Tag: gig review
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Tommy Lefroy live at Assai Records review – a little too precarious
Performing for the first time in nearly two years, Tommy Lefroy sounded a little rusty for this low-key set in Edinburgh. Still, given the content of their promising new album The Precariat, maybe human imperfection was the whole point.
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Eleanor Moss live at SWG3 Poetry Club review – crystalline classical guitar songs dazzle up close
Eleanor Moss’s quietly fascinating songs about tenderness and violence inspired a stunned silence in the crowd for this powerfully intimate set at the Poetry Club. A full backing band is all that’s needed to elevate her already transfixing compositions.
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The Lemon Twigs live at Brudenell Social Club review – they just don’t make pop like this any more
Playing to a packed room on a glorious May evening in Leeds, the Twigs seemed perfectly at ease on stage for this faultless set. The grand orchestration of their new album was necessarily dialed-back, but no bother: these are some of the best-written pop rock songs this side of 1970.
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WITCH live at Belgrave Music Hall review – Zamrock legends still living it large
It’s been 50 years since We Intend to Cause Havoc’s heyday as arguably Zambia’s most popular rock band, but Emanyeo Chanda and co were full of zip for this gleefully grungy Leeds set. All that was needed was a little more intentional havoc.
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Nubiyan Twist live at Digital review – soul-filling neo jazz is for humans only
Tom Excell’s Leeds collective made a thoroughly convincing argument against AI in music with this evening of unadulterated phone-free joy. The funk and soul delights lit up a dance-ready crowd in Digital, but it was the surprise EDM and punk diversions that really took the breath away.
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Searows live at Leeds Irish Centre review – minimalist atmospherics from indie folk’s new leading light
Searows’ beguiling new album provided the most compelling songs for this understated performance in Leeds. At his best, his broadly coastal-themed new songs sound windswept and epic. Other times, it’s more of a wishy-washy damp squib.
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Geese live at O2 Academy review – rock superstardom, here they come
Arguably the hottest band in the world right now, New York’s Geese arrived in Yorkshire with well deserved swagger. When hitting their stride in marvellously odd blues rock showstoppers they are a force to be reckoned with, but this set failed to capitalise on the sterling new album’s subtler material.
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Psychedelic Porn Crumpets live at NUSU review – rapid-fire riffs hit like a drug
Kick-starting their umpteenth UK tour, the Crumpets are very much a well-buttered machine these days. A strong ninth album has only bolstered their set list of precision-tooled riffs and prog rock neck-breakers. NUSU’s paltry sound system simply couldn’t keep up.
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Caribou live at the Glasshouse review – symphony hall rave is a dizzying delight
Caribou’s club-focused house music proved to be a winningly unorthodox match for the refined Glasshouse concert hall, convincingly turning the auditorium into a euphoric nightclub complete with a spectacular light show. Dan Snaith’s live drumming propelled his best songs to new heights, but his more light-footed electronica tracks felt a little bland by comparison.
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Westside Cowboy live at the Crescent review – new kids on the block are the real deal
Their claims of genre invention may be a little dubious, but no bother – this fresh-faced Manchester band already has a wealth of perfectly imperfect indie rock zingers, delivered in a succinct York set that promised much bigger stages to come.
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Model/Actriz live at Brudenell Social Club review – high camp horror from a true one-off
In the heteronormative world of punk music New Yorkers Model/Actriz offer something genuinely new and transgressive – techno-fuelled post-punk tracks about gender dysphoria, diva worship and repressed homosexuality. Cole Haden’s magnetic stage presence and his band’s supernaturally tight industrial grooves made for a truly singular performance at the Brude.
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Maruja live at the Wardrobe review – more like an exorcism than a gig
Last year in Newcastle Maruja were great, but now with a brilliant debut album under their belt the Manchester experimental rock group are truly astounding. Equally capable of fiercely political belters and quiet moments of spiritual transcendence, never has a gig made me feel quite so much.
