electronic live review
Les Ardentes Festival, Liege, Belgium. 2016 Edition
Belgium’s Les Ardentes Festival is now over ten years old, so this year it added an extra day, making it a five-day extravaganza. I’ve been to every one, and my role for most of them as onstage announcer has given me fly-on-the-wall access to it and how it operates. Unlike in the U.K., where the …
Live Review: Long Division Festival. Wakefield, 10-12.6.2016
Long Division 2016 launched itself into the weekend with post-punk outfit Gang of Four. For some reason they’ve been crammed into the smaller hall at Unity Works which makes for a sweaty, intimate start to the weekends shenanigans. As is tradition from previous years, the support for the evening comes from an up and coming local …
Live Review: Hong Kong Dong/the Poneymen, Le Hangar, Liege 15.04.2016
Le Hangar gigs are always an enjoyable affair. The Leffe prices are the best in town and there’s a large open fire in the centre of the room full of crackling logs, giving a cosy campfire ambience, (you still have to go outside to smoke though!). Tonight’s show is free, as part of a larger …
Live Review: Fatherson and Prides at Leadmill, Sheffield, 7th November 2015
Synth-pop trio Prides performed at the Leadmill, Sheffield, on 7th November, with support from their Scottish pals Fatherson. Although restricted to the smaller room of the venue, both bands stood upon its stage with confidence as they played to a receptive crowd who sang every word back to them with a fierce passion. From the very first …
Live Review: Dark Horses – Leadmill, Sheffield 30.07.15: Gallery + Interview
“Just get out there and make some noise!!” – Lisa Elle. To say I’m a fan of this hugely talented band would be an understatement, their album ‘Hail Lucid State’, has never been out of my car, to the point of nearly being worn away. As an album you never seem to get …
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: 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 …
Live review: LoneLady at the Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
I lived in Manchester for the best part of two decades so it was an astonishing experience to be transported by LoneLady right back to Hulme’s crumbling brutalist terraces and forward to the modern Northern powerhouse the city now is. LoneLady – aka Julie Ann Campbell – has created a series of soundscapes that evoke …
Live Review: Prides at Brudenell Social Club, 20th October 2014
“LEEDS! How are we doing?!” The crowd roars in response as lead singer Stewart Brock addresses his fans. I quickly shouted “How are you?” and that caught him off guard. That’s the thing about bands; every night they greet a city like old friends but the crowd rarely get to ask the questions. Try it yourself …