punk/post-punk live review
Live Review: Tramlines 2015, Desperate Journalist – Crystal, 26.7.15 plus Gallery
You’ll know if you read Backseat Mafia regularly, that Desperate Journalist are one of our favourite bands right now. On the back of their debut album, which we awarded 9.9/10 (see here) we take any opportunity to see their raw and incendiary live set, so when we saw they were on at Crystal, Sheffield as part …
Live Review: Tramlines 2015: Main Stage – 24.7.15 including Charlatans gallery
Tramlines 2015 style kicked off on Friday 24th July this year, and we took a stroll down to the new Main Stage, now situated in Ponderosa Park, a little out of the centre and away from its home of the last six years, Devonshire Green. As it was, the ten minute stroll from the city …
Live Review: The Tubes – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 12.8.2015
Once upon a time The Tubes took their brand of rock theatrics out to stadiums but now on their 40th birthday tour they are still delivering the goods albeit in much smaller venues. In truth they are an old school rock band who somehow got caught up in New Wave, but who cares when you …
Live Review: SWANS at The Reflektor, Liège 19.05.2015
I’ll admit, my only knowledge of SWANS is that of a friend playing them back in the eighties; an album with a dollar sign on the sleeve (‘Greed’ 1986). My frazzled memory lumped them in with that ‘Butthole Surfers’/’Big Black’ school of American nut-job noise, with a side-serving of Psychick TV cultism. Now, almost thirty …
Live: The Membranes, Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 04-07-2015
It’s a very hot summers night in Leeds, and as The Membranes take the stage, it’s clear from the off that the temperature is set to carry on rising. Opening number, “The Universe Explodes Into a Billion Photons of Pure White Light”, initially takes a few of the crowd by surprise. Taken from the bands …
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: 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: Nai Harvest / Best Friends / Pins – The Harley, Sheffield 24.04.2015
Friday night in Sheffield saw one of the most explosive, and certainly most popular, gigs The Harley has ever seen. First up were Pins, a female four-piece to be reckoned with. Faith Holgate’s haunting, eerie voice is akin to Siouxsie Sioux, and the Manchester group stirred up the crowd for the two homegrown groups to come. …
Live: The Stranglers, O2 Academy, Leeds, 17.3.15
It’s been a particularly full on build up to this year’s Stranglers tour, and I don’t think I’ve missed one since the 1980s. I achieved a lifetime ambition to interview bassist JJ Burnel, and also read a newly published book on the band, by long-time fan Phil Knight. The book, Strangled: Identity, Status, Structure and the …
Live Review: Wire – Unity Works, Wakefield 20.02.2015, plus gallery
I see plenty of live gigs, but I was especially excited about the prospect of seeing Wire in Wakefield last Friday. For starters, it’s been a while since I’d visited Unity Hall, (or Unity Works , as its now known) in Wakefield. Infact it’s been almost 30 years since I last made my way upstairs …