Edwyn Collins, St George’s Church, Brighton - Thursday 25 April 2013 on Flickr.
A marvellous night in the company of Edwyn Collins. I’ve loved him since the earliest days of Orange Juice. He’s still wonderful. He played a great set that featured tunes from his days on Postcard, right up to this year’s album.
Simply thrilled honey.
King Charles, The Haunt, Brighton - 17 April 2013 on Flickr.
King Charles live at The Haunt was a joyous experience. The gig was sold out, and the crowd were supportive and up for a good time. He played the majority of his splendid debut album ‘LoveBlood’ and a smattering of new tunes. A great show and a great night.
Trafalgar Street, Brighton - 20 March 2013 on Flickr.
Deadly Magic Pill…
…can I watch you shoot ‘em up?
Via Flickr:
Trafalgar Street, Brighton
Taken with iPhone / Instagram - 20 March 2013
A very enjoyable evening in the company of Rick Redbeard aka Rick Anthony aka the singer from The Phantom Band. I love the Phantom Band, and whilst Rick’s solo work is a world away from the diverse sonic sounds of the Phantoms it is still great - a really pleasing form of pared down, melancholy, spartan Scottish folk. The Komedia studio bar was full and the audience all seemed very appreciative.
Support came from Fake Major who are a fabulous folky duo from Glasgow, both with fine voices, and quietly impressive soul filled tunes.
A supremely enjoyable evening with the legendary Robyn Hitchcock. The usual mix of surreal and witty between song banter, whimsical and wonderful songs, and a rapt audience. I could have watched him for hours - sadly an hour and a quarter flew by and then he was off, leaving a happy crowd enthusing about how bloody brilliant he is…yep, a superb lyricist and world-class tunesmith aligned to sublime psychedelic song-craft. Long may he reign over us.
Melody’s Echo Chamber is the name given to the work of Paris-based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Melody Prochet. The Melody’s Echo Chamber album is a wonderful thing that deals in a pleasing hybrid of kraut, space-rock, dream-pop, electronica and a few other random genre labels, think wild-eyed psychedelia held together by motorik rhythms and you’re probably still not there. Anyway the album, great as it is, did not full prepare for their spectacular magnificence live. Very, very good - that’s all there is to it.
Fear Of Men were the capable support. Sounds like they have a few good tunes in their locker. Pleasing if a tad unexceptional - but that could come given time and experience. Ones to watch.
So the NME Awards Tour rolls into town once again. As a man for whom the NME was once a highlight of my week, I retain an affection for the brand, despite not having reading it regularly for well over twenty years. The Awards tour evokes the variety bills of the 1960s. Well sort of. There’s no magicians or comedians to augment the beat combos, but the punter does get four bands on one bill, doing shorter sets, and so gets a snap shot of who is doing for the NME (or is it their readers?).
First up were Peace. This was my first exposure to them, and on first hearing it seemed to be the most generic landfill indie imaginable delivered with something approaching boredom.
Second we had Palma Violets - another generic band with little to offer that we haven’t seen many, many times before, however they did deliver their tunes with a bit of brim and brio, and they have at least one anthemic tune “Best of Friends”, and I suspect there’s probably a few more in there too. I’ll give their album a listen on the strength of this set.
Miles Kane came next. All I know about him is that he was one half of The Last Shadow Poets (a collaboration with yer man from the Arctic Monkeys) that I didn’t pay much attention to though heard good things about it. He certainly knows how to rock a crowd. High energy pop tunes that were laden with hooks. It’s really not my sort of thing. A bit too obvious and (that word again) generic but he is good at what he does and he went down very well.
Finally, it’s Django time. Yes, Django Django are back in Brighton. Last time out I had to sell my ticket having also bought a ticket to see Public Enemy on the same night. They really were a breath of fresh air. Their particular fusion of dance, post-punk, angular pop, and funk is wonderful. The eclectic set slowly built. The lights and images worked brilliantly. It was just over far too quick. For the first time I felt excited and inspired to dance. For me they bring a bit of the same originality as Talking Heads did all those years ago. A great end to a mixed bag of a night.
Kingsway, Hove - 2 February 2013 on Flickr.
Every day I use my iPhone to take photos. #instagram #hove
The Human League @ Brighton Dome, Brighton - 23 November 2012 on Flickr.
This is Phil talking….
The Human League @ Brighton Dome, Brighton - 23 November 2012
A marvellous night with The Human League at The Dome. The last time I saw them play live was supporting Siouxsie and The Banshees at The Rainbow in Finsbury Park, that was in 1979. There’s been a fair bit of water under the bridge since then. These days the set is chocked full of poptastic hits and consummate showmanship. It was a brilliant night and the crowd were dancing from start to finish.
