Organic lager, a super-friendly vibe and a Madchester moment for folk music: these are the memories of my evening at the Green Note in Camden. Find this bijou music bar/restaurant by heading up Parkway, away from the clamour of Camden Market, just at the point where the verdant sanity of Regent’s Park can be…
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Bearded Theory festival 2013: it’s the festival of Beards, Bands and DJs, and that just about sums it up. Now in its sixth year, Bearded Theory is set in picturesque Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire. With something like around 8,000 revellers it’s a nice size, and manages to feel like one big party. Bearded Theory’s line-up leans towards…
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We saw ahab at King’s Place as part of the King’s Cross venue’s folk sessions. Just for the record, Ahab (upper-case) are a German funeral doom-metal outfit – to be remembered when googling them. ahab (lower case) saunter on stage at King’s Place. First on is Callum Anderson, playing the first few chords of a beautiful-sounding…
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New Year’s Eve 2012. I asked various people how they intended to celebrate. Mostly, it seemed, this was to be the year of the “quiet night in”. How boring, I thought. I need to go out and do some dancing, maybe rolling back home as dawn creeps in. I’ve always been drawn to The Trades,…
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The Troubadour at Earls Court. Upstairs is the quirky coffee house and restaurant which I don’t think has changed in appearance since I first visited it in the 70s. Downstairs is a venue at the heart of London’s music scene, a cramped cellar which has seen the likes of Bob Dylan grace its stage. Last night…
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The Little Noise Sessions in aid of Mencap are now into their seventh year. Curated by Jo Whiley, the gigs take place over six or so nights, with a choice of lineups designed to please most music lovers. The artists give their time free to the Mencap charity, which is struggling with the government’s further cuts…
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Tuesday night was almost rain free – that’s saying something for this washout of an English summer which has so far plunged festivals and outdoor events into a maelstrom of mud and near bankruptcy. So it was a pleasant experience to sit on dry paving stones in the courtyard of Somerset House, drinking a ubiquitous…
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It was a long awaited moment, but here it is, Big Chill founder Katrina Larkin with co-producer Victoria Burns new festival for 2012, called Nova. Big Chill combined a perfect blend of elements, planned with a meticulous attention to detail that made the festival such a pleasure. Everything worked – the intelligent mix…
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Took advantage of a rare balmy evening this summer in London to mosey down to the Boogaloo near Highgate for an evening of musical fusion in a rather different style. Tonight’s listing reads: ‘Breton Girl, whose romantic style is drawn from Celtic, Medieval and Indian music’. The Breton Girl in question is singer-songwriter Wendy Lewis, elfin, barefoot,…
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I try to never miss seeing the support. Even if I check them out on YouTube and they don’t grab me, you just never really know. I would have paid to see The Hold Steady back in the day but here’s Craig Finn, at The Macbeth, Hoxton, support for The Felice Brothers. We started with…
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