August | 2013 | With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Reading Festival 2013 – Day 1 – Friday 23rd August August 24, 2013

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 7:51 am
Tags: Beverley Ishmael, Billie Joe Armstrong, Bono, Chris Martin, Coldplay, Colour Me Wednesday, Doors, Frank Turner, Green Day, Harriet Doveton, Idiots of Ants, Jen Doveton, Jesus Of Suburbia, Kate Nash, King No-One, Kodaline, Kurt Cobain, Marc Bolan, Nadia Javed, New Found Glory, Night Engine, Parquet Courts, Reading & Leeds Festivals, Reading Festival, Shappi Khorsandi, System Of A Down, Temples, Tuts, U2, Vampire Weekend, Wytches

So here we are once again and Nick Horslen and I have arrived at the Reading Festival site for the umpteenth year. I think it’s more than 10 years for us as a team. As for me I have missed only two from the last 20 years. I attended my first ever Reading in 1976 and got in through a hole in the fence, which doesn’t seem so easy to do nowadays. Today turned out to be the hottest day at the Festival for a few years; for the weather at least!

Wytches (why is there a new wave of making your band’s name appear to be from ye olde English language?) were first up they sound a little Doorsy and their guitar wig-outs were like a harder edged garage band. Pretty good though.
King No-one from Leeds were on the BBC Introducing stage; fans of Vampire Weekend maybe? I like these dudes.
Night Engine are channeling the vocal ghost of Billy McKenzie and answering the questions can gingers rock and can they funk? The answer in my opinion is fuck yeah! Irish band Kodaline come on like the bastard love sprogs of Bono and Chris Martin but with more balls! This band deserves to be HUGE!
If you want top performance power pop look no further than the fabulous Parquet Courts. Top band! So what were New Found Glory like? As the sign said ‘Pop Punk’s Not Dead! Right on. They played the whole of the Sticks and Stones’ album.

Next came our first visit to the comedy stage for the excellent Shappi Khorsandi and Idiots of Ants who weren’t so good. They weren’t really able to engage with the audience.

Does what it says on the tin no. 1; Frank Turner – mightily awesome! Although perhaps not as awesome as I have known him to be in the past. His Mum introduced him, which was a nice touch. He also had a Cobain moment as he was pushed on to the stage in a wheelchair; his Mum explained that he had a bad back, however he stayed in the chair for about a minute! Interestingly he got the whole of the Main Stage crowd, including us, to sit down for one of the choruses of “Photosynthesis” to which we all sang along. Now that is a little ironic given that the chorus starts with the line ‘I won’t sit down’

We met 3 thirds of the Tuts and half of Colour Me Wednesday outside the Festival Republic Stage! I saw the Tuts earlier this year when they supported Kate Nash and I am looking forward to seeing Colour Me Wednesday later this week in Leeds. If you are reading this post and you haven’t heard the Tuts or Colour Me Wednesday then I order you to do something about that!

Has Marc Bolan been reincarnated? Nope it’s the Temples on the Festival Republic stage! Kate Nash is supremely talented and after her set I am now an even bigger fan than I was when I saw her in York earlier this year. It was great to see Nadia Tut make it onstage eventually too! A brief note to the festival organisers; what is wrong with a bit of a stage invasion instigated by Kate herself? It would have been fun and no harm would have been done. But at least three people made it up.
System of a Down on the Main Stage; loud, heavy, technically superb but would I ever listen to them outside the confines of a festival? I doubt it. Does what it says on the tin number 2; Green Day. They were very, very good and certainly had more energy than last years Friday headliners the Cure. But in a way it is kind of identikit pop punk. They played the whole of the ‘Dookie’ album, which will be 20 years old next year. I felt that apart from a few songs it hasn’t aged well. “Basket Case” will always be a classic though. The light show was superb and Billie Joe‘s stage presence is unquestionably great. The best part for me was the storming encore of “American Idiot” (I do believe I will never tire of that song) and “Jesus Of Suburbia“. Then just when we thought it was all over Mr Armstrong came back on for a solo acoustic rendition of “Time Of Your Life”. All in all a pretty good day. Now bring on Day 2!

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Reading Festival 2013 – The Preview August 21, 2013

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 10:42 pm
Tags: American Idiot, As Elephants Are, Biffy Clyro, Catfish & the Bottlemen, Chvrches, D12, David Bowie, Eminem, Enter Shikari, Fallout Boy, Foo Fighters, Forget About Dre, Frank Turner, Fuck Buttons, Green Day, Haim, Jagwar Ma, Jake Bugg, Johnny Marr, Kate Nash, Led Zeppelin, Leeds Festival, Leeds Festival 2013, Many of Horror, Nick Horslen, Nine Inch Nails, Palma Violets, Reading & Leeds Festivals, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Reading Festival, Reading Festival 2013, Savages, Spector, Suede, the 1975, the Bronx, Tuts, Villagers, We Are Knuckle Draggers, Zimmer Twins

Well it’s that time of year again; time for me to spend three days standing in a field in Berkshire with thousands of other people. There will be shouting, mud (possibly), booze and drugs (for some), food stuffs thrown (usually scotch eggs) and oodles of great music. Yes the Reading Festival is here again and as has been the tradition for a several years now I will be attending with my good friend and fellow Zimmer Twin Nick. We are two fiftysomething music fans and between us we have seen all the great bands from Led Zep to the Foos and from Bowie to Suede. To be fair we have also seen our share of crap bands too.

Anyway who am I looking forward to most this year? I think the three headliners are a good choice. I saw Green Day back in 2005 at the Milton Keynes Bowl, that was a great show. I have seen Biffy Clyro at Reading a few times and after the release of their current album ‘Opposites’ earlier this year I think that they will make excellent headliners. I am looking forward to Eminem and I think he will be superb. However back in 2001 I thought his set, which included extensive collaboration with D12 was a little subdued.

Other acts I am quite excited about seeing are; Kate Nash (who I saw in York earlier this year), will the Tuts join her on stage? Let’s hope so! Then there is the supremely talented Jake Bugg, Chvrches, Johnny Marr, Savages, Palma Violets, Fallout Boy, Spector, Haim, Villagers, Jagwar Ma, the Bronx, the 1975 and the Fuck Buttons. Sadly I’m sure that some of these acts may be on at the same time on different stages. But whatever happens I intend to be there for the return of Enter Shikari and I will definitely not be missing Christchurch’s finest son Frank Turner and Nine Inch Nails. Fingers crossed that Trent Reznor is joined by his friend David Bowie, somehow I don’t think so though.

As for the BBC Introducing Stage we also take a look at a few of the up and coming bands. Sometimes we pick who we want to see based on their names. So this year we will be looking out for We Are Knuckle Draggers, As Elephants Are and Catfish and the Bottlemen. Who are you most looking forward to this year at Reading and Leeds? Don’t forget if you should bump into us Zimmer Twins feel free to say hello. I will make sure that you get a mention in this blog!

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“When your girl has left you out on the pavement” August 14, 2013

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 7:14 pm
Tags: ABC, Anne Dudley, Lexicon Of Love, Look Of Love, Martin Fry, New Zealand, Sheffield, Trevor Horn, UK Album Chart, UK Singles Chart

Regular readers of this blog will know that the 80s is my least favourite musical decade. however there were certainly some musical gems released in that dastardly period. Notably one of my favourite albums of all time; “Lexicon Of Love” from one of Sheffield’s finest bands, ABC in 1982. It was masterfully produced by Trevor Horn with stunning arrangements from Anne Dudley. For me this album really hasn’t aged at all.

Lead singer and now the only original member left wrote most of the songs from the experience of being dumped by his girlfriend. But there is an excellent piece of trivia relating to one of the wonderful singles spawned by the album, “The Look Of Love” that I only heard about recently. Just after the line ‘When your girl has left you out on the pavement’ you can hear a female voice in response singing ‘goodbye’. Apparently this word is performed by the girl who dumped Martin Fry. Apparently Trevor Horn felt that this was a good idea. I have done a little research to find out the name of this woman, but I have so far drawn a blank. So if you are her or you know who she is I would love to interview her about her part in music history!

The single reached number 4 in the UK charts and number 18 in the Billboard charts in the US. It went further in Canada and France where it reached number one. It was also a big success in the US Dance Chart were it also hit the top spot. The ‘Lexicon Of Love’ album went to number one in the UK album chart and achieved the same in both New Zealand and Finland.

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“You’ll take me aside, and say ‘Well, David, what shall I do?'” – David Bowie Is Happening Now – Cinema Event 13th August 2013 August 13, 2013

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:10 pm
Tags: Bowie, Buddha Of Suburbia, David Bowie, Geoffrey Marsh, Hanif Kureishi, Heroes, Jarvis Cocker, London, Starman, Teenage Wildlife, The Hearts Filthy Lesson, Toronto, Victoria & Albert museum, Victoria Broackes

Back in May it was my pleasure to visit the marvellous ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Click here to see my post about the museum visit. Well that exhibition is now ready to go on tour and the exhibits will soon be on display in Toronto, Canada. The show at the V & A closed on Sunday 11th August, but as a special send off there has been a nationwide cinema event live from the museum as a kind of epilogue before it moves abroad.

It was presented by the two curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh. Other guest presenters included author Hanif Kureishi who went to the same school as Bowie and wrote the Buddha Of Suburbia for which David wrote the soundtrack. Japanese fashion designer who provided many of Bowie’s more outlandish Ziggy garbs and choreographer Michael Clark also presented. The amusing and intelligent persona that is Jarvis Cocker had a chance to say his piece. There were many others too, but sadly no appearance from the main man himself.

But a look behind the scenes and some wonderful background explanations from the curators made up for that to a small degree. It was a well put together and well-informed send off for such a major exhibition which was seen by more than 300,000 people and up to 20,000 in cinemas across the UK this evening. Like many people I was glued to the TV watching Top Of The Pops on July 6th 1972 when Bowie and the Spiders made that now seminal appearance to perform “Starman”. I was transfixed then and have been hooked ever since. If you plan to see this exhibition on its tour I would love to hear from you and I am sure it will blow you away!

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa film review August 8, 2013

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:30 pm
Tags: Alan Partridge, Alan Partridge Alpha Papa, Andrew Roachford, Cuddly Toy, Disc jockey, Felicity Montagu, Geordie, Giorgio Moroder, North Norfolk Digital, Norwich, Radio Norwich, Roachford, Sparks, Steve Coogan, The Number One Song In Heaven, Willie Nelson, You Were Always On My Mind

If you’re an Alan Partridge fan you will love the first big screen outing from Steve Coogan‘s classic comedy character. Alan is clearly the most talented British DJ since Smashie and Nicey. Coogan as usual plays the part of this inept, arrogant and troubled character to perfection. I loved the film and enjoyed a few laugh out loud moments.

Would Norwich be as well-known without the Partridge? Somehow I suspect not. The film plot centres around a takeover of Radio Norwich, a sacking and a hostage situation. All the usual supporting cast are here; Michael the Geordie bloke and Felicity Montagu, who plays the part of Alan’s long-suffering personal assistant Lynn, is magnificent. While you may think you won’t enjoy the film if you’ve not seen much of Alan Partridge I believe that you will. I’d love to hear what my regular readers think of the film so feel free to add your comments. I will close this post with three songs that feature in the film including a stone cold classic from Sparks and Giorgio Moroder which is played over the closing credits.

“Got a feeling that I’m angry, but I can’t quite tell I could’ve slept badly” August 7, 2013

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:57 pm
Tags: Beverley Ishmael, Harriet Doveton, Hillingdon, Kate Nash, London, Nadia Javed, Punk rock, Tuts, Worry Warrior, York

Some Germ Free Adolescent Tuts 🙂

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of seeing a young band called the Tuts in York when they were supporting the wonderful Kate Nash. They hail from my birth place and old stomping ground of Hillingdon to the west of London. They are Nadia, Harriet and Beverley and they are a three girl punk powerhouse. Why am I telling you this? Well largely because the girls have just launched a new track into cyberspace. It’s called “Worry Warrior” and I must say it’s bloody good. I’d like to know what you think of it. I’ve already purchased it and I urge you to do the same.

Back in those heady days of the late 70s when even I was a mere teenager punk was in some people’s eyes the new fashion, the new style and the new order. But I always saw punk as much more than that. At its core, for me, punk is all about attitude and the Tuts have that in abundance. On top of that they are three very talented people. You’d better check them out and buy their new song. If you don’t then you need to remember that…….. I know where you live! “Worry Warrior” by the Tuts; I’ll give it five out of five and I’m looking forward to the album even more now! Click here to download the song from bandcamp.com.

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“What else is in the teaches of peaches?” August 2, 2013

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 8:31 pm
Tags: 2K, All The Blow Themselves Up Motherfuckers, Babyshambles, Bill Drummond, Cee-Lo Green, Eamon, Frankee, Fuck, Fuck Forever, Fuck The Millennium, Fuck The Pain Away, Fuck You, Fuck You Right Back, Fuckin' In The Bushes, Fuckin' Up, FURB, iPod, Jim Cauty, John Lennon, Julian Cope, Kick Out The Jams, KLF, Lily Allen, Lily Allen Naked, MC5, Neil Young, Oasis, Peaches, Working Class Hero

This is a public service announcement; if you are easily offended by the word FUCK then please read no further. You have been fucking warned ok!

I usually listen to my iPod in shuffle mode when I walk from the car to the office every morning. It gives me a good ten minute blast of tunes before I start the day. This morning up popped Eamon with his UK number one from 2004 “Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back)” I believe that is the first UK number one to feature the F Word in its title. It even generated an answer song in response from Frankee. That was called “FURB (Fuck You Right Back)”. It got me thinking a few things first that FUCK is a rather good word when used in the right context isn’t it?

The word has featured in plenty of songs; “Working Class Hero” from John Lennon and the MC5 introduced their storming live version of “Kick Out The Jams” with the line ‘kick out the jams motherfuckers!’ The word has perhaps been a little overused by rappers too. But secondly it got me thinking what are my favourite songs with the word fuck in the title. Here are my top choices (plus Eamon and Frankee’s efforts) what are yours?