This gig however has not gone off to a good start. A power cut in the Hoxton area of London in the afternoon has caused all sorts of problems and when the band eventually arrive onstage they are almost an hour late, that said even though it’s a rainy Monday night no one seems particularly bothered. Delphic who are from Manchester have all of the traits of many of their Mancunian predecessors. Influences of New Order and Electronic are fairly obvious however contemporary similarities would include Friendly Fires, White Lies and the Klaxons.

The band are very tight live and despite the tiny venue and technical problems their complex sequencer patterns and ambitious live show indicate confidence to pull off an elaborate set. The band start their set off with their recent single “Doubt” along with most of the tracks of their debut album “Acolyte”. The band are on tour throughout March and April in the UK for information on where they are playing check out their MySpace Page

Thankfully VW are less doomed than Stilllman’s teenagers however their CD “Contra” provides the perfect accompaniment to it.

Written by John Rahim

Bonamassa started the set with “The Ballad of John Henry” the title track from his last studio album and   a 7 minute epic and performed a full hour’s set which included songs from most of his back catalogue as well as couple of numbers from a forthcoming album.

Written by John Rahim

Were Massive Attack ever to tire of music-making, they would make rather fine installation artists. The Bristol collective – now reduced to two core members – may have invented an entire musical genre and made one of the greatest singles of all time in “Unfinished Sympathy”, but visual agit-prop appears to be their new forte.

Tonight, on a backdrop that spans the width of the stage, bars of light alternate with flashing transcripts of bombing raids from a recent conflagration (”The rectangular building is a mosque.” “Engage.”). The backdrop becomes a departures board for a while, juxtaposing the dates, times and destinations of commercial flights with the details of extraordinary renditions. More bold visuals contrast the dollar cost of funding social workers in Ghana with the cost of MPs’ expenses for gardening. These displays come in collaboration with UnitedVisualArtists, but the sense of outrage and disgust is, well, Massive. This lightshow is not just there for the unpalatable facts, however. Half a dozen bright blue horizontal lines appear before the band perform a bold, burnished version of “Risingson”. “Risingson” actually appeared on their third album, 1998’s Mezzanine, rather than the debut, 1991’s Blue Lines, but it looks pretty, all the same.

The band’s politics, too, have gained acuity. Massive were, infamously, banned from radio broadcast on the eve of the first gulf war, not so much for their music, but because their name was felt to be too accurate for comfort. A new, equally absurd, ban is now in place. London Underground have objected to ads for their new album, Heligoland, because the album artwork looks too much like graffiti.

Massive Attack’s latest spate of live dates come in support not only of this new, improved album, chock-full of guest vocalists, but also of the Hoping Foundation, an organisation funding grassroots youth activity in the Occupied Territories. “We’ve put all the information on the screens so you don’t have to listen to me talking rubbish,” says Massive Attack mainstay Robert del Naja; suffice to say, Hoping do good work in refugee camps. Shortly afterwards, an uneasy version of “Safe from Harm” comes illustrated by quotes on freedom from Bakunin and Hazlitt among others, regular guest singer Deborah Miller taking on Shara Nelson’s vocal role. Originally, the resonance of “Safe from Harm” came from its very specific and personal sense of protectiveness. The implication now is that, with the world going to hell in a handcart, nobody’s baby is safe from harm – not tonight, not ever.

A sense of grim foreboding is, of course, what Massive Attack do. The cannabinoid fear that suffused their early works has blossomed into a more pervasive horror at war and mankind’s other foibles. Massive glower with towering authority, but their sense of ill-ease can also nosedive into mere moodiness. There are only so many times you need to be told, through great banks of electronics, that the sky is falling.

Tonight’s two-hour dazzle-und-trudge swings between epiphany and finger-drumming. Is Grant Marshall – aka G, Massive’s 6ft 5in daddy – onstage, rapping? Then all is well. Marshall’s deep bass rumble feels fundamental to Massive; a huge cheer greets his every intervention. Is there an over-long guitar solo crowning six minutes of moody directionlessness in which the space between the instruments is reduced to nil? Then it’s brows furrowed for “Futureproof” or “Inertia Creeps”, and the only one dancing with any conviction is Del Naja.

A revolving cast of vocalists keeps up the night’s momentum. Best dressed is Martina Topley-Bird, a trip-hop survivor who first made her mark alongside former Massive Attack member Tricky. Tonight she is disguised as a glamorous half-moulted snake, and her vocals – so louche! – make the new songs from Heligoland (”Babel”, “Psyche”) sound almost like the trip-hop of yore. She stands in for Liz Fraser on “Teardrop”, Massive’s most tender moment, and duets with Del Naja on the live debut of a new, non-album song, “Invade Me”, of which we should not speak again.

As with Daddy G, evergreen reggae vocalist Horace Andy grounds Massive’s music. He has been a presence on each of their records and a link to the sources that first inspired Massive in their soundsystem days. But it is another guest, Gorilla and musical polymath Damon Albarn, who best illustrates Massive’s present tense.

Albarn coaxed significant bits of this album out of Massive Attack, contributing studio time, a guest vocal on “Saturday Come Slow” and work on recent EP track “Splitting the Atom”. The latter song is the high point of Massive’s recent material. It unfurls with Topley-Bird, Horace Andy, 3D, Daddy G and Albarn standing in a row at the front of the stage, taking alternate verses while underneath, a hook plays out on what sounds like an organ. It’s fair to say that standout singles have not been a great priority with Massive Attack, ever since Andy “Mushroom” Vowles left in 1999, and Del Naja supplanted the “hop” of trip-hop with rockist electronics, but “Splitting the Atom” nags in the best possible way. You can’t help but yearn for the boldness, vigour and commitment of Massive Attack: the live spectacular, to reassert itself more consistently in Massive Attack: the band.

Written by Kitty Empire

Yet the outlandish experimentation of AWATS might have been what prevented Rundgren becoming the American Bowie. While not a small fish by any means, Rundgren never hit those heights. Yet today he still commands an obsessive global following of fans, known as “Todd-heads”.

For them he ensured this Hammersmith show, in which the whole of AWATS was played live for the first time since the Seventies, was a meticulously planned affair. His white-tuxedoed six-piece band, didn’t miss a time-signature change. Yet, while the music was as faithful to the LP as possible, the most thought-out aspect of the show was his outfits.

This was crowd-pleasing stuff – Liberace meets Lady Gaga — with Rundgren jogging back and forth to change into sparkling spandex, a yellow tuxedo, or the glittering indigo robe he threw on before performing a quite touching rendition of I Don’t Want to Tie You Down.

AWATS is still a gorgeous fusion of styles that follows its own dream-logic. Yet here its effervescence was squeezed into a rigorous routine that resembled a West End musical.

Rundgren had started the set in a space suit for the cosmic International Feel. For Hungry For Love, he came out sporting a chef’s outfit, throwing sweets into the audience from his apron like a pantomime character. For those who adored the album for its feeling of limitless possibilities, the stream of consciousness had become an irritating fairground ride.

In recent years, the album has become a major influence on groups such as Daft Punk and Hot Chip, and any crate-digging hip-hop DJ worth his salt. As if stood in opposition to such hip appropriation, some Todd-heads had painted their faces and wore jackets covered in DIY messages to their hero.

As the set approached the finale, Rundgren wore his most risqué outfit of the night, a gold dress with a gap to air his small belly. As he span in a circle, his dress pluming furiously as he played a lengthy guitar solo, one Todd-head in the audience, who had danced evangelically throughout, was reaching a transformative state. In Todd they still trust.

By Tim Burrows

Written by John Rahim

Her entrance was announced with a splat of synthesised bagpipes – cute touch – and then it was down to ­business. Macdonald’s gusty tone and timbre put her somewhere between KT Tunstall and Kirsty MacColl, ­predisposing her to belt out ­vigorous, straightforward pop-rock. Fans of her debut, This Is the Life, will find the new album, A Curious Thing, to their liking – tracks previewed tonight, such as This Pretty Face and Spark, stick to the same forthright template. This Pretty face adds a folky Scottish twang to the mix, while the acoustic intro to No Roots gives Macdonald’s clear voice room to breathe. It was an older song that was most vivid, though: Let’s Start a Band, which exhorts ­someone to “put a ribbon round my neck and call me a libertine”, was a stomping hoedown tarted up with ­wah-wah guitar.

What lingers is her spirit and ­determination, which may be qualities more associated with a Girl Guide than a pop star, but clearly do the job for ­Macdonald and three million fans.

Written by Caroline Sullivan

Daisy Coburn who at 16 was by the far the youngest to appear over the week opened the gig with her mix of catchy guitar pop mixed in with a splattering of grundge influenced by the likes of Allison Mosshart and Courtney Love. Daisy who has recently been signed to the revived Sony owned Jive label in the UK was signed at 14 and has been penning her own songs since she was 12. Performing live Daisy was very confident and despite a few problems with her top she oozed confidence.

Next up was Ellie Goulding who according to the Brits judges is most likely to succeed in 2010 after winning the Critics Choice Award, previously won by Adele and Florence & the Machine. The 23 year old from Hereford put on an impressive performance which was akin to a dancy Laura Marling and Beth Orton. Ellie’s songs are strong and it’s evident that she has real depth as a performer and will ride the hype which has surrounded her the past few months.  She is being overseen by Ferdy Unger Hamilton  at Polydor who is one of the best A&R men in the country so I am sure that she will be managed well.

Written by John Rahim

The last time I saw Feeder live was in November 2008 when they had sold out the Brixton Academy so I was expecting tonight’s gig at the Water Rats to be a lively affair. The venue which barely holds 200 people was absolutely rammed and off course there was no photo pit, the bain of my life! Thankfully I managed to get some shots by holding the camera above my head only to be told by the guy videoing the show to piss off! Anyhow by that time I had got what I had come for so was happy to enjoy the rest of the show in the sweat box.

The band’s new album which is out later in the year on their own label Big Teeth Records sounded pretty good and back on form.  Feeder are just one of those bands who will go on forever and thankfully they have a strong enough fan base to see them through some difficult times.

Written by John Rahim

Anderson has just released his third album “Slow Attack” which interestingly enough has been co-written by Leo Abrahams,  Anderson’s first main song writing collaboration since working with Bernard Butler in the late 90’s. “Slow Attack” has also been more positively received in the press than his past two solo efforts “Brett Anderson” and “Wilderness” both of which were wonderful unique and evocative records.

In his MySpace page Anderson cites the Argentinean film score composer Gustavo Santaolalla and British folk legend Bert Jansch as influences, his new album which is more abstract than his two previous albums has an ethereal and cinematic feel to it.  Despite being more electric than his previous album “Wilderness”  “Slow Attack” uses woodwind in a manner not heard on his previous albums.

Tonight’s gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire was absolutely packed and it would appear that since Suede Anderson has attracted an entirely new audience base who are more interested in avant-garde songs rather than the guitar driven pop songs which he is best known for. That said fans of “Dog Man Star” will enjoy “Slow Attack” which bears many similarities.

As ever Anderson put on a passionate performance which included tracks from all three solo albums along with a smattering of Suede numbers.

Written by John Rahim