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The Wedding Present are one of those bands that I seem to be intertwined with having seen them many times over a long period of time. The first time I remember seeing them was in Leeds in about 1994 at the Town and Country Club and not that long after they had released their single a month for a year (this was big news at the time) and one aspect that can always be said about the Weddos is that they have been consistent live, regardless of the line up, over the years. I have so many great memories of them playing from the first reunion tour, to the Cinerama days and the dual stage all-dayers they used to host at the Sheffield Leadmill, to walking past a bar in Atlanta and seeing them advertised as playing the following evening playing the Bizarro album in full and watching them in an entirely different cultural setting. So, when it was announced (on the Wednesday) that they were going to be playing in the very small The Lantern Venue in Halifax on the Sunday night for the upcoming Tommy tour I was keen to get tickets. More »

2018 marks the 50^th anniversary of Nils Lofgren’s life as a touring musician. By the time he was 18 he had garnered enough of a reputation to be asked by Neil Young to play on his After The Gold Rush album, going on to be involved in the infamous Tonight’s The Night album and tour.  Lofgren went on to carve out a successful solo career – the support act on his 1977 UK tour was some guy called Tom Petty with his band The Heartbreakers – and when Bruce Springsteen needed a guitarist to replace Stevie Van Zandt in 1984, Lofgren got the call.  It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that after more than 30 years playing in what is almost certainly the hardest working band in the business, Lofgren might want to take some time out but that is obviously not the case; E Street down time is regularly filled by Lofgren’s solo shows. More »

They say that familiarity breeds contempt.  It would seem that unfamiliarity does likewise.   I’d mentioned to a few people over the last couple of weeks that I was going to see Josh Rouse; the response was invariably a variation on: “Never heard of him” and implicit in these statements was the conviction that if they hadn’t heard of him, he couldn’t be any good. More »

I last saw Public Service Broadcasting three years ago, here in the Usher Hall, opening for the Kaiser Chiefs.  As much as I enjoyed their set, I struggled to imagine how they might sustain their mix of electronics and newsreel audio and video samples over any more than forty five minutes without running out of steam.  Tonight, I found out. More »

Edinburgh in March can be a cold, damp, miserable place.  So used are we to wet, windy weather that we even have a special adjective to describe it: Dreich.  If only there was a band who could bring a waft of warmth, a shaft of sunshine, a hint of hot African nights.  Step forward then, London Astrobeat Orchestra for a two night residency at The Voodoo Rooms. More »

Following their critically well-received slot as the opening act on Tubular Bells For Two’s UK tour last autumn, Gypsyfingers now embark on their first ever UK tour, with a brand new single, Half World, released to coincide with the dates. More »

It has been just over two years since the last time I saw Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac perform.  The hook for this current tour is a 40^th anniversary celebration of the Rumours album, although we are actually now closer to the 41^st anniversary.  The band has recently undergone a radical restructuring with original members Allan Cosgrove on drums and Dave Goldberg on keyboards, guitar and vocals being joined by two new female vocalists, and a new bassist and guitarist. More »