The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) presented their mix of swing, funk and jazz standards in our second major event at the Festival On The Close at Rugby School. One thing that you can guarantee you get from the NYJO is variety. By their very nature they have a fluid line-up, and their repertoire can […]
Tag Archives: Gig Review
Festival on the Close – G4 + Lesley Garrett
G4 and Lesley Garrett opened Festival on the Close 2017 in Rugby tonight, representing a whole series of landmarks, and a couple of “firsts” for this writer. This is by far the biggest event of its kind that Rugby School has promoted. It may even be the biggest series of events seen in the town; […]
The XX @ o2 Academy, 21st June, 2017
It is the type of heat that feels like you are standing on a thousand suns. It is sticky and muggy, with each breath sending musky warmth into the air. The sweat rolls down your back, making you shift your weight. It may sound like the beginning of a summer horror film, but for those […]
Kiefer Sutherland + Sound of the Sirens @ o2 Academy
To be honest – I can’t think of any occasion where I would think of mentioning Kiefer Sutherland and That Petrol Emotion in the same sentence. There is no obvious alignment there; no connection. But tonight there was. The common denominator was heat. The last time I attended a gig in Brum when it was […]
Mark Lanegan @ o2 Institute 2 , 19th June, 2017
The very talented Duke Garwood is the support act for tonight’s performance, which is unsurprising as he is a long time collaborator with Lanegan and also plays in his band. Unfortunately, I missed the beginning of the set but hearing the last couple of tracks certainly suggests the quality would have been there from the […]
Paramore @ Manchester O2 Apollo, 18th June, 2017
It’s been two years since we’ve seen Paramore on the music scene and since then a lot has changed; members have left and old ones have come back but the fact remains, as Hayley would say “WE ARE PARAMORE” (No matter who’s in the band). The venue was packed to capacity and everyone was […]
Bat Sabbath + The Temple + Dead Hands @ Academy 2 – 14th June 2017
You have to be fairly bold to play a set of Black Sabbath covers in Birmingham. The original heavy metal pioneers are viewed with such regard in their hometown that any band even attempting to match their reverence would normally be laughed out of the room. Not so Canada’s Bat Sabbath. The gnarly punk rockers […]
Glass Mountain + Brooders @ Cuban Embassy, 14th June 2017
Tonight, in that semi-hip outer centre area of Birmingham, Moseley, a new venue hosts Bradford/Leeds band Glass Mountain on their first headline tour. Regular readers of BrumLive will have probably noticed that they’ve had good press from myself and I make no bones about the fact that I believe this band are going places. Tonight […]
Kraftwerk @ Symphony Hall – 13 June 2017
“Turn it up!” shouts an audience member a few songs into Kraftwerk‘s set at Birmingham’s impressive Symphony Hall, quickly following the comment with “We’re old!” It’s certainly true that, for the first 45 minutes of tonight’s show the volume is indeed lacking, and it’s also a valid point that the majority of tonight’s crowd are […]
The Wedding Present ‘George Best’ @ o2 Academy, 8th June 2017
It’s hard to imagine the eighties without The Wedding Present, and in 1987 they released George Best, which was a fine piece of ‘indie guitar music’ and they courted the respect of John Peel, regularly filling his Festive 50. They were seen by some as a student band, maybe this was because they regularly played […]
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