Posts from ‘February, 2008’

Birmingham’s Town Hall, modelled on a Roman temple, first opened in 1834 and closed in 1996 for a £35 million refurbishment, only re-opening last year.  The original 6,000 pipe organ remains in place and towers over the end of the hall where the stage is located.  It takes a certain calibre of artist to belong [...]

I applied to take part in this course because of my involvement with Culturedeluxe Limited (as it’s soon to be known) - the spin-off record label from the Culturedeluxe music website. There are plans to develop the label and move it away from its hobby roots and I want to be prepared for the step [...]

Firstly, apologies to any subscribers who got hit with the backlog of reviews. I’ve finished upping them now.
So, on Thursday I went to the Barfly to review Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, Cazals and Cut Off Your Hands for Birmingham Live. I’d heard of all three but couldn’t name a song by any of them so much of [...]

When you go to a gig you expect the loud music and the press of bodies to keep you nice and warm but last night it was even colder inside the Barfly than it was outside.
In a city the size of Birmingham, for barely 40 people to make it out to see three decent, hotly-tipped [...]

Ok, before I go and get busy, I mentioned in may last (first) post that I’ve got quite a full couple of weeks coming up.  I’m just going to run through what I’ve got on my plate.
On the gigs front, I’ve got the review of tonight’s Cut Your Hands Off/Cazals/Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man show to write up.  The [...]

Hi there, welcome to my blog.
Having reviewed gigs around Birmingham for the past couple of years I thought it’d be a good idea to have somewhere to deposit all the good stuff I’ve been churning out. I’m also planning to use this as somewhere to jot down what happens outside the focus of the [...]

Frank Carter can rail all he likes against fans making idols of bands but if he’s a subject of adulation it’s no doubt a result of his thrillingly visceral and menacingly charismatic performances. If there’s a single reason why Gallows have been embraced (if a little cautiously) by mainstream indie and won plays on Radio [...]

The show ended as it started - from ‘Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats’ with it’s shouty count-in to the final unaccompanied, shouted chorus of ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’. It set the tone for the whole of the show quite succinctly too, with all seven members involved at high volume in a slightly quirky, unabashed and [...]

In past years getting tickets for the annual NME tour was a case of hammering the phone lines as soon as they opened. Tickets sold fast and with good reason - some timely booking secured acts such as Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and Maximo Park when they were on the cusp [...]

“We’re Alphabeat and we play pop!” Yes, they sure do! Alphabeat are a pop band who are in the habit of stating the obvious. Six fresh-faced, energetic Danes who do exactly what they say they do. There’s no angst, subtle subtexts or navel-gazing, just honest to goodness, perky nonsense with more bounce to the ounce. [...]