Live

Tanked up and turfed out, James Berry bows out of Glatonbury 2004.21/07/2004 65 x 2 = Wicked & Weird We’ve been here for days, for 4 in fact. Even though they’ve passed so rapidly it feels more like a handful of disjointed hours and snatched moments. We know that can’t be the case – our head’s holding a dull pain captive, eyes hang sticky with sleep, our skin’s developing a unique new shade, and a stale fragrance stalks us to Continue Reading

Natasha House observes local boys The Departure outplayed and outshone by the bright conceptual haircuts and indie perfection of our American hosts, The Killers.21/07/2004 A prophet is never appreciated in his hometown, or so said some famous Biblical guy. Unsurprising then, that when asked if they were excited about local boys the Departure, the resounding silence of the sold-out Northampton Soundhaus crowd was barely cracked by a couple of doleful cheers. Uproarious applause for the Killers soon identified which name Continue Reading

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. James Berry withstands wind, hail and rain in his pursuit of the perfect Glasto experience. Still believe in love?11/07/2004 Stalking Guy Garvey This is a big day in Elbow’s life, maybe the biggest. We know that because Guy Garvey told us, looking as emotional and spirited as a hulking brickhouse of Northern man can, at an early acoustic set in the Guardian Lounge (a partially-furnished area for the Continue Reading

Just how thin can a joke wear before it ceases to be a joke at all? James Berry finds out.10/06/2004 Some way across town, on the other side of the river, another clinically obese man with a guitar strapped around his neck is simultaneously wheezing his way through a separate clutch of eccentrically proportioned punk rock music. That much of this audience – Crud included – would much rather be there instead, getting a lung-full of Black Francis’ airborne sweat, Continue Reading

Inspired by the White Stripes, and a more direct approach to recording, the Spaceman took his unique chunk of spacerock direct to Northampton Roadmender. Natasha House has the details My eyes throb and fight intermittent blindness as I struggle to make out Jason Pierce’s silhouette, perfectly profiled against a blazing spotlight, adding a visual spectacle to the soaring space-rock psychedelia Spiritualized calmly lead us through. The Spaceman himself remains seated precariously atop an amp, face screened from us with his Continue Reading

Irfan Shah competed with whippet and pidgeon for a bird’s eye view of the firmly Yorkshire Carling Weekend festival in Leeds! Prepare to be ‘spooked’ and ‘twanged’.03/09/2003 Part of the thrill of festivals is knowing that somewhere along the line you’re going to miss good bands – it’s like trying to hit all those pop-up moles with a hammer at the fair – it’s too much, dizzying even, and occasionally you get lost and out of sheer luck stumble into Continue Reading

In the dark, reclining obscurity of London’s Brixton Academy James Berry hunches over a shiny platter of beer and gazes into the bright, portentous fortunes of uber cool cyber-brummies, the Editors. ‘Baby, pleeease, stop scryin’. Crud can be really quite bad at making predictions. We thought Coldplay had probably peaked when they sold out Brixton Academy at the tail end of their first album and would just fade into indistinguishable mulch at the bottom of indie history’s bin. We honestly Continue Reading

Technical difficulties aside, bowler hat aside, ‘Elephant’ aside, this is not a gig, it’s an event. James Berry bears witness to the centrifugal pull of the awesome ‘Stripes.17/04/2003 An immaculately attired guitar-tech (black suit ‘n’ bowler hat ‘n’ velvet-red shirt combo – couldn’t tell you if there was a Motorhead t-shirt underneath) sits stage-right dragging nonchalantly on a cigarette, blows a mushrooming wisp of smoke into the Academy’s great cavern, it strays into the harsh white spotlight shooting from the Continue Reading

Good? Or just TOO damned good? That is the question. Natsha House anticipates the arrival of new album ‘Black Cherry’ in April with a bitter-sweet trip to Northampton’s Roadmender.06/03/2003 It must be hard being responsible for one song which becomes the staple of every ‘chill out’ album on every coffee table in every land. With hit single ‘Utopia’ Goldfrapp achieved the kind of social resonance which is nothing short of remarkable for purveyors of abstract, operatic electronica. Follow-up ‘Black Cherry’, Continue Reading