Shonen Knife - The Portland Arms - 11/04/2018

With the evenings still dark and the weather still heavy and wet, there are few things more fun to do on a weeknight than fit a couple hundred middle aged alternatives into the back of a pub and have them remember back to the 90s, when all the things we were angry about were so much simpler and the NME was still a thing (Ha! Die, you devil, DIE!). There is a chance that someone in that room, other than the touch-screen wielding venue technician) wasn't around when people first heard of Shonen Knife, thanks mostly to the words of Kurt Cobain, but if they were then they were nowhere near where I was standing. This was a place packed with weary travelers, making a journey after a busy day of adult things to see two sets of sprightly journeymen entertain and enliven them all. The atmosphere before the first chord was plucked was a mix of apprehensively buzzy mixed with reverent anticipation. People wanted to make a night of it, then get back home in time for the next day.

First to take the stage were the unknown quantity: The Kolars. If anyone in the audience knew them they didn't give it away, as the reception to them as they walked on stage was polite, warm, but not too personal. Both members were bedecked in sequins and 50s chic, the guitarist's hair a majestic quiff, but with enough glam and modern touches to gave nothing too much away. Then the drummer stood atop her bass drum, and people just knew this was going to be different. The first three numbers were stompingly good rockabilly, stripped down and oiled up like a modern day Cramps that grew up on Happy Days and hope. The sound was embracing, the tapdancing drummer was an excitement to watch - halfway between a go-go dancer, a cheer leader, and an honest invitation for everyone to just have a good time - the lyrics were vivid and touching, and it if that had been the next 30 minutes people would have been happy with a great novelty Rock-And-Roll act.

Instead, at song four. they knocked it up a notch and threw in a mix-tape blend of their native LA's space rock drenched in pop sensibilities to the proceedings and sat there for the rest of the set, turning the audience from welcoming observers to won-over participants. Nothing to thick or confusing, everything perfectly placed and approachable, but adding depth and colour. All of this was helped by the duo visibly having a good time, Lauren the drummer more so than the sometimes zenned out Rob, the singer guitarist. If you don't want this in your car when you're driving in the summer then you are missing a trick, and if this act doesn't get more attention then I don't know what's wrong with the world.


As good as they were, the night was always going to be for Shonen Knife and their own take on power trio punk. Sitting halfway between early Buzzcocks, later period Ramones, and what Yo Gabba Gabba could have been if it grew up on the mean streets of Osaka. This is straightforward, easy to listen to, bouncy tunes about whatever Naoko Yamano has decided to sing (it takes a lot to get a cheer from the line "This is a song about my hobby, tennis"). Given that they have been playing music, that you can easily call twee and simple as a criticism or a compliment, around the globe for over 35 years, the reaction to them walking on stage in their powerpuff girls meet early 80s glam-metal costumes was about as welcoming as you would expect.

They had nothing to prove, as everyone in the room already loved them, and very little to do other than rip through an hour of tunes with minimal pauses and almost no mucking around. There was a little banter, but it wasn't clear if the minimal discussion was because they didn't have great English skills or if they just wanted to get on with playing with as much gusto as if they had just discovered how to hit their first note. It wasn't business like or disinterested, it was just efficiently wanting to entertain and show off their latest creations along with their classics. Their mood was infectious, the crowd lapped up every moment up, and whilst the whole thing only lasted an hour it was a perfect one.

2016 May Brawl - The Portland - 11/06/2016

Cambridge University has a grand tradition for traditions, and one of them is the Rock Soc's annual live show, being held at the same time as the colleges May Balls (which are mostly run in June, because Cambridge University does that kind of thing a lot). After being absent from them since back when they were held at the Man In The Moon, mostly due to them turning into black/death metal overkill and me then not keeping track of them, I decided to give this years event a go. Besides, how can you go wrong when it's £6 to get in?




WTVR
The event started quietly, with maybe 20 people milling around in all. Then a guy in leopard-print underpants walked onstage from nowhere, put a gas mask on and started making what can best be described as "one hell of an unholy racket", before then upping the ante by picking up an accordion. Then two other members of the audience walked up, jumped upon guitar and drums, and joined in with trying to redline the soundboard with what I can't really describe as songs or tunes because it was more of a wall of sound experience than anything else. Once it became clear that they were actually a cohesive band, I got around to trying to get their music, and failed in a quite pleasant way. It wasn't that it was especially cleaver or hyper-complex, it was closer to Muse on mcat than mathrock, it's just that it was filled with overdrive, feedback, and lyrics that were audible and poetic but basically a fever dream. I liked the experience, and when they focused on hammering out the tunes it managed to stay just far enough away from hipsterism to not irritate me. If pushed to pigeonhole it, I would say "avant garde alternative stoner", but given how wide-eyed the semi-naked vocalist was, a piss test would be required to prove the last bit.

Malignant Germ Infestation

Next up was a werewolf in a boiler suit on the mic accompanied by a pig scientist on guitar, with a stage setup of a sacrificial satanic alter, bathed in blood, and assorted gender blowup sex dolls with sausages tied to them. The music was very heavy techno-grindcore, with 90's game/tv/porn clips thrown in between rounds, and the show consisted of the singer thrashing on the stage, at the front of the stage, and around the audience, like.... well, like a werewolf in a grindcore band. From time to time they would molest and / or torture the sex-dolls, suspending a number from meathooks on the stage, and given the titles of songs there was a strong over-the-top porno-gore thing going on but someone would have to workout what the lyrics were to give a call on that. It was certainly energetic and the duo were clearly playing their deranged parts with just the right levels of seriousness, including the final section which was a quiet, introspective bit of mime. In the grand scheme of things, it was more an art project than music, so as long as they continue to come up with dafter things to do on the visual side (and they don't kill themselves) they should keep on charnel-housing in the free world.

Gout
From one novelty extreme band to what appeared to be another, but whilst Gout came in with Hawaiian shirts on and Human Centipede level-of-humour song titles, it all soon got lost in them being a death metal band. Quite a good one, if that's your thing (which it was for a good chuck of the crowd were), but still essentially a death metal band in Hawaiian shirts. For devotees of the genre its probably a breath of fresh air, and I can see things like the whole band being listed as "backing vocals, backing drums" etc being comedy gold, but whilst they were quite good at what they did they could have been dressed in anything they wanted, including just a bunch of black jeans and t-shirts, for all the difference the schtick made. Not dull, not bad, I'm quite probably not their target audience.

Petrol Bastard

For some this band are the logical end result of 90s industrial / underground electro; observing the disappointment of the promised future that never arrived, slapping it in the face with the realism of parochial, low-rent hedonism, and holding it up on an absurdist, reductivist, pedestal for loving parody and brutal ridicule. For others they're two blokes singing rude, daft, belligerent songs with choruses even the most drunken of audiences can vomit up, that are all done to a jackhammer up-for-it techno backing track that was ganked out of the Prodigies bin. Either interpretations is right, so you can be at the back with a wry, knowing smile or up-the-front dancing-your-tits-off and love it just as much. Easily the act that got the most motion out of the audience (including a can-can line) and certainly the most obsessed with shoving electronics up their arses,

Outright Resistance
Four musicians on stage, thrashing away like the late 80s were back and they wanted to make it into the Big Five. Singer out front, belting out with fury and heart, and scaring everyone backwards because they might as well have had "Face Towards Enemy" stamped on their forehead they were that explosive. It was fast, it was furious, it was jolly good fun, and they are clearly on a mission. They also do requests, finishing on the most chest pounding version of "Safety Dance" I've heard because one of their fans asked them to. The fans that helped them recover from having £5,000 of kit stolen, and the ones that the band are happy to talk to whenever because sometimes you just need someone to talk to and if your listening to this kind of stuff it's likely that your life isn't just roses. I had a chat with the singer at the bar afterwards, and that just confirmed that they are a very genuine act. It's probably not redefining any genres or pushing back that many musical boundaries, but it was good, it was personal without being introvert, they were clearly enjoying being up their to give it their all and, that often makes all the difference.

Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Knight
It's a stoner band, playing stoner blues/doom rock in a stoner style. Their sing like their from Alabama and they talk like their from Essex. They introduced a song about wanting a women to get naked with them by saying it was about "a women putting their clothes on my floor" when the song is called "Clothes on my floor" and the hook lyric is "I want your clothes on my floor". Badoom-cha! What they did they did well with no surprises or deviation from the script. They mentioned that they had their album available in "delicious vinyl", I don't know if that was a comment on the format or it's taste. I wasn't stoned, so I failed to give a monkeys.

Whilst the line up was possibly a little heavy on novelty acts, rather than straight up rocking, there was enough range with the acts for their to be something for everyone to like (assuming you like the heavier side of rock in the first place). The crowd was pleasant, the beer was good, the venue just the right size, and I'll be adding the May Brawl back into my calendar.

Duran Duran @ The NEC Genting Arena - 04/12/2015

The Genting Arena is best described as a cross between an airport departure lounge, what premier league football stadiums dream they are and an exercise in seeing how much you can overcharge for every kind of food and drink under the sun. It's also got lovely staff and on this brisk - but not too stormy - night, it was the venue for the return of Birmingham's greatest 80's export (or, as Simon Le Bon put it, it's "bastard children"). The venue was mostly rammed, the audience was mostly over thirty and everyone was moderately buzzing at the chance of going back to their youth. The only problem was: both the acts they had heard of had actually done a lot of stuff since they were last heard on the chart countdown.

Before that: Bloom Twins, a pair of quite talented Darkwave performers from Ukraine who do a good line in synths, live drums and mixing of 50's cinema tunes, with modern sounds that ends up being haunting, emotional and interestingly minimalistic. It was also wasted on the audience - the few that had turned up to see them by that point - and, in a neat nod to the 80's, suffered from the Ultravox problem of 'how do you make things look interesting on stage if everyone is stuck behind a sodding huge set of keyboards". I would happily listen to them again if their tunes came on the radio and would love to see them if they played in a club, but at 500 feet it was, inevitably, a bit of a non-event.

Little known fact: Seal has done seven studio albums since he released "Kiss From A Rose", something that he was quite happy to tell an audience that appeared to think he'd been keep in stasis since 1994. However they would be forgiven for having that thought, as 52 years olds really aren't supposed to be able to belt out tunes with that much power AND command the stage with that much presence AND interact with the audience with that much grace and warming wit. He started, perfectly, on Crazy and Killer which got a huge reaction. He then, perfectly, did a brace of soulful, R&B meets rock, classics from his other albums which were meet with polite applause from everyone more than three rows from the front, and finished on an, unsurprisingly perfect, rendition of "Kiss From A Rose" that got everyone singing and cheering.

Duran Duran have also not been resting on their laurels since their heyday of 1981 to 1989, especially with departures, returns and a brief hiatus when no-one really thought they would get back together again. They also (finally) have a really solid album (Paper Gods) to show off and thus were more than happy to kick things off with the title track, before kicking into a set that was 50/50 classics/tracks most of the audience didn't know because they weren't written in the 80's. But they lapped it up because it's Duran Duran, they can rock it like devils and they were overly happy to be playing to their hometown crowd, so wanted everyone to know how chuffed they were to be there.

The stage show wasn't anything too fancy and involved a bit of AV with well timed lights; the theatrics were kept minimal with only Danceophobia having any real choreography. But the impact was undeniable; the charm, charisma and confidence just dripping off every more and note. Simon Le Bon and John Taylor stalking their stage like the pop superstars they are, Nick Rhodes stayed at his keyboards like a conductor-general marshalling his forces and Roger Taylor just hammered his kit.

When they played tracks the crowd knew, everyone was dancing; when they played tracks the crowd didn't, everyone was listening - and when the moment was right, then everyone was singing. The big moment for that was the encore with Save A Prayer; something that was obviously going to be emotional, given it having become somewhat of an anthem for the Paris attacks. Le Bon introduced it well, stating the facts and offering it up as a song of hope - and then let the audience do most of the legwork. Hopefully there won't be much call for things like this in the future, but that night it gave a much-needed sense of togetherness and optimism. Then they kicked into Rio and people got back with the main point of the night: brilliant Pop that's a bit daft, occasionally poignant, and always damn good fun.

Breakout Festival - Brighton Racecourse - 26.09.2015

It's not often you associate Brighton with heavy metal & hard rock, but from going along to the Second annual Breakout Festival it's quite clear that they go together as well as ice-cream and beach walks (well, the type that leave you happy, tired, and somewhat deaf). It's also quite clear from having attended this years event that the organisers know how to operate an efficient band-packed event, and that the local scene is filled to the brim with friendly folk out to have a splendid time of it all. And by "all" I mean 14 bands for the outrageously low price of £27.50 (including booking fee), starting at 10:40 and finishing almost 12 music-soaked and fist-pumped hours later.

Opening up was We Deny, a quality pop-punk outfit that managed to pull people in through a combo of ridiculous amounts of energy for that time of the morning and a clear talent for catchy tunes. It was "light, but filling" in the best of ways, getting my feet tapping and face smiling before the first bite of coffee. Quite frankly, if you're under 25 and have even the slightest interest in being happy about things, then put this on your car stereo and just drive off to adventure.

And, whilst it was impressive being that happy at 10:40am, hats go off to Skint Circus for being so utterly pissed off at 11:20 when they rolled out their thick, sweaty, and highly energetic take on hardcore punk with breakdowns, beatdowns, and throwdown flying over the places almost as much as their singer did. Their lead guitarist didn't move much though, he just stood there in a suit jacket looking unnervingly cool. A band with that much anger has a lot to give, and I look forward to hearing more from them.

Next up was Seething Akira, a band who appear to have bridge the existential gap between Enter Shikari and The Midnight Beast. From their jolly intro of "Hello" to their rave-metal bouncing noise, this was everything you could ask for from a band that have one front man who looks like a young Alan Moore in a Lionel Richie t-shirt and another that you could envision your sister politely introducing to your mother. By song two they were both in the crowd, giving things a runaround - kicking off a moshpit conga line, sneaking a cheeky go on the bouncy castle near the stage, all the time accompanied by blood-pumping party revolution rawk. All of this meant that when they asked the question "Have you all had a nice time?" and gave the quippy "That makes us very happy" after the cheer, it came across as honest rather than affected, and just added to the fun factor that was washing over everyone. They have a single coming out, get it and then try to see them live.

The Gospel Youth had a tough act to follow, and their more laid back, radio friendly, alt-rock approach was a good switch of pace from what had come before. Touches of Gaslight Anthem, the odd bit of Fall Out Boy, mostly just solid rock played in a no nonsense fashion. Whilst their look was the most regimented and sculpted of the day so far they were perfectly willing to just let the music and the lyrics do the work for them, so whilst they didn't get much motion out in the slowly growing crowd there were clearly a lot of ears open taking it all in.

Another set, another change in style, something that seems to be the make of Breakout with a very broad range of the church of rock on display. By Definition were the next brotherhood on display, and they had come to give some very hard lessons on the benefits of blues based, groove heavy, slow and steady heavy rock. It was slow, it was steady, it was raunchy, and it was delivered with the restraint of a grizzly bear. Pretty much instantly everyone in the area started smelling of strong liquor and began tapping their hands, feet, heads, and assorted other appendages as the growling, swirling, bass-to-the-guts overload was hammered out.

Zoax were up next and rapidly pitched their tent as a screamo version of The Pixies with a heavy sound that saw more peaks and valleys than a bus going off the cliff in Wales. They also almost had the same visual impact on the stage at times, as all three of the guitarists were throwing their instruments around with so much abandon their mothers would have been worried someone would lose their whole head. Desperate to the crowd moving, their singer Adam stalked the pit like a demon whilst throwing his heart and lungs into every lyric. Not to sure on the safety of bringing a cabled mic into the thick of it, but no-one got hurt and it certainly added to the drama. Then he came over to the table we were sat at and he pinched my hat, so that's one to tell the Godparents once these guys make it big.

Then, for lack of a better term, Black Tongue happened. They just walked on stage, started playing something that sounded like five doom and death metal tracks all at once, hated everything in front of them for even existing for about half an hour, and then headed off. Occasionally they introduced a song with some horror movie sound track but other than that it was just "bang and gone". They even had a guest vocalist for one track that just walked on, screamed, and headed off. Like it, don't like it: they clearly did not have one fuck to give regards your opinion of what they did. Obviously the people who were into it loved it, whilst everyone else seemed a bit bemused. I'm assuming that was the intention. The only down side to their set was the sound techs not being up to task, as there was feedback and pops through out, which was a shame for an otherwise precision performance.

Representing the kind of  poetic, polemic, and curiously swinging hardcore that seems to grow in London, TRC bounded on with the goal of kicking up a riot and ensuring everyone had fun doing it. It was shouty, it was bouncy, it had riffs and energy you could listen to for days. It also had the line of "If you've got some energy, do it. If not, then get to the gym" and the request for the pit to get "a bit like strictly come dancing". The thrash-ier bits were intense, and all over, it got everyone up for a good time that showed the old school have still got it.



Shunning the simple pleasures of music, like tune or melody or even apparent structure, Heck (aka Baby Godzilla) landed next and dropped out a lot of sounds in about half the time you would think it humanly possible. Some might call it mathcore, or extreme jazz, or "all the notes ever, sometimes twice", or "Cream force-fed Napalm Death from birth"  but mostly it was just an exhilarating exploration of what you can do when you say 'no' to almost every rule ever. I'm not going to claim to understand it, but it was compelling and enjoyable like some intricate puzzlebox, especially with the bands determination to hammer their instruments and play them anywhere other than the stage. It was also impressive to watch as there was no-one obviously holding the songs together, but regardless of how far everyone flew off in which direction it kept on coming back to one central point, Oh yeah, and they hate microphone stands. I saw three of them laid waste in the first track alone.

Martyr Defiled hit the stage next, playing something that sounded halfway between death metal and blastbeat-based hardcore. Sadly the performance almost instantly got hit by bad sound, so nothing came across with as much bite as it should have, in the first track. The sense of terror was further eroded by their vocalist sounding so amiable and friendly when talking between tracks, as someone who sounds that devilish when singing, should not instantly strike you as someone you would share cocoa with. It was technically proficient but the performance side wasn't theatrical or passionate enough to really grab up and hold you in its fist.

Finishing up the last of the daylight were The Qemist, a raging slab of power is pitched halfway between The Prodigy and Pendulum, but with enough of their own sound to not sound like a dodgy knock-off. From the off they had everyone bouncing to their uplifting sounds and welcoming stage presence. A couple of the callouts and platitudes to the crowd may have been a tad bit cheesy, but everyone was smiling too much to be offended and they all knew it was meant well. Still, you can't argue with the crowd and they managed to get a huge response as everyone rocked out to their rebel party anthems.

And then night was upon us, and as the stage lights kicked in We Are The Ocean took the stage and played something halfway between alt-rock and dad-rock. It was good for what it was, including a brave attempt at Dazed and Confused (a fifty year old song for a crowd that was mostly under twenty five), it's just that it was too much of a change from what had gone on before through the day. The crowd dwindled visibly, the cold started to suck at people's energy, and though there were moments that landed some response from those left behind, they never landed well enough to convince me they were the right pick for that point in the day.

When Sikth got on stage there was a resurgence in numbers, mostly from the bar, as this was clearly a band that a lot of people had been looking forward to see. Whilst I wasn't aware of the band before today I can clearly see why people like their brand of prog-metal: it's loud, it's fast, it's filled with virtuosity, and it's almost certain to piss off your parents. It was also a highly energetic and frantic performance, which got picked up by the crowd and resulted in a lot of bodies thrashing around & building up a sweat. Personally I liked the spoken-word piece the most, as it was totally unexpected and yet fitted in perfectly with everything else before and after, and a fair chunk of the audience dug it as well. For a band doing their first gig of the year in September, they had clearly been doing more than just practising their tunes. If you are of the progressive music persuasion, then grab a ticket to whenever they play within travelling distance of you.

The day was drawn to a close by Deaf Havana and their brand of alternative rock, which sadly seemed to miss the mark of what the crowd were after in a similar vein to We Are The Ocean if the madly diminished audience was anything to go by. Those who stayed had a lovely time, listening to some heartfelt tunes and rocking singalongs, but for a lot of people it was either time for bed after an incredibly long day in the sun or just not their thing after the prog-metal blowout that had hit them before.

Still, with that much range and at that price, you can't have everything your way. However, you can have an incredibly well-organised and perfectly sized event, completed by a pleasant crowd and utterly pleasant staff.  They was also the bonus of all the bands hanging out in the audience, so you could be both encouraged that they are actually real people who got up and did it, as well as get the chance to go up and say "thanks for the music". Book your tickets for 2016, because it's going to be worth it.

A few words on tickets.

There is something magical about a concert ticket, something about what is quite often just a simple bit of paper with a touch of ink on it. Mass produced and designed to last, at most, a couple of months, they are a prized item for the music fan that carry far more emotions than simple reminiscence of the night itself.

For a start there is the sense of occasion that a ticketed event brings with it. This is not a ‘turn up if you can’ show you may get down a pub or small venue (delightful though those are), this is an event that could sell out and that has asked you to confirm that you will be there with cash in advance. This is not a casual affair, this is an RSVP event for a limited few. And that limitation brings with it the apprehension of trying to get the damn thing in your hands. If it is a major event you have the phoneline and website hounding, waiting for the flag to be raised for you and the rest of the world to charge and grab the trophy; if it is a smaller event, it’s the quiet fear that you won’t get the ticket in time before the rest of the world realises how awesome the band is and decide to join in the fun. Either way, should luck or planning be on your side, once you have the ticket you want to hold it up high and show it off to the world as the rare prize it is.

But then, in a strange metamorphosis, it turns from a thing of joy into a totem of apprehension. The gig is only a few months away, but how many things can go wrong in those weeks? What if the band have to cancel? What if you can’t make the show? What if you don’t get there on time? What if you lose the ticket? So many things could happen, all of them turning those few cubic inches of printed matter from the token of high entertainment into a totem of bitter disappointment. But at the same time it also becomes a beacon of solace and a way to get through the daily trudgery. Whatever the world throws at you is survivable, as you have the solid reminder that the gig is coming. The magic that is live music, that is a live crowd, will be upon you soon. It’s a feeling that gets bigger as the date gets nearer: the ticket becoming more and more real, until it’s in your hand and you’re on the way to the show with it brandished like a pass to the riches of the world.

And then you arrive, you hand over the golden-ticket, and it’s just a bit of paper. Everything is on the music, the performance, the event. Until it’s all over, at which point it becomes a reminder of what went by; a thing to look at and remember with, the trophy to mount on your wall amongst your other mementos of great nights of music. But it’s not a simple reminder of where you were or what you saw, it’s more complicated than that. You didn’t get to see a movie or a broadway show, this wasn’t a performance that will have been repeated a hundred days before and after. And it’s not the tour t-shirt, showing a multitude of concerts that you may or may-not have been at, that can be bought without even having to be near the venue. This is an indelible marker of that show at that place on that date, this is a point in time that you were a part of. 

This is your place in rock history, not just of the history of your own journey, as the show will never happen again. And it is the tool for the whole ride that is live music, of the emotional journey you have gone through with that ticket, from hope to triumph to foreboding to consolation to eagerness to elation to remembrance and permanency.

Enter Shikari @ The Cambridge Corn Exchange - 24/02/2015

The opening act on the nights bill was FatherSon, who spent most of their set sounding something halfway between the pop-punk melodies FalloutBoy and the prog-alternative rocking of Biffy Clyro, but without the impact of either. They were very static, focused to the point of disconnected, and the vocals kept on dropping out as the singer didn't appear to know to keep his mouth near the mic. It was, to begin with, disappointing. Then they got to their last two numbers and started to come alive, with some really heartfelt stuff that if they could fill their set with would really get people swaying.

Allusondrugs were up next and they kicked into some high-grade shouty fast sleaze rock. It had edge, it had swagger, it had a front-man that was confident enough to take the piss out of himself and still look cool. It also had a very dangerous singer-on-guitarists-shoulders moment, which just added to the schoolyard charm of the whole set. They are playing the Portland Arms soon, and I think they will be worth a look in.

If it takes a brave singer to dive into the audience it must take an utter lunatic to start the set in it, and Feed The Rhino have such a singer. The lunatic factor isn't hindered by him looking like a slightly younger Alan Moore, nor in the amount of conviction that he and the whole band put into their doomy metalcore assault. To say the crowd blew up was an understatement, arms and legs went everywhere and there was even the first wall-of-death I've seen at The Corn Exchange. But there were also some more touching moments, such as when they turned off all the lights and had the audience illuminate the band purely via their phone lights. A very good blend of soft and hard, occasional quiet and mostly loud. Definitely one to watch, as they should be going places very, very soon.

Speaking of phone's it was curiously satisfying to see so many of them with broken screens, because if you're going to bring a couple hundred quids worth of tech into a pit then it's likely to get broken. It was also deeply satisfying to see a really diverse crowd having turned up: gender, race, clothing style, everyone was represented in equal measure. Okay, so it was a bit weird when people started chanting Oasis's 'Wonderwall' between sets but these things happen and everyone was a generally friendly lot: all there to see Enter Shikari do their thing.

After five minutes of amusing tape intro, which had people singing along to soul classics and shouting along to various minutes warnings, Enter Shikari finally took to the stage and began to play one of the best live sets I've seen. Bravely they took the bulk of the material from their latest album, with only a couple of their previous classics making the list. This shows a commitment to their material that you just don't expect from a band four albums into their career, however the audience reaction to material that's only been out for a couple of months shows that it pays off. Everything was fresh, everything was exciting, and everyone was loving it. As ever they performed with a warmth, genuine appreciation for their audience, and sense of fun which turned the whole thing into such a pleasant environment for people to let steam off in a friendly high-energy environment. It was also nice to have such a 'message band' not give any speeches or grand announcements, letting everything come through from the songs and the lyrics. Even the more fancy staging didn't get in the way of the music doing it's thing, everything managing to be impressive but simple and none distracting. Hopefully it won't take me another seven years to get to see them live again, because I don't know how much longer they can keep being one of the best live acts going.

Fiverfest: Heat 1 - 24/10/2014

Fiverfest is a band competition being held at The Junction in Cambridge, so it's a fantastic chance to check out a series of bands for £5.00. This doesn't explain why things were quite so quiet at the start of the night, as swapping a pint and a half for the chance of seeing the next Gods of Rock before they even get signed (or just a series of decent, up for it, acts giving it a shot) is just too spectacular to miss out on. Still folks didn't come in a huge number or variety (it was mostly the '18' to 25 scene), so others bad choices meant I got a better view of something far more enjoyable than X-Factor.

First up was Ambury Night, who played a sweaty version of tribal blues rock that I really quite liked. Their bassist had all the stage moves and their drummer was playing the 'hit everything all the time' game with great aplomb, which provided an excellent backline for their guitarist to noodle away to his hearts content and their singer to give their rather nice songs a faux-Americana belting that reminded me of Ian Astbury. All in all a great showing with a range of tunes & sounds on show, thought I would encourage their singer to try and sing more towards the audience than to his band mates.

Lost Lungs followed, and whilst they played a nice line in indie rock that had moments of Catatonia and 90's radio friendly goodness that would be great for a Summer drive to something exciting with friends they were a bit hit-and-miss for me (in that I liked songs 2, 4, and 6 but songs 1, 3, and 5 left me cold). Their last track was especially impressive, sounding like they were trying to drown me in velvet, and their stage presence was good, but beyond that it just wasn't connecting. Also their drummer was wearing a done-up tie, which will always be a major 'NO' for me as it means they aren't trying hard enough.

Fenrir exploded from the off, bringing a massive injection of positive post-hardcore energy, along with a tempo that perked up the audience and got the first motion going up at the front. They even got a singalong going and win the prize for smothist album plugs of the night. It had me bouncing along and was a nicely polished performance without too much flash or bluster. Just solid sounds and lots of pop hope with breakdowns at just the right points that I would like to check out more of.

This all left a tough one for Forever After to follow, which they didn't really achieve with their Foo Fighters mark 2 offering and the amazing line of "This one's about your girlfriend leaving you and its all emotional" which drew an audible snickering from my side of the audience. None of it was bad, as they could clearly play and were perfectly skilled craftsman (including their bassist who appeared to have recently scored some incredibly powerful E as he spent the whole time smiling like a loon). It's just that none of it was half as exciting as they thought it was or especially new/interesting.

And then finally, for me anyway as I had to nip off before the 11th hour additional 6th act, was The Abstracts. who brought along an Indie-Meets-New Wave sound that mixed The James, The Cars, and a touch of Elvis Costello with just enough Libertines to be distinctly English without needing a punch. It was highly emotive with clear Brit-Pop sensibilities, but nothing too overboard or pretentious (although their singer is quite possibly from another planet given his hyper-kinetic motions and ability to walk on stage dry to then be drenched in sweat before the start of the first track). No fancy stage work, but a good connection with the audience.

So was it worth it? Yes, very much so and especially at the price. I'm aware that events like this have a terrible reputation but for the price you can't complain and none of the acts were especially bad or a waste of time. The next one is on Saturday the 1th of November and I would encourage more people to go to it.

Why are festival headliners getting older?

A while ago a friend observed that the headliner acts at major festivals are getting older and older, with his theory being that 'there are no new acts good enough to be headliners these days'. Initially I disbelieve him, thinking it was "things were better in my days" type thinking, so I set forth to see what was actually happening. Mostly because my theory is that there are plenty of great, acts out there who can do just as well as the more established groups, both in terms of musical quality/ability and performance giving.

I selected Reading and Download/Monster Of Rock as my data set, mostly because they have been running the longest and partly because they have consistently aim for a similar audience through all their years (if you discount Reading's origins as a Jazz festival, which Reading has). Glastonbury has been running for a comparable length of time but its audience has changed dramatically, going from being a drugged-up hippy-fest to a drugged-up middle-class-fest through its promotion by the BBC (but that's another story). They have also been relatively consistent since the start of the 80's, which is when recent musical history starts in the minds of most of my chums/people likely to read this blog. So, over the course of several hours, I went over all the headlining acts (as defined by the Festival, and counting 2nd and 3rd stages) and compared the year the headliners performed against the year of their first album release (as the actual starting year of many bands is a contested issue). After crunching through the data I came to the all important truth: Darren Douglas was right.

No two ways about it, the headlining bands are getting older. So why, when there are so many good new bands, is this happening? It is counter intuitive to the whole 'joy and power of youth' element that rock has always espoused. Why did two musical events, aimed at different demographics in the market ( in broad terms Reading is more 18-25 whilst Download is more 21+), end up having a similar trend? From a bit of research, and from talking to some 'industry insiders', I came the following conclusions:

The growth of festival audiences has changed who can headline

Both of the events listed have grown in size since the 80's, so where as you could previously have had a headlining act that could attract a couple thousand people you now need someone that pull in the tens of thousands. Both events have 90,000+ tickets for sale and the headliner acts are still the main draw, so to cover that many tickets you need a band with a proven track record who can regularly sell out venues like the O2 Arena (which only holds 23,000 so its 'multiple nights' rather than 'one off show' territory). These kinds of acts are not that common, to give you an idea I've been able to find four rock acts currently billed to play +15,000 venues this year.

Additionally many headliners are booked two or even three years in advance now, to ensure that they will attend the event. A 5 year old band might still be together in 3 years time but its not as likely as one that's been going for 15+. This means you need a band that you know will still be together by the time the festival comes around, so reliable and seasoned acts are less of a gamble on that front. 

It also gets worse when you find out that record sales are one of the factors involved when calculating the size of a band, something that not all new bands are focused on in the new media age, which leads to the next issue.

The new media has reduced bands ability to headline

Previously if a band could get championed by MTV, Kerrang, Melody Maker, or NME they had a decent chance of success, and potential headliner status. This was due to their being a very narrow amount of information that could be transmitted, for example if you were into alternative rock in the 90's you had a two two-hour shows a week on TV in which to actually listen to new stuff being released, meaning that each band had a far larger mindshare to play with (around an 80th a week) where as now you can happily hit youtube and watch 3360 completely new videos of alternative rock if you wish. This is good in many ways, because more people can find music they really like, but is also bad in some as there is no central path or 'gatekeeper' that can result in a band getting big. You also have a lack of major co-defined movements in rock: the 80's had NOBHM and thrash, the 90's had Alternative and Nu-Metal, whilst the 00's had an outbreak of minority interests like the varying forms of extreme and noise. Diversification has become the rule, rather than focus or exemplar bands.

The medium-to-big sized bands scene has shrunk, whilst the small-to-medium has exploded. From a festival viewpoint this means you are more likely to get to play at one of them with a smaller audience, however its going to be harder to get the critical mass needed to headline. Bands starting now are in a 'post-headliner' world, to a great degree, where diversification has taken over the market. As stated previously many of them are actually good enough to headline, it's just that they will never be able to get the kick needed to get that big. This is further complicated by headlining keeping the older acts big, you may not go to a festival to see the headliner but you are very likely to end up watching them which will help perpetual their bigness. All of this is reducing the chance of a smaller act picking up new audience, and keeping them away from the headliner spot. And even if a small band lucked out and got that slot would it actually do them that much good?

Not everyone will want to headline a festival

The idea of headlining a festival is a lovely one, but the reality of it is quite different. To begin with there is the simple pressure of putting on an hour and a half show, but you soon have to add in the fact that everyone is watching. If you go out there and don't perform perfectly word is going to get around very quickly, and very publicly, around both the fans and the industry. Doesn't have to be a major thing, doesn't even have to be your fault, but if it goes wrong you'll be remembered for it and never be able to get rid of that history. This will impact record sales, PR opportunities, and booking opportunities. From what I have had explained to me that pressure alone has caused internationally renowned acts to give a 'thanks, but no thanks' response when offered the headline. Much better to go second or third, especially when you realise that unlike an arena performance: This crowd is not "your crowd".

If you can sell out the big three arenas in the UK that means around 60,000 people in the UK want to spend money to see you live. If all of them turn up to see you headline a major festival that means that only 1 in 3 of the audience may not actually give that much of a damn about you. One in three is a lot of people that you have to convert to your side, so you have to be damn confident that a large section of the crowd isn't going to go from 'disinterested' to 'outright hostile' on you. It could mean them walking home early (embarrassing) to a being booed all the way through to a 'Reading Salute' of projectiles being thrown onto the stage. Not something that everyone would be interested in having to face, regardless of the prestige or money, when they are used to a positive home-field audience.

There could be other reasons as well, for example families now going to events so organisers having to find more cross-age-group appealing acts or the lack of major co-defined movements in rock during the 00's resulting in a lack of big enough exemplar bands for particular scenes. However hopefully the above goes someway to explaining why it's not just a case of 'no good new bands' and more of a changing market that has made it far harder for a new band to get to the top.

If anyone has thoughts on this one I would very much like to hear them by the way, so please post up whatever you may have. Also the raw data is available if anyone else wants to have a play with it.

Skindred @ The Junction, 31/01/2014

As a rule January is a horrible month. So what better way to ignore the horrible, wet weather (and snot inducing colds) than to get blasted in the face with a load of upbeat, high energy, positive rock & roll!

Due to traffic and rain we only got to see about half of Viza's set, which was annoying as they were kicking up a storm with their traditional Greek styled hard rock. For a band that no-one had heard of they were doing incredibly well, and by their last tracks the first few layers of the bit were bouncing and most folks I could see at the back (colds and pits really don't mix) were nodding along with approval. They impressed me enough that I got their latest album and I hope to be seeing a lot of them in the press.

Soil were up next, which surprised me as I'd thought they split years ago. However they are still very much an ongoing concern, sufficiently popular to have brought along a decent chunk of their own crowd, and their take on rocking groove-metal proved entertaining enough. The tracks were a little 'by the numbers' for me but I'm not going to deny the reaction they got, nor the skills they showed off. The only thing I would question was the singers decision to got down to audience level during the final track, as from anything but the front row it looked like he just disappeared before the end of the set.

Talking of questions: just before main act went on the lights were dropped and "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC was started at full volume. What appeared to be entrance music was then played in its full, accompanied by an impressive display of lighting synchronization. Yet no band, just sound and lights. Answers on a postcard please.

Then a dub version of the Imperial March kicked off and Skindred walked on to conquer all with their high energy metal-meets-reggae-meets-punk-meets-dub-(meets-occasional-touch-of-dubstep) sound. It's difficult to not use the word "unique" when describing what their music is like, so for full reference just checkout their discography. Let's just say that it sounded fantastic, that all musicians were at the top of their game, and that if the tunes didn't get you moving then you were dead to the world. To top it off Benji Webbe, resplendent in dredded up business suit and union jack hanging from his microphone, soon had the audience in his hands, getting every moving and swaying just as needed. The positiveness of his message was unmistakable: it's not common to have a frontman demand everyone live "meaning lives", but when he says it you know its a serious command rather than crowd pleasing platitude. Never pious though, as proven by asking who in the audience smokes dope and then playfully threatening to tell the police on them. There was also a fair amount of 'start song, stop song, tell crowd they have to do better, then start up again' (possibly a little too much) and sing-along fun to be had, all of which gave a great sense of community and togetherness. And then the final song was played, and everyone realised they had to go home in the rain. Still, totally worth it!

Anti-Nowhere League @ The Junction 7/11/2013

Good news, punk still isn't dead. It is a bit older, a lot wider around the middle, and quite possibly has to go home early so it can get the kids to school, but it continues to be loud, heartfelt, and quite angry.

First up was The Destructors, a Peterbrough band who were active in the 80's and then split until recently reforming. They did a half-hour of high energy "Oi" whilst looking very much like they had walked on-stage from the audience (40+, balding, tubby, up-for-it) and decided to give it their all. Nothing that will change your musical world but plenty to bring a warm glow to your heart.

The UK Subs followed up and were given the kind of welcome a band that has been constantly active for 30+ years should expect, which they replied to with a set the kind of set 30+ year active band can provide. A nice range of punk rock and hardcore, spanning the range of their albums, along with a bit of blues. The classics ("Warhead", "Riot", "Down On The Farm") were all present, along with new ones that got a great reception from the slowly growing crowd. Charlie Harper was magnificent as the 69 year old godfather of Punk that he is, softly spoken & warm whilst talking to the audience but energised & powerful when singing. Few dramatics but great stage presence from all the band, so if you get a chance give them a look as there is still plenty left in them.

And then my rock-star moment: Charlie Harper came out into the audience to grab a beer and listen to the music. I respectfully walked over, thanked him for the music, and shock him by the hand. He smiled, said thanks in return, and appeared to just enjoy being their. A great moment. About 30 minutes later he then stood on my foot whilst making his way to the bar, at which it all got just too surreal as this is a guy that I've read about in books & seen in documenteries.

Then it was the main act: The Anti-Nowhere League, and they got fucked over by their sound guy as from the off their usually thunderous guitar sound just came across as tinny & distant, whislt their drums were all over the place. Really, really, annoying as their actual set was brilliant. Not sure if it's punk or heavy metal (lots of facial hair in the band so its a tougher call than you would think) but it was all energy, aggression, and lots & lots of swearing. Animal continues to be an amazing frontman, leaning into the crowd and holding court with ease, and the current lineup have a great connection going. Song wise it was a bit heavy on the older stuff, but then with a back catalogue including "I Hate People", "So What" and "For You" who can blame them. Overall: a brilliant noise that managed to sound fresh & evocative.

The only downside to the night (other than the sodding awful sound during the headline band) was the lack of younger audience members. Whilst the bands on stage were all from the 80's I had thought that there would be more people from the 20-30 age group than their were (myself and Laura were well below the median age there, and we're hardly spring-chickens), especially considering the stature of the bands involved and the 'all ages' attitude that punk professes to maintain. I didn't expect the place to be flooded with youth, I just didn't expect the disparity to be so big. Still, chances are that the kids who 'should of been there' were all off listening to someone just as good but closer to their age.

I meet the future of music today.

I was talking down Burleigh Street today when I came across these two buskers.

Could they play? Not really
Could they sing? Not that well
Does any of that matter? No, not at all. They were out there, being a much needed reminder that people are still just going for it for the love of music, and for that I salute them. It also helps that if they have the get-up to play on one of the busiest streets in Cambridge then I think its safe to believe they will have the determination to practice their art and become fantastic at it, so one day they may be able to play and sing and to blow me away on more than just the fact they were out in the street giving it a shot. Even if they don't then I just hope they had an excellent time today, because they put a smile on my face a mile wide.

All hail the king!

Albert Hall, 07/10/2012

There is something wonderful about 100+ performers working together in perfect harmony, so when you throw in the always evocative film scores of Danny Elfman you know that you are going to be on to a winner. Thus after spending almost 4 hours driving from Cambridge to London it was with great anticipation that we sat down at the Royal Albert Hall for what promised to be a spectacular performance from the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The program contained all the classics: Beetlejuice, Batman, Mars Attacks! (with outstanding theremin solo) and Edward Scissorhands. It also had some of Burton/Elfman's more recent works, including Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, and Dark Shadows. It was the trademark swooshing wind instruments, galloping strings, and unending jingly bits in the background (five percussionists with maybe five hundred separate things to hammer around) that makes Elfman's music the joy and explosion of excitement that it is. All were performed perfectly, to the point that I would love to see how that nights performance syncs up to the scores in the actual films.

It was known in advance that Elfman was going to take to the stage at some point but it wasn't clear what for, so when he turned up to sing the Jack Skellington songs and sang with the same gusto he had back in Oingo Boingo 20 years ago a standing ovation was inevitable. However it wasn't known that Helena Bonham Carter was going to turn up so when she walked on to join in as Sally there was pure joy and entrancement, resulting in more standing, clapping, and a round of footstamping that I doubt you normally get at such a distinguished venue. Then Tim Burton got dragged on stage from the wings (looking curiously unsure that to do with himself as it was Danny's night) and a number of people could have died happy where they stood.

The only down side to all this was that the visuals, both of the tunes film footage and Tim Burton's concept images, that were running at the start of each piece were far to short so only ran for about a quarter of each tune. Whilst each piece holds up as its own thing and was totally engrossing to listen to they were made to go with the visuals, so it would have been nice to have had something a bit more substantial on that front.

As this event is listed as the "World Premier" all I can do is encourage you to get tickets to it when and wherever it is on next. It may not have Mr Elfman himself it will have his music done to perfection.

Download 2011 - Day 3

For the final day of rock-and-roll partying the gods decided that this festival should be played in Hard-Mode so we were graced with rain that managed to soak through leather and wind that cut through bone. Still the crowd had poncho's, Jägermeister jackets, and an unstoppable willingness to keep enjoying the weekend so it was on with the show

Download 2011 - Day 2

After the threat of rain on Friday it was a relief to spend Saturday at Download in sunny and calm weather. A little bit of a breeze, along with the odd cloud, kept the heat off the festival throngs as they enjoyed another day of fine music, fine company, and not unreasonably priced beer. I didn't get to see as many bands as on Saturday, mostly due to catching up with friends, but there were still some absolute corkers to bear witness to...

Download 2011 - Day 1

Yes, for the first time in my 25 years of being into music I've decided to walk the hallowed turf of Donington Park and enjoy the world of one of the more legendary rock/metal festivals in the world, namely Download. I am happy to report, first and foremost, that it is a lovely place, filled with lovely people and friendly event staff.

Bowling For Soup - Cambridge Corn Exchange 06/10/10

Seeing as how Bowling For Soup seem to have decided to come visit Cambridge every October myself and my wife deiced to go along and have a look see, cause £25ish for 4 bands in a not horrible venue isn't that bad a thing. So off we headed to a three quatersish packed Corn Exchange to go toe to toe with a large number of young (ie anyone between 16 and 25) folks out of enjoy themselves in a pleasant atmospheric of universal 'lets all have a laugh and a dance and a sing song'.

First up was A, which kind of blew my mind due to how big this band had been 8 years ago. What also blew my mind was how little they appeared to give a crap about past successes and they just got on with rocking like a band half their age. It obviously had an impact as I have never seen an audience listen so intently before at a rock show, as the majority of the audience the pop-blues-rock that was being laid before them was just something they weren't used to hearing. A managed to win the audience over from start to finish and got fantastic responses from the two tracks people actually knew ('Starbucks' & 'Nothing'). There were points were the references to being old got a little annoying but these were soon out of the way, leaving everyone happy to have seen such a quality act do their thing. Wished I could have seen them in their heyday but still utterly impressed with what they brought to the show.

I wish I could say the same about the Dollyrots but they just managed to underwhelm from the get-go. Word to the wise: if the first thing your 'sex-pot' lead singer does is slink up to the mic and purring out "Hello Cambridge, I hope your going to be as nasty as we are" then you better deliver something that makes me feel like I'm about to be violated. Do not follow it up with some of the most dull and tuneless teeny-guitar-pop ever created, it makes you look like muppets who think a mention of beer & kissing will somehow kick them out of a PG rated performance. And if you're going to do a song based on 'I've got a brand new combine harvester' try to be more entertaining than the Wurzels. Or, preferably, just let A back on. I wish I had more to say on this act but there isn't much more to it on either a musical or performance level.

Next up its Forever the Sickest Kids who managed to utterly excite and impress me for the first 10 minutes with a highly explosive blend of pop emo punk that left me breathless. It was an awesome sound, filled with catchy tunes and feelings and an explosive bouncy joy, and it got everyone up on their feet and going for it which was just wonderful to see. And then the singer just kept on being overly demanding and got on my tits. "I wanna see a circle pit!" "I wanna see you crowd surf!" I wanna see you mosh" I wanna I wanna I wanna. Look mate, how about you do something that demands it rather than repeatedly insist on it happening, especially when your asking for these explosions of physicality during the quiet bits of the songs. Very irritating, especially once I realised that the first ten minutes was going to be repeated for the next 40 minutes. Still they got one hell of a reaction from the kids in the crowd so I have to respect them for that.

And finally it was time for Bowling for Soup, who were doing far less dickaround antics on stage than the last time I saw them. Oh they still had fun, doing things like stopping mid song for a photo opportunity and bantering at each other like Morecambe and Wise, but it was a much more 'here to rock your arse' then the near comedy revue show of last time. And they rocked, they rocked hard. Each song perfectly executed, the band working like a well oiled machine, and the selection a wide range of old and new. It was awesome to behold, punk rock with a Texan swing and that slight touch of eighties metal. Brilliant stuff.

So we left happy with the first & last acts and looking forward to doing it all again next year.