Live: Blissfields 2015 Review

Live: Blissfields 2015 Review

It never rains at Blissfields is quite a boast given this year’s event comes just a week after a notoriously changeable Glastonbury. But it held true, and despite huge thunderstorms soaking most of the South East of England, this corner of a Hampshire farm a few miles...

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Live: Mavis Staples @ Clapham Grand

Live: Mavis Staples @ Clapham Grand

If ever there was a singer who could take a rock song and make it her own it has to be Mavis Staples. With her tight as tight band she put her distinctive mark on a few songs that you would not usually associate with cover versions. Of course the opening song had to...

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Live: Suzanne Vega @ The Anvil.

Live: Suzanne Vega @ The Anvil.

Hammersmith Odeon. Wembley Arena. Wasn’t it nice when these venues could just be called what they’re called without being obligated to have the name of a multinational conglomerate inelegantly crowbarred into their title? I mention these places not out of nostalgic...

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Live: The Wave Pictures @ The Dome.

Live: The Wave Pictures @ The Dome.

One of the best things about The Wave Pictures, besides their impressive output (15 studio albums and countless EPs and singles in their 10+ years together) is David Tattersall’s distinctive voice. It will remind you of other bands while being utterly unique; a bit...

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Live: L7 @ Electric Ballroom.

Live: L7 @ Electric Ballroom.

Camden's Electric Ballroom was the venue for L7's triumphant return to London. With shows at Download festival and Glasgow already under their belts (the latter being their only other UK headline gig), the Californian four-piece grunge punk pioneers hit the stage in...

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Live: Death Cab For Cutie @ The Empire

Live: Death Cab For Cutie @ The Empire

Pacific Northwestern alternative rockers Death Cab for Cutie played the first of a trio of sold-out shows at West London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire in support of eighth studio album Kintsugi, which refers to the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery using precious...

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Live: The Replacements @ Roundhouse

Live: The Replacements @ Roundhouse

The Replacements took to the stage at London's Roundhouse for the first of two reunion shows - their first UK performances in more than two decades. The band were in fine form, kicking things off with the Ramones-inspired surf-rocker Takin' A Ride then segueing into...

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Live: The Rifles @ Electric Ballroom.

Live: The Rifles @ Electric Ballroom.

“I’ve got Joel’s autograph tattooed on my bum” is one of the strangest openings to a conversation I’ve had from within the photo pit. However, it’s this devotion and loyalty in their fans that sums up why The Rifles can sell out the Electric Ballroom three nights in a...

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Live: Republica @ Under The Bridge.

Live: Republica @ Under The Bridge.

Techno punk rockers Republica returned to the stage at South West London’s Under The Bridge venue, situated under Chelsea FC’s famous Stamford Bridge ground, to play a set of hits, fan favourites and new material. Huge during the mid to late 1990s Britpop scene, the...

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Live: Ben Poole @ The Maltings.

Live: Ben Poole @ The Maltings.

Last month I was lucky enough to photograph the Ben Poole band in the expansive surroundings of London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. Ben was the support act on the UK leg of Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s spring tour. I say ‘photograph’ and not ‘see’ because the ‘three songs and...

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Live: Larry Miller @The Borderline.

Live: Larry Miller @The Borderline.

Larry Miller once played guitar in my front room. Around 20 years ago, he answered an ad in Melody Maker (for anybody under the age of 30, an ‘ad in Melody Maker’ was something that existed before the Internet) for a guitar I was selling and had come round to check it...

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Live: Beth Hart @ The Barbican.

Live: Beth Hart @ The Barbican.

I have arrived a bit late to the phenomenon of Beth Hart. For me, that’s a shame because after tonight, I'm hooked and I feel like I've missed out. Tonight's performance felt like a proper journey through life experiences, heartaches, families, love won, love lost and...

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Live: King King @ Jazz Cafe

Live: King King @ Jazz Cafe

Glasgow based King King released their third album Reaching For The Light on 4th May. If a bulging trophy cabinet were their only measure of success, you’d be forgiven for wondering why they bothered. With best band, best album (for 2013’s Standing In The Shadows),...

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Live: Brooke Fraser @ Dingwalls.

Live: Brooke Fraser @ Dingwalls.

Kiwi singer-songwriter Brooke Fraser played the only UK date of the European leg of her Brutal Romantic tour at Camden’s Dingwalls venue in support of her fourth studio album of the same name. And while her music has been touted as New Zealand pop, that’s where any...

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Live: The Wombats @ Brixton Academy.

Live: The Wombats @ Brixton Academy.

The Wombats released their long-awaited new album Glitterbug on 13 April. To celebrate they held a party in Brixton and invited 5000 people to it. The band, who met at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, might not be particularly prolific writers (Glitterbug...

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Gary Numan @ Hammersmith Apollo (Louise Phillips)

Grief, Glory & Grace – Gary Numan’s Heartbroken Homecoming Hammersmith Apollo

There are homecoming gigs, and then there are nights like Friday 21st November 2025 at the Hammersmith Apollo. For...
Lambrini Girls @ XOYO, Birmingham (Nick Allan)

Lambrini Girls Bring Controlled Chaos And Sharp-Edged Punk Energy To XOYO Birmingham

Lambrini Girls didn’t just play XOYO Birmingham, they detonated it. The Brighton punk trio have built a reputation for...
Stray From The Path @ O2 Institute, Birmingham (Nick Allan)

A Farewell On Fire: Stray From The Path Deliver One Last Earth-Shaking Set At The O2 Institute Birmingham

Stray From the Path’s final Birmingham appearance was never going to be a quiet goodbye but no one in the O2 Institute...
Bastille @ The O2 (Louise Phillips)

Good Grief, Bastille Show No Bad Blood At The O2 Arena

Tonight was a night of reflection. Of celebration. Fifteen years in, Bastille sound as good, and appeal to more people than ever. The fourth time the London band have played the biggest arena in the capital and they feel at home on this stage this size, with their visuals, their anthems and their devout relationship with their fans, they belong here.

Amy Macdonald @ Hammersmith Apollo (Kalpesh Patel)

Amy Macdonald Warms A Frozen Hammersmith Apollo With Heart, Humour & Huge Hits

“Are we having a nice time so far? Are we getting a bit warmer?” Amy Macdonald grins, peering out at a Hammersmith Apollo audience bundled into coats and scarves. It’s a question that becomes a running joke throughout the night — because despite the November chill and the decidedly frugal heating, Macdonald sets about warming the 5,000-capacity venue the only way she knows how: with humour, heart, and a powerhouse performance that leaves no seat unshaken.

&U&I @ Muthers Studio (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

&U&I: Back From The Break, In The Room, And In Their Element

There’s a particular kind of electricity that happens when a band reunites after years apart. Sometimes it’s cautious,...
&U&I @ Muthers Studio (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

&U&I, Back In Birmingham As If They Never Left

Some gigs feel significant before they even begin. The return of &U&I, after nearly a decade off the radar,...
Bad Nerves @ O2 Institute, Birmingham (Nick Allan)

Never Mind A Wet Night In Stoke, Bad Nerves Made The Best Of A Cold Tuesday Night At The O2 Institute Birmingham

Bad Nerves rolled into theBad Nerves tonight armed with a setlist built for chaos, and although the room was a little quieter than expected, the people who were there lit the place up. A smaller Tuesday night crowd didn’t dull the spark – instead it made the gig feel like a secret show shared only between the band and the diehards. And the band fed off it.

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