Category Gig/Festival Reviews

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The air was different at the Hi-Fi tonight, the usual demographic of hipsters, heavy metal heads and fluro kids have all been replaced with older males waiting for their beloved The Mark Of Cain to return to them. T-shirts of Sonic Youth, The Smashing Pumpkins and Faith No More littered the floor; this crowd was once a faithful youth to the music scene and they yearned for reincarnation.

Opening the night were prog rock bands, ‘The Sea Shall Not Have Them” and “Black Level Embassy”. Being a fan of prog I can appreciate the level of skill required to play this genre and sure, they were good at what they do, but to warm this sort of crowd in a venue like this? No. I’m dumbfounded as to how these acts gained their support roles here. Moving on.

The onstage arrival of The Mark Of Cai...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Grinspoon, the original winners of Triple J Unearthed, and one of the godfathers of Australian grunge rock. Promoting their new album “Black Rabbit’s”, the boys from Lismore were ready to entertain a sell out crowd at The Tivoli.

In typical Grinspoon fashion the night began explosively, with a brief wave to the crowd before creating their huge wall of sound opening with their 1998 smash hit “Black Friday” and cult favorite “Dead Cat” (affectionately labeled DCX3 on their onstage set list). This left no room for the crowd to warm up, this band required immediate attention.

Phil Jameson was at his best, his usual flamboyancy winning everyone over, myself included even though he may have used his cups of water to wet my camera a few times...

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Metal Female Voices Fest, October 2012

Late October once again saw thousands of fans of female fronted metal descend on the Belgian town of Aalst for the Metal Female Voices Fest, which is held at the Oktoberhallen in Wieze, on the outskirts of Aalst. This year was the tenth MFVF, and as with the past few years was to consist of a Friday evening followed by long days on Saturday and Sunday.

Normally the friday night see’s three bands performing, but this year we were in for something special – the Eve’s Apple group of singers putting on a one-off show. The evening started later than normal which gave fans chance to shop for merchandise, enjoy a few beers and meet friends from around the world...

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If there was ever a band to single handedly represent Australia’s “pub rock” scene over the years it would undoubtedly be The Angels. Amidst there Australian tour promoting their new album “Take It To The Streets”, the group hosted a buzzing Acacia Ridge Hotel to create a remarkable 70’s rock vibe that could only be felt to be believed. The audience were covered, their faces with smiles and most of their bodies with tattoos. The venue itself was generous, ignoring the need for a crowd barrier to host a truly personal experience.

Combine these attributes with some ‘old-school’ guitar tones and the constant anticipation for the string of hits to come, the atmosphere was set and ready to take even new fans right back to a night of pub rock in 1974 when The Angels were formed...

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Lisa Hannigan has the amount of shyness and feminine charm one would expect from a rising star who is relatively inexperienced on the stage. But in truth, she is not a ‘rising star’. She already rose to fame with the Damian Rice band in Ireland then began her solo career in 2008. However, she has a new face when in New Zealand and most people in the audience had probably never seen or heard of her until this evening, myself included. We were in for a treat. Dressed in a peach dress and high heels, she was very formal in thanking everyone and dedicating each song to someone or group in particular in her soft and distinctively husky, young, Irish voice...

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Wolfsblood gör sin absolut första spelning i Malmö en fredagskväll på Möllevången och det passar så bra. Många av oss i publiken är gamla Möllan-människor som hängt i kvarteren under många år och en del är nya som refererar kanske bara ett decennium tillbaka. Och de som inte bor i Malmö fattar ingenting just nu. Det gör ingenting för det som är viktigt i samanhanget är att vi skriver ett nytt inspirerande metal-kapitel. Wolfsblood kommer att sätta Skåne på kartan inom den brutala thrash-speed-black-fåran och med coola artister som Divina Nova på sång, Richard Lion och Stefan Elfgren samt Sanna Rönngård blir det här bandet att räkna med i stil med Mongo Ninja och Blood Tsunami.
Ok, Så här ser det ut. Vi sitter i en soffa...

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Imagine you are a music lover who were in a jazz festival, that comes for 3 consecutive days with 17 different stages choices every day and offer more than 180 performers. You can see not only the local and foreign artists on the rise at this moment but even world artists that had considered as a living legend and will be noted in history of jazz music world. Bob James, Lee Ritenour, Fourplay, Marcus Miller, Dave Grusin, and George Duke are just some of the name in this Festival.

Java Jazz Festival 2013 which had been held on 1 – 3 March 2013 was the ninth edition of the Indonesian pride festival. It means nine times that Indonesia has successfully organized a jazz festival growing into one of the best in the world...

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Finsk Goth ´n Roll möter Elvis Presley och Johnny Cash!

Det var nog år 2007 senast Helsinki Vampires intog KBs scen, om jag inte minns fel. Nu äntligen, med en ny skiva i ryggen är de tillbaka på Malmös bästa scen – KB. Fortfarande i samma uppställning som för tjugo år sedan.

The 69 Eyes kommer Malmö fansen nära då publiken står enda in på scenen. Inga monitorer som står i vägen som annars brukar bilda en mur mellan band och publik. Klubbkänslan är helt klart där.

Trummisen Jussi69 påminner om Scorpions vildsinte trummis Kottak. Han slänger med armarna bakom huvudet och klättrar på trumsetet mest hela tiden. Mellan låtarna underhöll han tjejerna med att hoppa runder och spänna magmusklerna...

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“From the ’60s to this moment, IGGY POP has been a solid reminder of what happens when an artist stays true to himself only and doesn’t give a damn about the rest of it … IGGY POP is the Heavyweight Champion of rock and roll.” Henry Rollins, LA Weekly, April 2012

A decade after the Godfathers of Punk reunited, IGGY AND THE STOOGES will return to Australia in March 2013 for three headline shows. Iconic frontman Iggy Pop will once again lead guitarist James Williamson, drummer Toby Dammit, bassist Mike Watt and sax player Steve Mackay into rock and roll battle.

“What some people would call antics, I would just call a good show,” Iggy Pop said in The New York Times in June 2012.

““With superlative reviews from the recent Riot fest and ACL Festivals it’s clear that the irrepressibl...

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Sjunde upplagan för den populära inomhusfestivalen i Umeå.

Jag måste erkänna att jag var riktigt orolig inför årets House of metal (HoM). En rätt så smal line-up med mycket death, black och trash-metal. Vi var många som var tveksamma, vissa skulle bara gå en dag eller köpa biljett för att stödja festivalen. Hade jag inte jobbat på HoM så hade jag nog inte köpt biljett heller. Det gäller att fylla golven och sälja biljetter för att överleva. Dessutom blev det problem! Dagen innan meddelade KATATONIA att de var tvungen att avboka sin spelning pga sjukdom. Spekulationerna blev många och arrangörerna fick slita för att ordna ett backup band. Det löste sig riktigt bra och evighets-deatharna ENTOMBED fyllde luckan och det var många som var lyckliga över det!

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