Reconciliation Of Love and Fury: Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes @ Brixton Academy
Ex-Gallows and Pure Love frontman Frank Carter is one of the most exciting performers to witness live. Never predictable, with hardcore punk band Gallows he was an explosion of vitriolic rage, lyrics streaming out of him to vent pain and...
Robert Plant Shifts Space And Time At Royal Albert Hall
Like every well-worn rock ‘n roll story, Robert Plant’s has definite touchstones. He possesses one of the genre’s finest voices. He’s the original golden god who, with Led Zeppelin, defined what it is to be a rock star. He’s not one for nostalgia, turning his back on...
Benjamin Clementine Lays Down A Challenge At Brixton Academy
Benjamin Clementine knows the conventions that live gigs follow. “I play, you clap,” he observes at one point during his Brixton Academy performance. So the hits from his 2015 Mercury Prize-winning debut, At Least For Now, get an airing. A generous selection of...
JW Jones Raises The Temperature @ London’s Borderline
JW Jones is an award-winning Canadian blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released eight studio albums, performed in 19 countries, toured four continents, and played with legends like Buddy Guy, Canned Heat, and Red Hot Chili Peppers phenomenon Chad Smith....
Reinventing Himself On The Road: John Bramwell Live @ Union Chapel
After many years as frontman of Manchester-based band I Am Kloot, in 2013 John Bramwell took a change of direction and set out on a "Never-ending" solo tour that charted a course that has criss-crossed this country and into the continent. It's a journey that has...
The Pretty Reckless Run Wild At Brixton Academy
The stage is what makes or breaks a band. There are no do-overs, no overdubs, no ProTools to iron out those imperfections. It’s just you, your songs, and (especially if you’re an opening band) an audience to win over. The Pretty Reckless, who’ve been doing this since...
The Age Of Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons: Live @ Sheffield Academy
It is not often that rock legends make a stop in Sheffield, but this Monday in November a guitarist, his three sons, and singer Neil Starr rolled into town to raise the roof of the O2 Academy, supporting Aussie-rockers Airbourne. It was therefore no surprise that the...
REWS: Expectations High
Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. The right place was the Hawley Arms during the Camden Rocks Festival on a glorious early June day this year. The right time was around half past four in the afternoon when a band of which I was...
Jim White Plays Guitars & Talks Jesus At Dingwalls & St Mary’s Guildford.
Jim White is back on tour to promote his current album the very cool Waffles, Triangles & Jesus that is out now on Loose Music. This is the second time I’ve been to hear Jim play the last time was at St Pancras Old Church and like at that gig his support act are...
Bad Touch Feel Good At Islington Academy
All bands, if they're around long enough, reach that point where youthful urgency overlaps with experience. Bad Touch are now in that zone. Currently on their first UK headline tour (“eight years in the making,” as frontman Stevie Westwood puts it), the group have two...
The Temperance Movement: New Tunes In A Small Room
Malcolm Young died earlier this week. As I squeeze into a space at the front at Soho institution the Borderline, the PA soundtrack is non-stop AC/DC. It’s a good metaphor for tonight’s headline, The Temperance Movement. They’re both gravel-throat fronted...
Royal Blood Have It All Figured Out At Alexandra Palace
Following At The Drive-In takes balls, especially when the Texas quintet finish their 45-minute assault with a rendition of One Armed Scissor that’s the sonic equivalent of a napalm attack. But Brighton-based Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher certainly aren’t lacking in...
Michael Chapman & Julie Byrne Combine At The Union Chapel, London
Venues and artists don’t always make happy bedfellows, but the combination of Michael Chapman and Julie Byrne playing at London’s Union Chapel on Monday 13th November was a rare occasion of an acoustic match made in heaven. Billed as a ‘special guest’, legendary...
Joanne Shaw Taylor Beats The Blues At Royal Festival Hall
Joanne Shaw Taylor is suffering from a cold. But, other than her drinking hot water and honey (not gin, she promises) between songs and an added hint of huskiness to her voice, you wouldn’t know. The singer and guitarist is all energy and smiles as she (sometimes...
Dan Patlansky Offers Style And Substance At Royal Festival Hall
Gone are the leather jacket and checked lumberjack shirt. When Dan Patlansky steps out onto the Royal Festival Hall stage it's in waistcoat and suit jacket. “As soon as I put on these clothes, I feel like I’m about to to go to work. It changes your headspace a...
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