Live Review
Live Review: Lisbon / Feral Mantra / The Wired at The Rocking Chair, Sheffield, 18/02/16
Lisbon are the kind of band it’s very easy to get excited about. They’re enthusiastic about their music, whether it’s finessing new material in the studio, getting the tech just right ahead of a gig, or playing one of their fun-drenched, sweat-soaked gigs to a highly appreciative audience. They’re also incredibly savvy when it comes …
Live Review: Mayday Parade, Leeds University Stylus, 6.2.16
Tonight in the University Stylus is a bill that provides Leeds’ Saturday night crowd with several different strains of emo, depending on your taste. Beautiful Bodies are up first, feeling almost like they’re stuck in 2009. However their set is vibrant and pop-fuelled, and its undeniably fun with frontwoman Alicia Solombrino throwing shapes and spending …
Live: Bowling For Soup, Leeds O2 Academy, 3.2.16
‘Hey, we’re Bowling For Soup, the band you can wave at!’ As the time gets to about February, the excitement of Christmas has subsided somewhat and spring is just around the corner- yet winter still seems to be going on forever. So what better to take your mind off those winter blues, than spending the …
Live Review: Non Plus Ultra at Cafe Oto, 05/02/16
Our culture is obsessed with looking at the past. If culture had a body, it would be contorted, bending over its own limbs, straining to catch a glimpse, through the crevices of its wrinkled, obese flesh, of the jagged traces it had left behind. This behaviour is completely understandable. Not only is modern life rubbish, …
Live : Cadillac Three, Birmingham Institute 04.02.16
The Cadillac Three visit Birmingham in the midst of a steady stream of major country gigs at the Institute, in the last few months, this venue has also played host to the Band Perry, Kacey Musgraves and Hunter Hayes. Country is clearly a popular draw too, almost a sell out. Later, the Cadillac 3 will claim …
Live Review: Fun Lovin Criminals Leeds 4.2.2016
The Fun Lovin Criminals burst onto the scene 20 years ago. A cock sure, smooth talking, trio that liked a toot and more than a few shots of tequila. With no regard for genres or boundaries,the self-professed Kings of New York took us a little bit by surprise, providing a welcome alternative to the over …
Live Review: Escape The Fate, Manchester Club Academy, 28.1.16
If there is any band that have seen their fair share of problems, it’s Escape The Fate- prison stays, betrayals, drug problems and more line-up changes than are worth thinking about. Yet here they are heading out on the Hate Me tour, in celebration of their fifth album of the same name, and they’re doing …
Live: Cancer Bats and Support, Manchester Academy 3, 23/2/16
What better way to spend a Saturday evening than in a tiny venue with four bands from varying ends of the metal spectrum? Cancer Bats and co. have definitely set out to create havoc on their Destroy The United Kingdom tour, and they deliver no less. First band Incite bring the party with their groovy, …
Live Review: Slaves – 02 Academy, Leeds, 10.11.2015
Slaves; the two-piece from Tunbridge Wells that unexpectedly rose to fame in 2015. Their debut album reached number eight in the UK album charts, they played Glastonbury festival several times in one year, they brought grime and punk together with their incredible cover of Skepta’s ‘Shutdown, they sold out their November tour with demand for …
Feature: Best of 2015: Backseat Mafia staffers pick their favourite gig photos from 2015
Before we start looking forward to 2016 and all that they may bring, Backseat Mafia’s live photographers have been taking a look back at the gigs we covered in 2015 and choosing their own personal favourite photos… STEVE BARNES – DESPERATE JOURNALIST One of our bands of the year, caught them at Crystal Bar during …