A modified version of this review appears in today’s Nottingham Post. It’s four days before The Libertines’ huge Hyde Park reunion gig, which is rumoured to be making Pete Doherty and Carl Barat a cool half a million each. So what does Pete Doherty do? He announces a trio of tiny solo gigs, kicking off in Nottingham. The Libertines have form at the Bodega Social. They supported The Vines here in their early days, and headlined just before the release of their first single, the fantastic ‘What A Waster’. So punters can be forgiven for thinking tonight could be a low-key, final set of tune-ups for the big money show. But no. There’s a single mike stand on the stage, picked out by two green…
I just heard that Bobby Womack died yesterday. So sorry to hear this and so glad that I finally got to see him perform, at Liverpool Philharmonic earlier this year. A wonderful show that had me in tears by the end. On Tuesday night, my oldest friend Mike and I had a late night session after the Elton John gig. At about 2AM, I played ‘I Can Understand It’ and remarked that Liverpool was still my gig of the year. ‘Even better than Prince?” Mike asked, before choosing ‘I’m Through Trying To Prove My Love To You’. Yes, better than Prince. This was the show closer, as filmed a year earlier at the Forum in London, with Damon Albarn (who produced his terrific final album)…
It’s 11 years, almost to the day, since Tindersticks last played Nottingham, their home town. The band formed in 1991. Their second slimmed down line-up, going since 2007, has never performed here. Until tonight. They’ve never had a hit single, nor courted one. Their unique music is hard to describe: a lugubrious, Leonard Cohen meets Bryan Ferry voice sings melancholy lyrics over a band who sound anything but British. A hint of Australia’s The Triffids is blended with a jazzy French lounge band and a few spoonfuls of Philadelphia soul. Tonight’s semi-acoustic, instantly sold-out show at Nottingham Contemporary accompanies ‘A year in small paintings – Singing Skies, September 2010 – September 2011′ a fine, brief exhibition of Turnereque sky paintings by Suzanne Osborne which…
Four gigs in nine nights made for this year’s big gig week (if you take the Beatles’ definition of a week and add one). Courtney Love is reviewed below. Great to see Prince from up close at Leeds Arena on the Friday – a loud set, full of hits, with a gang including my nephew Declan, who was in the womb last time he saw Prince (1990). It was the best Prince gig I’ve seen since my first one (1988’s Lovesexy tour, in the round). No idea how good the seats are in the round at the First Direct Arena, but the small yet roomy front standing section is a treat. I nearly sold my ticket for last night’s Flaming Lips gig at Rock City.…
This year’s big gig week stretches over nine days in two weeks, concluding with the Flaming Lips at Rock City, a gig downsized from the arena. There seems to be something of a music oversupply in Nottingham at the moment, with last week’s Albert Hammond Jr (Strokes) show at the tiny Bodega far from full. Last night, it looked like there were little over 500 people at Courtney Love. What follows is a slightly extended version of my review for the Nottingham Post. Because sometimes, even 400 words aren’t enough, and I wanted to say a couple of things that don’t belong in a newspaper review, like the above. Photos from the Post report, by Laura Patterson, to whom, thanks. Nineteen years ago, Hole played…