Live Reviews

Festival Review: Bushstock 2018

by Helen Clarke

Amongst the ever expanding plethora of one-day musical festivals across the capital, Bushstock stands out. Now in its eighth year and sprawling across seven venues in…

Liminal @ Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, London

One of the more intriguing parts to Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival programme was the three late-night performances in the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer of Liminal,...

My Bloody Valentine @ Royal Festival Hall, London

Live shows by My Bloody Valentine have long held a special, elevated status. They’re infrequent enough to provoke genuine excitement when they do happen and...

Nine Inch Nails @ Royal Festival Hall, London

Trent Reznor explodes on to the stage. Strobe footlights flash furious and immediate as the band launch straight in to Somewhat Damaged, a track made...

Mogwai @ Royal Festival Hall, London

Over the years Robert Smith has regularly expressed his admiration for Mogwai and he’s also recruited them as tour support in the past, so it was...

Moon Duo @ Purcell Room, London

How does rock music behave in a confined space? Or, to put it another way, how does space rock music work in the Purcell Room? Traditionally...

David Byrne @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

Of course, we’d heard in advance that tonight – the latest stop on David Byrne‘s American Utopia tour – might be A Bit Special. It was...

Death Cab For Cutie @ Royal Festival Hall, London

Day four of Robert Smith’s Meltdown sees the return to London of American alt rockers Death Cab For Cutie. It’s been three long years since...

Manic Street Preachers @ Royal Festival Hall, London

“You’ve been amazing – considering all these seats we’ve had to contend with,” enthuses a visibly satisfied James Dean Bradfield before signing off for the...

The Libertines @ Royal Festival Hall, London

What became of the likely lads? Well, they grew up – sort of – and ended up playing a gig, at the Robert Smith-curated Meltdown...

The Psychedelic Furs @ Royal Festival Hall, London

The last few Meltdown festivals may have been a bit more low key than we’ve come to expect, whether due to leftfield/unanticipated choices of curator...

Hilary Woods @ St Pancras Old Church, London

Hilary Woods mentions, at the end of the show, in pretty much the first indication of acknowledgement of the people who sit in front of...

Waxahatchee @ Oval Space, London

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve listened to any of the four albums Katie Crutchfield has released as Waxahatchee. Permanently on my...

Wavves @ Tufnell Park Dome, London

It’s exactly 10 years since Nathan Williams founded the surf-punk Wavves in San Diego. In celebration, their first, eponymous album has just been re-released as...

Microdisney @ Barbican, London

Cathal Coughlan and Sean O’Hagan may be better known for their more recent work in leading The Fatima Mansions and The High Llamas respectively, but...

Thom Yorke @ Roundhouse, London

The evening opens with Interference in which the song’s narrator dejectedly proclaims “I don’t have the right / to interfere”. But Thom Yorke has just...

The The @ Brixton Academy, London

It’s understandable that less than a week after the passing of his beloved father that Matt Johnson, the guiding force of The The, would need...

Courtney Barnett @ Roundhouse, London

The most common complaint in live music is that artists too freely indulge in their new material. Tonight’s Courtney Barnett gig puts the objection to...

LUMP @ Oslo, London

Here’s a curveball. In amongst the deluge of new release announcements earlier this year lurked a very curious revelation: there was to be a new...

Festival Review: Field Day 2018

Looking back, we’ve had soggy Field Days, sunny Field Days and queues-as-far-as-the-eyes-can-see Field Days. But this year’s 12th outing was set to be the first...