Venue:

Rod Laver Arena ,Melbourne Australia

Date: 11/08/2026

This recent tour in more than a decade has been very divisive down here. Things got off to an interesting start with MA being banned in Singapore after displaying a foreign flag. I don’t think it was because it was a Palestinian flag specifically, it seems you can’t display foreign flags in Singapore. Then they started this brief tour – one show only in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne sold out in 30 minutes. The first review I read by Andrew McMillen, a credible reviewer was deeply hostile saying he left the show feeling assaulted, that they had got the visual audio balance wrong and the political messaging was like being hit over the head. Another person complained that the messaging by David Byrne showed far more finesse. The debate raged a bit like Dylan shows. The fans saying ,well, what did you expect its Massive Attack versus the why can’t they just play music? But it did sound like this was to be a buckle up sorta show. Disclosure. I have never seen MA before and while I have quite a few of their albums in the collection, largely via » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Islington Assembly Hall

Date: 30/07/2026

I think this was the London headline debut for the Balkcom sisters and I’m fairly sure they won’t be playing in a venue this size again any time soon. It was already moved from the 450 capacity Bush Hall to the 950 capacity Islington Assembly Hall and it was a rammed (and very hot!) sell out. The show was well paced and it was clear the band was having fun which always makes a show more enjoyable. The only low about the evening was that the sound was absolutely awful. The more delicate harmonies and instruments (particularly fiddle and slide guitar) were drowned by the drums. It did improve a bit towards the end but the best bits was when they were singing without the drums at all. The Castellows are what I know as a Spotify band as that’s the sole way I have been introduced to them. That means that all their tracks carry an equal weighting so it’s interesting when my favourites are everyone elses too. It was great that Hurricane turned out to be one of the best singalongs of the night so I wasn’t out of place singing » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Grace – Highbury Corner

Date: 24/07/2026

I’ve seen Esther Rose twice solo. Both times have been superb (despite the first time being a slight initial disappointment because I was hoping for fiddles and slide guitar!). I’m a little baffled why it wasn’t sold out but at least I wasn’t the one missing out!

So this time round, Esther had a full band and her performance seemed far far more relaxed than when I’ve seen her solo. Sadly no fiddle but she concentrated on her more recent albums which don’t have so much fiddle anyway!

Tonight was an extra special treat for me, I think my favourite instrument is the pedal steel and both the support band, and Esther’s band included one.

I was a bit concerned that I’d looked forward to this too much. But it was excellent. It was one of those nights where it’s hard to stop grinning.

There were two new songs and they couldn’t be more different. The first had a section in the middle that seemed to be inspired by The Ramones which must always be considered a recommendation! The second was solo as an encore. It certainly makes me wonder what » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Date: 25/07/2026

The Bootleg Beatles have been a going concern for forty-five years, formed in 1980 by cast members of the musical Beatlemania after its final West End show. Personnel have changed along the way but all have been consummate musicians with enough acting skills to deliver a concert experience in character. Costume changes, wigs, variable false facial hair add to the illusion. They first teamed up with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017 when Nigel Osbourne was commissioned to orchestrate Sgt. Pepper. Now, they have applied their combined talents to the “blue album” and, last night, they performed in the salubrious, acoustically beautiful setting of the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester.

The concert was divided into sections, each with its own costume and hair, and each with a scene-setting video of brief clips of news reels and records of the time: Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, The White Album, Rooftop/Let it Be and Abbey Road. The amusing inter-song banter and interactions with the audience were well pitched but flexible enough to respond to the odd heckle: Paul as a Tigger, John as Owl, George as Eeyore and Ringo as Piglet. From the opening notes of » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Cadogan Hall, London

Date: 27/06/2026

Lockdown made many of us do some very odd things. I had a new job, a proper disposable income for the first time in years, and time to myself. I found myself exploring old music that had previously existed on dusty cassettes, long-consigned to landfill. I bought up the complete works of Squeeze on second hand CDs. Then came a hankering for the old Yes Albums I’d actively loved (Drama, Going for the One, Close to the Edge). Then came Genesis. A 3CD best-of revealed the Gabriel era ‘good’ (Disc 3), the pop era ‘bad’ (Disc 1) and the largely ‘great’ (Disc 2). This was the post Gabriel, pre-megastardom sweet spot that balanced tunes with prog flourish, emotion with innovation. I wanted more, and duly bought up Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering, And Then There Were Three, and Duke. And I got really into them.

I couldn’t really justify the expense of going to see the final Genesis gigs. Not only did it look like Phil Collins was diminished to an alarming extent (keys of songs dropped by huge amounts, other singers filling in the blanks), but I had no » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Lytham St Annes Festival

Date: 04/07/2026

We sometimes forget just how big the Pet Shop Boys are. As British artists, above them in total sales from artists whose careers started after 1980, there’s only Coldplay, Adele and Ed Sheeran. All artists who let us say have a somewhat broader appeal, and considerably less likely to score Russian expressionist silent movie classics or collaborate with the Royal Ballet. What a brilliant hand they’ve played over the last forty years – amassing those titanic sales while remaining an enigmatic aura.

They are in their victory lap era, and this stop off at the Lytham St Annes Festival – the day before Pitbull, the day after Buble, is apparently something of a sentimental homecoming for Chris Lowe, who grew up five miles up the coast in Blackpool, as Neil reminds us before playing Jealousy, which was the first song they wrote together.

Before the PSBs we have a half support half co-headline from the Scissor Sisters. I think they go down well enough, but they are absolutely not my thing. The festival arena itself is huge – 25,000. Didn’t know Buble could pull this size of crowd.

After some » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Sheffield Arena

Date: 30/06/2026

A homecoming gig for Sheffield’s finest, their first in the city since 2023’s triumphant outdoor show at Bramall Lane. Extreme proved to be a great choice as support – although I’m not too familiar with most of their music, they played a great set that really got the crowd going and set things up nicely for the main event. It was Def Leppard though that people had come to see, and they didn’t disappoint, receiving a rapturous reception from their home crowd. The bulk of their set hasn’t really changed much as the decades have rolled by, being built on the solid foundation of the Pyromania and Hysteria albums. A welcome addition after a long absence though was the Steve Clarke tribute White Lightning, while they also found room for their two most recent standalone singles, Rejoice and Just Like 73. Personally, I can live without the two cover versions, Personal Jesus and Rock On, especially when it means omitting classics like Wasted, Let It Go, Foolin’ and Too Late For Love, and the breakdown in Slang to include Get Up Offa That Thing and Fame was a real momentum killer for me – » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Confederation Park, Ottawa

Date: 27/06/2026

Gig of the year? Gig of a lifetime?

I made up for missing out on Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival by taking in one of the big performances of the Ottawa Jazz Festival. In Massachusetts Wilco and Billy Bragg were doing the first ever live performance of Mermaid Avenue, in downtown Ottawa St Vincent was delivering something potentially equally historic with the help of the National Arts Council Orchestra, part of a big tour where she plays with a local orchestra in each city

It was a perfect evening, lovely temperature and one of my favourite places to experience live music. I am not really the person to review St Vincent in much detail being not too familiar with her back catalogue, however this was simply stunning, magnificent, transcendental. Incredible singing, brilliant guitar playing and soaring, beautiful orchestral arrangements. I can’t do justice as to how good it was

The audience:

Mostly in rapt attention, few talking idiots near me, who I frequently glared at

It made me think..

I need to investigate Annie Clark more

Venue:

History, Toronto

Date: 13/06/2026

My first ever proper gig that I specifically bought tickets for was Echo and the Bunnymen at Mountford Hall, Liverpool University in 1980. It was great, but the Royal Court theatre show in the same city a year later probably ranks in my top 15 gigs ever. They were an incredible live band and it was an astonishingly good gig.

Fast forward 45 years and the remaining duo (with 4 additional musicans) are doing a fairly large North American tour following a string of recent UK dates. I bought tickets for the Toronto stop many months ago, and have been following some of the online reviews with some trepidation. Stories of a seated, drunken Mac on stage who can’t sing any more, cancelled concerts and him also leaving the stage before the encore had been completed.

The show was sold out, a fairly new 2,500 capacity venue that is literally a 2 minute walk from where I used to live in the Beaches area of Toronto. A recent Philadelphia show had been postponed after Mac was slightly injured in a road accident. Reports from previous show Boston veered between “an embarassment” and “best » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London

Date: 11/06/2026

Jason and the band were straight into it. They didn’t take time to warm up, but were in top gear from the first minute. They opened with 24 Frames. Initially the sound was off and muddy, but I salute the soundman – by the time the song ended he had things clear and balanced and there weren’t any sound problems for the rest of the night. Though it wasn’t a problem free night (see The Audience, below). He played songs covering the breadth of his whole career, with the Weathervanes album the best represented. There were only two songs from Foxes in The Snow. Decoration Day came quite early in the set and was played just as you’d expect, until he ended his slide solo, then dispensed with the slide and played a long straight guitar solo. Just when you think the song is winding up it’s over to Sadler Vaden who in turn takes an extended solo. I thought it was all great stuff, my wife not so much. Towards the end, when they performed This Ain’t It, Jason and Sadler got together for an extended interplay and I’d swear » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Tabernacle, Notting Hill, London

Date: 09/06/2026

“Welcome to Amanda Shires’ Church of Chrysanthemums and Misery” was the self deprecating introduction after her opening songs.

I suspect most are aware of her history, but for those who aren’t, she was married for over ten years to Jason Isbell, before a divorce a couple of years ago.

Her last two albums have dealt with that process, and most of tonight’s set is taken from them. “Take It Like A Man” dealt with the disintegration and “Nobody’s Girl” the divorce and aftermath. His name is never spoken, but then it doesn’t need to be.

She opened with Highwomen, the title track from her superstar collaboration from some years back, then it was into Empty Cups (You’re leaving now through the hole of an argument, I guess for a while you’ve been looking for the exit…) followed by A Way It Goes (I can show you how he left me, paint a picture…). She delivers these with such emotion – no histrionics or melodrama, just digging deep into her heart and baring her soul.

I was wondering how she could do this night after night and stay sane. I was wondering » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

Date: 07/06/2026

First night of a 72-date tour, and thankfully this date was added, preventing an expensive trip to “that London”. A few minor cock-ups with the gear that will surely be ironed out on subsequent dates, but were managed magnanimously within the band. The set comprised a repertoire from all the “Talking Crimson/ King Heads” albums from the early 80s, plus “Larks Tongues in Aspic, pt 3” and “Red”. A lot of music (and even more notes) was played, which ranged from avant dicking-around to grooves made for getting down, if we were the age and sorts to do such undignified things. It was a gig with a lot of widdle and noodling, but also, paradoxically, done with a lot of taste. Tony Levin, now 80, was on bass and Chapman stick, plus the occasional keyboard, and clearly has a regular Wincarnis to keep fit. Belew alarmed me when the first track (“Neurotica”) was done with the vocals recorded, and I was ready to declare my outrage, but subsequently it all seemed live. Danny Carey showed what a great drummer he was, and I’ve never particularly bothered with “Tool” before. And Steve Vai … » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Wolverhampton Civic

Date: 21/05/2026

Ralf Hutter will be 80 in a few months time. Three years younger than Jagger and McCartney. Only eleven years younger than Elvis. And yet – one of Kraftwerk’s most enduring traits – they feel utterly contemporary in a way that (no disrespect) the elder statesmen referred to do not.

Why is this? It’s technology innit, the computers and stuff. Well, a little bit. But arguably a stadium gig by Coldplay or Taylor Swift will have way more advanced tech than was on-show yesterday. But after seeing them last night at a spellbinding gig in Wolverhampton I think it’s slightly more nuanced. Remember this is the band that famously did not own a computer (PC) when they wrote the greatest song ever written about them, Computer World.

Their current tour is an incremental update of the Multi-Media tour format that they have been putting out since 2016. Four lecterns with various laptop/synth stuff behind them. Four motionless individuals wearing the ‘grid suits’ that light up in time with the music. And a pin-sharp enormous screen behind them. I saw this tour in 2017, 3-d glasses then included, and 2026 is a software » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

Date: 11/05/2026

Emmylou Harris released her first album in 1969. Long deleted, ‘Gliding Bird’ made little impression when it was released and it wasn’t until 1972 that she surfaced again, duetting memorably on Gram Parsons’s first solo album ‘GP’ and subsequently on his posthumously released ‘Grievous Angel’ in 1974. Her next solo album, ‘Pieces of the Sky’ was released in 1975, was a commercial success, and was the first of a string of magnificent albums she released in the 70s. She came to the attention of many of us in the UK with a couple of Old Grey Whistle Test performances, and she toured here with the Hot Band, that incredible ensemble featuring the likes of Glen D. Hardin. James Burton and then Albert Lee, and a young Rodney Crowell. She was like no female country singer we’d ever seen – in jeans rather than rhinestone covered dresses, wielding a large acoustic guitar, beautiful, undeniably. But beyond that, her voice, her selection of material, and her band were all captivating.

She kept working through the 80s and 90s but with less commercial success, her music moving sometimes uneasily between bluegrass and country and more MOR » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Portland Arms – Cambridge

Date: 07/05/2026

Well that’s a band I want to see again! Great fun. Despite the fairly low turn out, the band showed great enthusiasm and the songs (even the very new ones) were all delivered slickly with tongues often firmly in cheeks.

There’s already a long list of bands that are cited in the “if you like this then try Barbara” category such as Divine Comedy and ABBA but I would add Sparks and Deaf School to the list. I think it’s probably impossible for me to dislike a band with “bop showaddy” and “oo bop” in the backing vocals along with the constant harmonies.

One major problem/gripe though. The doors opened at 7:30. The main (only) act was on stage at 8pm!!! Now I have no real problem with this but that is not convention. There was nothing on the band or venue social media (that I could find anyway) that gave any warning of this. I missed the first couple of songs. The timings showed doors open at 7:30pm, finish time was shown as 11pm. With no warning, I think even starting at 8:30pm is a little (unconventionally) early. It » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Arts Centre, Helmsley

Date: 01/05/2026

Having seen Sarah was playing nearby I drove up Sutton Bank to Helmsley on Friday night. A steep climb brings you to the North Yorkshire moors and the view on the drive up gives you a panoramic view of the Vale of York. Alas as I was driving I had to concentrate on the very steep drive up. I’d visited the Arts Centre before some twenty(ish) years previously so I’d a rough idea where it was which was more than the people I asked who didn’t have a clue. Luckily I found it more by chance and the small sign I spotted on a ginnel wall.

Although Sarah had played there three times before the venue had moved the concert from the auditorium to the bar to accommodate the small but perfectly formed audience. Very civilised with tables to put one’s drinks on. Tea for me as tackling Sutton Bank on the way down needs a clear head. A perfect spot right at the front about two metres away from the ‘stage’ *floor.

Bang on 7:30 introduced by her sound man as “The kaleidoscopic Sarah McQuaid ” he’s been working through the alphabet » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Lansdowne Cinema, Kanata, ON

Date: 29/04/2026

I think I first saw this concert in the 80s, I remember taping it from Austrian TV when it was broadcast very late at night once. I haven’t revisited since vidually, but bought the live album (Lennon only) that came out in the 80s, I didn’t buy the monstrous box set that came out last year, but got the audio 2 CD version and the RSD vinyl EP. For well known reasons 2 songs were omitted from that release and that remains the case for this film. It appeared in cinemas for “one night only” on April 29th. It has been spruced up visually and the audio sounded really great, possibly with some artificial enhancement. It is only 80 minutes long and will not be competing with The Last Waltz or Stop Making Sense for greatest concert movie ever.

It was in aid of the One to One foundation that benefited the Willowbrook State School a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities. There was originally going to be jsut the one show at Madison Sq Garden, but it sold out quickly so an additional matinee performance was added, so 2 shows » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Castle and Falcon, Birmingham

Date: 04/04/2026

The Castle and Falcon is surely the best place in Birmingham to see a band that draws a straight line from the crustie/hippie/Castlemorton days of early rave scene, as it most closely resembles our clubbing days at the Co-Op Hall down the Cowley Rooad (now the 02 Oxford and presumably cleaned up from the late eighties when we saw such bands as Gaye Bykers, Senser, 1000 Yard Stare and early basic rave nights with luminaries such as DJ Remould).

The band consists of your chemistry teacher who knows how to cook up MDMA but is just too nice a guy (Steve Hillage) to do so, and Rive Gauche Parisienne chic grandma Miquette Giraudy, just back from a cameo alongside Juliette Binoche in Michael Haneke’s latest.

I’m not a S7 uberfan, and know 777 and their stuff with Rovio and that’s about it. But it matters not. One track blends into each other in a continuous mix built around one to the floor techno drums, sequenced bass lines, and long looping textures either from keyboards or Hillage’s guitar or both. Some tracks are a bit quicker, some a bit floatier, but there’s a » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Deaf Institute, Manchester

Date: 02/04/2026

I was brought along to the Deaf Institute by may mate, Damian who said, dont look up who you are going to see, just go into it blind.

After the support slot from the feisty indie poppers, Hunny Buzz, whos sparky songs warmed the sell out crowd up nicely, I heard the name Tom A Smith mentioned. Its a name that conjours up images of a bearded troubadour singing melancholic songs of the mid west. Wrong.

Up pops Tom A Smith, a cross between Mika ,Bob Geldof and Tim from the Polecats. He appears to have had the blood drained from his veins and replaced with a fixture of adrenaline and charisma. The songs are what the youth of today would call “Bangers” . They are infuriatingly catchy and have a sound somewhere between the first Killers album and classic `80s synth pop thanks to keyboard player Hannah. The songs, well (checks CD`s bought from merch desk) SFX is obviously an audience favourite and Tom got the crowd (including me) singing along to ” I Don`t Blame You”. “Fashion” with the hookline ” Lets get some bass in this room” features teethrattling » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Grace, Highbury Corner, London

Date: 25/03/2026

Jonny Morgan & The Moral Support are virtually unknown but are I believe one of the very best live bands around. Not so obscure that they can’t sell out the 150 capacity Grace, but operating at a level where they are having to build an audience through hard gigging at a time when it’s never been more difficult to establish a presence. This was the second last date of their tour promoting their new album The Hope That Kills You and the third time I’ve seen them. They just get better every time. They come on stage to LZ’s When The Levee Breaks. They rock. Set opener Another Heartache matches the intensity of the recorded intro. While they do rock they also have a delicate side too, as displayed in a song like 30 By Spring. Aside from Jonny on guitar on vocals there is the twin attack of Joe Coombs on guitar (“looks like Jesus… plays like him too) and Eve Lesedi on saxophone. (Eve recently became Mrs Morgan, or he became Mr Lesedi). Johnny is obviously the fulcrum of the band, bringing his “white boy, middle class blues from » Continue Reading.

Venue:

The Tabard Theatre. Chiswick

Date: 18/03/2026

David Visick is better known here as Chiz, and it was his comment on the Shameless Self Promotion thread that alerted me to the play – and I’m very glad he did. Imagining a meeting between the old king Hamlet & Yorick the fool, it was a fast paced, witty exchange between the two of them. The King’s pomposity punctured by the down to earth fool. Tim Marriott (the King) is best known for his role as the Deputy Manager in the Brittas Empire and is a stalwart of the Tabard theatre (a friend told me “he dies at least two shows a year”) The play opened with his death, before emerging in purgatory. Nicholas Collett’s fool reminded me of a taller version of David Rappaport in Time Bandits. The Waiting for Godot premise was that the pair was stuck in this “non world” together, and even when given the chance to move on, they remained.

It’s ages since I read Hamlet, but it’s so much part of general culture, I didn’t feel that I missed any references, nor did it stick solely to Shakespeare. The laughs were frequent, I thoroughly enjoyed » Continue Reading.

Venue:

Harmonie, Bonn

Date: 19/03/2026

You may be familiar with vintage YouTube videos of bands playing on German TV with the logo “Rockpalast”. Kind of like their equivalent of The Old Grey Whistle Test with rock, metal and jazz acts from the mid 70s onwards. Well apparently WDR, the host channel based in Cologne, hosts a twice yearly music festival in Bonn.

Thursday night saw two bands play the Bonn Harmonie, which can’t have a capacity of more than a few hundred. I didn’t know either band before the start of the week, but Godspeed You Black Emperor! had sold out a venue in Cologne on Friday, so I was looking for something alternative.

The headliners, Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys*, normal rock instruments plus viola, are described variously as art pop | tender noise | post punk | minimal wave. Lucy made for an intense lead singer, coming onto the stage in a white dress, looking somewhat like Polly Harvey, to ambient guitar and viola drones and tones, prowling around voicelessly, looking out into the crowd like a general surveying her troops before grasping the microphone and, to the rising beat of the drum and » Continue Reading.

Venue:

O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester

Date: 11/03/2026

This has the feeling of a home gig. Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson had her first attempt at cracking the music biz while living in Manchester in her early twenties – it failed. The night before the gig she had been papped at a Canal Street drag night, an event she turned into a bit of a comedy monologue during the show. In fact, parts of this show were more like a Julian Clary (or for older readers Frankie Howard) gig. The stage setting seemed to be a reference to Snow White, three steps at the centre led up to the Wicked Queen’s mirror that became a video screen. It kicked off with the band playing without her for a few minutes while CMAT entered through the cheering crowd on a stagehand’s shoulders singing Janice Joplining. A rousing version of The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station followed, accompanied by a mass committed chant of; “So, okay, don’t be a bitch, the man’s got kids and they wouldn’t like this” flagged the way this was going. The rest of the set, which was dominated by Euro-Country tracks, saw Ciara rolling on the floor, draping herself over » Continue Reading.