shots
May 22

Review: Letting our hair down at Bearded Theory 2013

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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Orlando Seale sing at St Pancras
Apr 29

Cool tracks: Orlando Seale and the Swell at St Pancras

Of all the train sta­tions in Lon­don to find your­self in with time to spare, St Pan­cras is the most pleas­ant. A few shops, wine bars, arti­san type food out­lets, and occa­sion­al announce­ments in French – and I dis­cov­ered Orlan­do Seale and the Swell were enter­tain­ing the crowds. There’s even more going on at the


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Phildel sings at St Pancras
Apr 26

Phildel: The Disappearance of the Girl at St Pancras Old Church

Phildel used her sur­round­ings of St Pan­cras Old Church to cre­ate a mixed media expe­ri­ence, instead of sim­ply per­form­ing her songs â€“ this was an inspired move. This tiny church has a rich his­to­ry and amongst those buried in its church­yard are a vam­pire writer, a com­pos­er and a sculp­tor. It clings to the edge of the glitzy


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King Charles sings at Shepherds Bush
Apr 20

Review: King Charles at 02 Empire Shepherds Bush

What a trans­for­ma­tion for the flam­boy­ant musi­cian King Charles. Last year I saw him per­form in a church in Hack­ney, where a polite crowd clus­tered round the stage, sup­ping wine and sway­ing gen­tly. A year on, and he’s head­lin­ing at Shep­herd’s Bush. The place seems rammed to the rafters with the most excit­ed crowd I’ve


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Phildel CD cover
Apr 15

Phildel: The Disappearance of the Girl

Phildel is more than a singer song­writer, she’s a mul­ti-tal­en­t­ed per­former whose artistry per­me­ates every aspect of her work. So I was keen to buy the phys­i­cal CD of The Dis­ap­pear­ance of the Girl and enjoy the art work and read the lyrics. Some­times I just think, damn those soul­less down­loads: music with­out its his­to­ry. For Phildel,


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Phildel
Feb 24

Mixing it up at Bush Hall: Phildel and Ali Warren Band

Bush Hall, with its its rich red vel­vet drapes, majes­tic chan­de­liers and upstairs bar with view­ing gallery is opu­lence in minia­ture. Such swag­ger for such a tiny place. This Sun­day eve is Mixel­la­neous Melodies, and true to its name, it’s a very ran­dom mix of artists who play to a relaxed week­end crowd. Ozzie band


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Jodrell Bank
Feb 14

Location, location: music for 2013 in unforgettable venues

From tiny, friend­ly gigs where you feel as if you’re in some­one’s liv­ing room, to the big, bold and out­landish, 2013 is all about state­ment venues. Here are a few to whet the appetite. 1. Feb­ru­ary 17: Bush Hall, Shep­herds Bush, west Lon­don. Only ÂŁ5. A mel­low Sun­day evening under the chan­de­liers beck­ons at this


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Feb 5

Down in Kentish Town: great music and Thai curry

Oh for a good old-fash­ioned Eng­lish high street, a scruffy one, with no Star­bucks, Acces­sorize and Oliv­er Bonas pop­ping up every­where. Well that’s pret­ty much Ken­tish Town for you, where you’ll find newsagents, print­er shops, friend­ly mar­ket stalls and even a library – grant­ed a Cos­ta lurks, but it does­n’t seem to have ush­ered in


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Dave Burn of ahab
Jan 24

King’s Place for food, drinks, art and alt-country band, ahab

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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Mental Elf, The Trades 2012
Jan 4

Mental Elf – New Year at Hebden Bridge Trades Club

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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