Athene Roberts, 3 Daft monkeys
Nov 14

Review: 3 Daft Monkeys at the Half Moon, Putney

While some peo­ple play air gui­tar, I con­fess to air vio­lin moments. Ide­al mate­r­i­al for this innocu­ous pas­time: The Lev­ellers, Peat­bog Faeries, and Cor­nish trio 3 Daft Mon­keys. I first dis­cov­ered them at Tow­ersey in 2011, fol­lowed by an autumn gig at the Half Moon pub in Put­ney. And here they are back again, two…

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Stills and Nash singing Manchester Arena
Oct 14

Review: Crosby, Stills and Nash play Manchester Arena 2013

There’s a feel­ing of warmth and unmis­tak­able pride here in Man­ches­ter as we await Cros­by, Stills and Nash to make their entrance. For Gra­ham Nash, it’s his home­com­ing gig – the Black­­pool-born, Sal­­ford-raised kid who helped cre­ate hip­py his­to­ry. Car­ry On is the open­er, and it’s those dis­tinc­tive, urgent vocals of Steve Stills, ris­ing and breaking…

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Laura Marling sings at York Hall, Bethnal Green
Oct 6

Review: Laura Marling at York Hall, Bethnal Green, 2013

Lau­ra Mar­ling per­form­ing at York Hall, a box­ing hall in Beth­nal Green, sounds ini­tial­ly like a bit of an mis­match. But dur­ing one of her chat­ty moments between songs, Lau­ra informs us that she used to live local­ly and she asks the audi­ence for an update on the area. These days, Laura’s an L.A. babe.…

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Stevie Nicks sings at the O2
Sep 29

Review: Fleetwood Mac joined by Christine McVie 02 Arena, final night

One of my ear­li­est music mem­o­ries is Peter Green singing Need Your Love so Bad, and his own com­po­si­tion Green Man­al­ishi (with the two prong crown), which to my pre-teen brain sound­ed bewil­der­ing­ly mys­ti­cal. Strange to now see Fleet­wood Mac, in their present form, live in 2013, over 30 years lat­er. Mick Fleet­wood and John McVie com­mand the…

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Big Chill festival in 2008
Sep 12

Festivals round up 2013. The greats and the RIPs

With such a gor­geous hot sum­mer it’s been a good year for music fes­ti­vals. Glas­ton­bury organ­is­er Michael Eav­is who final­ly bagged the Stones this year is call­ing it one of their best ever. But my inter­est is in small­er fes­ti­vals, part­ly because I like being able to walk from tent to are­na in under ten min­utes, partly…

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David Byrne sings on stage
Sep 2

Review: End of the Road festival 2013

With David Byrne, Sig­ur Ros and Belle & Sebas­t­ian amongst oth­ers on the line­up, End of the Road fes­ti­val set in lush Larmer Tree Gar­dens in Dorset looks like a per­fect musi­cal finale to the sum­mer. Far from feel­ing chilled and serene, I’m feel­ing a knot of ten­sion. Which act should I see? … and while I’m…

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British Sea Power sing on stage
Aug 24

Review: Suede and British Sea Power play Kenwood House

Suede and British Sea Pow­er play­ing in the grounds of Hamp­stead­’s Ken­wood House is an irre­sistible oppor­tu­ni­ty, espe­cial­ly as com­plaints from near­by res­i­dents mean con­certs here are few and far between. As Suede’s set draws to a close, Brett Ander­son remarks how pleased he is to be back in Hamp­stead, an area he loves. As head­lin­ers, Suede are indeed…

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boogie wonderland Lounge on the Farm
Jul 30

Review: Lounge on the Farm festival, Sunday 2013

Lounge on the Farm in Kent has big acts for the head­lin­ers, and local Kent bands enter­tain the crowds dur­ing the after­noon. I can only assume that every­one was suf­fer­ing from mas­sive hang­overs and too much par­ty­ing to Jessie Ware, as on arriv­ing at Lounge on the Farm at noon Sun­day, it all seemed suspiciously…

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Nikki Lamborn
Jul 24

Review: Ealing Blues Festival is now a sunny weekender

Imag­ine a fes­ti­val that only costs £5 entrance, has a choice of stages, sev­er­al food out­lets, the oblig­a­tory clothes and jew­ellery stalls plus a clair­voy­ant or two, a decent-ish bar, spot­less por­taloos with no queues… ok no camp­ing, but then you can’t have every­thing. This is what’s on offer each year at Eal­ing Blues Festival,…

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The bedroom hour at The Finsbury
Jul 16

Night moves with The Bedroom Hour at The Finsbury

The Bed­room Hour. It was the promis­ing­ly sul­try name that ini­tial­ly enticed me to check this band out when they popped up on Twit­ter. First hear­ing and they’ve got me hooked. There’s an inten­si­ty to this five-piece West Lon­don band, an immer­sive qual­i­ty, a mood­i­ness which draws you in. Their songs have that abil­i­ty to…

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