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Isn’t it strange how the nights you’re not overly excited about are always the ones that knock you sideways and imprint strong memories that you know will stay with you forever. Well that is exactly what happened at this gig and god I love it when that happens. |
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The fifth night of the Sharpen Up The Knives UK tour proved to be a taxing one for Puressence in more ways than one. |
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I had an inkling that Steel Panther would be fun, no holds barred hair metal. I turned out to be bang right on that. What I didn't know previously was just how far their derivative concept stretched.. |
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Arriving at the O2 Academy 2 and looking around to get my bearings I am struck by two rather surprising sights. Firstly, the average age of this motley crew of an audience being at least 35; and secondly the fact that no one is going absolutely bloody mental for the amazing support act, Cosmo Jarvis. |
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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. |
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It was a bloody hot evening, and when Silversun Pickups came onstage in the small Academy 2 bar the temperature went up just a fraction more. I think that LA bands really sound like heat and concrete, so they were the perfect soundtrack to the two-day sweltering British summer. |
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There is one thing that puzzles about Metronomy, it’s one of those questions that doesn’t necessarily keep me awake at night but I would dearly love to know – Did Pip Payne ever pay back the £5000 to the Totnes car wrecker? |
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Touring forthcoming album See Mystery Lights, YACHT are an American performance duo who explain at length where Oregon is (it's on the left, up a bit form California) and spend their set in full occupation of the stage, backed by an elaborate powerpoint... |
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If I was going to be in a band – I have decided it would definitely be Florence and the Machine They blew the Academy 2 away on Friday (April 22) with their mix of Indie, hippy Soul, fashionable flair and fun- lovin’ stage frolics. |
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Opening tonight’s Insects and Attitude Tour was Sworn Amongst, a Yorkshire 4-piece with lots of hair. It was a heavy set of fast paced guitars, drums and a husky screaming vocal. The song ‘Exploited’ displayed a fast guitar solo that got a few nods of approval from the rather sparse crowd. ‘Severance’ slowed the pace down a little, but the hair swinging remained. |
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Hype has been mounting for months around La Roux; the London duo whose infectious 80’s inspired synth-pop is hotly tipped to be the sound of 2009. With uber-catchy single ‘In for the Kill’ at an impressive number 2 in the singles chart and their highly anticipated debut album due for release at the end of the month, La Roux seem set to be bigger than lead singer Elly Jackson’s gravity defying quiff, so it was with a high level of anticipation that I made my way to see their headline slot on tonight’s NME tour. |
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Tonight is a very special show, Farse are a Birmingham band that split five years ago so this is their first gig in a long time. With legendary status and so many die-hard fans there’s a lot to live up to. First up however, are The Sharks, who fail to impress much of the audience with their rather tepid and generic Clash tribute. The gruff vocals of the front-man came off as a dull mumble instead of the aggressive attack he was clearly hoping for, while the overly simplistic musical backing lead to a hugely dull sound overall. This band are badly matched to the headliners, so their poor show goes down even worse here than they deserve, the applause barely audible after most of their songs. |
