Live Review
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 …
Live: Shed Seven / Inspiral Carpets – Leeds 22.12.15 / Sheffield 10.12.15
Seeing Shed 7 has become as big a part of Christmas as turkey and sprouts. Every second year the boys take their show out on the road, and treat us to a set full of their greatest hits. We caught them at Sheffield and again at Leeds for the final night of the tour. (All …
Festival Review: London Contemporary Music Festival
Spreading a festival over seven murky London nights is an ambitious move. Not only is it near-impossible to attend every single event, but one also gets an overbearing sense that the programme will wear itself thin over the week. Not so. Even though some work photographed better than it sounded and certain performances engaged the …
Live Review: Kim Wilde, Holmfirth Picturedrome, 16/12/15
When I was ten years old I fell in love for the first time. Her name was Kim. She was an older woman. That was when I heard Kim Wilde’s cover of The Supremes’ hit ‘You Keep Me Hanging on’. I’d never actually heard the original version of the song at that time, but listening …