Steve Hackett Keeps the Flame Alive At Portsmouth Guildhall
The conventional wisdom among those who self-appoint as ‘true’ fans of Genesis seems to be that the lights went out on August 15 1975 – for this was the day that Peter Gabriel left the band. Whilst I can see plenty of reasoning for this argument, the opinion of this...
The Darts, A Grand Slam At Hackney Empire
First off, let's not spread confusion. We're going to talk about The Darts, the crazy girl quartet from Phoenix, Arizona. We're not going to talk about Darts, the nine-piece British '70s doo-wop band. Or the sport. Especially not the sport. The Darts are well...
Rival Sons Plant Roots And Go Feral In Brixton
I feel a little sorry for openers The Last Internationale as they have the early shift just 10 minutes after doors opened. Nevertheless the New Yorkers are sensational in front of a gathering audience with a four-number set. This band are easy on the eye: Delila Paz...
Michael Monroe, The Dogs D’Amour & Electric Eel Shock Live In London
Michael Monroe is back on tour to promote his latest album One Man Gang that’s the fourth solo album with more or less the same line-up of the Michael Monroe band consisting of Sami Yaffa on bass, Rich Jones and Steve Conte on guitars and Karl Rockfist on drums that...
Raphael Saadiq Introduces Gospeldelic To The Indigo
Just a couple of months after releasing his fifth solo studio album titled Jimmy Lee, Raphael Saadiq performs at Blues Fest London 2019 at Indigo, part of the huge O2 complex in Greenwich, some eight years after his last show in London. If you’ve followed Raphael...
Of Monsters And Men Spread Joy At Eventim Apollo
Of Monsters And Men are about so much more than songs with irresistible “la-la-la” choruses, impossibly sunny melodies, kooky lyrics about pet dragonflies and talking trees, and sudden jubilant outbursts of “hey!”. Of Monsters And Men are about spreading joy. For 90...
Ghost Unveils An Epic Ritual Experience In New Jersey
It's hard to pinpoint the rise of Ghost. Could it be the mysterious prosthetic masks, could it be the riff laden demonic rock music that they play? Could it be the musicians are anonymous and known as the Nameless Ghouls, or could it be that they hail from Sweden? One...
The Cult Build A Sonic Temple In Hammersmith
Sonic Temple isn’t just The Cult’s highest-charting album (#3 in the UK, #10 in the US). It’s the one that gave them three bonafide Top 40 hits that they still play almost every night. It’s the one that saw them double down on the all-out rock approach of predecessor...
Brocker Are Anything But Shambolic At Album Launch
Tucked away on Acton Mews E8 in a railway arch is the rather splendid Signature Brew Taproom & Venue. Selling a selection of craft beers, this is also a very cool music venue. In attendance this evening is quite a diverse selection of people including a small...
The Kris Barras Band Ignites And Lights Up Live In London
As if the Kris Barras Band wasn’t enough of a draw we also got Wille And The Bandits which was a real bonus. Wille And The Bandits certainly added to their ever increasing fan base with a short 30 minute explosive support slot which, in the main, included numbers from...
Foals Save Everything, Lose Nothing At House Of Vans Album Launch
Yannis Philippakis isn’t averse to getting into the crowd. You might say he loves it: the Foals singer has even been known to leap off the stage at such usually restrained affairs as a Rough Trade in-store performance. But as the band’s following grows and they...
Hannah Wicklund & The Steppin’ Stones: Lighting Up London
You know when you really look forward to a gig and the excitement amplifies as the week goes on? When you were introduced to a band over a year ago and their music becomes the soundtrack to your commute, work and weekend? This is how I felt when Hannah Wicklund and...
Alice Cooper Opens The Doors To His Nightmare Castle At The O2
Alice Cooper isn’t short on charisma – or experience. He could probably transfix an arena audience with acapella renditions of songs from long-forgotten album Zipper Catches Skin. All he’d need is an empty stage, some black greasepaint for his eyes, and perhaps a...
Martin Harley: Blues In The Chapel
Martin Harley is probably Woking’s third most famous guitar player. Whist Paul Weller is almost certainly taking top billing (though primarily as a result of his singer/songwriter credentials) and Rick Parfitt certainly knew how to bang out a chord, it’s Harley who...
Trixie And The Trainwrecks Live @ What’s Cookin’ & Gaz’s Rockin Blues
This review should have just been for the What’s Cookin’ show but this reviewer got his days confused so that the photographer Simon Partington showed up on the correct night and to make sure we delivered the review I went to the next night at Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues....