Pop

The Strokes are always terrible – why do I keep going back to see them?

9 September 2023 9:00 am

Quite when the concept of coolness became a thing is uncertain, even to etymologists. As early as 1884, an academic…

Enigma variations

2 September 2023 9:00 am

Invention and irreverence: Lankum, at The Queen’s Hall, reviewed

2 September 2023 9:00 am

In a few days, Lankum will most likely win the 2023 Mercury Music Prize for their fourth album False Lankum…

It was midnight in a field in Wales and I was lying face down in six inches of mud: Green Man Festival reviewed

26 August 2023 9:00 am

I love Green Man. The smallish festival is the second most beautiful site I’ve ever visited (after G Fest, which…

Uneasy listening: Kathryn Joseph, at Summerhall, reviewed

19 August 2023 9:00 am

I have always been fascinated by artists who bounce between tonal extremes when performing, particularly the ones who serve their…

Is it all an elaborate practical joke? Mac DeMarco, at Hackney Empire, reviewed

12 August 2023 9:00 am

It’s not just who our pop heroes are that marks the passing of the generations; it’s how those heroes present…

The problem with pop-literary collaborations

5 August 2023 9:00 am

‘We all secretly want to be rock stars,’ the 2022 Booker Prize-winning author Shehan Karunatilaka said recently. By ‘we’ he…

A giddy delight: Regina Spektor, at the Royal Festival Hall reviewed

29 July 2023 9:00 am

We’ll get on to the brilliance of Regina Spektor in a moment. But first a question: why are pop music…

An album of not terribly happy ballads: Blur’s The Ballad of Darren reviewed

22 July 2023 9:00 am

Bands that have hung around, or gone away and come back again, occupy an increasingly sizeable percentage of pop’s bandwidth.…

Intoxicating: Bruce Springsteen, at BST Hyde Park, reviewed

15 July 2023 9:00 am

Seven years ago, I asked Bruce Springsteen what he meant when he talked of the covenant between himself and his…

Still one of the great vocalists: Peter Gabriel, at OVO Hydro Glasgow, reviewed

8 July 2023 9:00 am

Most artists begin an arena show with a bang: emerging from the floor, the gods, on a hoist, everything short…

Why aren’t Spoon filling stadiums?

1 July 2023 9:00 am

Here’s a mystery for you. Why were Spoon, one of the most dynamic, sharpest rock bands in the world, playing…

Is Richard Thompson Britain’s Bob Dylan?

24 June 2023 9:00 am

There are artists you go to see expecting to be challenged, surprised, even let down. And there are artists you…

Brilliantly unhinged: Grace Jones, at Hampton Court Palace, reviewed

17 June 2023 9:00 am

Some artists need flash bombs to make an impression on stage. Some need giant screens. Some need to run around…

Let’s hear it for the lesser-spotted nepo daddy

10 June 2023 9:00 am

Rob Grant releases his debut album, Lost at Sea, this week. A 69-year-old millionaire and former ad man, furniture exec…

One of the most tuneless, vapid, dismaying things I’ve ever seen: Mötley Crüe, at Bramall Lane, reviewed

3 June 2023 9:00 am

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything worse than Mötley Crüe in Sheffield. Nothing more tuneless, empty, vapid and dismaying.…

Dazzling – if you ignore the music: Beyoncé, at Murrayfield Stadium, reviewed

27 May 2023 9:00 am

Scheduling open-air concerts in mid-May in northern Europe is a triumph of hope over experience. I last spent time with…

The new Pogues: The Mary Wallopers, at O2 Forum Kentish Town, reviewed

20 May 2023 9:00 am

I was listening the other week to a solo album by an ageing rock guitarist, once terrifically famous. It was…

Heartfelt but bland: Ed Sheeran’s – (Subtract) reviewed

13 May 2023 9:00 am

Whether by accident or design, the mathematical theme of Ed Sheeran’s previous album titles (+, ×, ÷ and = respectively)…

A phenomenally exciting new band: The Last Dinner Party, at Camden Assembly, reviewed

6 May 2023 9:00 am

A user’s guide to how pop music works in the 21st century. Step one: you see a great new band.…

Americana Coldplay: The National’s First Two Pages of Frankenstein reviewed

29 April 2023 9:00 am

Once upon a time, rock bands wished for nothing more than to look as though they posed a clear and…

Glorious: Elton John’s farewell tour, at the O2 Arena, reviewed

22 April 2023 9:00 am

Elton John has now been retiring for nearly five years. The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour began in Allentown, Pennsylvania,…

Why can’t I let go of my records?

15 April 2023 9:00 am

I’m not a natural lender. I’m a reasonably soft touch when it comes to money, but regarding the important things…

Why supergroups nearly always suck

1 April 2023 9:00 am

Recently in these pages, ruminating on the ghastly Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I wrote that music does not…

Pretty, charming and largely unremarkable: Devonte Hynes & the LSO reviewed

25 March 2023 9:00 am

Think of pop music as being like the parable of the sower. These days the seed falling on stony ground…