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Hop Down To The Farm

Vince Power has done it again and brought us a new mini festival that with a few tweaks could be a must add fixture to next years festival calender.
The Hop Farm is billed as a return to basics with a single stage, no sponsorship and few frills.

A grey start to the day was put to bed with a stirling performance of Leonard Cohen's - Hallelujah by the much stripped down Rufus Wainwright and as the sun broke through and brightened the sky up so did the days proceedings.

My Morning Jacket played a superb set and the crowd were getting warmed up for the bigger names to come, a typical Supergrass set, most of which I missed while queueing for the toilets (an ongoing disappointment of the day). I got back just in time to catch a great set by Primal Scream.

In March when I last saw Neil Young he wore a paint-splattered jacket and played on a stage resembling a ramshackle artist's studio, so some things don't change! But instead of opening with an hour of acoustic self indulgence, he crashed right in with what on another day might be his closing sequence - the rock epics 'Love and Only Love' (Ragged Glory) and 'Hey Hey, My My' from the great album Rust Never Sleeps. See full set list below.
During the inevitable quieter section he sounded in great form, a superb gospel like version of 'Mother Earth' also from Ragged Glory was followed by 'The Needle and the Damage Done' and one of my favourite quieter tracks, Heart of Gold.
For the third part of his two-hour set, Young cranked it up again for more string bending, ear-bashing, guitar marathons. The senior citizen of rock played the longest version of 'No Hidden Path' (Chrome Dreams II) I have ever seen, sweating and almost beating his guitar into submission he left the stage. He returned for the encore, a fiery, fuzzed-up cover of the Beatles classic 'Day in the Life' (Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band).
Reminded me a bit of Jimi Hendrix.

Here is the full set list, courtesy of my good friend Del Q:

1. Love And Only Love
2. Hey Hey, My My
3. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
4. I've Been Waiting For You
5. Spirit Road
6. Fuckin' Up
7. Oh, Lonesome Me
8. Mother Earth
9. The Needle And The Damage Done
10. Unknown Legend
11. Heart Of Gold
12. Old Man
13. Get Back To The Country
14. Words
15. No Hidden Path
    ---
16. A Day In The Life

Happy Birthday O2,

Happy Birthday O2, happy birthday dear O2, happy birthday O2.....

So it was a complete year earlier this week (Tuesday) when the monstrous cock up that was the Millennium Dome was re-born as the O2 venue in London's Dockland. Who would have thought that the building, sold by the government for just 10p would be able to turn it's fortunes around so quickly and successfully?
As the venue took shape, under the secret shroud of the 'Tent' surrounding it work was already in place booking some of the biggest acts in the world, for some of the longest residencies ever heard of.

With it's outer ring of bars and restaurants, and it's multiple venues, the site is often filling up at 4:00pm in the afternoon preceding a big event.
And unlike many of it's rivals it is not just a Pop music venue but also houses Classical concerts, sports events like basketball, boxing, ice hockey and WWE wrestling and other events like the Tutankhamen exhibition which saw in excess of a million visitors.

Opening act, on June 24th 2007 was Bon Jovi, they had been booked months prior to the opening, but who could have predicted the wealth of names to come?
Prince announced a 7 date residency, later extended to 21 nights, with most (19) followed by an after-show party at the IndigO2.
Take That played nine nights, including New Years Eve (see Pic), the newly reformed Spice Girls had a seventeen night residency, the Rolling Stones and Barbara Streisand played multiple nights, as did Elton John whose demand for acoustic excellence is legendary.
Seeing Elton was one of the key factors for Robert Plant in choosing the venue for the unbelievable Led Zeppelin reunion and both Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters demand for audio excellence was satisfied. Dolly Parton, Celine Dion, the list goes on....

A taste of things to come? Kylie Minogue plays six nights next month, the legendary Stevie Wonder has three in September, comedian Lee Evans plays six in October/November and the chart smashing Coldplay three in December, and that's just starters for the second year of O2 in London.
The Wombats open new club 'Matter' on 15th November.
Further in the future sees the O2 hosting the World Gymnastic Championships in 2009 and it will be the venue for the 2012 Olympic Games Basketball and Gymnastic events.

The future is bright.... (Oops!)

Live Music: My Bloody Valentine at the Roundhouse

When I heard a few months ago that My Bloody Valentine were reforming for a few shows in the UK I could not resist the temptation to see one of the few great bands of the late 80's and early 90's that I had missed out on first time around.
My friend Ian and I took our seats on the balcony at the Roundhouse and waited for the promised onslaught. I have seen some loud and noisy bands in my time and the people around us, busily stuffing in their ear plugs dared tell us that we would not be able to hear ourselves think. We are gig professionals you know!

Kevin Shields and Bilinda Butcher are practically motionless and their vocals almost totally inaudible, after three songs I turn to the guy next to me, is this normal? Yep he says, not enough power in the P.A. for...
I lose the rest of his answer as they start up again. They run through the set, which I am told afterwards is almost identical to the one they played last in 1991, mainly songs from Isn't Anything and Loveless, and none of the much talked about and often discarded 'New' material.
At the end a momentous wall of sound. Most big rock bands finish their set with the everything at volume eleven, feedback screaming, cymbal crashing, guitar smashing 30 seconds, imagine that getting ever louder for eight or nine minutes.... or nearer 20... a couple of seconds silence, ten more seconds white noise and they were gone....
An experience indeed!! I am awestruck, this bands reputation is justified. The epitome of the Shoegazer era of rock music I rush home to order the albums from CD WOW!
They surely won't be as good as the live show however, my stereo just doesn't go up loud enough!!

Here is a video of the track 'Only Shallow' from our friends at YouTube, I looked for some live footage from the show but it is all so distorted you can't really hear anything!

• Isn't Anything (1988) £6.49
• Glider (E.P.) (1990) £7.99
• Loveless (1991) £7.99

Both full length albums are due for a July re-release and the new package of Loveless 2CD Digipak Remastered at just £8.99 will include the entire album remastered from the original Analogue tapes on the second disc, a must for collectors and new fans alike!

Win A Chance To Open The Green Man Festival 2008

Headlined this year by the amazing Spiritualized (Friday) Super Furry Animals (Saturday) and Pentangle (Sunday), your band or act could win the chance to open The Green Man Festival.
The festival will take place at Glanusk Park, Brecon Beacons, Powys, Wales on 15th, 16th and 17th August, and for your chance to open the festival here is what you have to do:

Green Poll - Your Band's Chance to Open The Green Man Festival

The Green Man Festival has announced an online band competition where the lucky winner will have the opportunity of being the opening act at this year's festival, and play to a capacity crowd of 10,000!

The Green Man Festival has always championed new and emerging talent. Taking risks by booking unknown acts alongside popular and iconic music artists is very much part of the rich Green Man experience. The competition allows interested artists, signed or unsigned, to upload a YouTube or MySpace clip of themselves, and these clips are then voted upon by the general public to choose who will open this year's festival. This is how it works:

Bands register for Green Poll on the official site: http://www.thegreenmanfestival.co.uk/greenpoll

The public vote for the bands they like and get a chance to win a pair of tickets, so get all your mates to vote and you might win a pair of tickets anyway!

The Band with the most votes gets to play Green Man and they also get 6 extra tickets to dish out to some of their mates that voted for them! It's a win win situation guys, you gotta give it a go, what have you got to lose?

Tickets for the festival are going fast and with over 80 artists already confirmed, and more to be announced, that is no surprise. But The Green Man Festival is not just about live music you will also find The Rumpus Room with DJ sets, Cinema, Literature, Science, A Children's Area, The Green Field, A Healing Area and much much more. Some other acts appearing this year are:

• King Creosote
• Lightspeed Champion
• Badly Drawn Boy
• Iron And Wine
• Richard Thompson
• Black Mountain
• And Many Many More.....

Live! Them Is Me - Moles Club, Bath 7th June 2008

Live! Them Is Me.I haven't been to Moles in Bath for about 12 years but when I heard that ex Reef members Jack Bessant (Bass) and Gary Stringer (Vocals) had put a new band together I decided to take a trip down and check them out.

Who could forget the Reef anthem Hold Your Hands from their great album Glow?

Now with Nathan ‘Tugg’ Curran on Drums (Basement Jaxx) and Jonas Jalhay on Guitar (Lady Sovereign) they are playing good old rock music again, in parts reminding me of the great Free but in truth somewhere between Black Crowes and the amazing stoner rock of Kyuss, mix that with Stringers unmistakable vocals and you have some serious rock going on!
Them Is Me played a solid set and rocked the whole joint for about an hour, I haven't enjoyed myself so much for ages!

You can take a sneak preview of their self titled debut album to be released at the end of June at the Official Them Is Me MySpace page.
Or why not go the whole way and catch them live at one of the following dates:

• June 20th - Queen Charlotte, Norwich
• July 5th - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow
• July 12th - Milkwood Jam, Swansea
• August 2nd - Bar Academy, Birmingham
• August 7th & 8th - Monto Water Rats, London

Ministry - C U Latour @ Bristol Academy, June 1st

Over the 17 years that Ministry have been together I have seen them no more than a handful of times, so when I saw that this could be the last opportunity to see them I could hardly turn down the opportunity now could I?
Hence the C U LaTour... get it?

As farewell tours go this was quite unusual as the whole of the first hour and a half of the set was laid down to tracks from the last two studio albums, Rio Grande Blood and The Last Sucker. As far as I was concerned this was great.
Al Jourgensen has written some particularly fine tunes in the last few years as his distrust and distaste for the American political stance has deepened, however I can see that if you were a long time fan of the band you may have liked to hear a bit more of a balanced set as far as new to old ratio was concerned.
Starting with 'Let's Go' the crowd were up for a night of Industrial Rock at it's heavytastic best, tracks followed like 'The Dick Song', a jolly ditty about the Vice President, 'Watch Yourself', 'No W, a fairly clear message regarding a certain Mr George W Bush, 'Rio Grande Blood' and a favourite of mine 'LiesLiesLies'.
Here is a video courtesy of the lovely folk at YouTube;

And they were gone, the crowd bayed for more and eventually they returned, with the four songs that possibly everyone was waiting for...
Thanks to my friend Will for helping me note all these down!

• So What - from The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste
• NWO - from Psalm 69
• Just One Fix - from Psalm 69
• Thieves - from The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste

Another retreat to the back stage area only to be called back one more time, I swear he was smoking a cigarette, surely not in our now very healthy smoke free gig environment?
Three songs from the very latest, and I guess last Ministry studio release the great Cover Up:

• Just Got Paid - Originally by ZZ Top from Rio Grande Mud
• Roadhouse Blues - Originally by The Doors from Morrison Hotel
• What A Wonderful World - Originally by Louis Armstrong

And that was it, the last show-time for what has to be one of the founder members of Industrial Metal... along with Killing Joke, who I have tickets to see later on this year.
You will be missed guys, good luck with whatever you do next!

Feeder - Silent Cry Tour @ The Point, Cardiff May 28th

FEEDER - Silent Cry (Released June 16th 2008) warm up tour.
It's not often that a band capable of selling out Stadiums gives you the chance to see them live in venues that hold just 200 or 300 people however Feeder are one such band. In fact in the middle of this 8 date warm up tour they played the Millennium Stadium with the Stereophonics!
This gig took me right back to the first time that I saw them, supporting "A" at the Driftwood Spa pub in St Agnes, Cornwall, it was tipping with rain after the gig and we had to walk miles up a pitch black road to get our lift back to the campsite we were staying at. I have been seeing them play ever since.

Typical of the great guys that they are they have given 8 unsigned local bands the chance to open for them, it must have been a great thrill for all of them, tonight it was Butterflies With Beards.

Feeder! Feeder! The cry went up, and from the opening bar of the first song (set list below) we all knew we were in for a night to remember! Feeling A Moment, yes indeed, I think we all were. Shatter, a double A-Side single when first released and on to a couple of tracks from the new album, I had already heard We Are The people on the Feeder web site but Miss You was a new one to me. Come Back Around and then three blistering new tracks. My Perfect Day from Polythene, and it was becoming one of them. Before I new it they were walking off stage after Lost and Found. A huge chant went up and they duly came back on for an encore, and what an encore it was, the fantastic sing along High followed by Just A Day. And then it was all over....

If you could pick some of your very best Feeder rock tracks they were played tonight, interspersed with 7 tracks from the new album, Silent Cry all of which stood up to the classics we all know and love so well.

I was hugely fortunate, and quick enough, to be able to buy tickets for two of the shows, and I am off to see the final show tonight at The Thekla in Bristol, I hope to see some of you there, including Heulwen who I have seen at countless other Feeder shows over the years.

Silent Cry is going to be a classic Feeder album and would not go amiss in anybodies record collection, pre-order your copy from CD WOW! now!!

Cardiff Point 28th May Set List (Thanks Andrew, I owe you one!):

• Feeling A Moment - From Pushing The Senses
• Shatter - From The Singles (Compilation)
• We Are The People - From Silent Cry
• Miss You - From Silent Cry
• Come Back Around - From Comfort In Sound
• Itsumo - From Silent Cry
• Tracing Lines - From Silent Cry
• Guided By A Voice - From Silent Cry
• Just The Way I'm Feeling - From Comfort In Sound
• Pushing The Senses - From Pushing The Senses
• Sonorous - From Silent Cry
• My Perfect Day - From Polythene
• Fires - From Silent Cry
• Yesterday Went Too Soon - From Yesterday Went Too Soon
• Lost And Found - From The Singles (Compilation)
• Encore:
• High - From Polythene
• Just A Day - From Echo Park

Other releases by Feeder:

• Swim
• Polythene
• Yesterday Went Too Soon
• Echo Park
• Comfort In Sound
• Picture Of Perfect Youth (Fan club release later given a commercial release)
• Pushing The Senses
• The Singles (Compilation)
• Silent Cry

Verra Cruz @ the Fleece and Firkin - Bristol May 26th

It's a fairly long time since I have been to the Fleece and Firkin in Bristol for a gig, and it was time for a return visit. So how fortunate that I had an e-mail from Verra Cruz courtesy of their MySpace Page inviting me down to a showcase gig for their new album Innocence.

It has some great tracks. Check out 'Put The Weapon Down' and 'Soul On Fire' for two rock anthems! Having both of their previous offerings and being a big fan of their Southern style Rock I could hardly refuse now could I?
Bands come and go and every now and then you come across one that really should be better known than they are... and Verra Cruz are just such a band. Think Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Reef and throw in a steel lap guitar and you may be half way there!!

So with bank holiday Monday evening off I went with my good friend Ian to catch the band's newest songs. We arrive to find out that the Bass player, Henry Cross has broken down on the M4 and is not going to make it, but do the band give up the ghost, No!!
They play a superb set with just the drummer Jimmy Cooke, and lead guitarist/vocalist Marc James... and I gotta tell you, they rocked!!
Big thanks Marc for taking the time out after the set to chat, and for the review copy of Innocence, I have been playing it all day today!!

Check out the track Soul Collides from their second album Verra Cruz - Emancipation Day here courtesy of our friends at YouTube!

Roger Waters May 18th - Dark Side Of The Moon

I have been watching Pink Floyd and the individual members for many years. This is the 3rd time I have seen Roger Waters in as many years; Hyde Park in 2006, Earls Court in 2007 and now the O2.
It was billed as the last time he will ever perform Dark Side Of The Moon in it's entirety! I couldn't miss it... although it has to be said I was a tad disappointed to see he was doing the 19th as well!

True to form the show started on the dot of 7:45pm and we were treated to an hour and a half of Pink Floyd favourites; 'In The Flesh' the opening number from The Wall, 'Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun' from A Saucerful Of Secrets, 'Leaving Beirut' which is a more recent Waters penned song, 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' their tribute to former band member Syd Barrett, from Wish You Were Here, and many others.
And before you know it... a fifteen minute break to catch your breath. WOW!

During the break a small but very bright moon slowly became bigger and bigger on the stage back drop. The starting beat of 'Speak To Me' saw a tiny red dot beating in time, and as this became larger it became apparent that it was a spacecraft returning from the Dark Side Of The Moon!
The craft exploded from the screen as the music erupted and we were treated to the entire album! Non stop!

During the last number, Eclipse, a huge laser prism rotated in the top of the O2 building, a single white laser entering one side and a magnificent rainbow laser from the other. Amazing!
The band took their bows and departed the stage, brought back by tumultuous applause they played Another Brick In The Wall (part 2) and Vera, Bring Back The Boys and Comfortably Numb from The Wall, and finished with The Tide Is Turning from his own Radio KAOS album.

Altogether a great night out, I know he will not be doing Dark Side again in it's entirety, and that makes me a little sad. However a large part of me hopes that next time I see him he will play The Wall front to back, what a treat that would be!!
Do you know, I can feel a Bluffers Guide post coming on! Watch this space for more Pink Floyd!

Breaking News - Police Announce Last Show Ever... probably

The Police announced details of what will be their last show ever in New York on May 6th.
The performance will come at the end of the final leg of their reunion tour which started May 1st in Ottawa in which some 50 shows will have taken place primarily in North America and Europe. This last show will happen after the currently slated final date of August 5th at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre.

The show, which will be a fund-raiser, was announced by the band and the Mayor of NYC Michael Bloomberg in Times Square, however when asked if the final show would be in Central Park Bloomberg responded "The show will probably be indoors...".
At the ceremony each member of the Police was given a key to NYC and Sting presented the Mayor with an 'Access All Areas' backstage pass which he said could be used at any Police show, although he would probably get in to the last one anyway, and after that it wouldn't be much good really!

The show will benefit the production of arts programming for public television stations Thirteen/WNET www.thirteen.org and WLIW New York www.wliw.org where the tickets will be available shortly.
The show will also benefit the milliontreesNYC initiative which aims to plant 1 million trees across all five of NYC's boroughs by 2017. The Police contributed $1million which will plant 10,000 trees.
The tour by the way is expected to gross in excess of $340 million and be one of the top five highest grossing tours of all time, so they can probably afford it!