thu 19/06/2025

New Music Reviews

Status Quo, Brighton Centre

Thomas H Green

It is quite a sight to see your children doing the heads down Quo boogie but, by the time the band reach “Whatever You Want”, that is exactly where my daughters, aged 14 and nine, are at. The rest of the Brighton Centre, not sold out but respectably full, is on its feet too. Just beside us a well-preserved man of around 70 is going completely bananas, shirt open, sweat pouring off.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: Matthew Herbert, Julia Holter, Miles Davis, Monotreme Records

theartsdesk


Herbert Bodily Functions (Special Edition)Herbert: Bodily Functions (Special Edition)

Thomas H Green

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Kris Kristofferson, Royal Festival Hall

Russ Coffey

From being disowned by his family to writing the ultimate hangover lament, Kris Kristofferson has, partly, led the life of a country song. The other part, however, has included a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, an illustrious movie career and dating Barbara Streisand. In 1971 he famously sang about being “partly truth and partly fiction - a walking contradiction”. Now, at 76, the Texan’s clever lines enjoy a lower profile.

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The Fall, Islington Assembly Hall

Kimon Daltas

Support bands tend to get short shrift, but it would be criminal not to give Evil Blizzard their due here. Made up of three bass guitarists with assorted effects pedals and a drummer who also sang, three members of the band were in pink pyjamas and wearing masks, while the fourth was in black leather and a Hawkwind hairdo. They produced industrial levels of noise around steady riffs and a variety of filthy bass sounds.

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Rizzle Kicks, Brighton Centre, Brighton

Thomas H Green

Usually when a band playing a venue the size of the Brighton Centre asks if the crowd would like to hear a new song the response is somewhat muted. However, this is a crowd of eager fans, average age around 17, and they yell back affirmatively with all their might. Rizzle Kicks are in their home city and it shows (especially when they later lead a chant for Brighton and Hove Albion FC – “Seagulls! Seagulls”).

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Mumford & Sons, SECC, Glasgow

Lisa-Marie Ferla

Over the last couple of months Mumford & Sons have quietly become the biggest band in the world. If there was a coronation it came at some point between the headline-making second album, Babel, and this sell-out first arena tour. When the announcement came earlier this week that the folky foursome are to headline next year’s 20th anniversary T in the Park festival, I seemed to be the only one who was surprised.

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Elbow, O2 Arena

Jasper Rees

Elbow are responsible for a remarkable conjuring trick. Earlier this year their song “First Steps” stirringly soundtracked the BBC’s Olympic credit sequence, and then at the Closing Ceremony they serenaded the athletes into the London 2012 stadium with “Open Arms” and “One Day Like This”.

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theartsdesk at the Shhh! Festival

Lisa-Marie Ferla

Guitar virtuoso RM Hubbert is something of an unlikely champion of quiet music.

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Glasvegas, Garage

Bruce Dessau

Before Glasvegas took off James Allan played professional football in Scotland. He did not quite make the highest echelon in his soccer career and after a blistering start, when his band was championed as the Next Great Guitar Group, things haven't been looking too hopeful in his music career either.

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Reissue CDs Weekly: The House of Love, The Clarke & Ware Experiment, Interpol, T. Rex, The Smashing Pumpkins

theartsdesk


The House of LoveThe House of Love: The House of Love

Kieron Tyler

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