Tag: Music Review

Posted on

Music Review: The Libertines

Our music writer Amber Carnegie recently saw The Libertines, here’s what she thought of their gig… 

After we caught The Libertines at the end of Reading Festival last year we were unsure of exactly how they were going to take on an arena. They may have sold out when they last played Nottingham but the arena still looked really sparse. The passion and eagerness of their fans made it clear that the faithful listeners weren’t just crammed at the front.

image13

An arena tour usually comes with an organised act, special effects and rotating drum kits but The Libertines held their edge. There may have been glinting letters and screens but they kept all that to a minimal, even though there were scantily clad ushers handing out beers mid set. But for those paying attention the girls in the red guard jackets were a throw back to the band’s early gigging days.

Opening with ‘Barbarians’ from their latest ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’ Nottingham saw this tight outfit finally back in sync, back as an identifiable unit, with all their raw rough around the edges sound that had a generation desperate for more. The Libertines are iconic for being one of the first indie bands to to create a scene around them, as they connected with fans through the internet, spreading their tales of Arcadia.

image1

The Libertines can probably be counted as the inspiration for most indie bands we hear today and as they sped through a a set list of old and new tracks it was clear why they have become so influential.  There were mic shares that brought back images of iconic scenes between Pete and Carl,  but it was Gary Powell that stole the show. I couldn’t take our eyes off of him and the drum kit!

When I think of The Libertines we think of the last of the old school ‘rock stars’ with all the uproar that the media lapped up.  With musicians now living lives online, I wonder how The Libertines would’ve rose to fame and how the band would’ve founded today.  But as they closed their encore with ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ British icons filled the screens around the arena and there was no doubt that they had earned their place among them.

Posted on

Music Review: Patti Smith

Our guest blogger is inventory buyer, freelance writer and creator of Typewriter Teeth blog,  Amber Carnegie. This is the second in a series of music review posts in which Amber will be documenting her experiences at various music shows. In this post she reviews Patti Smith who played at the O2 Apollo in Manchester earlier this month. (read first post here) 

‘Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.’ The iconic opening to ‘Gloria’ sees Patti Smith bring ‘Horses’ to the Manchester 02 Apollo in celebration of its 40th anniversary. The album has infatuated generations for decades and that is clear from the diverse crowd joining Patti to punch the air with every letter ‘G.L.O.R.I.A’ , which goes to show show that these performances are leasing a new life into ‘Horses’ with every distinctive moment.

‘Redondo Beach’ followed the sweet rhythms and brought around the first change in pace as the crowd settled into the track’s reggae tempo, before Smith emerges herself in the words of ‘Birdland’. Emoting every word that she recalls from the page until she is in throws with the piece, thrashing with every passion, locked within the lyrics, trapped in the torment of the track as the guitars wail around her and the incredible piano pulls her through convulsing in ‘Birdland’ grief.

Although we knew that we would hear ‘Horses’ from start to finish what you couldn’t predict were the anecdotes and insights that came with each track.  A pretty close impression of Bob Dylan brought the story to Manchester itself.  To the guitar shop that may or may not have been in ‘Don’t Look Back’ where Smith purchased a Rickenbacker in their first visit to the city. ‘All I can say is, husbands come and go, but I still have that Rickenbacker.’ Just one of the many stories that intertwined between tracks of love, loss and life.

‘Elegie’ completes ‘Horses’ in a moment of remembrance and celebration.  Originally written in the passing of Jimi Hendrix the track now goes out to honour all those we have lost. Smith closes the song calling out the names of dead, the audience joining in the memorial with names called throughout the 02 Apollo. Finishing the song and the album with a soft smile and ‘Yes, all of them’ in a beautiful moment of calm and remembrance not just for Patti Smith, the band or the crowd but for all those people ‘Elegie’ and ‘Horses’ has effected.

‘Because The Night’ instigated the last surge of vitality as the set drew to a close. The 70s anthem breathing life into its own title before the renowned protest chorus ‘People Have The Power’ has Patti Smith conducting her own demonstration.  The rally drawing to a close with their cover of  The Who’s ‘My Generation’ with Smith brutally plucking every string from her Stratocaster ‘Behold! The weapon of my generation. It’s the only fucking weapon we need’. Interestingly Patti only destroyed the strings, as if there was divine respect for the instrument that stopped her from trashing it.

Patti embraces the possession of the lyrics with ‘I don’t need any of that shit. I hope I live because of it’. The punk poet laureate commanding every right to her title closing the evening of the surreal and the sound with split strings swaying from her pale blue Stratocaster.

Image from The Guardian

Posted on

Music Review: Brand New

Our guest blogger is inventory buyer, freelance writer and creator of Typewriter Teeth blog,  Amber Carnegie. This is the first in a series of music review posts in which Amber will be documenting her experiences at various music shows. First up is her review of the band Brand New who played at The Glee Club, Birmingham earlier this month… 

Earlier this year Brand New announced a small amount of intimate dates across the UK, in the minutes that they sold out, we were held in a sort of  limbo. Were we about to experience something that you can never find in an arena or witness knee deep in mud at a festival?

Mic-stands wrapped in flowers stood patiently waiting on the stage in a nod to The Smiths, before the band shook them as they opened with ‘Mene’, Brand New’s first recording in five years. Taking the lyrics ‘we don’t feel anything’ as our own before progressing into ‘Sink’ as if working back through their discography. In a raw instant the crowd was exposed and swept together into a close moment that could only be embraced in a venue like this. ‘Gasoline’ then followed the same fervent route, the distorted end constructed the quieter moments into ‘Millstone’.

For everyone in the room there is a track or an album that has pulled them through something or become a soundtrack to a period in their life. ‘The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me’ illustrates something to me and that is what is so perfect about this set, to everyone in the crowd there was a meaning. But the moment that Brand New continued with ‘You Won’t Know’ is one that as fans we could share.

‘Sic Transit Gloria… Gloria Fades’ erupted into ‘Deja Entendu’, these favourite songs that still generate the same responsive passion that we all felt the first time we heard them more than a decade ago. Tracks that now stir emotional drunk sing-alongs at club nights and never fail to draw a crowd. ‘I Will Play My Game Beneath The Spin Light’ and ‘Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t’ fittingly continued the teenage angst choir that had taken over the crowd with:

‘The kind of song that makes people glad to be where they are, with whomever they’re there with.’

Brand New persistently deliver incomparable shows, no matter where they play. With such a tight discography it is impossible to find a set list that doesn’t ensue an ardent atmosphere between the band and crowd. We were treated to an incredible full band version of ‘Brothers’ or ‘Untitled 03’ which is something I had never witnessed live before. Hearing a tracks like live for the first time really enhanced the night, making it stand out against all the other live shows I have been to.

‘Jesus Christ’ marks the final track to be performed by the entire band, winding down from an impassioned and perfect set, filled with everything that gets missed in a recording studio. Stirring every sentiment of nostalgia and of being in the moment.

Closing the show saw Jesse Lacey take the stage and lay every emotion out there for ‘Soco Amaretto Lime’. Usually at this moment the audience take the track for themselves,but in this close-knit venue Lacey clutched onto his words in an emotive and pained repetition with altered lyrics and a room silent in awe.

‘I’m just jealous cause you’re young and in love.’