Collaborative Music Blogging Project
Taking to the road on a 30th anniversary tour of early 90s classic It’s A Shame About Ray, The Lemonheads bring the nostalgia roadshow to a packed Academy where the audience are united in affection for this music. The entrance song is a recording of Cole Porter‘s Miss Otis Regrets, a song covered by Evan…
Continue reading [Live Review] The Lemonheads, O2 Academy, Bristol, 28th September 2022
Immediately after their set at the Green Man Festival two days previously, singer Róisín Nic Ghearailt was approached by an audience member, who told her she is precisely the role model she would want for her daughter. It’s a wonderful compliment, but it also highlights the atmosphere of care that the band create in their…
Continue reading [Live Review] M(h)aol, The Louisiana, Bristol, 23rd August 2022
Bathed in monochrome lights, Sóley in quartet form beguiles in the hushed, intimate setting of the Bristol Beacon. New album Mother Melancholia weaves a tale of the end times, the playing out of the impacts of an ecocidal patriarchy, and of those that rise against it. It is a weighty and anxiety-inducing topic, not to…
Continue reading [Live Review] Sóley – The Bristol Beacon, Bristol, UK, 19th November 2021
It still feels like springtime in the world of live music, with so many bands that have been releasing music finally able to share it with us live. For m(h)aol (pronounced ‘male’ I’m told), it’s been a longer break than for most, as tonight is the start of their first tour after a five year…
Continue reading [Live Review] M(h)aol + Slug Puppie, Rough Trade, Bristol 1/11/21
I don’t know that it’s the adjective they would most hope to be described with, but I find IDLES adorable – watching them perform is always a real joy. So it was exciting to learn that they were offering the opportunity to watch three sets over the long weekend, all from the comfort of one’s…
Continue reading [Live Review] IDLES: Lock In Sessions, August 29 & 30, Abbey Road Studios, London
Showing a marked taste for red offset Fender guitars, French quartet Unschooling begin proceedings tonight. A side project of Rouen-based musical polymath Vincent Fevrier, the band play a rhythmic post-punk that dives between time signatures and skirts around the edges of dissonance. This is unexpected and exciting stuff. New Yorkers The Wants are also a…
Continue reading [Live Review] The Wants and Unschooling, The Lanes, Bristol, February
Self-styled space surf rockers Japanese Television launched 2020 with a release of EP1 and EP 2 with their Marc Riley BBC 6 Music session, and celebrated with a UK headline tour, which stopped at The Lanes in Bristol for a free show in early Feb. Space surf rock is a good description, although the band…
Continue reading [Live Review] Japanese Television, The Lanes, Bristol. February 7th 2020
Just last week, a colleague and I were discussing the high calibre of gigs in Bristol being promoted by 1% of One, and how well their opening acts suit the headliner. Tonight seems like a perfect example. Openers, Bristol band SANS – who are really loud – play rhythmically complex music that defies predictability and…
Continue reading [Live Review] – 1% of One presents Pile and SANS, Crofter’s Rights, Bristol 18th September 2019
Wasuremono on stage (l-r Madelaine Ryan, Will Southward & Phoebe Phillips). Photo by Matt Law (CC-BY-SA 3.0) With a healthy amount of airplay and buzz surrounding recent singles ‘Are You OK?’, ‘Lonely Type’ and ‘Self-Help’, Wasuremono find a receptive and full Bristol crowd for their short set as part of this year’s Dot to Dot…
Continue reading [Live Review] Wasuremono, The Fleece, Bristol 25th May 2019
Drahla – ‘Stimulus for Living’ This month saw the release of Drahla‘s debit album Useless Coordinates on Captured Tracks, to widespread warm reviews hailing their mastery of a jagged post-punk sound. Mastery really is the word, and it is no less apparent live tonight. With minimal banter, the band exude poise and a sense that…
Continue reading [Live Review] Drahla, The Lousiana, Bristol, May 10th, 2019
