Gig Review - Josh Kumra, The Victoria, Swindon

The Victoria, Swindon, 28th July 2013
Support: Tom McCarthy, Nick Felix

Going to an artist’s hometown gig is always a bit special, but going to one at a tiny venue is a very rare experience indeed – and that’s assuming you can even get a ticket. But I found myself in this enviable position on Sunday as I stepped down into the back room of The Victoria in Swindon to watch Josh Kumra and his two support acts bring the house down.

Stepping up first was Tom McCarthy, who became the epitome of multi-tasking as he strummed guitar chords, beat-boxed and fed vocal harmonies into his looper, and wowed the packed venue with his vocal range. He sang a staggering range of covers from Adele to Bob Marley, with only a slight timing wobble as he went into one of his final songs, Gotye's ‘Somebody I Used To Know’. He pulled it out of the bag though, singing both Gotye and Kimbra's vocals with startling precision, before coming to a deafening finish with the aid of the ardent supporters in the room. It was a brilliantly engaging set.

Next up was Nick Felix, whose dulcet tones were an intoxicating blend of Kelly Jones, Caleb Followill and Rod Stewart. The majority of his set was original, bluesy material, some slow and some faster, for which he expertly played the guitar, both as an instrument and as his percussion. The lyrical and musical content of the tracks was fantastic, and they were expertly delivered by Felix, who again evidently had a large following in the room. With the right manager behind him this guy could be huge - he certainly won’t have to work on stage presence or delivery. It was hard to see how Josh Kumra could follow him.

Finally stepping onto the stage from within the crowd, Josh Kumra and his drummer, Carra Bacon, kicked off proceedings with a cover of Angus and Julia Stone's ‘Mango Tree’, and the bar was raised even higher. Kumra's vocals were absolutely spine tingling as he steered the crowd through his set, skilfully contrasting light and shade in his performance and drawing the audience under his spell. The timing between Kumra and Bacon was outstanding, and the pair played and exceptionally tight set.

Kumra played both material from his current album and a couple of covers, dedicating one track to his parents in the crowd. A comedy moment happened as his Grandad, who was also in the crowd, worked his way through the packed room to the front of the stage at the end of a song and said, “Josh! Josh! Play that song, ‘Oak Tree’!” Kumra paused, studied his Grandad’s face, and said, “I just did.” It was a special moment and this, coupled with the enthusiastic crowd that evidently contained a large number of Kumra's family and friends, really made you feel part of a huge family gathering.

After playing a fantastic set and coming back on for two encores (with much encouragement from the crowd) Kumra and Bacon finished as they had started, with an absolutely brilliant encore of ‘Mango Tree’. It was a truly spectacular gig and it was a great privilege to have been there to share the experience. Having only ever heard his track ‘Don’t Go’ before the gig I really had no idea what to expect, but this very talented young man now has a new, avid fan.

Gig Review - Cream Club Classics Night, Aylesbury Waterside Theatre

Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, 27th July 2013
K-Klass supported by Marc Fuccio

Anyone who has ever been to the Aylesbury Waterside when the seats have been moved out of the main theatre would be struck at how perfect it is for a club setting. With its high ceiling, large stage, and raised areas around the dancefloor, one can imagine a crowd of clubbers, arms aloft in a haze of lasers, euphorically dancing to a pounding dance track. So it was with some glee that I found out that the theatre had booked K-Klass to come and bring the legendary Cream Tour to Aylesbury.

K-Klass’ support was DJ Marc Fuccio, who is also an organiser of the Cream Tours. His set was diverse, spanning old school classics from Todd Terry’s staple, ‘Keep On Jumpin’’, Groove Armada’s ‘Superstylin’’ and iiO’s ‘Rapture’, through to Axwell’s ‘I Found You’, and right up to recent releases such as Martin Solveig’s ‘Rockin' Music’, Alex Clare’s ‘Too Close’ and, of course, Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’. Sadly the number of people in the theatre was low so he largely played to a sparse dancefloor. This was really unfortunate because his set was fantastic with great mixing and drops. After topping off the set with Avicii’s ‘Levels’, two members of K-Klass (Paul Roberts and Russell Morgan) sneaked onto the stage and picked up the mantel.

To a backdrop of hypnotic graphics and flawless lasers the duo took it in turns to ride the bass and treble filters, and to deliver a set full of some of the best known dance classics (Faithless’ ‘Insomnia’, Liquid’s ‘Sweet Harmony’, Da Hool’s ‘Meet Her At The Love Parade’, Tomcraft’s ‘Loneliness’, Darude’s ‘Sandstorm’ to name a few), amid some more questionable choices (such as OneRepublic’s ‘Apologise’ and Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’). This resulted in some slightly frustrating moments where the pinnacle of the clubbers’ euphoria vanished down an imaginary plughole in the middle of the dancefloor, and the clubbers were left a bit exasperated (one complained to me as the ‘Fix You’ organ echoed around the dancefloor of baffled clubbers). But in the DJs’ defence, most DJs play off the atmosphere and euphoria from the clubbers, but because the numbers in the theatre never really increased beyond about 200 people, and those 200 people were lost amongst the vast space of the theatre, K-Klass’ job was that much harder and their set suffered for it. The best reaction was to Swedish House Mafia’s ‘Don’t You Worry Child’, which saw almost everyone in the venue with their arms in the air as it dropped.

Whilst Aylesbury Theatre’s first club night did not go as well as expected, I think this was probably down to the fact that the publicity for the event was very low key. I heard of the event completely by chance the day before it was happening, and speaking with some of the other clubbers it was a similar story with them. However they agreed that a club event such as Cream would have been huge if more people had been aware.

So with a bigger publicity drive to the surrounding area and across the county it would be surprising if a similar event (either another Cream tour, or another tour such as Godskitchen, UKF Bass Culture or Hospitality for example), was not sold out next time, particularly given the reasonable price of the tickets. I know that I, along with a lot of other clubbers, would be really pleased to see another club night at the theatre.

Were you at the Cream Classics Club Night? What did you think?

All photos have been kindly provided by Houndscape - for more information visit www.houndscape.co.uk. © 2013 Houndscape. All rights reserved.

Festival Review - Electric Daisy Carnival, London

Queen Elizabeth, Olympic Park, London, 20 July 2013

After sixteen years of travelling far and wide, and bringing EDM to the masses in the US, the Electric Daisy Carnival travelled across the pond to London to put on the very first European event at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The event promised dance heavyweights from across Europe on four stages, complete with an audio visual extravaganza incorporating state of the art production design, theatrical performers, fairground rides and a carnival atmosphere. With glorious weather on order it seemed that the first EDC London would be a surefire hit, and an unforgettable experience.

Unfortunately the most unforgettable experience happened before a lot of the punters even got through the gates and into the carnival. The organisers had implemented a requirement that each punter was to show ID even if they were very obviously over 18, which caused numerous issues (so much so that they had to drop the policy half way through the afternoon due to the large number of complaints), on top of a very stringent and time consuming search policy. So after queuing for 45 minutes through various barricades from Stratford station to the event gates (which were rightly in place to prevent crowd surges and to cross a busy road) punters then queued for up to 2 hours to get through the relatively small amount of ID, ticket and search gates. Whilst I absolutely agree with the security measures that were being carried out, surely the organisers could see that with the large number of people expected to attend they would need more gates and gate staff? Having spent nearly £70 each on a ticket only to miss nearly 3 hours’ worth of the event queuing to get in was unacceptable, and as a result I missed a lot of acts that I wanted to see and review.

So, the first act I did manage to see was Rusko, who also wins the prize for most captivating performance. He blended old school jungle, breakbeat and drum n bass whilst body popping and dancing about, and while his MC whipped the crowd up (I’ve no idea who the MC was but he was brilliant). Rusko was absolutely immersed in entertaining the crowd, and he didn’t disappoint. It was a fantastic set.

Over in the NeonGarden, Feed Me was working a different crowd altogether with an ear-splitting, bone-shattering dubstep set. The craziness in the crowd subsided slightly when the set changed up to a bit of house, but seconds later it was game on again with more shuddering bass and grimy dubstep, and the crowd got back on it.

Meanwhile, in the adjacent CosmicMeadow tent, Crookers was unsuccessfully trying to motivate a small crowd as he played through his house set. In contrast, back in the NeonGarden tent, Mat Zo had a large, bouncy crowd who were treated to various drops in the shape of The Prodigy’s ‘Breathe’ and Daft Punk’s ’Get Lucky’ whilst a menagerie of entertainers filed on and off the stage, dancing to his brilliant trance/house set. He had the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Over at the BassPod, Nero started in a blaze of graphics, sub bass and shrill vocals to a surprisingly small crowd, although this may be in part because they were up against Avicii and Dirty South on other stages. Vocalist Alana Watson took to the stage for ‘Promises’ to a great reaction from the crowd before they dropped in their remix of Plan B’s ‘The Recluse’ and, later, ‘Innocence’.

Avicii, accompanied by a giant mechanical spider, was playing to a very large crowd over at the Kenticfield who danced and sang their hearts out to ‘Sunshine’ and ‘Seek Bromance’ (which he’d cunningly previously released under the name of Tim Berg). After dropping in a snippet of M83’s ‘Midnight City’ with Rihanna’s ‘Diamonds’ he rounded off his set with a haze of lazers for ‘Levels’ and then ticker tape for current chart no.1, ‘Wake Me Up’.

Sub Focus used his headline set in the BassPod to play tracks such as ‘Rock It’, ‘Out Of The Blue’ and the recent ‘Endorphins’, with the dancing crowd lapping it up. Again, the crowd was smaller than anticipated, but he was up against other headliners Tiesto and Madeon, so there was stiff competition. There seemed to be a lot of people who were trying to catch at least some of each of the headliners’ sets, and running between the various stages.

The main event of the night was Tiesto’s headline set at Kineticfield, which was epic, as expected. Even with a plethora of tracks from his back catalogue to choose from he still found space to drop in snippets of recent hits by Macklemore (‘The Heist’) and Icona Pop (‘I Love It’). In a set strewn with pyrotechnics he played tracks such as ‘Take Me’, ‘Rattle’ and ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ before finishing off with classics ‘Silence’ and ‘Adagio For Strings’. The crowd seemed reluctant to leave at the end of his set.

Overall EDC London did a great job of pulling in some major acts as well as some great up and coming acts, most of whom really captivated their audience. However, the long delays to get in at the start did put a dampener on the day given that many missed some of the acts that they had really wanted to see (myself included). I hope that EDC gets this right if they return in 2014 by drastically improving the number of gates and search staff so that the punters can get inside the venue to enjoy themselves instead of being outside the venue and really infuriated.

Were you at EDC London? What did you think?

EP Review - Among The Echoes, 'Midnight'

Hot on the heels of their previous four track EP, ‘Freak’, back in March, dark wave electronic band Among The Echoes has been busy making preparations to release a follow up EP. Described by Pete Steer of electronica band, tenek, as bringing “synth with bollocks” to the party, Among The Echoes has recently announced a Synthetic City gig with fellow electro artists Johnny Normal (who has supported the likes of Adam Ant and Blancmange) and Spacebuoy (who has supported Erasure among others), which sold out within 3 weeks.

The band has had an eventful year already, with the departure of singer Rachael O’Hara shortly after the release of ‘Freak’ but fortunately this has not held the band back, and their journey seems to be gathering speed at an almost alarming pace.

The first track of the EP, ‘Midnight’, starts with a purposeful, steady beat which punctuates the band’s trademark dark synth. The band is never afraid to use unusual chord progressions and toplines, and this this song is no exception, with the vocals of frontman, Ian Wall, washing through the track, sounding uncannily like a kind of cross between Sisters of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch and David Bowie.

The following track, ‘Hallways Of Sin’ starts with a mist of whispers against a constant hard bass drum and incorporates an interesting and unusual guitar riff, providing a new dimension to the chorus. This is another dark track (as you would expect) which is made all the more vivid courtesy of a haunting and brilliant solo piano in the pre-chorus. Sam Wale, who produced the band’s previous EP, has done another sterling job on the production of this track, with the crispness of the beat against the haziness of the synths really shining through.

‘Cities Are Burning’ changes the pace up a notch and starts with guitars that are reminiscent of The Cure and Killing Joke. The unusual feature of this track is the quirky beat, coupled with some fantastic choral chants which become slightly more insistent as the song progresses. The track is a long one, possibly slightly too long, but it holds its own well. Dropping down in pace between the verse and chorus is a nice touch that gives a quirky air to the track. Again, the production is strong.

Finally, the shining star of the EP is ‘Flowers’, which features vocals from Bridget Gray, singer of electronic band Destination, adding a touch of light to the otherwise disconsolate place that the song unfalteringly navigates. The track starts in a dark, thumping swirl, with Wall’s vocals providing a gritty backdrop as the lyrics unfold. So raw is the performance that you can almost visualise Wall standing at the grave of a loved one, in the rain, spitting out the words. Gray’s vocals perfectly compliment Wall’s as the chorus lifts the track to a higher place before descending back down into the darkness of the verse. It is a track that is beautifully executed, with lyrics that are both poignant and moving.

'Midnight' is due for release on 1st August, and will be available on Amazon, i-Tunes, CDBaby and the usual digital outlets. The band will be appearing at The Flapper in Birmingham on 17th August as well as the sold out Synthetic City gig on 19th October at The Actress and Bishop, also in Birmingham.

Track listing:
1. Midnight
2. Hallways Of Sin
3. Cities Are Burning
4. Flowers

Links:
Among The Echoes website
Sam Wale Productions website

Festival Review - Mainsquare Festival, France - The Verdict

Having only two stages was a bonus at Mainsquare Festival because it meant that you could catch at least some of every act that was playing. However its downfall was the close proximity between the two stages, and while this meant that running between stages took a matter of seconds, the dire consequence was that the bands often clashed, resulting in either one band being completely drowned out (usually the one on the Main Stage) or a complete wall of mashed up noise as the sound of the two stages fought against each other. It had a devastating effect on many bands’ sets, and coupled with the fact that the only shade from the blistering heat was the patch of trees between the two stages, it did not make for ideal viewing conditions.

On the plus side though, there was absolutely no liquid throwing (dubious or otherwise) by the crowd and the volume of litter discarded on the floor as opposed to in the bins was small. It made a very welcome change not to have to wade through a foot of noodles and pizza boxes to get anywhere, and I loved the fact that I was not spending a small fortune on anti-bacterial wipes in a futile attempt to remove dubious substances from my person. That said, it did make the atmosphere much more subdued than that of a British festival. The number of people wasted and the number of moshpits were very low. The most offensive thing at Mainsquare was the clashing sound, but what Mainsquare lacked in being hardcore they more than made up for in being impeccably civilised.

Click below to see my reviews of each day, and my verdict of the festival as a whole.

Mainsquare Festival 2013: Intro

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 1
Featuring Candide, Twin Forks, Balthazar, Rival Sons, Haim, Biffy Clyro, Modestep, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bloc Party, Green day, Enter Shikari, The Prodigy and Netsky

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 2
Featuring Mike & the Mechanics, Klink Clock, Local Natives, Kodaline, Saez, Of Monsters & Men, The Hives, Asaf Avidan, Sting, Alt-J, Sting, deuS, C2C and Madeon

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 3
Featuring Feini X Crew, Charles Bradley, Left Boy, Volbeat, La Femme, Puggy, Lou Doillon, Stereophonics, Kendrick Lamar, Archive, Wax Tailor and The Dusty Rainbow Experience and Indochine

Festival Review - Mainsquare Festival, France - DAY 3

The final day of the festival started over on the Greenroom stage with a short set from French rappers, Feini X Crew, followed by soul and funk singer, Charles Bradley, on the Main Stage. Bradley’s set was perfect for the start of a hot, lazy Sunday afternoon, with his soulful, dulcet tones washing over the drowsy audience and easing them into the last day’s proceedings. However this was not to last long. In a startling rush of sub bass, Austrian rapper, Left Boy, struck up on the Greenroom stage, drowning out the end of Bradley’s softer set. However Left Boy insistently awakened the audience with his mash-ups, including one harnessing the powerful draw of Gwen McCrae’s “All This Love That I’m Giving”, paving the way for a less restrained affair into Sunday evening, which started with Danish metal band, Volbeat.

From the very start Volbeat presided over a fantastically tight ship, mixing up their own tracks with snippets of tracks from Rammstein, Twisted Sister and Johnny Cash. Playing a tribute to Jeff Hanneman, the late guitarist of fellow metalists, Slayer, was also a nice touch that the audience seemed to appreciate. Overall their set was extremely tight and heralded a great response from the watching crowd.

Back on the Greenroom stage La Femme had begun their set. The band seemed to consist of a cast of thousands, scything their way through an electronic punk set, with singer and keyboard player, Clémence Quélennec, bouncing her way through every track like a lively puppy. Their sound was akin to Toyah, Devo and the 80s new wave era. They got a great response from the crowd, and whilst some of that would be due to them playing for a home crowd it certainly didn’t take away from the fact that they played a set of catchy tunes with some great synth hooks.

Crossing back to the Main Stage Belgian band, Puggy, began to play a set that was a kind of mix of Mika, Scouting for Girls and the Scissor Sisters. Having previously opened for bands such as Deep Purple and Smashing Pumpkins it was clear they were popular in France, and they commanded a very large crowd who all danced and sang along as the band sang in both French and English. Their vocal harmonies were very impressive and the response they got was fantastic. They were followed by French singer (model and actress), Lou Doillon, who impressed the crowd in front of the Greenroom stage with a selection of tracks including a cover of Ray Davies’ “I Go To Sleep” (later covered by The Pretenders). However, being on immediately before the Stereophonics meant that the crowd dwindled towards the end of her set as they flocked to the Main Stage, but the remaining festival goers gave her an enthusiastic response.


From the start, the Stereophonics had drawn in a large, attentive crowd. They played many of their most popular tracks including “Local Boy In The Photograph”, “Maybe Tomorrow” and “Dakota” as well as their latest track, “We Share The Same Sun”, but while their set was expertly executed and perfectly constructed the band appeared to be going through the motions, with long gaps between songs and hardly any attempt made to interact with the crowd. Other non-French bands throughout the weekend had at least made some effort to communicate in some way in French (Thirty Seconds To Mars, The Hives and Biffy Clyro being the ones who made the most effort) but the Stereophonics made no attempts at all, and actually didn’t communicate much in English either. Consequently the set felt slightly awkward and lacklustre, but despite this, and the fact that the sound from Kendrick Lamar’s set over on the Greenroom stage drowned out a good portion of the final ten minutes of the Stereophonics’s set, they still received a warm response.

Meanwhile Kendrick Lamar was whipping his small, but extremely dedicated, crowd into a frenzy with his rap infused hip hop. But it was his rendition of his recent hit, “Swimming Pools (Drank)” that got the biggest response with the crowd consistently throwing their right hands towards him as the rapper prowled back and forth across the stage.


What followed on the Main Stage was, for me, the best performance of the day. Trip hop outfit, Archive, completely outshone everything else on Sunday. The vocals (particularly Holly Martin’s) were spine tingling, and their set was well balanced with slower and faster tracks and interchanging vocals. The performance was the most captivating of the day, mixing soul-drilling bass with ethereal swirly vocals and guitar and synth licks. The crowd seemed to be as spellbound as I was, standing in awe at what unfurled onstage.

Over on the Greenroom stage, Wax Tailor and The Dusty Rainbow Experience, another trip hop artist, started promisingly with a funky set. I had high hopes following the fantastic set from Archive, but sadly Wax Tailor’s set quickly deteriorated, going a bit “Jungle Book”. The crowd seemed a bit restless and distracted, with many ignoring the stage to chat amongst themselves, and finally leaving the arena to see the final act of the festival over on the Main Stage, Indochine.


Indochine are clearly well loved in France, and the crowd they drew was the largest I’d seen at the festival except for Green Day on the first night. Playing a kind of mix of new wave and rock, like a very junior version of Muse and Queen in places, they received an overwhelming response from the crowd, who were clearly enthralled by the show which included the standard show gimmicks such as a ticker tape shower. For the French crowd, having Indochine to close the festival was obviously a stroke of genius, and they went down very well leaving the departing festival goers on the required high note as they left the arena.

Click below to see my reviews of each day, and my verdict of the festival as a whole.

Mainsquare Festival 2013: Intro

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 1
Featuring Candide, Twin Forks, Balthazar, Rival Sons, Haim, Biffy Clyro, Modestep, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bloc Party, Green day, Enter Shikari, The Prodigy and Netsky

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 2
Featuring Mike & the Mechanics, Klink Clock, Local Natives, Kodaline, Saez, Of Monsters & Men, The Hives, Asaf Avidan, Sting, Alt-J, Sting, deuS, C2C and Madeon

Mainsquare Festival 2013: The Verdict

Festival Review - Mainsquare Festival, France - DAY 2

Day 2 started a bit later for me due to a bit of sunstroke, so regrettably I missed the likes of Local Natives, Kodaline, Of Monsters & Men, and 80s supergroup, Mike & the Mechanics. I entered the arena to the strains of French indie rocker, Asaf Avidan. He has a very unexpected but strangely hypnotising singing voice which carried me over to the Main Stage to where I had gingerly rocked up ready to see Swedish band, the Hives. From start to finish they whipped through their set like a runaway train, expertly turning the crowd into a partying frenzy and throwing out a string of recognisable hits including “Hate To Say I Told You So” and “Die, All Right!” Their frontman, “Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist” is was a rather endearing loon, strutting and hurling himself around the stage and into the crowd like a young Mick Jagger. The crowd lapped it up.

Back on the Greenroom stage Alt-J had begun their set to a sizeable, but slightly distracted, crowd. However, by the time they got to “Breezeblocks” the crowd was listening intently, and they ended with a good reception despite the fact that much of the crowd had vacated over to the Main Stage for the start of Sting’s set.

Sting swept onto the Main Stage to a massive crowd, striking into “Englishman In New York”, and it seemed that everyone in the crowd was singing along with him. He interspersed his own hits with those of the Police, with the crowd eagerly singing along to the likes of “Roxanne” and “Message In A Bottle”. However some of his set was rather subdued, “Wrapped Around Your Finger” seemed to be too slow, and the heady atmosphere began to dip before it waned completely due to more sound issues. In places it was difficult to hear what was going on and then deuS struck up on the Greenroom stage, completely drowning out what little sound could be heard. The final blow was dealt by Sting himself when he introduced his band, with the long self-indulgent instrument noodling and drum solo that followed causing the crowd to lose interest and wander away. Even ending the set on “Every Breath You Take” failed to recapture the unified awe of the crowd from the start of his set, and so another great performer had fallen victim to the sound gremlins of Mainsquare Festival.

Meanwhile Belgian rockers, deuS, were capitalising on Sting’s loss by drawing in his departing crowd. Their brand of rock lifted the sombre mood and they received a great response as they steered their way through the penultimate set of the Greenroom stage, warming up the festival goers in preparation of the final Main Stage act of the day, French turntablists, C2C. As expected, C2C’s set to their home crowd drew in the masses, recreating the party atmosphere as they danced their way through C2C’s fantastic set.


But the day’s prize for the most engaged crowd goes to the Greenroom’s final act of the night, French house producer, Madeon. He blended his own tracks with some ingeniously mixed up crowd pleasers including “Song 2” by Blur, “Around The World” and “Aerodynamic” from his fellow French dance producers, Daft Punk, and tracks by The Prodigy and Pendulum, and the atmosphere was stratospheric. At one point I looked around me and could not see a single person in the entire arena who wasn’t dancing. At only 20 years of age I think the best of this brilliant dance producer is still to come. He has certainly started on the right foot.

Click below to see my reviews of each day, and my verdict of the festival as a whole.

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Intro

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 1
Featuring Candide, Twin Forks, Balthazar, Rival Sons, Haim, Biffy Clyro, Modestep, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bloc Party, Green day, Enter Shikari, The Prodigy and Netsky

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 3
Featuring Feini X Crew, Charles Bradley, Left Boy, Volbeat, La Femme, Puggy, Lou Doillon, Stereophonics, Kendrick Lamar, Archive, Wax Tailor and The Dusty Rainbow Experience and Indochine

Mainsquare Festival 2013: The Verdict

Festival Review - Mainsquare Festival, France - DAY 1

For me, Day 1 of the festival had the most promising line up with many bands who are considered “major” in the UK (Green Day, The Prodigy and Biffy Clyro among them). Each act’s slot was around an hour, with a 20 minute to half an hour overlap where both stages would be live. The day threw up some revelations, with some of the bands completely disappointing me, and others totally surprising me.

Early performances came from Candide, Twin Forks, Balthazar and Rival Sons, the latter of which did the best job in shaking awake the subdued audience. By the time Haim stepped onto the Greenroom stage much of the audience had collapsed onto the grass. It was clear that Haim are not well known to the French but they still received a good response, particularly when they had an impromptu jamming session to a Led Zeppelin number, with “Falling”, “Don’t Wait” and “Forever” receiving the best response, as expected.


Over on the Main Stage Biffy Clyro, again apparently not well known in France, put everything they had into their set, pulling off a fantastic performance despite the fact that much of the audience stood motionless, moving only to enthusiastically clap between tracks. As they powered through “Sounds Like Balloons”, “That Golden Rule”, “Bubbles” and “The Joke’s On Us” it was abundantly clear which sections of the audience were British, because they were all busy partying and moshing for all they were worth. A comedy moment and the first hint of the sound issues came as Modestep, who had struck up on the Greenroom stage, drowned out the end of one of Biffy's quieter tracks. Before launching into the next track Biffy's lead singer, Simon Neil, declared, “We’re gonna play this next one really loud to drown out that feckin' shite!” And so the first sound battle between Biffy and Modestep commenced, confusing the ears of those standing directly between the two stages.

Crossing over to Modestep, the dubstep fans in the audience were not disappointed, and the band was well received as they spat out track after track of bone shaking dance fodder. It was clear throughout the weekend that the sound on the Greenroom stage was much better than that on the Main Stage, although some of the Main Stage’s issues were caused by the sound bouncing around the buildings in the square. Obviously the sound of the Greenroom stage really suited Modestep and every opportunity was taken to drill sub bass through the bodies of the dancing audience.

Back on the Main Stage, the start of Thirty Seconds To Mars’ set was kicked off by four people in suits and coloured balaclavas beating large drums. The band started off well with “Hunter” and “Search and Destroy” among others, and there was a great audience response. A few songs in lead singer, Jared Leto, asked, “Where are my dreamers?” He then proceeded to ask the audience (in both French and English) to chant the name of the band’s new album, “Love Lust Faith + Dreams” before completely overdosing on saccharine, wrapping himself in a flag, declaring his undying love to the audience and France, and sweeping from a Rock God to a sycophant in a matter of moments. There seemed to be a mixed response from the audience, with some lapping up everything the frontman was saying, and others wandering away shaking their heads.

Bloc Party were next up on the Greenroom stage, starting with a rowdy version of “Banquet”. Drummer Matt Tong was notably absent from the line up but replacement Sarah Jones (New Young Pony Club/Hot Chip) did an absolutely blinding job of filling in in Matt’s absence. Bloc Party are due to go on another hiatus, so rumours that Tong has already left the band are rife. Nevertheless the band crashed through some of their best known hits, including “Flux” and “One More Chance”, breaking them up with more subdued tracks such as “Truth” and “Waiting for the 7.18”, before bowing out with a blistering rendition of “Helicopter”. I felt a bit sad that this might be the last time I would see Bloc Party if they do not return from their hiatus.


Over on the Main Stage Green Day received the best response of the day of any band, violently wading through their back catalogue to the obvious glee of the packed arena. They threw in an intro to AC/DC's “Highway To Hell” and a mad sax rendition of "The Theme From The Benny Hill Show" amongst hits such as “Basket Case” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. It was a truly mental, but utterly brilliant set, which was topped off by a stunt they have employed before where they pull an audience member up onto the stage and have him sing and play the guitar before giving him the guitar.

Enter Shikari’s assignment was a mammoth one. They were tasked with following up Green Day’s performance over on the opposite stage and were also on immediately before dance titans The Prodigy. Despite the pressure, the band’s brand of dubstep fused rock measured up to the task fairly well. Now that darkness had set in the audience seemed more willing to mosh, although they were not quite fired up enough to do the usual epic crowd surfing fest that normally occurs during “Juggernauts”. Still, the band did a great performance in what must have been a daunting slot.

To the opening bars of “Voodoo People”, The Prodigy began their quest to bring the Main Stage to a close. The set started well, with the band throwing in “Poison”, “Breathe”, “Omen” and classic “Firestarter” amid MC Maxim’s usual chants about warriors (although he did come unstuck a bit when he tried to change his chant up to “Where are my French people?” Erm…what?). But it was at the start of “Spitfire” that things started to sadly unravel. Netsky had started his closing set on the Greenroom stage, and he was absolutely drowning out The Prodigy.

Yes, really.

The audience started to leave the Main Stage in droves because they simply could not hear properly, and Netsky’s more contemporary sound seemed to become irresistible draw. I guess Hospital Records (to whom both acts are signed) will not be troubled by that, but it must have been galling for The Prodigy to see their audience drifting away and being powerless to stop it. It was the first time I had ever left a set by The Prodigy disappointed, and I have been following them since 1991.

Meanwhile, The Prodigy’s loss was Netsky’s gain, and he and his entourage received a fantastic reception to the great set he was playing, which was enhanced further by a live drummer. Most of the remaining audience was dancing, and he seemed to manage to lift the disappointment left by the previous set, closing the night on a high.

Click below to see the intro, my reviews of each day, and my verdict of the festival as a whole.

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Intro

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 2
Featuring Mike & the Mechanics, Klink Clock, Local Natives, Kodaline, Saez, Of Monsters & Men, The Hives, Asaf Avidan, Sting, Alt-J, Sting, deuS, C2C and Madeon

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 3
Featuring Feini X Crew, Charles Bradley, Left Boy, Volbeat, La Femme, Puggy, Lou Doillon, Stereophonics, Kendrick Lamar, Archive, Wax Tailor and The Dusty Rainbow Experience and Indochine

Mainsquare Festival 2013: The Verdict

Festival Review - Mainsquare Festival, France - Intro

Arras, France, 5-7 July 2013

Britain’s unpredictable weather is usually a fleeting consideration for those booking tickets to one of our many legendary music festivals. Most people expect at least a bit of rain at some point during the proceedings, even making cursory preparations for the odd downpour by taking a festival poncho and digging out their obligatory festival wellies, and maybe taking a blow up dinghy just in case.

But last summer was different. No one could really have predicted how wet the entire festival season was going to be. It is one that will go down in Britain’s music festival history as decidedly soggy.

At the Isle of Wight Festival many were stranded in gridlocked traffic, unable to reach the festival site. Those who did manage to get onto the site were met with a deep quagmire and the prospect of spending the entire weekend sleeping and dancing within a deep sea of mud. It was much the same picture at T In The Park and Download, and Creamfields even closed a day early, cancelling performances by the likes of Tiesto, Deadmau5, Richie Hawtin and Paul van Dyk.

With last summer’s water logged escapades still fresh in my head, I decided to book tickets further afield in a bid to go to at least one rain-free music festival this year. So off I went to Mainsquare Festival in Arras, France, the little sister of Belgium's Rock Werchter Festival.

The site, as the name suggests, is set around Arras’s main square, with the Main Stage in the square itself, and the Greenroom (or second stage) in the adjacent park. Both stages were open and very close together, leading to the first two issues: lack of any suitable shade, and terrible sound clashes. The only real shade was cast by a line of trees and a church in between the two stages, but standing there meant you could hear both stages at the same time (something which had a devastating effect on some of the bands). So to have any chance of only hearing the stage you were watching you had to stand in the blistering sun on the far side of each of the stages.

I know, I know, I wanted sun, so it was my own fault…

Click below to see my reviews of each day, and my verdict of the festival as a whole.

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 1
Featuring Candide, Twin Forks, Balthazar, Rival Sons, Haim, Biffy Clyro, Modestep, Thirty Seconds To Mars, Bloc Party, Green day, Enter Shikari, The Prodigy and Netsky

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 2
Featuring Mike & the Mechanics, Klink Clock, Local Natives, Kodaline, Saez, Of Monsters & Men, The Hives, Asaf Avidan, Sting, Alt-J, Sting, deuS, C2C and Madeon

Mainsquare Festival 2013, Day 3
Featuring Feini X Crew, Charles Bradley, Left Boy, Volbeat, La Femme, Puggy, Lou Doillon, Stereophonics, Kendrick Lamar, Archive, Wax Tailor and The Dusty Rainbow Experience and Indochine

Mainsquare Festival 2013: The Verdict

New "Song Of The Day" posts coming from today on Facebook and Twitter!

From today I'll be posting up a "Song Of The Day" on both my Facebook and Twitter feeds. The tracks will mostly be from up and coming bands that I love, and will cover various genres. This week I'll be concentrating on electronic music in all its various guises.

Feel free to share the posts and retweet the tweets - making people aware of new music and bands is what it's all about!

As always, I'd love to hear what you think so feel free to comment on the posts or tweet me!

Here are the links to my Facebook and Twitter accounts, so if you haven't already joined me over there, come and take a look:
Facebook
Twitter
Cheers
Nikki

GIG REVIEW - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, New Theatre Oxford

New Theatre Oxford, 6th May 2013
Support: John Foxx and The Maths

After a warm and sunny May Day bank holiday the icing on the cake was still to come. OMD had chosen this date to bring their electronic bag of tricks to Oxford’s New Theatre to promote their latest album, English Electric, with support from John Foxx and the Maths. I was eagerly anticipating my first ever OMD show having been a hardened electronic fan since the early eighties and the days of Souvenir, when I played that track over and over with tracks from the likes of Gary Newman, Human League, Blancmange and the mighty Depeche Mode. I’ve been a sucker for electro bands ever since, and to my astonishment I discovered that in that time OMD have released 12 albums.

John Foxx and the Maths (who are John Foxx and Benge) quietly took to the stage, playing a selection of tracks that took advantage of the addition of multi-instrumentalist Hannah Peel to the line up (who, I was interested to read, has previously worked with Blood Red Shoes, amongst others). Foxx was the original lead singer of Ultravox before Midge Ure took over, and has worked with many of the electronic scene’s legends. The waiting audience seemed to really enjoy their no nonsense performance. Foxx kept audience interaction to a minimum, adding to the mystery and moodiness of the set. The highlight of the set was a track called The Running Man from the band’s critically acclaimed album, Interplay, which drew a very enthusiastic response from the crowd.

After a short wait OMD appeared for the first track of their set to cheers from the crowd, some of whom immediately leapt to their feet ready for a dance marathon. From the very start, lead singer Andy McCluskey did a flawless job of embracing and including the audience in the gig, sharing playful banter throughout the performance with both the rest of the band and the punters. He declared that the cure for too much barbeque food and sunburn was to have a good dance, and he joked with 15 audience members that they needed to dance harder to ensure a collapse of the “condemned” balcony onto the audience in the circle (cheekily adding that the theatre was insured for such an event). The other band members joined in, with fellow bandmate, Paul Humphreys, jesting that he’d “set the right sound up” for McCluskey when the pair swapped roles (with Humphreys on lead vocals and McCluskey on synth) for old favourite, (Forever) Live and Die.

They played a great mix of older 80s and 90s material with more recent tracks, airing crowd pleasers such as Tesla Girls, Souvenir, Maid Of Orleans, Locomotion, Joan Of Arc and Sailing On The Seven Seas alongside releases from their latest album, such as Dresden (which has just been added to the Radio 2 playlist) and Metroland. Throughout the gig the audience clapped, danced, sang and waved their arms with gusto (at times it felt a little like being on a cruise ship due to the mesmerising dancing and waving), with the biggest cheers saved for the final track of the set before the encore (the OMD classic, Enola Gay), with every member of the audience on their feet and jigging about.

Coming back on for the encore, McCluskey was having a bit of shirt trouble – between going off the stage and coming back for the encore he was missing a button. Playing a roaring encore consisting of Walking On The Milky Way (for which the audience obliged with singing duties) and Electricity, McCluskey absent-mindedly fiddled with the phantom button while he danced about the stage. The band eventually retired triumphantly from the stage, the crowd cheering, clapping, whooping and whistling for all they were worth. OMD certainly raised the roof in Oxford!

My review score: 8/10

GIG REVIEW - Two Door Cinema Club, Alexandra Palace, London

Alexandra Palace, 27th April 2013
Support: Chvrches, Everything Everything

It’s not every day that you’re blessed with the good fortune of finding out that a band you’ve been wanting to see for a while is supporting a band you already have tickets for. I was already really pleased to discover that Everything Everything were supporting Two Door Cinema Club at Saturday’s gig at the Ally Pally, but when I found out on Saturday morning that Chvrches were also supporting I was over the moon. I’ve been trying to see Chvrches for a while but diary clashes had conspired against me. And so I found myself in the crowd, with 17 friends, on Saturday night, eagerly awaiting their arrival on stage.

Kicking off their set with a slowed down version of the intro to Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy was a promising start and Chvrches soon got into their stride, playing a selection of their electro-infused tracks, and swapping vocal and synth duties between the threesome. By the time they struck into their latest EP, Recover, a large number of people in the crowd were bobbing and singing with them.

All too soon they disappeared backstage, leaving the scene set for Everything Everything, who drew whoops and whistles from the crowd with their opener, Cough Cough. Speeding through their more popular tracks, including old favourite My Kz Yr Bf and new track Duet, the audience were enthusiastic and eagerly clapped and uttered more whoops of encouragement. Both support acts received a great reception, which was well deserved as they really set up the party atmosphere that was ignited as soon as Two Door Cinema Club took to the stage.

With a huge roar from the waiting crowd Two Door started as they meant to go on, building on the electric atmosphere by playing their first four glee-inducing tracks almost back to back, with minimal crowd interaction in between (Sleeps Alone, Undercover Martyn, Do You Want It All and This Is The Life). At this point lead singer, Alex Trimble, addressed the crowd for the first time, humbly thanking the crowd for coming to their biggest UK show to date (which, incidentally, had sold out weeks in advance), and stating that while they were “super-excited to be here” they were also “shitting themselves”.

Next up was Wake Up from the latest album (Beacon), followed by You Are Not Stubborn and Come Back Home from the first album (Tourist History), and the crowd was partying so hard it began to feel like we were part of a big carnival (and actually, a huge conga procession would not have been out of place at all!). The lighting and laser show only served to heighten the carnival feel whilst the band ploughed through more material from the new album in the shape of Beacon and Sun. As the kick drum and spangly guitars of the intro to Pyramid began the lasers came into their own, trapping the smoke from the stage into a mesmerising, laser-lined pyramid. Then came “Ah! Oh! Ah! Ah! Oh!”, signalling the start of I Can Talk, and sending the crowd into a whooping frenzy.

I noticed that there was a slight dip in the dancing activities during Costume Party, although this could be because it was released as the B side to I Can Talk and it does not appear on their albums, so it’s possibly less well known. Nevertheless it’s a great track that continues their knack of producing jangly, grin inducing tunes. In any event, a singalong was next on the agenda, with Trimble asking the audience to fill in for one-time vocalist Valentina on The World Is Watching, and the crowd continuing this theme into Next Year, Something Good Can Work and Handshake.

After thanking the crowd again, the band launched into their final two tracks of the set Eat That Up It’s Good For You and It’s Too Late) releasing a net full of large white balloons onto the dancing crowd below. The atmosphere was almost indescribable. The band disappeared offstage but the crowd continued to cheer, chase the balloons and party. Within moments they were back, and launched into Someday in a maze of lasers and balloons, followed by Cigarettes In The Theatre. The band then addressed the crowd once again, thanking them for a “truly life-changing, unforgettable experience”. And then, amid a plethora of showering streamers, they played the final track of the night, What You Know to the elated party goers in front of them.

If I could give the entire gig 11 out of 10, I would. The support acts were great and really set the crowd up for the main event, Two Door Cinema Club completely outplayed themselves with an absolute sack load of party friendly tracks, and the atmosphere was electric and akin to being amid a carnival (helped by the balloons, lasers and streamers of course). The only thing missing was that conga procession.

My voice was shredded, my feet were throbbing, and I had that hangover feeling the next day even though I hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. That is the sign of an exceptional gig!

My review score: 11/10 (....ok, ok…rules are rules I suppose....10/10 then)

Exciting news! Check out my new "Reading Randoms" column at Strictly Reading & Leeds!

I’m really excited to announce that I have a new column over on the Strictly Reading and Leeds website, called “Reading Randoms”. It’s based on my popular “Unearthing Hidden Gems” series that I’ve been publishing on this blog for some time, but is mostly focused on Reading and Leeds Festival bands, with a weekly “Curveball”.

So every week I randomly pick four tracks by bands that have played at Reading and Leeds Festival over the years. Like my “Unearthing Hidden Gems” posts, selection is completely random, with tracks being plucked via my itunes shuffle feature from the huge number of tracks released by the vast array of bands that have graced the stages over the years. The fifth track is a “Curveball” from a band that has not played the Festival.

The aim is to spark some great memories of past festivals and bands, and to introduce some new music to those who have not seen or heard of the bands or tracks.

Head over to the Strictly Reading & Leeds site to see this week’s edition by clicking this link . I hope you like it!

More exciting news to come shortly….. :-)

GIG REVIEW - Biffy Clyro, LG Arena Birmingham

LG Arena Birmingham, 21st March 2013
Support: City and Colour

Having been elevated to headline status for Reading and Leeds Festivals this August, Biffy Clyro are working hard to prove that they are ready and worthy of their coveted headline spot, starting the year with a 24 date European tour (11 of those in the UK), then jetting off to the US and Canada for another 11 dates, and finally playing 6 European festivals before taking to the Main Stage at Reading and Leeds. Given their usual style of being quite insular when they play (in that they are so into what they are playing that they go into a “band huddle” and they forget they have an audience) and the fact that, despite having six studio albums under their belt, they are fairly new to the UK’s mainstream music chart (although they have been on the rock circuit for years), it is perhaps understandable why there is scepticism as to whether they will be capable of being a memorable Reading and Leeds headliner.

Taking to the stage at the LG Arena in Birmingham for their second UK date, amid the crowd’s cries of “Mon the Biff!” (being the fans’ usual affectionate chant for the band), the band burst onto the stage in their usual topless state to open with Different People, the first track of their latest album, Opposites. They the thrashed their way through That Golden Rule and Sounds Like Balloons to the obvious joy of the crowd, who went into a moshing frenzy. It wasn’t until the start of Black Chandelier that lead singer Simon Neil said a rather sheepish “hello” to the crowd before leading the first of a number of calmer mass sing-alongs, which befitted the arena setting perfectly.

As the gig progressed, the band emulated the sentiment of Opposites perfectly by expertly steering the crowd through instants of ferocious moshing and “lighter in the air” moments, with the set list veering from one extreme to the other in a dizzying, but gratifying, haze. A frantic Modern Magic Formula was followed by a beautiful rendition of Opposite , before bassist James Johnston cheekily tried to stoke up a fight between the fans of the previous opening night (in Newcastle) with the Birmingham fans with the usual baiting of “they were good but I think you’ll be better”. After playing Justboy from their first album, Blackened Sky , the band launched into Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies from Puzzle , at which point a massive circle pit opened up in front of the stage and the fans went ballistic. The stops and starts of this track were played by the band so tightly that you wouldn’t have even got a gnat’s whisker in between them. It was absolutely breathtaking.

On a roll, and obviously warming to the task of bringing the audience into the band, Neil declared that he wanted to see the whole arena bounce for Bubbles, and the audience duly obliged, jumping and singing this popular track as if their lives depended on it. After calming the pace down with Victory Over The Sun, the band jokingly berated the fans in the seated area of the arena (most of which had been alternating between sitting and standing, but who were almost all seated for the last track) by stating, “You in the seats! You need to get up! This is a fucking rock concert!” And to the opening bars of A Day Of... from the album The Vertigo Of Bliss, the seated fans leapt up and went for it!

Following another mass sing-along for their newest single release, Biblical, and Spanish Radio, the band launched into There's Such Thing As A Jaggy Snake from Infinity Land, at the end of which Neil scrawled the number 26 on a backboard and showed it to the crowd before the band perfectly executed 26 chops to close the song. The band, including the backing musicians but excluding Neil, all exited the stage while Neil walked out onto a runway and into the crowd to play an acoustic version of God and Satan. His performance was so captivating that it was almost as if he was playing to just me in a room. He was then joined by bassist Johnston for The Thaw and Machines, with both band members providing an equally entrancing acoustic performance.

This didn’t last long, however, due to the sudden frenzy of dance-style lazers, bass and beats that introduced Glitter and Trauma, which led the audience into a 3-track mini-mosh including the brilliant Who's Got A Match and The Joke's On Us. And then it happened: the “Coldplay moment”. The band struck up for Many Of Horror and the crowd blew the roof off of the arena as they joined in with the band, singing at the tops of their lungs. Finishing the set with Picture A Knife Fight and an absolutely outstanding rendition of The Captain the band retreated backstage to more shouts of “Mon the Biff!”

After some frantic rearrangements of the stage area by the band’s techies, Neil reappeared for the encore at the top of a set of stairs, to a spot which appeared to be at the base of a spine. The band then played Skylight and the more upbeat Stingin' Belle before saving Mountains for their last track of the night, which elicited more singing and bouncing from the crowd.

Playing a wide range of tracks from all six of their studio albums, and performing a perfectly balanced set list ranging from heavy rock to sing-along ballads, the band were fantastically tight and threw themselves completely into the gig. They have obviously worked on the “insular effect”, and whilst they still have these moments (which have obviously benefitted the band’s tightness, and which are necessary to maintain that tightness) they are now more mindful of the fact they have an audience too, and are more comfortable and adept at bringing the audience into this world. This, coupled with the interesting nature of many of their tracks due to their trademark of mixing unusual time signatures, can only lead to one conclusion…

Is Biffy Clyro worthy of a headline spot at Reading and Leeds, and will they be memorable?

Absolutely, especially if they perform as fantastically as they did at this gig, mixing moshing with sing-along material, and providing a tight performance whilst making the audience feel that they are part of the band. If they do, their slot is sure to be a hit with their fans and should also bring many new fans into the fold.

My review score: 10/10

GIG REVIEW - Helen Sanderson-White, Trinity Church, Aylesbury

 

With four albums behind her, and the release of her fifth due imminently, Helen Sanderson-White chose the beautiful and intimate venue of the Trinity Church in Aylesbury to showcase her new material alongside some of her previous tracks, throwing a few covers into the mix for good measure.

From the very start of the performance Helen drew the audience in to her world, chatting easily and telling the stories of each of the tracks she had chosen to perform. With her trusty sidekick and husband at the helm of the sound and light controls, the pair provided an additional dimension to the show by performing as a double act, sharing witty banter throughout and putting the audience completely at ease. Helen chose to alternate performing to her backing tracks with playing whilst at her piano, which added a further interesting facet to the intimate gig.

Starting out with two of the tracks from her previous album, At Second Glance, Helen then introduced the first of the tracks from her new album, Sirens and other Mysteries, explaining that the song, All These Chains, was borne out of the frustration of all of the tasks we weigh ourselves down with in modern life. This was followed by a beautiful rendition of a cover by a childhood influence; Carole King’s, You've Got A Friend.

Explaining the story behind the second track of the night from the new album, Helen recalled that she had written I'll Be With You after waking up in the middle of the night with the song in her head in the run up to the wedding of a close friend, and the song was now affectionately known as "The Wedding Song" by them, having been dedicated to the happy couple. Following up with a track from her 2006 album, Fallen But Not Fatal, the audience was then treated to a goody bag containing various treats before Helen sang the final song of her first set, Without You, from the new album.

Kicking off the second set, Helen chose to sing another track from her previous album before introducing a new track, If That's The Way. In doing so, Helen opened her heart to the audience by telling the story of how the track came about, explaining that the track came at a difficult time in her life following, almost simultaneously, the miscarriage of a much wanted baby and her husband losing his job. A studio session was booked three weeks after these terrible events, and at the session her producer, Andy Baker, had asked her to sum up how she felt about it in one sentence. Helen replied, “If that’s the way it has to be…”, and a song was born. Helen then recorded the song on the same day through a sea of tears and stops and starts. The song is so beautiful, and was sung by Helen at the intimate gig with such feeling and vulnerability, that many in the audience struggled to maintain composure, myself included. This was followed up by another great cover, this time of the Bob Dylan classic, Make You Feel My Love, which has more latterly been made popular by Adele.

After singing another track from the new album, Helen skilfully lightened the mood with the tale of how the following song, Since I Met You, from her 2004 album, Conversations With The Heart, was conceived. After being pursued by her now husband at university for some time Helen finally gave in and started dating him, and she was so consumed by the relationship that her normally organised world went into complete chaos, sparking the lyrics for this catchy song. This track was followed by another from the new album, When The Time Comes, before the upbeat Never Too Late rounded off the evening.

Helen’s relaxed style, combined with the charming intimate venue and great set list, served to create a perfect and emotional performance which captivated the audience and took her to their hearts.

Helen’s new album, Sirens and other Mysteries, is released on 5th April 2013 and will be available digitally from iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby and on CD from www.helensandersonwhite.com.

EP REVIEW- Among The Echoes, "Freak"

Following their popular gig at Birmingham’s O2 Academy in January Birmingham band, Among The Echoes, have been busy recording a new four track EP, Freak. The addition of producer and guitarist Sam Wale to the band’s line up has added both a new dimension and sparkle to their already polished sound, which skilfully manages to fuse 80s electronica akin to Fiction Factory, Talk Talk and Depeche Mode with a more contemporary sound such as that from indietronica band M83.

The lead track, Freak, is an absolute earworm that swirls its way into your head with captivating ethereal synths, heavy bass, and dark vocals before stomping into the chorus with an uplifting 80s synth riff and vocals akin to Siouxsie Sioux and David Bowie, courtesy of Rachael O’Hara and Ian Wall respectively. The following song, Talk Talk, continues this powerful theme teaming Phil Lockhart’s brilliantly fuzzy bassline with escalating vocals which become fantastically needy by the end of the track. Steve Turrell’s soaring synth in the chorus intensifies the great drop that follows, with the band’s trademark dark edge being present throughout.

Whilst still firmly in the same vein, Pure, manages to bring a slightly more rock feel to the table courtesy of a gritty guitar backdrop in the chorus. The vocals are softer than the previous two tracks but this provides a great contrast, and serves to create a fantastic build up to the final track, Feels Like Heaven. This track covers Fiction Factory’s popular electronic hit of the 80s in a new, unexpected way, resulting in nostalgic electronica with a new twist. With a slow, moody beat overlaid by an otherworldly synth and gravelly rock guitar, the vocals weave in and out of the verses and chorus to an escalating interlude, before bringing the EP to a shuddering close. Fiction Factory’s Eddie Jordan gives a ringing endorsement of Among The Echoes’ new version of Feels Like Heaven calling it “amazing”, and he is not wrong.

With fantastic production by Sam Wale, fans of dark wave, 80s electronica and indie synth pop will not be disappointed with this EP. Freak is released for digital download on 1st April and is available on Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby and the usual digital outlets.

Hear the first exclusive radio play of the EP in full on Johnny Normal's Radio Show at www.radio-happy.com on Tuesday 26th March between 20:00 and 22:00 UK time!

Track listing:
1. Freak
2. Talk Talk
3. Pure
4. Feels Like Heaven

Links:
Among The Echoes website
Sam Wale Productions website

GIG REVIEW - Bloc Party, Earls Court London

Earls Court London, 22nd February 2013
Support: Old Men, The Joy Formidable

Having already completed 20 dates in the US, Japan and Europe this year, this was the final date of the European leg of the tour before Bloc Party embark on a 14 date tour of Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific. The gig was their largest UK performance to date (aside from any festivals), playing at the 19,000 capacity Earls Court One venue.

Kicking off to a backdrop of lasers and a huge halogen logo from their latest album, Four, the band threw themselves into the first 13 track first set with a frantic version of And So He Begins To Lie, immediately followed by the ever popular Hunting For Witches. Frontman Kele Okereke was on top form, bantering with the attentive audience and introducing each track by relaying the sentiment behind it, including Waiting For The 7.18 which he described as being “about public transport”, prompting a huge cheer from the crowd. This was followed up by a fantastically tight performance of both Song For Clay (Disappear Here) and Banquet, to the obvious glee of the crowd who sang and jumped around like their lives depended on it. At this point I got slightly distracted. It was extremely dark in the venue, with the only light coming from the stage, making the lad directly in front of me look like some kind of cross between a body popper and the Churchill nodding dog due to the strange type of jigging he was executing. It amused me so much that I almost missed some very interesting screenshots of the crowd that were being transmitted from the large screen either side of the stage (the crowd were, at that point, frantically moshing to Coliseum).

The band performed an impressive array of tracks from all four of their studio albums, with selected songs being performed in a frenzy of lazers and strobes. The end of the first set was marked with “something different” in the shape of One More Chance, and Octopus. The band then disappeared without a word, to the bemusement of the audience, before reappearing a few minutes later to open the 4 track “Round Two” with Kreuzberg, which Okereke dedicated to his parents. Finishing the set with an absolutely blistering version of Flux (preceded by the intro to Rihanna’s We Found Love), the band once again disappeared.

The first track of the encore was a new one, Ratchet, which Okereke confirmed had not even yet been recorded, and had only been aired live for the first time in Missouri on the US leg of January 2013’s tour dates. The track itself has the unmistakeable Bloc Party sound, and features an interesting pitch-bending guitar riff, which the crowd eagerly embraced. The following track, Truth, had been the subject of an email to their mailing list a few days beforehand, where the band encouraged the crowd to download an app to their iPhones and film footage of the track being performed, and this footage would be collected via the app and a video made from the best bits. Okereke seemed a bit uncertain about this concept, but nevertheless asked the crowd to record the track as it was being performed. The final track of the night, Helicopter, was performed amid an array of lasers to the partying crowd, before the band took their final bows and left the stage.

Although the venue was not sold out it did not deter the band, who performed a great mix of old favourites and new material, and at least this gave the crowd more room to dance. The gig did perhaps suffer slightly at times in terms of atmosphere due to the size of the venue, but overall the band and crowd had a good rapport. Once again the band showed off their great musicianship, and the tightness of the band really shone through.

My review score: 8/10

GIG REVIEW – Delphic, Oxford Academy

O2 Academy Oxford, 18th February 2013
Support: Delphic DJs

Having recently released their second album, Collections, to a largely underwhelmed response, Delphic are back on the live circuit and are currently on an 18 date European tour. The new album sees a departure from the guitar and synth electronica of their first album, Acolyte, to a new direction which is heavily influenced by 80s R&B and hip hop. Their current tour is supported by what is billed as “Delphic DJs”.

Breaking out with a strong start, the band launched the show with the lead single from the new album, Baiya. With the new addition of live drums the set cantered straight into old favourite, Halcyon, before slowing for Freedom Found from the new album. This track worked extremely well live, with the simple bass and shaker background of the verses providing a good contrast to the busier choruses. The set continued into Memeo, which again worked well live before slowing into a hip hop style intro for Clarion Call, which was one of the highlights of the whole set.

Don’t Let The Dreamers Take You Away followed, and although this track is one of the weaker ones on their new album, the addition of a new upbeat section at the back end of the track really lifted it, turning a mediocre track into a good one. To a massive whoop from the crowd, the band then embarked on Red Lights, This Momentary and Doubt from the first album, with all tracks including some epic bass and guitar licks and great vocals. Closing the set with Atlas from the new album seemed to be a strange choice, but again this track worked well live even though the bass was slightly overwhelming in some places.

After the briefest of intervals the band came back for a 3 track encore (or “non-core” as the band put it) consisting of The Sun Also Rises from the new album followed by old favourites Counterpoint and Acolyte from the first album. The former song was the weakest of the whole set but was mercifully cut short in favour of launching (albeit in a slightly disjointed manner) into the final two tracks, both of which were great but which both suffered at times from being overwhelmingly loud, meaning that some of the best parts of the tracks were sometimes lost amongst the sheer wall of noise.

During the set the band largely dispensed with any chit chat in favour of stringing tracks together and, although this is sometimes a disappointment to the audience who like to feel part of the band that they are watching, in this instance it really suited the set well. Despite a lukewarm reception to their new album, Delphic really showed why live music rocks by completely changing the feel of that album and adapting it into a great live performance which lived up to the brilliance of Acolyte.

My review score: 7 out of 10