.

Romy and Oliver’s soft vocals and soft guitar exchanges sometimes failed to blend well with the beastly bass and made them go from relaxing sound of their CD to a more of a club based sound. Although at times the crowd was singing loud enough to hear them over the thunderous bass.

It was a pleasant set consisting mostly of songs from the debut CD and also a great XX style version of Teardrops by Womack and Womack neatly placed into the set for good measure.

Personally I prefer the chilled Yazoo meets Joy Division sound of their CD to the live experience but I think I was in the minority considering how much the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves

Stand out moment was the spine tingling “Crystalised”.

Review and photos - Andy Watson

Political correctness is basically a term for minimising social offense. Thankfully, there’s none here tonight. Stephen Lynch, the king of YouTube musical comedy is in town to sing the kind of songs you laugh at in private, maybe in the pub, but never in polite society. Think of him as the Marilyn Manson of melodic humour. If it’s there to be poked as a subject for human shock value in song form, then it’s fair game, and nobody does it better than Lynch.

As usual, no topic tonight seems immune or too taboo, the “Three Balloons” tour name itself is a reference to a method of concealing a certain illegal substance somewhere delicate. On the outside it all seems so innocent, if you walked past the tour poster it’s just a man holding 3 red balloons, after the first song of the night you realise it’s so much more than that!

Lynch, to us Brits is somewhat of an internet phenomenon, his top 5 YouTube videos have nearly 16 million hits in total. With very few UK TV appearances to his name it’s testament to the power of the “forward to my friends” button that this is a sold-out show with tickets selling on eBay for twice face value. There’s a famous quote which says that it takes 10 years to be an overnight success - and this is year 15, it’s great to see he’s getting some pay-back.

Looking at the queue tonight it’s obvious that he’s better known here than you might give him credit for. The punters outside in the freezing night are all chatting about which of his highly offensive songs he might play, it’s a bit like an underground meeting of “NPCA – Non Politically Correct Anonymous”. There are favourite impromptu lines being shared amongst the queuing throng and the excitement is clearly growing. Even a 20 minute delay to the start time doesn’t dampen the upbeat attitude inside.

Tonight’s subject matter covered in Lynch’s songs includes waiting for your AIDS test results, people with special needs, “queer” tattoos, gay robots, his wife’s fake breasts, a karate-trained octopus, having a girlfriend who is actually a closet Nazi, and a song about Jesus’ brother (Craig Christ – the one with the drug habit).

As if that wasn’t enough we also had jokes about Anne Frank’s Diary, Rhianna and her recent domestic abuse, Christopher Reeve and his penchant for horse riding and one about Michael Jackson’s doctor – political correctness might not stop Lynch from singing about it but it forbids me naming the exact nature of that tune!

There was also a charming little number about medieval pubic hair topiary, teaching kids via the medium of melodic (and swear-word-ridden) tunes, and a brief swing at Dungeons & Dragons players (and how they’re all virgins, with cardboard swords). By far the best one for me was the duet with David Josefsberg about the positive merits of the Dirty Sanchez. The normal sidekick of Jeff Daniels is missing tonight after a family tragedy but the show goes on without really missing a beat with Stephens brother Drew pulling “backing singer” duties instead.

The closing number was by far the show-stealer, a fantastic version of Prince’s “Purple Rain” – a reference to a much earlier comment in the evening entertainment, again featuring David Josefsberg. It just goes to show that Lynch’s stint in Broadway’s “The Wedding Singer” wasn’t wasted as there was some fine acting on display!

I actually left feeling guilt-ridden but somewhat cleansed on exit, it was a hell of a cathartic experience. You have the unique opportunity to laugh at things that just “aren’t funny” in normal society, the things which 20 years ago we all used to tell jokes about before the fun police told us that we’d all get sued for thinking it. In the meantime my ribs still hurt hours after leaving, I haven’t laughed so hard in years.

There should be more Stephen Lynchs in the world – catch him on the rest of his UK tour if you can!

Review & Photos - Matt Pargeter

Jazz is not my usual cup of tea. I’m more of a rock and metal fan, but having been introduced to Courtney Pine in the mid-90s, it would have been rude not to see him in the amazing setting of Birmingham Town Hall.

First up tonight is violinist Omar Puente. Hailing from Cuba, but now living in Bradford, Omar has been playing violin since he was a child, and it shows! His skill with a violin is amazing to watch and listen to, and tonight he plays a mainly latin jazz style set, with some tracks coming from last year’s album “From There to Here”, which was produced by headliner Courtney Pine and released on Pine’s new label, Destin-E World Records.

Puente is backed by Mercury-nominated pianist Zoe Rahman, bassist Darren Taylor, drummer Robert Fordjour and Oscar Martinez on the congas, who are all allowed time in the spotlight with their own solo spots.

Puente’s set starts with two tracks from “From There To Here” - “My Mrs.”, a track named after the first electric violin that his wife gave to him, and “Somebody Backstage”, dedicated to his wife. I really enjoyed the fact that during some tracks, he’s quite happy to leave tradition behind and use electronic effects. Wah-wah and octave changers give his violin a sound that I’d never heard before, and the use of delay allows him to layer strains of violin on top of each other for a fuller sound.

After a short change-over, the lights dim, and Pine’s backing band take the stage, and they look very familiar - everyone who was on stage for Puente’s set, including Puente himself, are back, with the exception of Martinez, who has been replaced by Cameron Pierre on guitar. Pine appears on stage, dressed in black, and is straight away in showman mode - using circular breathing to play continuously for at least three minutes, and for the majority of that time playing one handed, with his fist raised in the air!

Pine, from London, is here tonight in support of his most recent album, last year’s “Transition in Tradition”, which is his homage to New Orleans’ Sidney Bechet, who was one of the first important soloist in jazz. The setlist follows the album track listing closely, but without the 80 minute constraint of the CD, the tracks are hugely elongated, allowing Pine and his band to travel through different styles of jazz and also giving the band their own spots to flourish.

After opener “Haiti”, which was less jazz and more reggae, the set moves through the different types of jazz that are featured on “Transition In Tradition” - ragtime from New Orleans, bebop from South Africa and danzón from Cuba.

“Le Matin Est Noir” sees Pine, playing bass clarinet, battle with Pierre on guitar, leaving Pierre to play a beautiful Spanish-esque section, while “The Tale Of Joe Harriott”, a song inspired by one of the worldwide pioneers of free jazz, sees Pine pick up the alto flute. This was a massive surprise to me, as I had always thought that Pine played just reed instruments, but his expertise on the flute showed that he had obviously been playing it for a while.

The night concludes with the band paying homage to Michael Jackson and playing a beautiful rendition of “Heal The World”, before their last track, where Pine somehow makes the whole jazz-loving audience stand up, clap and dance in celebration of a great night of UK jazz, played by a great group of people, who have their final solo spots, and leave the stage one by one.

Review - Tony Hackett
Photos - John Mason

“No-one was supposed to turn up for this one!”

Recession, unemployment, and the (potential) rise of the Tories mean that the 2010s have a fair bit in common with the 1980s so it’s quite fitting that Heaven 17 have climbed onto the seminal album bandwagon with the almost 30 year anniversary of the recording of Penthouse and Pavement.

It’s also fitting because of the political nature of the music, Songs like …Fascist Groove Thang and Lets All Make A Bomb were controversial enough in 1981 to raise the blood pressure of renowned stuffed-shirt and self appointed protector of the moral majority Mike Read. He eventually banned the former from the Radio 1 play list.

But tonight was more than just an exercise in nostalgia for 80s synth-pop and a different political era. A casual observer would have been forgiven for thinking that the gig was a celebration of British Electric Foundation rather than an anniversary of Heaven 17’s first album.

In 1981 these guys were underground heavy-weights; like The Human League, which Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware had left prior to No.1 chart success, but with loads more street cred and a power to revive flagging careers for the likes of Tina Turner.

Glenn Gregory was one of the coolest guys back then and he has still got it now. But even he admitted to “bricking it” about what was to come tonight. This is not really surprising as Heaven 17 had never played the whole of the album live and in fact didn’t play live at all properly until 1997! Plus there can’t have been many more precise albums to replicate on stage. The mix of drum machines and synthesizers was always a sparse backdrop to the vocals and played live the songs left the band no where to hide.

Perhaps that’s why the output of BEF was so well represented. The connection between Heaven 17 and British Electric Foundation is an obvious one, but maybe not one that was too obvious for the fans in the Assembly, who didn’t really seem to know what to expect.

Essentially Heaven 17 became their own disembodied support band with three large screens pulsing along to a British Electric Foundation mix from Music For Stowaways including Groove Thang, Decline of the West, Music To Kill Your Parents By and Honeymoon In New York. This was unannounced and strangely unstructured with stops and starts and long pauses, This “performance” was met with indifference for the most part and complaints from a few who didn’t appreciate the finer points of sound and light experience.

When the band eventually appeared the songs from the Penthouse and Pavement sides of the original vinyl acted as the bread to a filling of covers originally heard on the BEF album Music of Quality and Distinction Volume 1.

For me this is what made the whole night as the album itself was obviously going to be predictable and it was the unexpected that stood out.

It’s easy to forget how intricate some of the songs are; the convoluted bass solo in …Fascist Groove Thang had never been played live before and the vocals were just as taxing, or “so wordy”.

Things didn’t go quite to plan due to a faulty kick drum pedal and at one stage Glenn Gregory picked up a guitar to fill in with an acoustic Geisha Boys and Temple Girls imploring the audience not to tell anyone we had seen him play guitar because it would “ruin his electronic credentials”.

Soul Warfare ended side one and it was back into BEF territory with Perfect Day and Wichita Lineman, originally covered by Glenn Gregory for Craig Marsh and Ware, and Ball of Confusion with Billie Godfrey taking the Tina Turner role. The surprise of the night was the appearance of Claudia Brucken for These Boots Are Made For Walking.

Then it was back to side two with the crowd being asked which song was first on the second side and someone shouting “Love Action!” - cue much mirth on stage. Of course it was Geisha Boys and Temple Girls followed the excellent Let’s All Make a Bomb. The band made a fuss of Heaven 17 uber-fan Sumo “he even went to Canada when we didn’t turn up” for his favourite The Height of The Fighting.

The encore was more familiar territory for the majority of the audience with Let Me Go and Temptation before going off on one with Buzzcocks’ Are Everything and the first song Martyn Ware ever penned Being Boiled.

The crowd might have got into the whole thing a lot earlier but they did seem to go home happy in the end.

Set list - in vague-ish order - the memory is not what it was!

(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
Penthouse and Pavement
Play to Win
Geisha Boys and Temple Girls (Acoustic)
Soul Warfare
Wichita Lineman
Perfect Day
Ball of Confusion
These Boots Were Made For Walking
I’m Your Money
Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
Let’s All Make A Bomb
The Height of the Fighting
Song with No Name
We’re Going To Live For A Very Long Time
Let Me Go
Temptation
Are Everything
Being Boiled

Review - Ian Gelling
Photos - Steph Colledge

This could all have easily ended up massively confusing, most probably very off putting and more than likely end in a night to remember for all the wrong reasons. Tonight, Birmingham Academy is hosting two gigs featuring acts from complete opposite ends of the musical spectrum. The largest of the three rooms hosts an evening of Thrash Metal with headliners ‘Machine Head’. The middle-sized room hosts the very current darlings of daytime Radio. Hailing from Owatonna, Minnesota the not nearly as new as you think newcomers Owl City. There are queues and people aplenty outside of the venue so pause for one moment and imagine you’re unfortunate enough to have found yourself in the wrong room. It could be just enough to put you off live music for life!

Lights the original support act have pulled out of tonight’s gig due to illness which allows acoustic duo The Elements to step in at the absolute death and fill the vacant slot. Only tonight one half of the duo is missing leaving the other 50% playing solo. Confused? Me too… The self confessed local boy, used to performing in pubs plays several well-received bluesy, rock and roll tracks. Some of which seem heavily influenced by Elvis’ Blue Jeans era. By around the fourth number the crowd really start warming to him as arms are lofted into the air like daffodils swaying in the wind and the applause after each number gets louder and longer.

It has to be a nerve racking experience volunteering at the last minute, performing solo and playing to a sold out academy crowd when you usually play the Actress and Bishop every Wednesday. Suffice to say it was pulled off with elements (pun intended) of style and not a sign of nerves. Having searched for more information on The Elements I’ve not been able to find a single thing apart from the weekly Wednesday Actress and Bishop show.

Tonight’s crowd is pretty young and evenly mixed it seems, although scattered around the venue are small clusters of teenage girls wearing an assortment of fairy wings and teddy bear back packs. Add to the mix a reasonable selection of parents standing lonesome at the back and you gain a good insight of your typical Owl City fan. A touch younger and more female biased than anticipated but I presume this is expected when you’re an early twenties emo male having recently topped the UK singles chart.

As the clock strikes 9:00 five black and white dressed figures stride out onto the stage amid high pitch cheers and commence playing an elongated intro to ‘Umbrella Beach’. Moments later Adam Young, the insomniac youngster and the reason Owl City exists skips to the mic front of stage surrounded by even louder, higher pitched screams.

Right, at this point I’m going to apologies to all those that loved the show and thought travelling up from Weston Super Mare was a more than worthwhile trek. Since the inception of Owl City in 2007 there have been several well documented articles suggesting Adam Young is a blatant rip off of ‘The Postal Service’ I was really hoping not to mention TPS but it’s difficult not to. There are obvious similarities although scratch beneath the surface and the similarities soon widen. Both bands main focus is without doubt on the synthesized elements and the breathy, soft male vocals. Whereas TPS manage to tread a fine line and maintain their Indie pop sound. Owl City manages to cross that invisible marker line and produce a live set that’s almost nothing but mainstream electronic pop. Adam’s on stage movements appear forced and orchestrated; Violinist Laura Musten and Cellist Hannah Schroeder become awkward backing dancers when not playing their respective string instruments. In truth, I was disappointed. Both Owl City recorded albums are electronic pop but manage to avoid sounding overtly mainstream. Live, that feeling just gets lost in the well rehearsed, orchestrated performance.

There were a small number of moments when songs did take on an emotive feel, although none of these moments featured Adam. The voice of Breanne Düren has a cute, angelic pitch that finally brings a much-needed emotion to the show. The strings of Laura and Hannah bring an extra depth to the tracks and fortunately enable Owl City to lose the tag of being ‘Just another Pop Act’. Some tracks featured some really good live drum breaks that brought out extra hidden depths. Musically, all the elements are there to really bring the songs alive and inject that vital missing element - Soul. Instead, the show came across as being soulless, artificial, synthetically grown for a live audience rather than allowed to mature organically and allow genuine heart felt interaction

I had a really good feeling going into this gig, hoping to hear a successor to the brilliance of TPS. It’s not fair to write Owl City off just yet, it’s still early days and they most definitely have the potential - they just need to tap into it. Know which part of the band brings the soul and allow it to shine through. Owl City hatched from the egg long enough ago to know how to fly. Only time will tell how far that flight takes them.

Review Lee Hathaway
Photos Keith West

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. I still remember my first hearing of his reinterpretation of the traditional song ‘Early One Morning’ and my incredulity at discovering that there were so many things still to discover in such a well-worn song.

The Red Lion folk club filled up well before 8 pm, with a couple of dozen people standing at the back and sides. The crowd was an all-age one and the atmosphere was relaxed and informal.

The evening kicked off with the support act Cole Stacey. Stacey is a promising young singer-songwriter from Devon. Although he often appears with multi-instrumentalist Scott Ward, he is accompanied tonight by his father on the drums, playing guitar and keyboards himself.

Many of tonight’s songs come from his new (and first) album, ‘Changing Faces’. Most were intense slow ballads, although there were a few up-tempo numbers which had the crowd — or some of it at least — swaying and tapping their feet. ‘Coconut Skins’, accompanied by guitar, mouth organ and shakers is a definite favourite with the group of students in front of me. He has a pleasant, husky voice — made a bit huskier, I suspect, by a cold! It’s difficult to hear the lyrics which I think is a shame, but as far as I can tell, most of the songs are about love. I’m less certain about ‘Talking Old Soldiers’, a song about growing old — I’m not sure he’s convinced me that he really knows what growing old is all about, but I’ll have to read the lyrics/listen to it again to be positive.

Cole is comfortable with the audience and chats easily. He finishes his first half with a nice rendition of Paul Simon’s ‘Me and Julio down by the Schoolyard’. He asks the audience to sing along but gets little response. Undaunted, he gets them going during the chorus and ends his set with a flourish.

Although Jim Moray has been billed as ‘The Jim Moray Trio’, there are only two of them tonight — Jim and Nick Cooke, a melodeon player. The fiddle player James Delarre is missing tonight — no idea of why.

Jim launches into ‘The Rufford Park Poachers’, a lively traditional ballad from Lincolnshire, accompanied by guitar and melodeon. As is usual with Moray, he has reinterpreted the song, making the rendition an interesting blend of old and new. You can hear every word clearly which is a pleasure — folk song is very much about storytelling and there’s not a lot of point in telling a story if the audience miss most of the words! There’s a nice instrumental interlude in the middle and I am struck already with how well the two musicians work together.

The evening moved through a mixture of old and new material, some traditional, some more recently composed. The Bella Hardy night-visiting song, ‘Three Black Feathers’, telling the story of a young woman visited by the ghost of her dead lover was striking, as was ‘Long Lamkin’, a story of a stonemason who kills the child of his employer in revenge for unpaid wages. As Moray joked, some of his songs are depressing, some are more depressing! It was clear throughout the evening that he has a genuine love for the material he sings and the stories that lay behind it. That’s underpinned by good musicianship — his guitar playing is, in my opinion, particularly strong although he’s comfortable on a range of instruments.

‘Dives and Lazarus’, a ballad originally collected in the field by Ralph Vaughan Williams, is complex and interesting, both musically and lyrically. Moray’s version of ‘Poverty Knock’ is much more downbeat than many versions I have heard over the years — given that it’s a song about the oppressive working conditions in the Northern mills, that seems fitting. Although often thought to be a traditional song, Jim told the story — new to me — of how it was written, a verse at a time, by Tom Daniels, who would show up at the local pub each week having ‘remembered’ another verse of the song.

Jim Moray has matured and mellowed since I saw him last. I’m pleased — he could either have developed as he has or could have been a brief shooting star. I’m glad it’s the former. He’s also more comfortable chatting with the audience than I remember from the previous occasion.

There’s an interval, with the usual weekly raffle, and then Cole Stacey returns for the second half. His second set seems to me stronger than his first. Again, it’s a mixture of slow ballads and a few more upbeat songs — the upbeat ones get the better response from the audience. At the request of an audience member, he sings Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’, calling Jennifer Clark, a friend of his, up from the audience to sing it with him. He moves on to the powerful Van Morrison song, ‘Rough God Goes Riding’. He sings other people’s material well, and I think it’s a good thing that he mixes the set.

Jim Moray and Nick Cooke come back on and we have another solid performance from both musicians, with Jim variously on guitar, keyboards and Anglo concertina and Nick on melodeons. A song written by Moray, ‘Adam Ant in his Padded Cell’, about heroes and discovering their feet of clay, is odd but interesting. A solo set of three instrument tunes by Nick Cooke — one he wrote himself, a traditional one and the wonderful John Kirkpatrick tune ‘Jump at the Sun’ is frankly stunning. I wish we had had at least one slot by him on his own in each half of the evening. I’m not usually a great fan of jigs and reels as performance items, but this guy is really good.

The set ends, the audience call for more and Jim and Nick finish with ‘Valentine’, described as ‘a gentle Morris dance lullaby waltz’. I can’t see the back of the room from where I’m sitting, but I think some people were dancing!

In my view, Jim Moray has moved twenty-first century folk music in interesting ways while not losing touch with the traditions that underpin it. I look forward to future developments!

Set Lists

Cole Stacey
1st half
Just a Little Deeper
If You
Coconut Skins
Talking Old Soldiers
Traditional Lies
(Paul Simon song) Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
2nd half
Sometimes It’s Love
Changing Faces
(Simon and Garfunkel) The Boxer (with Jennifer Clark)
(Van Morrison) Rough God Goes Riding
Something Ahead Worth Looking For
Walk to Midnight

Jim Moray
1st half
The Rufford Park Poachers
Sweet England
Three Black Feathers
Long Lamkin
The Lowlands of Holland
Dives and Lazarus
Poverty Knock
Young Collins + a Bleddington Morris tune
Early One Morning
2nd half
Billy, Don’t You Weep for Me
Lord Bateman
Gilderoy
Adam Ant Alone in his Padded Cell
The Wild Boar
(solos by Nick Cooke) Gerry the Frog + Three Firs + Jump at the Sun
Henry’s Downfall + Nonesuch Jig
April Morning
I’ll Go List for a Sailor
Valentine

Review and photos Betty Hagglund

After a month that has so far given me the brutal likes of Decapitated, Black Dahlia Murder and Morgue Orgy, as well as an unforgettably transcendental Mastodon performance, it was time for a brief respite. I headed to the Academy for a welcome relief after a fortnight of aural abuse for an evening spent in the company of Swedish hard rock titans Europe.

Support act Diamond Head were notable to me for being one of the Midlands’ leading lights in the then burgeoning NWOBHM scene (hailing from Stourbridge) and for being the originators of ‘Am I Evil?’, famously covered by Metallica with Lars in particular acting as a constant ambassador for the band over the years. Due to the early start for Friday shows, I arrived to find the band halfway through said song, so left the gig knowing precisely nothing more than the fact they were from Stourbridge and were the originators of ‘Am I Evil?’ Gutted.

Thankfully, the early start meant that the changeover time was kept to a bare minimum , and it wasn’t long before the prelude from their latest album, ‘Last Look At Eden’ bled into its title track to herald the introduction of Europe. From the get go, elfin vocalist Joey Tempest was a diminutive ball of energy, twirling the mic stand in a fashion straight out of the eighties that made a mockery of his advanced years.

Moving along quickly into ‘Superstitious’, it became growingly apparent that that through a combination of a great live mix and an almost telepathic tightness achieved only by years of playing together, that Europe sounded fantastic tonight. Often pilloried via accusations of being one-hit-wonders (you know, with that “do-do-doo-dooo” song), and for their tenuous associations with glam rock, tonight proved that both points are wildly off-the-mark. Europe’s music is worlds away from the soulless preening cock-rockers of yesteryear, owing more to classic hard rock albeit a particularly hyper-melodic strain of it.

The exhaustive setlist touched on all points throughout their career, from ‘Scream of Anger’ and ‘Wings of Tomorrow’ through to ‘Start From The Dark’ and ‘Gonna Get Ready’, and not a single note sounded dated, although a few of the newer tracks suffered a little bit from lack-of-recognition-syndrome as opposed to the tried and tested ‘Seventh Sign’ and ‘Let the Good Times Rock’, although all were played by the talented band with equal enthusiasm before ‘Carrie’ became a real centrepiece of the evening.

With Tempest on acoustic guitar and keyboard wizard Mic Michaeli playing the opening section alone, it was left to the crowd to fill in the gaps, which they carried out with great voice. Tempest is still every inch the consummate frontman, giving thumbs-ups and winks to those he spots singing along, with those dazzling gnashers shining as bright as ever, no doubt sending a tingle of nostalgia to ladies of a certain era here tonight.

The closing stretch of the set was the real crowd-pleasing part, with the classics and fan favourites unleashed, with the one-two-three punch of ‘Ready or Not’(a song ostensibly about being rocked right down to the ground), ‘Cherokee’, and ‘Rock the Night’ a real gold-plated triptych of classics.
Returning for the encore, Europe gave nods to both present and future, with ‘The Beast’ representing the latest record once again, before the inevitable happened, and it was time for ‘The Final Countdown’, a more perfect slice of eighties metal you’re unlikely to hear. It was odd at this point to see everyone in the building suddenly pay attention, from security guys to the bar staff in recognition of a song you could argue has become even more immortal than the band who wrote it.

At the conclusion of the show, it was apparent that despite some of the barbs that have come their way over the years, Europe play hard rock led from the heart and soul, as opposed to radiating directly from their collective groin. Also, with the rejuvenated band now on three albums since their reformation in 2004 from a decade plus of inactivity, they have two distinct eras and bodies of work, namely ‘old’ and ‘new’. Their set meshed the two worlds together seamlessly, the pacing executed perfectly to keep the attention of both their die-hard fans and the nostalgia seekers, meaning that whatever you’re seeking from a Europe show, you’re not likely to go home disappointed. They did play the “do-do-doo-dooo” song after all.

Reviewer - Duncan Wilkins
Photographer - Ian Dunn

Having heard from a friend of mine that Fear Factory had just released a new album, ‘Mechanize’, my interest was piqued. When I also found out that original guitarist Dino Cazares had rejoined the band I decided I really couldn’t miss this one!

I first got into Fear Factory around 1997 as a young teenager. I was bought their remix album ‘Remanufacture’. After that I was hooked and quickly snapped up the album on which it was based, 1995’s classic ‘Demanufacture’. I bought 1998’s ‘Obsolete’ as soon as it came out and still rate it in my top ten heavy metal albums for its mix of crushing power and melody and the epic concept behind it. Like many fans I was disappointed by Fear Factory’s relative commercial failure. I felt that on the strength of their material they deserved to eclipse peers such as Korn in terms of sales. For whatever reason this didn’t happen and FF remained a big cult band. The album ‘Digimortal’ came out in 2001 and while it was an adequate record it marked the beginning of a creative decline for FF that I believe they haven’t yet shaken off. Dino Cazares left the band. Each subsequent album was hailed as a return to form and yet each one turned out to be competent but lacking that spark of creative genius. Is Dino the much needed lethal groove injection that will return Fear Factory to peak form?

There is a buzz about the album and the reunion of the Bell/Cazares partnership and the gig is very well attended. The Wulfrun is pretty packed. The houselights go down and AC/DC’s ‘If You Want Blood’ blasts through the PA. The Fear Factory logo is illuminated and a massive cheer goes up. The band makes everyone wait a little longer while an eerie spoken word passage intones a warning of apocalyptic redemption. Then the band strides on. A couple of new tracks from ‘Mechanize’ begin the show. Whilst I have only really heard the single ‘Powershifter’ and had a cursory listen to a couple of other tracks, the ‘Mechanize’ stuff sounds a lot heavier than the ‘Archetype’ or ‘Transgression’ albums from 2004 and 2005. It also displays a touch more of an industrial edge than I’ve heard from Fear Factory in a while. If I was pushed to describe it in an easy way I would say it was a mix of two parts ‘Demanufacture’ to one part ‘Obsolete’.

The chemistry between the band is great and a lot more positive looking than when I last saw them live (in Manchester in 2005). Some of this is probably due to Dino’s return. The man has a smile as wide as a Mexican cat and is wildly popular with the fans. Spontaneous chants of “Dino!” pop up around the audience from time to time. Fear Factory are, of course, a touring machine and have notched up hundreds of live shows since their inception. In doing so they have honed their art to a mechanical perfection. Using industrial and mechanical similes with Fear Factory is a cliche but there is a valid point to my mentioning this in that, when FF have an off night in the live arena or when they don’t hit the mark on record they can sound tired and mechanical. Conversely when they get it right they can summon up what I call ‘the soul within the machine’; cold and precise yes, but also a curiously organic and emotional beast which comes from the peculiar way that these four musicians relate to each other. You can hear it tonight in the grand melancholy of ‘Resurrection’, or in promising new track ‘Christsploitation’.

Fear Factory push on with ‘Shock’, ‘Edgecrusher’ and ‘Smasher, Devourer’ from ‘Obsolete’. Each one hits the mark with crushing force. They then play ‘Powershifter’ which gets a healthy cheer. To my ears this track is a little generic with some transparently token political lyrics ‘You wanted war, you got war, more than you bargained for’. However I’m sure the band would deny that these words are overtly political. Nevertheless its a good riff and nicely showcases new drummer Gene ‘The Atomic Clock’ Hoglan’s prowess. It’s too early to tell what the musical impact of his and Dino’s arrival will be, and if ‘Mechanize’ will contain some much needed modern Fear Factory classics, but the signs are promising.

The band exits the stage in a ‘we’re obviously going to return for an encore’ manner that doesn’t leave time for the crowd to get fired up enough to start stomping and chanting. It’s a small criticism though, as when they return they play nothing but ‘Demanufacture’ material, powering through ‘Demanufacture’, ‘Self Bias Resistor’ (introduced as “a rebel song”), ‘Zero Signal’ and ‘Body Hammer’, finishing with ‘Replica’. They leave the crowd both reeling and warmly satisfied. That’s no surprise. We know Fear Factory have a rabid core fan base. The real challenge is for Fear Factory to rejuvenate itself at this point in its near 20 year career, inject a new dose of bile into the machine and reach out to a new generation of fans.

Review Adam Moffatt
Photos Andy Whitehouse

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 its entirety!  If you didn’t know the album before, then you knew it by the time the main set ended.

Atlanta, Georgia’s Mastodon are usually a four-piece - Troy Sanders on bass and vocals (centre stage), Brent Hinds on guitar and vocals (stage right), Bill Kelliher on guitar and vocals (stage left) and Brann Dailor on drums and backing vocals (sat in the usual drummer position) - but they’re touring with keyboard player Rich Morris (so stage right that I can barely see him), which really helps them fill out the sound that they created in the studio whilst recording “Crack The Skye”.

They walk on to the mostly dark stage and immediately begin album opener “Oblivion”.  Mastodon have decided to leave the cloth band-logo backdrop at home on this tour, and have opted for the giant LED screen option, showing short movies along with the songs.  The movies help set the scene for the concept of “Crack The Skye”:  the art aesthetics of Tsarist Russia, astral travel, out of body experiences and Stephen Hawking’s theories on wormholes.  Wow.  At a Metal show.  In Wolverhampton…  Although the movie screen backdrop is not a new concept at Metal shows, I never know whether I should be watching the movies or watching the band.  I suspect that most people, like me, switched between the two during the evening.

“Crack The Skye” progresses in typical Mastodon fashion - some long songs, some long instrumental passages, but lots of ultra-technical instrumentation and chugging riffs, vocal harmonies, speed switches and changes in time signatures.  “The Czar” (a song made up of four shorter passages) and “The Last Baron” are both over 10 minutes in length, yet the band are obviously well rehearsed, as all the songs are played perfectly, with some kind of sixth sense keeping them in time with each other.  Unfortunately for me (and the guys from Napalm Death) at the back of the venue, some of the technical sections become muddy due to the not-so-perfect sound, although I understand that it sounded better nearer the stage.

My other “issue” with Mastodon is that due to their technical abilities, some songs lack a groove to nod your head or tap your foot to.  This means that the audience tonight was mostly motionless. When a groove did kick in, the crowd would start banging their heads until the song became a little more complicated and they had to stop.

Main set closer “The Last Baron” finishes with a massive Heavy Metal ending, and the band leave the stage. As the roadies do their equipment checks, the crowd are entertained by Morris with a keyboard solo, and the crowd show their appreciation by stocking up on beer or emptying their bladders.

The remainder of the evening is made up of a not-so-greatest-hits set, made up of tracks from their three other full length outings.  A nice touch to accompany these songs is that the background shows an animated version of the album artwork that the song comes from.  Fan favourites “Iron Tusk” and “March Of The Fire Ants” conclude the encore, and the crowd shows their appreciation as the band come to the front of the stage for their curtain call.  Dailor finally is the first to acknowledge the audience on mic with a very simple “Thank you Wolverhampton”.

As the crowd leave, I can’t help but think that some of them are disappointed that some of their other “big” tracks haven’t been played, such as the massive album openers “Blood And Thunder” and “The Wolf Is Loose”, and the shortness of the sub-80 minute set.

Set list (Crack The Skye):
Oblivion
Divinations
Quintessence
The Czar (Usurper / Escape / Martyr / Spiral)
Ghost Of Karelia
Crack The Skye
The Last Baron

Encore:
Circle Of Cysquatch (from 2006’s “Blood Mountain”)
Aqua Dementia (from 2004’s “Leviathan”)
Where Strides The Behemoth (from 2002’s “Remission”)
Mother Puncher (from 2002’s “Remission”)
Iron Tusk (from 2004’s “Leviathan”)
March of the Fire Ants (from 2002’s “Remission”)

Review Tony Hackett
Photos Steve Gerrard

Touring with their very fresh released 2010 album, ‘Odd Blood’, US, Brooklyn based, quote - ’Experimental rock, Psychedelic pop, Worldbeat sonic evangelists’, Yeasayer, have both fans and critics alike getting in to all sorts of thesaurian froths trying to draw metaphors of eclectic genre comparisons. Sonic buccaneers? Curators of the cosmic consciousness? Electro fusions for the inner-spaced out tantric troubadours? Possibly. The band concede that their muse might be seen and heard as, ‘Middle Eastern-psych-snap gospel.’ Hmm, that clears up any ambiguities then.

Yeasayer can mean either one of two things: one who is an up-beat optimist or, resigned to passive acceptance. It was clear, very soon in to the set, that up-beat optimism was the band’s default setting for the whole evening and rapidly drew the crowd into delirious acceptance.

The core band are a trio comprising of Anand Wilder, Chris Keating and the spectacularly X Men sounding Ira Wolf Tuton. On tour accompaniment is with Jason Trammell on drums and Ahmed Gallab, keyboards/percussion. And there were plenty of keyboards indeed. Not your Prog-Rock stack racks but those dinky little ones that they played ambidextrously.

The set list leant predominantly on new album, ‘Odd Blood’, opening with a Stars Of The Lid type moody crescendo with the band silhouetted against minimalist, luminescent back panels, ‘Children’ kicked in with gusto. Contrary to the comparative styles alluded to earlier, for this writer at least, their contexts can be misleading; being less esoteric and mystic than suggested. Yeasayer ‘s sound draws on myriad and seemingly contradictory influences; it really just shouldn’t work, but it does, conjuring a quixotic kind of magic. Theramin solos, synth sitar harmonies? Yours for the taking. The set races on and there’s an engaging crowd rapport, notwithstanding the increasingly sweaty sauna conditions. (Note to Academy: it’s 02 guys, not C02.)

‘Madder Red’ evokes early Roxy Music, a drizzle of Enya (imagine that!) with the percussive assault of Secret Machines. Brace yourselves, but the image of New Romantic Folk was tantalizing present. ‘Tightrope’ has a syncopated shimmer and damn it if there weren’t echoes of Gary Numan in there. ‘Wait For The Summer’ was shamelessly up-beat romantic and had couples cuddling with post Valentine sighs. Counterpoint harmonies are a crucial element with this band and heartily encouraging that is. (Try Grizzly Bear to appreciate just how brilliant fellow Americans are at reviving these melodic gems.) The main set closes with ‘One’, an up-beat synthy popster, with nuances of early OMD and Depeche Mode and even (ask your parents) Flock Of Seagulls. The point of these name checks is not to deny the band their originality but to share in their passion for assimilating disparate influences..

The crowd bay for more and, being the gentlemen they are, the band return promptly with the Celtic, harmonium intro to Grizelda and close a most uplifting evening with ‘Sunrise’. I’ve seen a fair few gigs in the past 40 years but seldom have come away feeling so in tune with a band and appreciating the generosity of the Brum punter. Press pass definitely going in the scrap book.

Review John Kennedy
Photos Katja Ogrin

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.

Tonight’s support act and ‘good friend’ (also from the same town in Texas apparently) of Midlake, Sarah Jaffe, performed pleasant country tinged indie tunes and for one number was joined on stage by Midlake’s Eric Pulido for a cover of Loudon Wainwright song, ‘One Man Guy’. It was all quite, well, pleasant. Nothing to get too excited about but the sound was good and the audience seemed happy.

The Town Hall, a Grade 1 listed building, is a brilliant setting for this type of gig. It gives the gig a special edge seeing the band perform in front of the halls gigantic spectacular organ. The band even joked that they would book the venue again in the future in an attempt to use the organ.

The sound throughout the gig was absolutely spot on. Midlake are a band that use a variety of instruments on stage. My girlfriend calls their sound ‘pixie in the woods music’ but it’s all meant in a positive way. Midlake do conjure up images of woodland – fact. Their heavy use of the flute, sometimes even two flutes, recorders, harpsichord and with four guitars all going at once during most songs you might think certain sounds are drowned out. Not all, in fact the band are entirely in sync with other at all times. Although the bands front man, Tim Smith, has a very distinctive, effortless voice, this is complimented really well by the backing vocals of Eric Pulido. It was only when Eric Pulido joined Sarah Jaffe onstage earlier in the evening that I realised how strong his voice is and appreciated how this all fits together in the greater Midlake sound.

One thing about the set that did stand out was the guitar solos which saw the band really let themselves go. With the volume turned up and some classic rock drumming from MacKenzie Smith a whole new genre of ‘pixie metal’ was born.

From a set that mostly contained songs from the new album there were still a healthy selection from their previous album such as ‘Van Occupanther’, ‘Roscoe’, ‘Young Bride’ and the fantastic ‘Head Home’. These older songs have obviously been played for years but even the newer ones seemed to come so naturally to the band and I personally was gripped for the entire performance. The newer songs from, ‘The Courage of Others’ would not be to everyone’s liking as they are pretty dark and not as upbeat as their older songs but I enjoyed seeing them performed live. ‘Rulers, Ruling All Things’ and ‘Small Mountain’ were particularly atmospheric.

I had seen Midlake in 2007 and have consistently listened to their music since then so my expectations for tonight were fairly high and I wasn’t disappointed. The band thanked the audience and you could tell they were genuinely appreciative of the turn out and even complimented them on having a ‘beautiful town’. The venue was pretty much full and the band weren’t allowed to leave without coming back to the stage for the encore of ‘Branches’.

Overall, great venue, helpful venue staff and a fantastic performance from the headliners. Thumbs up!

Review Chris Thompson
Photos John Bentley

There’s something big happening at the Academy tonight. Not every gig would you expect to see three identical Austrian registered double-decker tour buses, two identical Swiss registered container trucks and a cherry picker parked at the rear of the venue. Anyone would have thought there was an American Idol performing… As it happens, tonight’s line up is filled with two Grammy Award Winners. Kelly Clarkson is taking over O2 Academy 1 (and most of the back streets behind the venue), O2 Academy 2 was left for Imogen Heap; the original, alternative modern music master known more affectionately as ‘Immi’.

With the gig being held on a Saturday, there’s a curfew in place. Walking into the room a couple of minutes late is like walking into a steam room. I’ve never seen Academy 2 so full; it’s a struggle just getting to the bar, fortunately it’s a friendly crowd tonight so access isn’t a problem (I suppose there is one benefit to being on crutches). Whilst Immi’s alone on stage playing ‘First Train Home’, I look around and take in the surroundings. The lighting and stripped bare skeletal tree back drop, give the room a mystical wintery feeling. It feels like I’m inside a densely packed hot, humid arctic cave looking out towards the opening and seeing a Post Punk Fairy Princess performing.

During one of the many breaks between tracks, Immi stops and gives a running guide to the stage set up. Pointing out the tiny microphones on her wrists and what they’re for and the various instruments she has around her. Apart from her “gorgeous clear piano” I couldn’t even begin to explain what most of the sound producing things are. Is a Chrome Bird Cage, played with a bow, an instrument? One thing that does strike me, is how endearing she is; even making the effort to move things around the stage, so she and the audience gain an improved view of each other. When Immi talks, it’s as though she’s talking to a room of friends that she’s comfortable with; in no way is it overconfidence, she’s just so at ease as a friendly public speaker. For what it’s worth, I believe Immi deserves at the very least a spoken word tour, if not her own sitcom. She’s a naturally charismatic very witty person and one, everyone in the crowd, enjoys listening to.

Part way through ‘Beneath Sheets’ the stage door opens and one at a time out walks Chris, Karl and Tim and is personally introduced by Immi. Immediately they settle down and start playing their respective instruments; drums and percussion, guitar, synth and notebook. ‘Headlock’ when played as a foursome brings a whole new dynamic to the music, as the intensity of the volume is increased nothing of the highly complex nature of the sounds are lost. There are bands that you should see for who they are, they might be your favorite group, maybe an assembled super group or someone you’d always regret missing. Then there are a very small select few that should be seen whether you like the music or not. It doesn’t always need to be about the music. I can’t quite put my finger on it but there’s an indescribable personal feeling that only some musicians deliver at a gig, and Imogen Heap is deservedly on that prestigious list. None of the songs are what you would describe as powerful, but each is beautiful in their own unique delivery. On some songs she’s fully involved in playing the piano or whatever instrument she maybe playing at the time. Other songs are recited as though she’s acting out a poem. There are times when the stage act seemed wholly unrehearsed but this all adds to the enchanted theme of the evening. At times there seems to be lots of adlibbing and yet when the songs are played out everything comes together perfectly.

Vocally, Immi’s voice is impressive in its broad range. Moving between breathy highs and a ghostly deep pitch. It’s then somewhat surprising to hear all the band has suffered from some sort of cold and tonight it’s Immi’s turn. But if she doesn’t miss a note then it’s because she’s brilliant!

I’m having trouble thinking of any significant highlights. I can’t say whether certain elements were highlights but pushed into a corner and forced into writing something, I found ‘Bad Body Double’ memorable in that it was performed as a Dub version and featured beat boxing. The introductory story accompanying ‘Aha!’ featuring the difficulties of cooking for vegans and chocolate digestives. An improvised version of ‘Canvas’ lead by Daisy on the Cello accompanied by the rest of the band all playing free-form - something they only play when the groove takes them. Finally, the last song said with a knowing wink has Immi forgetting the opening words completely and having to ask the front row for help with ‘Tidal’. Before strapping on the Keytar, donning a pair of black shades and rocking out like an 80’s hair-metal pin up!

The encore brings Immi back on stage alone. Starting with the mesmerizing ‘Hide and Seek’ the finale then turns into a sing along with Immi session. ‘Just for Now’ and ‘The Moment I Said It’ feature Immi and the 300+ piece Midlands mixed choir. Her voice did start to break just before the encore, it was most noticeable on ‘Hide and Seek’ where she didn’t even attempt some of the high notes. It didn’t detract from the fact she was brilliant though.

If you were at the O2 Academy on the early evening hours of Valentine’s Eve you would have only been there to see two Grammy winning solo female artists. One of these artists puts on a three bus, two truck stage show, which begs the question “Does it make for a good gig?” I can’t honestly answer that as I, along with the ‘knowing’ crowd of Academy 2 looked down on all of those in Academy 1 appreciative of the fact that the obvious choice isn’t always the best option and the preferred path is usually least trodden.

Set list:
First Train Home
Wait It Out
Between Sheets
Headlock
Bad Body Double
Speeding Cars
Little Bird
Half Life
Aha!
Canvas
The Walk
Swoon
2-1
Tidal

Encore
Hide and Seek
Just for Now
The Moment I Said It

Review Lee Hathaway
Photos Katja Ogrin