indie live review
Live review: Kaiser Chiefs at Haydock Park Racecourse, 7/8/15
Friday at Haydock Races draws to a close, and tonight’s gathering of people awaiting Kaiser Chiefs’ set is looking a little different to their usual crowd. Everyone is still shuffling around, finding a space or deciding whether or not to stay now the racing is finished as the Kaisers unceremoniously file onto the stage and …
Live Review: Dandy Warhols. Leadmill, Sheffield 30.07.15
It has been some considerable time since tonight’s headliners last played the Steel City, and there’s a definite air of anticipation and excitement as the venue starts to fill to bursting. One of Portland’s finest exports and one of the most influential bands of our time. The Dandy Warhol’s take the stage in a casual, …
Live Review: Lisbon, Bayonet, The Rocking Chair, Sheffield, 18.06.2015
Lisbon first came onto my radar last year when I accidentally caught them supporting Saint Motel at Plug in Sheffield. They were enthusiastic, exciting and totally deserving of a bigger crowd than their support slot offered them. In the months since this visit to Sheffield, they’ve been working on their material and should see an …
Live Review: Long Division 2015 – Wakefield 12th – 14th June
Long Division, a three day urban festival, spread over eight venues all within spitting distance of each other. Over 60 bands on offer and with the added bonus of it been just down the road in the city where I grew up, and still live. What started out five years ago as a full on …
Live Review: Desperate Journalist – Rocking Chair, Sheffield 27.5.15
Tonight we are in the relatively small cellar of The Rocking Chair to bear witness to one of the most adept indie bands to have emerged on to the scene for some time. When we got hold of their debut, self-titled album back in January, we gave them a 9.9, claiming they were ‘almost perfect‘. …
Live Review: Teenage Fanclub – Trades Club, Hebden Bridge 26.05.2015
It’s been a strange couple of days for arguably our nation’s best songwriting team. Tonight they are playing a small socialist club in West Yorkshire to 180 hard core fans, and tomorrow they face 50,000 as they support Foo Fighters at Old Trafford cricket ground thanks to a direct request from Dave Grohl. This might …
Live: Bearded Theory Festival 21-24.5.15
Catton Park, South Derbyshire, last time I was here I spent 24 hours sweating and panting my way around the park on a mountain bike, supposedly for fun. This time we are here for the Bearded Theory Festival and I was swapping the energy drinks, pasta and anti-chaffing cream, for good beer and great music, …
Live Review: Django Django at Plug, Sheffield, 14th May 2015
Django Django are the kind of band who have been vaguely just outside my radar for the last few years but seem to be compared to every band I really enjoy at the moment. I always assumed they were newcomers to the scene but was surprised to find they’d formed back in 2009 at Edinburgh …
Gallery: The Orielles – Rocking Chair, Sheffield 29.04.2015
Surf-pop trio The Orielles came to Sheffield this week, along with a bunch of other weird bands, to continue their brief headline tour across the UK’s northern cities. Long Limbs were up first, making me laugh more than I thought I would. They’re a fun band, and the fact that lead singer Peter forgot how the penultimate …
Live Review: East India Youth – Rise, Bristol, 10.04.2015
To people of a certain age in Bristol the mention of Imperial Records makes everyone slightly glassy eyed and wistful. It was a place to bump into friends and find new music thanks to a multitude of recommendations chalked on its walls. Its demise felt like another lurch forward in the gentrification of what used …