LIVE music photography

Back in the day you would need to be seriously big to play a venue like Wembley Arena. Also no respecting band would play a one off gig at Wembley. To do so would be financially insane and would be regarded by many as one huge ego kick. Hard-Fi (in my opinion) are a seriously mediocre band. Whilst other bands of their ilk such as The Enemy shamelessly rip of bands such as The Jam, Hard-Fi go one stage further. The Clash were one of the best, most interesting and influential bands of the 70’s however Hard-Fi don’t even come close on any level. The show itself was a pretty lack lustre performance, the sound was very bassey and I have experienced a better atmosphere at Heathrow airport! The last time I saw Hard-Fi live they played the Hippodrome in Leicester Square, whilst I still had reservations about their material I could not criticize the effort they put into their performance. The band are due to play at an NME gig at Koko in February which is about a tenth of the size of Wembley. I’m sure that this will be a more enjoyable and intimate gig however I doubt their set will get any better before then.

Written by John Rahim

Watching the Manics at Brixton was a bit like walking down memory lane. I first saw the Manics in 1991 when I was working at Sony as a junior A&R Scout. The band had just signed to Geoff Barret’s Heavenly label and were being touted round by Philip and Martin Hall as the next big thing. The very early nineties were musically a rather bleak time for new bands. Baggy rock had had it’s day and the world had yet to discover Nirvana, Radiohead, Suede or Oasis. I was being continually asked by my boss to find the next EMF or Jesus Jones who were being hailed as the saviours of British rock having successfully had hits in both sides of the Atlantic.

In 1992 the Manics signed to Sony and around six months later I was involved with their first publishing contract. In the early nineties I saw them perform at the Falcon, Bull & Gate and the legendary performance at the Norwich Arts Centre all of which were very memorable gigs. Their first album “Generation Terrorists” was continually on my turntable and would end up being one of the landmark records of their career. I lost interest in the Manics when Richey Edwards left the band and had actually not seen them live since 1995. Watching them 12 years later at Brixton Academy was going to be interesting to say the least. The first thing to hit me when I walked into the venue was the age of the audience. Granted I’m not particually young these days however 80% of the audience seemed to be in their late 30’s early 40’s. Also the stage set seemed to be very retro, tiger skin prints, feather boas are what I remembered from their earlier gigs, surely 12 years later they would have moved on? The set started with probably the best song of their career, “Motorcycle Emptiness”. Hearing this song again live after so many years reminded me of how brilliant they were and impact that they have had on the UK music scene. The third song from the set “You Love Us” also from their debut album sounded as raucous as when I heard it first at the Bull & Gate! The band are due to be honored at next year’s NME awards with a “Godlike genius award”. Whilst I don’t think James Dean Bradfield’s song writing is the same vein as Jeff Buckley it’s somewhat satisfying seeing them getting the recognition that they deserve.

Written by John Rahim