VINYL SOARS

According to the following article, vinyl sales are soaring and rock music is partially to be thanked. Perhaps there's some connection between loyalty and integrity.

ultimate guitar - vinyls soa

THE CULT - HAMMERSMITH APOLLO (HMV APOLLO)

The CULT were terrific, great setlist of old, rare and new, good crowd and Horse Nation was as poignantly rifftastic as ever, thank you.

London, England, HMV Hammersmith Apollo

Opening Band: Romance, Masters Of Reality

Setlist

Everyman And Woman Is A Star
Rain
Horse Nation
Sweet Soul Sister
Saints Are Down
White
Dirty Little Rockstar
Nirvana
Ghost Dance
Embers
War
Go West
Wildflower
She Sells Sanctuary
Until The Light Takes Us
Love Removal Machine

Encore

Rise
Spiritwalker
Break On Through

Brandon Flowers - Brixton Academy

A truly enjoyable night, Brandon Flowers and his backing band brought the songs from his debut album to life went it came to this live performance. I hadn't given 'Flamingo' that much of a listen but I was familiar with the tracks prior to the concert. I found most songs to have too much of a similar vibe and sound, but the live energy made up for this. The few Killers tracks presented along side the Flamingo tracks were standouts and had the crowd singing every word with an extra oomph of grace. Human and Mr Brightside both featured Stuart Price who had re-worked the tracks.

The solo material was still incredibly well received and the mostly young, female filled audience were hanging to every syllable, lipped word.

GRINDERMAN - LIVE AT THE CORONET

The dingy, urine scented South London 'Coronet' provided the perfect atmosphere for the sleazy, primitive facial haired but charmingly suited Grinderman quartet to deliver their performance in.

Cave, Casey, Ellis & Sclavunos delivered a blistering set consisting of songs from their two albums. The crowd enjoyed every track, every sexual reference, every lyric and hang on to the stunningly energetic performance that Cave is still able to deliver as he "kicked those white mice out..." all over the stage. The sweat, ominous lighting, loud and clear sound all aided in making this gig an experience. Grinderman's music allows for dancing, moshing, raving and singing, and all were present and delivered accordingly to their mix of psychedelic, rock maniacal sound, which is superbly fresh in an age where artists and listeners are striving to find new un-laboured musical territory. Ellis' screeching tenor guitar is an energetic, raw, visceral tool that fills the old cinema with a sound that others will envy as his fingers draw emotion from one's musical intoxication, by playing tracks such as 'Evil' & 'Get it On', that simply rumble the walls of the Coronet. The band seem to enjoy performing and the the rawkus crowd responded, which begged the question; What took them an 1 1/2 hrs to get on stage?

Besides the wait, the concert was superb, GRINDERMAN are not The Bad Seeds, something which a couple of crowd 'Mercy Seat' requesters should have learned before and let's hope after the gig...

1. Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man
2. Worm Tamer
3. Get It On
4. Heathen Child
5. Palaces Of Montezuma
6. Evil
7. When My Baby Comes
8. What I Know
9. Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)
10. Kitchenette
11. No Pussy Blues
12. Bellringer Blues
13. Encore:
13. When My Love Comes Down
14. Man in the Moon
15. Grinderman

GRINDERMAN 2

Grinderman 2 has been released and like it's primate fronting brother this second 'wolf' record offers the same majestic, destructive, noise creating team of four, that delivered that first raw album. Except that in this sophomore offering the band have managed to maintain that sonic ear lashing bashing, whilst also dwelling into territory that explores a broadening of the bands' sound without relinquishing the initial vitality found on Grinderman I. Tracks such as ''Worm Tamer'' deliver garage, psychedelia, whilst the sensational ''Palaces of Montezuma'' simply stands out on its own; certainly the most talked about track on the album so far. A personal highlight however is the prog-like "When my baby comes", click here to give it a listen.

The album is hopefully a sign of things to come, promising that Grinderman is not just another project for Cave but instead it will exist for many years to come, as next to the Bad Seeds' softer appraoch, Grinderman is the perfect antidote with which to rock out to, laugh and admire Ellis', Casey's, Sclavunos' & Cave's unrefined sonic creativity. (Click for: GRINDERMAN - "Star Charmer", a non LP track)

For tickets and tour dates click here

GRINDERMAN - "Palaces of Montezuma" - Jools Holland

"The spinal cord of JFK...."

SOUNDGARDEN AT THE VIC THEATRE

mtv article

'Jesus Christ Pose'

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS BRIXTON ACADEMY REVIEW

The crowd was loud, Kretz, the DeLeo's and Weiland were certainly on form and the music was powerful and moving as ever. The venue's Roman facade's and peeling paint lay the setting for a night of sensational Weiland dancing, groove riffing rock. 'Vasoline' and 'Crackerman' set the pace for gig but there were also some new tracks which went down quite well with the hungry crowd as well as some rare tracks; 'Lounge Fly' & 'Tumble in the Rough', The 'hits' which went down like a storm, 'Plush', & 'Interstate Love Song' to name two. Dean DeLeo proved he's an underrated class guitarist, whose bright but heavy chords are the fill and texture to the unit of Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz's superb bass and drum backbone, the trio providing the platform and colour for Scott Weiland's Bowie meets John Lydon persona. His frontman and vocal abilites were top notch as he delivered 'Big Empty' and 'Trippin' On A Hole'...' with a profound emotion and projection that enticed every individual in the Academy to unite and sing in hope for another STP concert of this quality soon.

1. Vasoline
2. Crackerman
3. Wicked Garden
4. Between The Lines
5. Hickory Dichotomy
6. Big Empty
7. Sour Girl
8. Creep
9. Plush
10. Interstate Love Song
11. Bagman
12. Huckleberry Crumble
13. Tumble In The Rough
14. Lounge Fly
15. Sex Type Thing
16. Encore:
17. Dead And Bloated
18. Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart

AEROSMITH - LONDON 02 ARENA REVIEW - PHOTOS

Aerosmith were fantastic at the London 02 Arena last night. Good to see they are still here having read only 6 months ago that it was all over for the boys. They delivered a set of sing a long classics, as well as some vintage material...no 'Combination' though, which could have taken the place of that song...."I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing", which seemed slightly out of place last night, considering the quality of the set, inclusive of other ballads such as 'What It Takes 'and 'Cryin'. Steven Tyler proved that he still is the greatest front man alive today and all 18,000 there last night hang to his every word and charismatic swagger.

Airbourne were a great surprise opening act that shook the rock n'roll foundations of the edifice.

Only negative; the face value of the tickets...

1. Love in an Elevator
2. Back in the Saddle
3. Falling in Love (is Hard on the Knees)
4. Eat The Rich
5. Pink
6. Livin' on the Edge
7. What It Takes
8. Chip Away the Stone
9. Train Kept A-Rollin' (Tiny Bradshaw cover)
10. Cryin'
11. Drum Solo
12. Lord Of The Thighs
13. Stop Messin' Around (Fleetwood Mac cover)
14. I Don't Want To Miss a Thing
15. Sweet Emotion
16. Baby, Please Don't Go (Big Joe Williams cover)
17. Draw the Line
18. 
    
19. Encore:
20. Dream On
21. Walk This Way
22. Toys in the Attic

MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP - 02 SHEPHERD'S BUSH EMPIRE LONDON REVIEW / PHOTOS

Fantastic performance from Michael and the boys. The sound was excellent and the surprise guests were a real treat. Pete Way & Paul Raymond plus Doogie White joining the band for 'Doctor Doctor' was superb, as well as Herman Rarebell on for 'Lights Out', and Neil Murray on 'A Night to Remember', here's to Pete Way's recovery, as well as plenty more years from MSG on fine form.

Setlist:

Armed And Ready
Cry For The Nations
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Are You Ready to Rock
I Want You
Night To Remember (with Neil Murray)
Into The Arena
Lost Horizons
Rock My Nights Away
On And On
Lights Out (with Herman Rarebell)
Attack of The Mad Axeman

Encore:
Ride On My Way
Doctor Doctor (with Pete Way, Paul Raymond & Doogie White)
Rock Bottom