Archive for the ‘live’ Category

July 31, 2010 View Comments

[Photos] High Voltage Festival

By Ash in live

July 30, 2010 View Comments

Phil Anselmo

By Ash in live

July 29, 2010 View Comments

High Voltage Festival – Saturday

By Ash in live

High Voltage is yet another addition to the burgeoning series of summer festivals currently plaguing London. Setting itself as a potential competitor to the global Sonisphere Festival which sits alongside the established Download and Reading Festivals, High Voltage boasts a simple three stages: Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog Rock. Located in Victoria Park, East London, this festival of elders could potentially attract up to three generations of rockers.

A short walk from Mile End tube station leads to Victoria Park. En route, there is a pub carving up a whole, roasted pig for wandering rockers. The dress code for today generally includes men sporting black t-shirts with amusing slogans like ‘More rock than a crack house’ printed on the chest. ‘WALK WITH ME IN HELL!’ demands an average sullenly clothed posterior. If there’s an IT crisis somewhere in London this weekend, the experts are likely to be contained within these temporary, green walls.

Read the rest of this entry »

June 29, 2010 View Comments

The Necks – The Barbican Theatre

By Ash in live

I went to see Australian ‘jazz’ trio, The Necks on Saturday night. It was, without doubt, one of the greatest live performances I’ve ever seen. For a trio equipped with traditional acoustic instruments normally associated with jazz, they produced some of the most inspiring and intoxicating music I’d ever heard in a live environment. Not only that – but they made it up as they went along. For a detailed review, check out the report on Mapsadaisical’s site or this one by Adam Wood.

Such is the irony, that the people that call themselves ‘music fans’ and went along to the 40th anniversary of the Glastonbury Festival Of Contemporary Performing Arts and completely missed this should be kicking their sunburned arses for the remainder of the year.

June 22, 2010 View Comments

Broken Bells – Royal Festival Hall

By Ash in live

On the final night of the Meltdown Festival (curated by Richard Thompson), Broken Bells make their European live debut. A giant screen dominates the stage at the Royal Festival Hall: a screen that will host flickering abstract images of warm technicolour magically rendered to look like nostalgic footage captured in the late ‘60s on Super 8.

Read the rest of this entry »

February 7, 2010 View Comments

Buffy & Marlo

By Ash in live

January 8, 2010 View Comments

Deconstructed Union Jack (Mitcham)

By Ash in live

December 23, 2009 View Comments

Paul McCartney – Live at the O2

By Ash in live

I went to see Paul McCartney last night, and it was fab. North Greenwich is playing host to a German Christmas market at the moment (are the Germans better at Christmas than the British, or something?) and I enjoyed the overpriced smoked sausage and Glühwein on offer with a couple of cold cigarettes.

After Macca’s X-Factor performance, I wasn’t expecting too much, but opening the show with ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ helped strip some of that cynicism away. Much of the set was par for the course with the exception of ‘Mrs Vandebilt’, ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’, ‘Paperback Writer’ and ‘Mull of Kintyre’ which featured the Balmoral Highlanders complete with all necessary wailing accoutrements. It’s not a favourite song of mine by any means, but it was one hell of a spectacle.

So, yes, McCartney was worth that hefty £137 price tag. Would I do it again? On the strength of this performance, I probably would. Overall, the set was his strongest yet and the band were exact. The only letdown came from the audience who, around my area at least, were the most reticent, miserable bunch of rich, middle-class fuckwits I’ve ever had the misfortune to come across – well, since WOMAD anyway.

It wasn’t all good: he played some stuff from The Fireman; a couple of duff solo tracks surfaced; ‘Helter Skelter’ is now a bit of a pastiche; ‘Live and Let Die’ is only explosive if you’re a Macca concert virgin; and ‘A Day In The Life’ is really not what it should be without John.

For a more detailed review, check out Caitlin Moran’s, cos I’m too tired to get into it fully.

(4/5)