With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Leeds Festival 2024 – The Preview August 2, 2024

Filed under: News,Observation,Rants — justwilliam1959 @ 9:11 pm
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It is now just a few weeks until the 2024 Leeds/ Reading Festivals and it must be time for a preview from me, so here goes. Are we back to one main stage again? The poster of the line-up suggests we are, which is wonderful news. Although there is still the silly joint headliner thing going on. But how do the acts on the main stage shape up? Personally, I will be sticking to the bands and artists appearing earlier in that part of the arena. On Friday 23rd August my tips for the best acts on the Main Stage are Pendulum and Crawlers. Who will I not be rushing to see? Well Liam Gallagher obviously, who needs an Oasis tribute act headlining a major festival? On Saturday I think headliners Blink 182 could be fun, even though watching middle-aged blokes with low-slung cargo shorts is a bit creepy sometimes, but I believe the band will rise to the occasion. I am optimistic for Two Door Cinema Club. Sunday’s Main Stage line-up is good with Bleachers, Fontaines D.C., Raye, and Lana del Ray likely to be highlights. The Last Dinner Party might pull it off if they can continue to live with the hype, but Fred Again.. as a headliner? Seriously? I know this festival has often been good at moving with the times, but I am not sure about this one.

The new and futuristic Chevron stage looks great for EDM and generic dance fans. Skrillex headlines on Friday and I find them quite a Marmite act, the Prodigy headline on Saturday, and even without the sadly departed Keith Flint I reckon they will smash it. The BBC Radio 1 Stage looks good, especially on Friday with Beabadoobee headlining and immediately preceded by Ashnikko. Confidence Man will be good on Saturday and the Sunday headliners are the Wombats, a real blast from the past. I imagine that I will be spending a lot of time at the Festival Republic Stage, particularly for the Japanese House, Rachel Chinouriri and Matt Maltese on Friday, Neck Deep, Bad Nerves and the Lambrini Girls on Saturday, and Kid Kapichi and Dream Wife on the final night. The BBC Introducing Stage is a favourite of mine and is a place where I have discovered some great artists. I am familiar with some playing the introducing stage this year, notably Sun King and Welly on Sunday. But shaping up to be the best act of the weekend is the magnificent Delilah Bon who headlines the BBC Introducing Stage on Friday. I predict that she will move to the main stage in 2025 or 2026. Who are you most looking forward to?

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The Rills – Fulford Arms, York – Friday 3rd February 2023 February 8, 2023

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:13 pm
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This has been a slow year for me gigwise so far, this is my first gig for 2023. This was another nifty little show promoted by Simon P of Northern Radar. I have lost count of the amount of Northern Radar shows that I have attended, but one theme runs through them all, Simon has never let me down with his choice of bands and artists. At least not yet anyway. Was tonight the first time I had seen a bad show from Northern Radar? Read on to find out! First up at the fabulous Fulford Arms was Everything After Midnight, I first saw them almost exactly a year ago at the York Vaults supporting Where’s Slater. What are they like? Well, there is prog, electric folk, metal, a pinch of Wolf Alice, and many other facets in their sound. Steph’s voice gets stronger every time I see them (this is the third time) and tonight I detected elements of Sandy Denny, Kiki Dee, and Ellie Rowsell. In a previous review of Everything After Midnight I said “Imagine Tori Amos if she took a much heavier direction with some added prog undertones, that is how Everything After Midnight sounded to me“, I stand by that comment!

Next up was Sun King a band that I have seen once before, back in June last year when they supported Sweet May at this very venue and that was their first gig. I can hear a whole range of influences in their fabulous sound; Small Faces, Paul Rodgers, Steve Marriot, Led Zeppelin, Paul Weller, maybe Prince on the falsetto lines, and at times a bit of that old Noddy Holder warble in the vocal. The band is tight and has a pitch-perfect grasp of the best classic rock vibes. But they go beyond just rock as they throw in some great jazz and funk licks for good measure. Seb, the lead vocalist was formerly with Naked Six and is related to British Metal royalty, he is Saxon frontman Biff Byford’s son. Biff was present humping gear for the band and later while chatting with Chris T of the Fulford Arms we thought, wouldn’t it be amazing to have Biff play a set at the Fully, maybe acoustic with Saxon, solo, or even the full band, perhaps even a residency! Biff if you’re up for that then get in touch, perhaps we can book Sun King as support!

The first time I saw Lincoln’s finest current band, the Rills was when they played the BBC Introducing Stage at the Leeds Festival back in 2021. Their stature has grown at a rapid rate and this was an incendiary set from a magnificent band. “World Leader” was immense and hugely powerful. This was the fifth show in their intense mini tour for Independent Venue Week 2023. They started in Falmouth on 30th January and worked their way to York via Swansea, Bedford and Oxford. The sixth and final show of that hectic schedule was in Blackpool the day after York. They have huge energy and that was transferred to the supremely enthusiastic crowd. The riffs were full-on and spectacular. The Rills put on a stunningly good show. So has Simon of Northern Radar let me down yet? Definitely not!

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Sweet May – Fulford Arms, York – Friday 24th June 2022 July 6, 2022

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:53 am
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I have been to many gigs promoted by the very talented Simon Pattinson of Northern Radar and so far he has never let me down with a deluge of incredible lineups. Will tonight live up to that reputation? Read on to find out! This was two nights in a row for me at the magnificent Fulford Arms, Sweet May are the headliners, but before them, we were offered a nifty selection of support bands. So let’s talk about those for a while. First up were the Corsairs, a very young (all 14 and 15 I believe) York band playing their first gig at a packed, sold-out Fully Arms. What a great first gig for a young band, who despite their youth oozed confidence on stage. They were a bit Kooksy with elements of the Coral too. The B-Side (how do kids know what that is?) of their single sounded like a classy acoustic track from Just Jack. Definitely, a band to watch out for, if they are this good now what will they be like when they come of age? I love it when a band looks to be enjoying themselves on stage and the Corsairs seemed to be loving it! Following the Corsairs, it was the turn of another talented local band, Pavilion. They were incredibly well-rehearsed and tight and this lot gets better every time I see them. They write and perform epic story songs in the British rock lineage that goes back to the Kinks, and heads to the future via the Smiths and the Libertines. The sound is supremely enhanced and given immense depth by the Ray Manzarek-style keys. It brings a depth that is deeper than the San Andreas Trench. Keep your ears open, there is new music from Pavilion on the way!

Next up was Sun King, a band that I have never seen before, in fact, no one had, this was their first gig. The vocals were monumental, a bit of Robert Plant, some Paul Rodgers in his Bad Company pomp, some soulful Steve Marriott tones and then when he hit those falsetto lines a lot like Prince. The band played wonderful classic rock styles with a nod to soul, jazz, and funk, perhaps taking some influence from the Average White Band, Steely Dan, and a pre-Michael McDonald Doobie Brothers. This is a band I must see again and you really need to as well, that’s an order! Headliners Sweet May kicked off with two heavy tunes, but not just heavy, we are talking as heavy as fuck and heavier than osmium. But it wasn’t all heavy, as along comes “Deep Space”. The intro on this track lulls you into thinking it’s a prog-jazz thing and then it becomes a ground-shaking metal funk workout. Sweet May were on fire and blew the roof off the Fully, only metaphorically of course, but they definitely had the power to do it in real life!

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