live music
Why garage punk is plainly the apogee of human achievement
How is it that a group that sounds like the Hives are selling out the Apollo? In a world configured…
Never admit that your band is prog – it’s the kiss of death
Sensible prog-rock bands try to ensure no one ever realises they play prog. What happens when you are deemed a…
New Order’s oldies still sound like the future
The intimate acoustic show can denote many things for an established artist. One is that, in the infamous euphemism coined…
Uneasy listening: Kathryn Joseph, at Summerhall, reviewed
I have always been fascinated by artists who bounce between tonal extremes when performing, particularly the ones who serve their…
A giddy delight: Regina Spektor, at the Royal Festival Hall reviewed
We’ll get on to the brilliance of Regina Spektor in a moment. But first a question: why are pop music…
Intoxicating: Bruce Springsteen, at BST Hyde Park, reviewed
Seven years ago, I asked Bruce Springsteen what he meant when he talked of the covenant between himself and his…
Why aren’t Spoon filling stadiums?
Here’s a mystery for you. Why were Spoon, one of the most dynamic, sharpest rock bands in the world, playing…
Dazzling – if you ignore the music: Beyoncé, at Murrayfield Stadium, reviewed
Scheduling open-air concerts in mid-May in northern Europe is a triumph of hope over experience. I last spent time with…
In praise of goths – the most enduring of pop subcultures
Michael Hann on the most enduring of pop subcultures
Only traces of their eerie early spirit remain: Kings of Leon, at OVO Hydro, reviewed
A few years ago, I spoke to Mick Jagger and asked him which of the (relatively) new crop of rock…
The subtleties of her songbook were lost in this enormodome: Diana Ross at the O2 reviewed
When Motown first packaged up a roster of artists and songs that could be embraced by a non-black audience, no…
I’m not sure they ever reached a fourth chord: Spiritualized, at the Roundhouse, reviewed
Every so often, Jason Pierce drifts into focus. It happened at the end of the 1980s, when his then group…
I would be surprised if his next tour included arenas: Louis Tomlinson at Wembley reviewed
You don’t need to be a historian of pop to realise that having been part of a huge manufactured group…
Expectations were met and then exceeded: Arooj Aftab, at Celtic Connections, reviewed
We gathered on a freezing Sunday night, inside a barrel-vaulted church designed in the 1890s by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, to…
One of the most exciting hours I’ve spent in ages: Turnstile at O2 Forum Kentish Town
Even leaving aside its origins as prison slang, punk has always meant different things on either side of the Atlantic.…
Triumphant: Idles at the O2 Brixton Academy reviewed
The single thing you don’t want when you are beginning a run of four shows in a prestige venue, with…
The quiet radicalism of the Chieftains
Pop quiz time: which act was named Melody MakerGroup of the Year in 1975? The answer is not, as you…
One of many soul acts looking back 50 years and doing very good business: Black Pumas, at the Roundhouse, reviewed
No musician ever went bust overestimating the public desire to hear classic soul. Slapping on a Motown backbeat has revived…
Joyous perfection from a band that's sure to go far: Gabriels at The Social reviewed
The bigger the next big thing, the smaller the room you want them playing in. You want the people who…
Banal and profound, bent and beautiful: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis at Edinburgh Playhouse reviewed
Nick Cave has always been drawn to parable and fable, but more than ever these days he is engaged in…