Thanks everybody who came to Metronome on Wednesday night for the launch of Don’t Mention the Night. Especial thanks to John Holmes, for interviewing me (you can read his autobiography here) and all the members of Gaffa, whose classic line-up reunited for the occasion. Here they are playing ‘Man with a Motive’ and below is a video of them performing the opening track of their recent album ‘Beaks and Bones for Buttons’. It’s an apt choice, as this week marks the release of a five CD version of ‘Revolver’, the album where parents decided the Beatles had gone weird. That was when my parents stopped buying them (we lived near Liverpool when I was growing up) and Wayne, Gaffa vocalist and lyricist, a few years…
This is my review from today’s Nottingham Post. ‘Somebody said to me this week, “Dan, you’ve broke the internet.” I said, “I wish somebody fucking would.’ There have been better weeks to be Danny Baker. On Wednesday night, he tweeted a photo that, however intended, came over as a vile racist gag. He deleted the tweet as soon as he realised what he’d so casually done, later describing it as a ‘crass and regrettable blunder’. The worst day of his life followed. No apology could save his BBC job. Tonight, at his first show since being sacked, the question is whether he can save his reputation. He’s had a few nights to think about it. Will he address the elephant in the room right off…
My review from today’s Nottingham Post. Photo below by their Kevin Cooper. At 61, Marc Almond is entitled to take it easy. He has no album to promote, he tells a packed house, but wants to keep tonight ‘populist’, singing lots of favourite songs, most of them by old stars: ‘who tend to be dead stars, so they’re never going to let you down.’ He kicks off with Charles Aznavour’s I Have Lived, then it’s straight into a Scott Walker tribute, with The Big Hurt and, later, a fine Big Louise. There’s Billy Fury’s I’m Lost Without You and T.Rex’s Cosmic Dancer, which leads into a Bowie section featuring Starman, John, I’m Only Dancing and Brel’s Amsterdam. Four numbers are done nearly acapella, with his…
This review was written for the Nottingham Post. Now and then an act plays the Concert Hall you know you’ll never get to see there again. They’re destined for arenas and bigger. Tonight, Kacey Musgraves joins that short list. After some small, self-recorded releases and two mainstream country albums with sassy lyrics, the thirty-year-old broke through to another level with this year’s Golden Hour, as glorious a set of country-pop as you’ll hear. Until today’s release of Robyn’s Honey, it was the pop album of the year, no contest. No wonder the Royal Concert Hall is packed. Dancing Queen and Staying Alive preface the thirty-year-old star’s arrival. The staging is elaborate, with a large three fan backdrop and raised area where the Texan stands, hidden…
‘We’ll get to all those classics you’ve driven a hundred miles to hear a little later…’ There are two kinds of Richard Thompson fan: those who prefer his electric tours and those who enjoy him most playing solo acoustic. Nottingham used to get his acoustic tours, but his visits this century have been with a band. You’ve had to travel to see him solo, though it’s always worth the journey. The last one I saw was ten months ago, in Sheffield, where he was touring Acoustic Classics. Yet, while Thompson is one of our greatest songwriters, he’s also one of our greatest, most distinctive guitarists. Band shows allow him to solo and stretch out. He must love playing them, because the prices are the…