LIVE music photography

The Apple iTunes “Live from London” festival celebrated it’s third anniversary with a very private and intimate show with REM. To say this was a major coup would be putting it lightly, and Michael Stipe joked that this was the smallest gig that they had done for years, joking about the size of the stage and being deafened by the cymbals. He also quiped that he lives near the Apple Store in New York and gets an iBoner every time he walks past, he went on to praise Apple saying that PC’s are for people who work in offices and creative people use Macs!

Despite the venue and stage being a lot smaller than they are used to REM put on a great show performing tracks from their forthcoming album “Accelerate” as well as hits such as “Man on the Moon”. The assembled audience all of who won the tickets acted on their best behaviour without pushing or shoving and everyone seemed quite content to calmly watch or listen to the gig.

As with all Apple/iTune events the show was impeccably stage managed and even the security and staff were polite and courteous. The only problem for Apple will be who to book for the 4th annual event. After REM I guess they will need to convince Coldplay or Radiohead to appear as guests next year. In addition to this event Apple staged the first iTunes Festival over the month of July last year at the ICA. The acts which appeared included Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse, Crowded House, Jack Penate, The Editors and The Hoosiers amongst others. The bill for 2008 has not been announced yet however I am looking forward to seeing who they book this year as last year’s festival was most enjoyable.

Written by John Rahim

This certainly has been an eventful tour for VR. Last week Scott Weiland announced that this was going to the last VR tour, which came as news to his band-mates, and since them it would have appeared that they have been pretty busy with the media denying the rumour of a split! I first saw VR in 2004 and was pretty impressed with their live performance. However the impression that I got was this was a holding band, and inevitably in time the various GNR and STP camps would resolve their differences and get back together. 4 years and 2 albums later I think it’s more likely than ever that the various groups will reform especially if Weidland decides to move on. OK I can’t see Izzy Stadlin ever sitting in the same room as Axl Rose however I doubt it would be a dealbreaker for the millions of fans who’d want to see them. Even though STP had much less commercial success than GNR I don’t think Weidland’s stage presence or personality could be replicated with a replacement singer. In may ways Weidland is VR and without him the band would fail to operate.

Regardless of the “issues” the gig at Brixton was excellent and the band made a huge effort to put on a memorable show. The songs from the new album “Libertad” are pretty good and very much in the same vien as their multi platinum selling debut-album “Contraband”.

The support was from a LA outfit called Pearl, fronted by the daughter of Meatloaf Pearl Aday. The band also featured Scott Ian from Anthrax and despite being much harder than what I tend to go for (music that it) were pretty good. Despite looking like Bonnie Tyler’s lovechild Pearl is actually very good singer with an impressive vocal range. she has loads of stage presence and her musical influences seem pretty diverse. Being the daughter of such a famous rock star can’t be easy however she plays it down. If you are interested in backcombed poodle power rock this could be your thing!

Written by John Rahim

Last year’s 10th birthday celebration of the radio station XFM was marked with around 20 or so gigs in London. They were all really well organised and in just over a month I saw the likes of Babyshambles, The Klaxons, CSS and Maximo Park play small and intimate venues. I thought that there was a friendly spirit at all of the shows and support for a station which has been instrumental in breaking countless bands over the past decade was evident amongst the bands and fans alike.

The XFM big indie gig was very much in the same spirit as the celebrations last year with virtually all of their DJ’s doing sets throughout the evening with the evening kicking off at 9pm and going on until 3am the following morning. As far as the selection of the bands went they were right on the money with all three bands being on the verge of breaking through. Again there was the age old problem at the Brixton academy, with the lighting and sound being pretty shoddy for the support acts. That said both “Black Kids” and “One Night Only” put on a great show.

Black Kids who are from Jacksonville Florida have been receiving a considerable amount of airplay for their single “I’m not going to teach your boyfriend dance with you”. It’s one of the most infectious records that I have heard for ages only topped by Great DJ by The Ting Tings (Yes Vale I know you hate them), and The Teenagers single “The Homecoming”. Not surprisingly it’s been championed by John Kennedy on his Exposure show on XFM for the past few weeks and hopefully it will be a hit for them when it’s released in early April. In addition to this gig they are also due back in the UK in June and will be embarking on their first headline tour. Surprisingly enough though they are only doing one festival this year, T in the Park which is up in Scotland somewhere (not Glasgow) in June.

“One night Only”, who are more pop than rock could become as big as Razorlight. Their debut single “Just for tonight” is incredibly radio friendly and their debut album “Started a Fire” has received critical success from a cross section of the media. Their performance tonight was pretty good, they evidently were nervous however their charm and youthful good looks won the audience over. They are kicking off a mini tour staring on the 8th of May in Glasgow and will be playing ULU in London on the 20th of May. If you are into the pop bands such as Keane, Coldplay and Razorlight you probably would like them however they are a bit commercial for my tastes.

The Futureheads are revelling in their long overdue and newly founded success. Their single “Beginning of the twist” is one one of the great success stories of 2008. The band however still seem to carrying a chip on their shoulder regarding getting dropped by Warners. A recent two page interview in the NME focused entirely on their feelings and the circumstances surrounding them being dropped. Come on guys GET OVER IT!!! I know it’s incredibly humiliating however every now and then the majors get it wrong! It’s true that only around 80% of bands who get signed by a major aren’t successful however you can’t blame everything on the labels. The managers, promoters, PR agencies seem to be immune from the blame when a band is not successful however in fairness normally when bands get dropped they are released because their records were simply not good enough. It’s tough however no label under the sun wants failure. Also the strike rate with the majors is much higher than the indies. In relative terms how many bands have Beggars Banquet, Rough Trade or Factory broken in relation to the number of acts they signed? Oh I’m sorry the last two labels went bust due to lack of success and poor financial management!

Anyhow rant over. I guess The Furtureheads are pretty good but then again lets not forget that you are only as good as your last record. Their performance was pretty good however by the time they came on at 1am the audience was too drunk to care!

Written by John Rahim

Back in October of last year I wrote a very scathing review of (the) Foals first London headline show at the Scala. The hype which surrounded the band was ridiculous and I was getting very bored of hearing that they were the new Radiohead, Babyshambles, Kaiser Chiefs etc…upon reflection my review was pretty negative however I’ve had the last few months to ponder whether they’ll ever live up to the hype, and if they are in fact any good.

The good thing about hype, if such a thing exists, is that every three months there is a swathe of new bands exciting the media and being heralded as “the next big thing”. It’s unbelievable to think that back in October of last year The Tings Tings had not played in London, no one had heard of The Courteeners, MGMT had not been called the new Klaxons and the world was without Jo Lean and the Jing Jang Jong. I guess bearing the meters of column inches that the above bands have received it’s surprising that anyone would still be interested by last October’s next big thing. That said Foals are quite different and have continued to excite radio DJ’s and journalists for the last six months.

Although I was less than impressed when I saw them at the Scala I do like their debut album “Antidotes” which has one of the best singles of the year so far. “Cassius” has been a favourite on John Kennedy’s XFM Exposure is probably the catchiest single since The Ting Ting’s debut “Great DJ”. The show at the Astoria, which is by far the biggest gig that they have done was a raucous affair. Their fans seems to be genuinely into them even though they are unable to do a set longer than 45 minutes. However as a band they have become tighter and more competent since their gig at The scala and musically they don’t sound like anything else on the lice scene. I may have given their performance at The Scala a paltry 4/10 however tonight’s effort was much better.

Written by John Rahim

I first saw the Inspiral Carpets back in 1988 at the Boardwalk in Manchester. It was a midsummer’s night, and the A&R frenzy that surrounded them had reached ludicrous heights. The band at this stage had released a number of singles and an EP all of which had reached the top 5 in the indie charts so needless to say they were serious hot property. After the gig most of the A&R guys wandered across the road to the Hacienda before heading back to the Crowne Plaza. If my memory serves me correctly Dave Haslam and Mike Pickering were DJing and there was a live set from “A guy called Gerald” which I think was pretty good. I say think as I don’t remember much about my early 90’s jaunts to Manchester and the Hacienda however suffice to say I always had an enjoyable time.

When I came back to the office on Monday morning I was almost stung up by my then boss Tracey Bennett of London Records. There was no evidence of me at the post gig schmooze fest and it was now a foregone conclusion that the band was to sign to EMI. They actually signed to Mute, which made a lot more sense, and released a number of brilliant records who along with The Stone Rose, Charlatans and er Mock Turtles defined the musical optimism of the late 80’s and early 90’s. However by the time Nirvana broke on the scene in the mid nineties the psychedelic pop sound of The Inspiral Carpets had become less fashionable and by the time Oasis emerged in 1993 they were about as naff as a smiley acid house t shirt. The funny thing is that the Inspiral Carpets probably employed one of the most famous roadies ever. I’m not sure what Noel Gallagher learned whilst on the road with the band however no doubt it was a formative time for him.

So 20 years later I find myself standing in the photo pit waiting for the carpets to take the stage not knowing what to expect. The years have certainly taken the toll on the band and anyone seeing them for the first time tonight could be excused for thinking that their heyday was the early 70’s. The band plodded through their various hits with projections of them from happier and younger days. I have to say half way through the set I did wonder why they bothered reforming. The enthusiasm was lacking and it looked like they had all embarked on a marathon. The venue was about 2/3rd full which is pretty poor for a Saturday night and the stage lighting was abysmal. I somehow suspect that they were not particularly interested in having photographers shooting the show. I guess why bother if no one is going to write about you!

So big question are the Inspiral Carpets still Cool as Fuck 20 years later? I’d love to say yes however I think the day has come to hand up the Paisley print shirts and call it a day. Very sad as I expecting a very different experience.

Written by John Rahim