Live reviews

Dum Dum Girls

Electric Circus, Edinburgh, Wed 22 Sep 2010

6 Oct 2010

Full style marks go to all-girl Los Angeles quartet Dum Dum Girls, all of them beautiful, dressed in black and together looking like a Siouxsie Sioux convention at Paris Fashion Week. Perhaps their music isn’t quite as striking as their image, but they…

Download 2009 - Donnington Park, Sun 14 Jun

19 Jun 2009

The sun is shining once again on the hallowed grounds of Donnington and this year’s Download has to have been one of the most successful metal festivals yet, the line-up has been fantastic (Faith No More, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and The Prodigy already…

Oasis - Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, 17 Jun 2009

19 Jun 2009

Oasis are like branded baked beans, a rolled-up red-top tabloid sitting in the dashboard nook of a white transit van, or Manchester United FC (though they wouldn’t be happy to hear that). They represent all that many people find contemptuously familiar…

Carlos Barat - Carnegie Hall, Dunfermline, Tue 9 Jun

10 Jun 2009

Carlos Barat was given a warm reception at Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall on Tuesday 9th June as he played a rapturous set to thrilled fans. Although the all-seated venue was not sold out, Barat’s energetic performance drew hundreds of fans from their…

Toots and the Maytals - O2 Academy, Glasgow, Fri 29 May

2 Jun 2009

Toots and the Maytals pull in a stunningly diverse crowd. In their UK heyday, the late 70s and 80s, many of the band’s songs were embraced as anthems of radical musical and political movements and for a certain generation they remain a symbol of those…

Lynyrd Skynyrd - SECC, Glasgow, Wed 27 May

2 Jun 2009

Anysley Lister proves the perfect warm-up for the old school stomp of Lynyrd Skynyrd, a phenomenal guitarist rooted in classic blues rock. An instant hit with the dyed in the wool rock audience, however he adds nothing new to the template except for his…

Anna Meldrum - Brel, Glasgow, Sun Apr 26

20 May 2009

Anna Meldrum is Ayr-raised, Glasgow based songwriter that after some time playing the field so to speak, as a solo artist, has decided to rope in the efforts of extra musicians to give her performance and sound a bit of boost. Which brings us to this…

Gallows - ABC, Glasgow, 8th May 2009

12 May 2009

Aided by the inevitable boost that comes with major label backing, Gallows are finding themselves, now on album two, amidst escalating popularity and in the throes of larger stomping grounds, in terms of live performance. Tonight's show at the ABC would…

Bob Dylan - The Playhouse, Edinburgh, Sun 3 May

5 May 2009

It’s impossible to deny Bob Dylan’s place in musical history. His music has profoundly influenced pop culture since the 60s. Even just being in the presence of greatness has a certain allure, and it’s definitely not lost on the packed Playhouse crowd…

The Specials - 02 Academy, Glasgow, 28 Apr 2009

30 Apr 2009

How very now are The Specials? Back in 1979 when the mixed race Coventry band led the Two Tone label’s ska revival first skanked their way into the hearts of a nation’s disaffected and unemployed youth, recession was about to give way to a Tory…

Pete Doherty - Capitol Bar, Glasgow, 14 Apr 2009

27 Apr 2009

Safety concerns arose as Pete Doherty played a chaotic last-minute gig to a small number of people at Glasgow’s Capitol bar on Tuesday 14th April. Fans of the Babyshambles front-man, who were told of the show via Doherty’s website, queued from…

AC/DC - 02 Arena, London, 16 Apr 2009

22 Apr 2009

Seeing your heroes for the first time is an encounter always fraught with peril. When trooping along with all your fellow fans, questions begin to rumble about whether they will live up to your awesome expectations or whether you’ll have to promptly…

Health - Stereo, Glasgow, Sun 19 Apr

22 Apr 2009

As the well-dressed masses stream into stereo tonight, it might be easy to write Health off as perhaps just a fashionable mess. A behemoth of 'noise-rock' and horrifically dirty electro, Health give the impression - along with their general style and…

Dent May

16 Apr 2009

It’s hard, maybe impossible, not to fall for the nerdy, feel-good croon-a-alongs of this trailer-dwelling Southern boy, who calls himself ‘the softest boy in Mississippi’, and who was signed to Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks imprint last year. His…

Polly Scattergood - Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh - 13th April 2009

14 Apr 2009

The wispy, diminutive Brit School graduate may not have seemed to suit the sweaty, underground musk of Sneaky Pete's, what with her sparkling blue dress, poofed out at the bottom, and her ever so sweet and so timid greetings. But behind the microphone…

Frightened Rabbit - The Captain's Rest, Glasgow, 31 Mar 2009

2 Apr 2009

The tiny basement of The Captain's Rest is easy enough to fill on any other night, but it was to be expected that tonight its capacity would be challenged, to say the least, in the event of Frightened Rabbit's much anticipated return to the city.

The Xcerts - King Tut's, Glasgow, Sun 8 Mar 2009

18 Mar 2009

The Xcerts could be everything you want in a pop rock band; stylish, rhythmic, tight-as-hell and armed with some of the catchiest melodies known to man. The Aberdeen via Brighton trio are becoming young masters of the genre, ultimately destined for…

Esser - Edinburgh, Corn Exchange, Thu 26th Feb 2009

2 Mar 2009

Perhaps the sizeable crowd that have already gathered at Edinburgh's most-loathsome-to-get-to venue, the Corn Exchange, at 7pm are here to make sure they get the perfect spot to be flicked by Ricky Wilson's sweat during Kaiser Chiefs' headlining…

The View: Picture House, Edinburgh, 12th Feb 2009

13 Feb 2009

It's hard not to admire The View. They certainly have their flaws. Their records are, at best, ramshackle indie, spawned from a feigned belief that anyone could do 'Up the Bracket'. They also have a cockiness in completely opposing correlation to their…

Bloc Party - O2 Academy, Glasgow, Monday 26th Jan

27 Jan 2009

Thrashing about on stage, guitar in hand, is clearly Kele Okereke's natural habitat. Pinned down by the glare of a television camera whilst being interviewed is definitely not. Okereke is known for his awkward and politely confrontational character…

The Levellers - ABC, Glasgow, 18th December 2008

19 Dec 2008

Twenty years on and despite a few extra wrinkles and more than a few grey hairs, The Levellers have not lost an ounce of their infectious passion for live performance. Still decrying the establishment, but now with up to date political references (see…

Idlewild - King Tut's, Glasgow, Wed 17th December 2008

18 Dec 2008

‘I think I just came in my pants!’, bellowed one excitable sort during a lull, and Roddy Woomble treated his well-intentioned contribution with the amused wince it deserved. The band, and particularly the lanky Woomble, are much too polite to get caught…

Slipknot - SECC, Glasgow, Mon 9 December 2008

16 Dec 2008

For any rock band worth their salt, it's all about the guitars. BIG. HEAVY. GUITARS. Slipknot have their fair share of shredding riffs and six string belligerence, though the first thing that hits us tonight, aside from the explosions and flames from…

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Picture House, Edinburgh, Sun 15 December

16 Dec 2008

The buzz of the near-capacity crowd hushed abruptly as the opening number began, with Campbell's breathy vocals casting the intended spell over the audience. The first half conjured up a Mississippi voodoo-dream sequence with Lanegan cast as darkness in…

Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Corn Exchange, Edinburgh, Wed 26 Nov

27 Nov 2008

Now this is how to work a crowd. ‘You’ve got the wrong band, mate’, says Nick Cave, as someone up the front makes a call for something not actually performed by he and his Bad Seeds (it must have been a Grinderman or Birthday Party track, we’re…