LIVE music photography

Last Thursday I was invited by a friend and former colleague to join him at a gig at Monkey Chews in Chalk Farm, a small bohemian pub which is renowned for it’s acoustic music nights. The artist in question who I was seeing was Scott McFarnon who has been causing a stir with his superb songwriting skills.

Musically Scott sounds similar to Damien Rice, Jeff Buckley, Sam Duckworth and Tom McRae however he has a very unique and characterful voice. Scott is on the verge of signing a major record deal in the US which has been helped by his celebrity friends who he has collaborated with. I have to say that I was slightly surprised to hear that he had written songs for Kelly Rowland, Mark Ronson and Daniel Merriweather however after his set was left in no doubt that he will be a major star and they are the lucky ones to be recording his songs. Regular readers of my blog will know that my first tip of 2008 was The Tings Tings whose debut London show I saw at the Hoxton Bar and Grill back in January of last year. I was wondering when I was going to come across what I think is going to be my first breakthrough act of 2009 and I feel confident that Scott has what it takes to do very well. I also think that the record buying public are increasingly getting an appetite for acoustic acts with contemporary and pop sensibibilities. Well I’d certainly recommend checking Scott out at his forthcoming gigs, he’s playing at the Wate Rats in Kings Cross on the 20th March and do doubt will be performing at much bigger venues by the end of the year.

Written by John Rahim

It would appear that redemption comes in strangest of ways. Back in April of last year when his solo performance at the Royal Albert Hall was cancelled due to being indisposed the Peter Doherty story had already been written. The media had obsessively stalked him for over a year and his shambolic relationship to Kate Moss had turned him into the worst kind of tabloid fodder. Gone was the intellectual raconteur who was replaced with a character which was vilified and blamed for a multitude of sins. Politicians talked abut him when describing what was wrong with society and singers such as Amy McDonald wrote songs demonising his antics which just added fuel to his myth.

I have always liked, and indeed admired Pete Doherty and thought that his debut band album “Up the Bracket” is one of the finest records released in the past ten years. Watching him perform at the Reading Festival in 2004 was like witnessing a car crash in slow motion however Doherty has managed to reinvent himself at least three times since then and tonight was on top form.

Tonight’s gig was very different to previous shows. Gone was the rockiness of the Babyshambles which was replaced with a far mellower and more acoustic sound. Dare I say living in Paris has relaxed him and I heard twinges of Sacha Distel and Serge Gainsbourg in a couple of the new songs. A few of the reviews that I have read online have criticised his new direction however I am sure that his new record, “Grace/Wastelands” which has been produced by Stephen Street will redefine what many think of Peter Doherty.

A number of the songs on the album were co-written by the Blur guitarist Graham Coxon who performed with him tonight. I have to say this seemed like a strange musical marriage however it seemed to work. Tonight was the first gig of a 15 date tour; it will be interesting to see how the press receives his new direction. I hope that he receives the recognition that he deserves.

Written by John Rahim

In the words of Keane’s singer Tom Chaplin tonight’s gig was the biggest of their carrer. Whilst I found this hard to believe I was impressed that Keane managed to sell out the venue, for three consecutive nights, which ditched the seats in the stalls area for standing places only! With all the ups and downs with the band of recent years it was nice to see them on top form and I am gald that Tom Chaplin has managed to exorcise his demons.

Some may think that watching a three peice band who mainly play the keyboards would be dull however Keane managed to win over the 20,000 audince by playing all of their hits off their three albums. I even found myself tapping my feet and singing along to “This is the Last Time” which needless to say is seriously uncool. I used to dislike this band however it would seem that on the eve of my 40th birthday I have mellowed in age.

Written by John Rahim

This is the third time that I have seen Ida Maria in the past four months. Even though her debut album “Fortress around my Heart” is continually on my iTunes play list her live performances have become much mellower and less exciting over the past few months. Gone is the feisty angry young thing which has been replaced with a much more self assured and relaxed performer.I saw Ida Maria last year at the Barfly playing to a half filled room and six months later she was playing on the Other stage at Glastonbury, which was a Stella performance!

Despite the lack of big chart hits the album has sold continually across Europe and although this show was not sold out (which was surprising) her live performances have built up a bit of reputation. That said I have heard that a senior record executive based in a major in New York is enamoured with her and wants to sign her up to a major world-wide record deal. Considering that the small indie label which is signed to have just been dropped by Sony this interest could have come at a very opportune time.

Written by John Rahim

Back in the 80’s when I lived in Glasgow it was regarded as music capital of Scotland however this mantle in recent years has been past over to Dundee, Scotland’s third largest city, and probably the windiest place in the UK. Many years before the members of The View were even born Dundee produced many pioneering pop acts such as The Average White Band and Danny Wilson and more recently Snow Patrol and KT Tunstall . The Views rise has been meteoric and their debut album “Hats off to the Buskers” entered the charts 18 months ago at No.1 and sold over 300,000 copies in the UK alone. Their second album “Which Bitch” entered the top 5 this week and is a much harder and more mature than their debut. I have spent the last few days listening to it and am sure that it will become one of the big pop/rock albums of the year. For those of you who don’t have the album yet I have embedded their player which includes the singles off both records including live numbers from Glastonbury.

The gig tonight was a part of a month long NME promotion which sees big name acts play small and intimate venues. The band were on top form and played well over an hours set to a packed venue. The band are currently on a 30 date tour and will be playing across the UK and Europe. If you have the chance I’d recommend to check them out live.

Written by John Rahim