The End Festival is at the half-way mark, and so far it’s been an enjoyable, if slightly chaotic, experience, with a daily roster of bands appearing at venues around Crouch End. Opening night at Earl Haig featured Icelandic outfit YLJA (they are appearing twice more over the festival’s duration) and are notable for their crystalline…
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Richard Hawley is on his best form yet, and delivers a storming crowd-pleaser set: dense guitar driven sound combined with beautiful ballads. I imagine that many others in last night’s audience at The Roundhouse had, like me, put the final episode of Downton Abbey on ‘Record’. I’m indeed thankful for such technological wonders, because I wouldn’t have missed this incredible…
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The Victoria and Albert Museum is holding a series of events to accompany the huge India Festival this autumn. Last night I attended the Music of India concert, an event held in the sumptuous Raphael Room, with a programme of two acts. The Rajasthani folk troupe, who closed the evening, also popped up in different spots of the museum earlier in…
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Set against a muscular, driving bassline and wall of dense synth/guitar, Weaver’s voice adds a spacey, ethereal lightness, the two elements balancing each other, creating almost visible layers.
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Breath[e]:LESS is a new kind of performance/gig experience, and dancing is very much allowed. It might be difficult not to, as it’s set to infectious electronic music by composer/producer DJ Kwah (above). The performance is the brainchild of Tessa Gordziejko, formerly Creative Director for the Yorkshire cultural Olympiad, a director and producer who has built a reputation for innovative…
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For blues guitarist Aidan Connell, the launch of his debut album Grio may be an important occasion, but his music career hasn’t exactly been short on seminal moments. Seasick Steve hailed him as “the only rock ’n’ roller in town”; he’s played with venerated California band Mazzy Star after Dave Roback took note of the talented youngster, and praise…
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Minesweeping is Larry Love’s new album, co-written with Brendan O’Connell. How unusual of Love to dedicate an album to the practice of mine removal, I thought (and the album does contain many seafaring references). Inevitably Google led me to the more commonplace use of the word (not sure how I got to my age without knowing this). Ah, now we’re on…
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“I saw The Felice Brothers at the 100 Club, back in the day, with Simone Felice. They were amazing. Lots of us got up and danced on stage with the band, it was a bit of a party.” If that was a top Felice Brothers moment – experienced not by me sadly, but by my companion for tonight’s gig – this one at The…
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The Water Rats, five minutes’ walk from King’s Cross station, has undergone a refurbishment and now has a stylish and minimalist interior – but what the venue is to be congratulated over is its commitment to live music. The intimate music room, which is in the back room, has been similarly upgraded and offers a very welcoming…
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Festivals are going through big changes and the newer breed of events are more often taking place in the very cities we’re usually so keen to escape from.The formula we’ve traditionally enjoyed, three days or so camped out in the fields of an obliging farmer with enough bands and DJs to keep you happy, has shifted to encompass a new…
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