Blondie @ Southend Cliffs Pavilion

I have been anticipating tonight’s show since the very moment I purchased tickets a fair few months ago. Blondie are legendary, and I am not using this term lightly. Having sold in excess of 40 million records since their formation in 1975 making them one of the most commercially successful bands to emerge from the 1970’s punk scene and most recently being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they thoroughly deserve this legendary status. And the fact that they are playing this relatively intimate (for them at least) venue makes tonight’s show even more special.

Before I go any further I’d like to give you a glimpse of the scene that I am confronted with in the space just outside of the main stage room. What I am standing in resembles tea-time at a retirement home. Tea and cakes are being served to individuals who were at least in their late teens when Blondie started and I am most certainly one of the youngest here (I’m 19 by the way). But this is a band of their childhoods, many of the women here idolised Deborah Harry and many of these men had enormous crushes on her! Given the huge task of being the sole support for such a legendary band is small Oxford band Little Fish. Without even an album to their name (debut to be released October this year entitled Baffled & Beat) they have already racked up some impressive support slots with bands such as Hole, Placebo and Alice In Chains. After my last experience of these live (supporting Placebo) I was dreading having to stand through these again. But something has changed, they’re good, very good! Their female fronted garage rock captivates me, and clearly the rest of the audience as no-one holds back applause after each song. Admittedly a few songs sound a little flat and uncatchy but then a gem like ‘Darling Dear’ comes along with its steadily increasing tempo that grabs my attention and the amazing vocals from Julia ‘juju’ Sophie, showing just why they were chosen for this huge feat. The highlight of their set for me is the new single ‘Am I Crazy?’ which I know well due the computer game Rockband. Little Fish’s job is done, and I’m ready for Blondie!!
As the backdrop becomes visible, a black and white striped sheet with BLONDIE across it, many of the crowd come close to peeing themselves with excitement, although for many of the older members the excitement may not be the reason! I may be playing on the fact that many of the audience are on the older side of life, but there are still plenty of young faces which is pleasing to see as it shows that Blondie are still attracting new fans that weren’t even born when the first album was released. When Debbie Harry walks out onto the stage, the cheers and screams are beyond deafening! This is understandable as for many of the women here she was an icon and they all wanted to be her. She neither looks, sounds or moves like the 64 year old lady she is as they plough through their massive hits while also given us a sneak peak at many new songs from forthcoming album Panic Of Girls. Hanging On The Telephone sounds phenomenal. Debbie has certainly not lost her dance moves over the years as she moves as if it was 1979, although she does require the odd rest here and there, which she uses as an opportunity to allow the rest of the band to show their talent, with guitar solos and a exceptional drum solo which all receive tremendous reactions from the crowd, and leaves me thoroughly impressed.

Sandwiched between new songs are hits including Atomic, The Tide Is High, Rapture and Picture This which are all delivered with everything that Blondie have, I’m actually so surprised at how perfect they sound, and id happily stand here and watch them play all night long. Muse had clearly been listening to Call Me before writing their song ‘Uprising’ as there are many similarities. Blondie are clearly aware of this as they slightly change the intro and various parts to sound more like Muse and it sounds bloody amazing! Unlike many of the gigs I go to, the crowd here are relaxed. There is no pushing, shoving or people getting in each other’s faces. The room is full of people here to appreciate the music. ‘One Way Or Another’ is possible Blondie’s most well recognised song and tonight it sparks an energetic response from the crowd which equals the performance onstage. It seems that Blondie still have the ability to surprise as they deliver a shock cover of Taio Cruz’ hit single ‘Break Your Heart’. If I was told beforehand that they would cover this then I would have been wary of the result, but I’m pleasantly surprised and pleased that they performed it so much better than the original (which is actually a guilty pleasure of mine).

As ‘Heart Of Glass’ comes to an end, the excruciatingly painful cheers make an appearance once again. Debbie and the band smile as they have been all night, which is something I like from a band. I love it when a performer looks like they are enjoying themselves as much as I am. I may have not been around to witness a Blondie show back in the day, but their performance tonight makes one thing clear…they still have it!!

Kids In Glass Houses @ KoKo

Photo credit: CUTCLEAN Photography

Kids In Glass Houses have grown hugely in size with regular airplay on Radio 1, which has all resulted in tonight’s show being completely sold out. The mainly teenage queue is extremely long as anticipation builds.

But first on tonight are Watford hopefuls Spy Catcher. I have only ever seen these guys perform an acoustic set so I was excited to see what they could deliver with a full set up. One thing that has baffled me both times watching these is the fact that bassist Stu Gilli-Ross (also bassist for Gallows and the reason I heard of this band in the first place) is not performing with them. Spy Catcher perform to a half full KOKO but this doesn’t seem to bother them in the slightest. They play song after song of gritty punk-rock injected with a high dose of soul. The crowd lack in movement but they show their appreciation in form of applause, and I can’t see one person not clapping. Spy Catcher don’t need the spectacular lighting that the headliners receive to make their set more appealing, they do this with their music alone, especially with extremely catchy tracks ‘You Got Soul’ and ‘Don’t Like People’ which I can’t help but nod my head and tap my feet to. I really hope these guys get the attention they deserve and make it big, they certainly have the potential.

I’d never actually gotten around to giving General Fiasco a listen before the show so I was completely unaware of what to expect from them, although I was told that they were really indie (yawn). When General Fiasco started playing, up until the chorus what I was told seemed correct, they are very indie indeed. But as the chorus comes in they transform into an insanely catchy pop-rock band. This seems to be the guideline for all of their songs tonight, indie verses with pop-rock choruses that are so bouncy they even manage to get the old guy leaning against the wall on his feet and moving. But it’s when they perform ‘Ever So Shy’ that I’m hit with how good these Belfast boys really are. I need to get an exterminator in to remove its chorus from my head, but it’s so enjoyable I’m not sure I want to. It gets everyone jumping and plasters smiles on everyone’s faces, including mine. Im left pleasantly surprised by General Fiasco but I can’t help but think how much more id enjoy them without the indie verses.

Almost 2 years ago, I saw Kids In Glass Houses play here at the KOKO as support for a free I-tunes live festival show. Tonight shows how far they have come as they have managed to sell out the same venue as headliners and the place is buzzing with excitement. The stage has been taken over by fairy lights as they cover all of the amps and even the drum kit. This along with the bouquets of pink and white flowers attached to the amps and mic stands creates a theatrical feel that fits perfectly well with decor of the KOKO interior.

KIGH open with the first track form latest album Dirt ‘Artbreaker I’. I’ve never heard KIGH sound so perfect, especially on the first song of their set. Without pause they plough into ‘The Best Is Yet to Come’ and they already have 100% control over the audience as they dance, jump and sing along.

‘Give Me What I Want’ is the first track that I ever heard from KIGH and has always been a live favourite of mine and certainly still is after the energetic deliverance of it tonight.

The set list is mostly Dirt orientated but it is lightly scattered with gems from debut album Smart Casual which pleases everyone in attendance. On record, ‘Undercover Lover’ (which features guest vocals from The Saturdays’ Frankie Sandford) sounds cheesy and is kind of a guilty pleasure track on the album, but live tonight it is transformed into a sing along beast.

A favourite of mine off the new album ‘For Better Or Hearse’ shows that KIGH are masters of creating infectious choruses. The energy reaches every level of the KOKO even to the very highest floor. Even though I have seen KIGH many times before, this is my first time hearing the new songs performed, and they sound huge to say the least.

A brief cover of Gwen Stefani hit ‘Hollaback Girl’ provides a bit of a joke before exploding into ‘Fisticuffs’ which produces the circle pit that Aled Phillips requests. KIGH sound pleasingly heavy live and have so much more energy than is experienced on CD.

‘The Morning Afterlife’ slows down the pace a fair bit for possibly the slowest song of the set, but this gives Aled Phillips an opportunity to show that he is a natural front man. Strutting around the stage unleashing his powerful vocals, he looks and sounds the part.

The encore consists of 3 great songs ‘Artbreaker II’, ‘Saturday’ and ‘Sunshine’. But it’s ‘Artbreaker II’ that I have been waiting all night to hear. It is without a doubt my favourite KIGH song and it sounds monstrous live tonight with a nice long perfectly executed guitar solo part, its fast pace and the passion with which it is delivered by every member of the band.

Im left surprised at how much tighter they are as a band than the last time I saw them. KIGH are on a steep upward climb which doesn’t look set to stop anytime soon. They have the catchy songs and the ability to put on amazing performances like tonight which could see them rocketing in popularity just like You Me At Six. KIGH have just finished a tour with Lostprophets, maybe it’s not long until they are the ones headlining the huge venues.

Kids In Glass Houses set list:

Artbreaker I

The Best Is Yet To Come

Give Me What I Want

Lilli Rose

Young Blood (let it out)

Good Boys Gone Rad

Undercover Lover

For Better or Hearse

Fisticuffs

The Morning Afterlife

Hunt the Haunted

Matters At All

**encore**

Artbreaker II

Saturday

Sunshine

Interview with Orange!

Thank you so much to Joe Dexter, Alec Gomez, Perry Ladish and Zak Glosserman from Orange for taking some time out to answer a few questions for BTS - View interview HERE.

Lostprophets + The Blackout @ The Roundhouse, London

The reason behind today’s show kicking off at the early time of 6pm is that it is part of the Gaymers/MTV sponsored Camden Crawl weekend. So as I arrive at 5:35 seemingly with enough time to quickly take a trip to the toilet, but before I get a chance I hear a booming noise coming from the stage area. The Blackout are starting 20 minutes before advertised on tickets. This therefore results in a lack of crowd in front of the stage. Only about half of the Roundhouse is currently occupied.

This is the 12th time for me seeing The Blackout play live, so I am already prepared for an entertaining show from them. Tonight both The Blackout and Lostprophets only receive 45 minute set times due to this being part of a festival even though this show did require individual tickets.

The Blackout explode onto the stage showing that they are a band full of energy, using full advantage of the spacious stage, running around like Meerkats on drugs. ‘STFUppercut’ is delivered with intensity but one thing that brings TBO down tonight is the terrible sound quality, which is of course not down to them.


It’s no surprise that TBO got noticed by Epitaph with songs like ‘Children Of The Night’. Their performance of this tonight sounds damn near perfect with Sean Smith’s screaming vocals sounding as monstrous as usual. Sean Smith and Gavin Butler share the vocal work on ‘Its High Tide Baby’ which also gets a tremendous amount of help from the crowd. On CD, this track features guest vocals from Lostprophets front man Ian Watkins and seeing as he is here in the building tonight, an appearance by him on this song would be expected. But strangely the song finished with no assistance from him at all.

Another song by TBO that features guest vocals (from Josh Francheschi of You Me at Six) is ‘I Don’t Care (This is why we can’t have nice things)’. Yet he also doesn’t make an appearance has he has done on various occasions before. After hearing this song over and over and over at the video shoot for the single release id expect to be sick of hearing this song, but TBO seem to have a way of making everything sound so interesting live and manages to make this track sound fresh and exciting tonight.

The crowd has started to filter in and the room is starting to fill finally. There is a mixed crowd of various ages and of people who are here to see their favourite bands (dressed in band merch and with their eyes glued to the stage) and those who are here just as part of the festival weekend (standing at the back with drinks not paying much attention to the band). TBO then deliver another few delights from latest album ‘The Best in Town’. A personal favourite of mine ‘The Fire’, sounding elegantly heavy and cements the claims of them being one of Wales’ best bands. Sean Smith’s screams sound on top form in this song tonight. Whilst on the subject of Sean Smith I feel I should highlight how energetic he is as he jumps non-stop around the stage and even front flips onto the floor. It looks painful, but it sure helps aid the intensity of the music.


On another favourite of mine ‘We’re Going To Hell…So Bring The Sunblock’, Gavin Butler’s amazing voice fits perfectly with the screams produced by the blonde haired Energizer bunny and sounds excellent getting the crowd moving more than usual. Midway through ‘Save Our Selves (The Warning)’, TBO attempt to get the entire audience to kneel on the floor. Clearly a trick stolen from Slipknot, this request is met with enthusiasm at TBO headline gigs but tonight only half of the crowd seem willing to participate. Then when the song kicks back in they jump up half arsed. I’ve got to admit, Slipknot pull this off a hell of a lot better!

Unsurprisingly they close with the beast that is ‘Im A Riot? You’re A Fucking Riot!’. This ferocious song sends the crowd into a frenzy for the first actual time tonight (even producing a fair sized moshpit), apart from the weak attempt at kneeling down then jumping up. With this, The Blackout have made their mark on the Camden Crawl and undoubtedly earnt themselves a decent amount of new fans today.

With the Roundhouse a lot more packed out as Lostprophets are about to begin their overly short set of just 45 minutes I find it weird that the headline act should be given the same set time as the support act but due to the festival scenario this is what it has to be like. With 4 studio albums and many hit singles, I’m sure it was hard for LP to decide on their set list for tonight’s show.


When Lostprophets hit the stage they explode into the first single off their latest album ‘The Betrayed’ which is entitled ‘It’s Not The End Of The World (But I Can See It From Here)’. The crowd go insane for LP and it’s no surprise with this song sounding so huge! Even with the slightly dodgy sound quality tonight. Not slowing down one bit, they burst into classic ‘Burn Burn’ which happened to have its music video filmed in this very building a few years ago. Drummer Luke Johnson is recent addition to the bands current line-up and wasn’t with them when any of these early tracks were written, but you’d have never have guessed this as he plays so naturally as ‘Burn Burn’ sounds amazing.

Next up is the outrageously catchy ‘Can’t Catch Tomorrow (Good Shoes Won’t Save You This Time)’, followed by another older song ‘Last Summer’. In my opinion, I feel LP could have sacrificed this song from the set list to make way for a stronger song which was left off, such as ‘4:AM Forever’ or maybe even ‘A Town Called Hypocrisy’.

Latest single ‘For He’s A Jolly Good Felon’ is played and greeted as if it were a classic by the crowd. Then LP deliver an actual classic, ‘Last Train Home’. Everyone sings along to this as if their lives depended on it, and one thing’s for sure…I won’t be missing my last train home with this show set to finish so early.

Stuart Richardson (Bass), Mike Lewis (Guitar) and Lee Gaze (Guitar) are all on great form tonight as ever song sounds note perfect, although at times this cant be fully appreciated as the sound continues to be a problem. A song which enables Ian Watkins to display his great vocal skills is ‘Where We Belong’. With its anthemic chorus that would suit much of the larger venues, he unleashes his powerful voice, but at times it sounds a little under pressure. This is most probably down to their hectic touring schedule lately because on other occasions seeing LP his voice has sounded much better than this. But it’s only a minor issue as 99% of the time his voice is on form tonight.

They cover the opening of Guns’N’Roses hit song ‘Sweet Child’O Mine’ without the highly recognisable Slash guitar part. Only the original lyrics are used with a very poor guitar part, which makes for a boring attempt at covering a classic song. But something that Lostprophets are good at is creating highly accessible music that appeals to fans from various genres of music. A good example of this is ‘Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)’, but tonight it sounds a little bland at times, but on the most part is played with passion and sounds great.

Cameras swoop thought the air like an Eagle surveying the crowd as if they were its prey, as today’s how will be broadcast on MTV.

For their final song, LP give us a choice between two of their heaviest and greatest songs in my opinion, ‘Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja’ and ‘We Are Godzilla, You Are Japan’. And to vote for the song we want, we have to cheer when the song name is said. Unfortunately the ‘Shinobi’ cheer is greater than the ‘Godzilla’ cheer, and I was one of the people left gutted from this. Not that I don’t like ‘Shinobi’, I just prefer ‘Godzilla’. Lostprophets don’t disappoint anyone though, sending the crowd mental. Pleasing old school Lostprophets fans with the only song played tonight from their debut album ‘thefakesoundofprogress’.

Jamie Oliver (turntables, vocals, effects) has been crazy all night, like a guy possessed. He interacts with the crowd more than any other member of the band and he looks like he is really enjoying himself up there, as he throws himself around the stage really feeling the music.

As they finish, it is still light outside on the streets of Camden which is a rarity for gigs, and the show was over way too quickly. But both bands gave great performances and everyone leaves happy and ready to enjoy the rest of the night, and considering its not even 8pm yet, there’s plenty of the night left.

Orange - New Video/Cartoon Network show theme song!

Check out this amazing new video by Orange with their song Revolution that is featured on Cartoon Network’s Generator Rex. I met Orange on the Zebrahead tour earlier this year and they're all really cool guys so I wanted to share this new song with you all! It's very catchy, check it out, you're gonna love it.



Jodi.

AFI @ o2 Academy Birmingham 2010

(Support bands - The Dear and Departed, Sick of it All) - 12.04.10 - After about 3-4 years since the Decemberunderground tour, AFI finally came back to the UK to tour with their most recent album, Crash Love. It was a very long wait, but so worth it when they came back. AFI are my favorite band and have always been my favorite band to see live, and last night I was lucky enough to take photos at this show in Birmingham and it was seriously amazing. They played a really good set, including many songs from Crash Love, a few older songs such as Perfect Fit and Love is a Many Splendored Thing, and they also played But Home is Nowhere from Sing The Sorrow which I have never seen live before and it was so good! (Full setlist)


During Kill Caustic Lou Koller from Sick Of It All joined AFI on stage, and all I can say is it was really, really good! I think it was around about this time I met guitarist Pete Koller from Sick of it All and took a few portrait shots of him (click). And then near the end of their set Dan Smith from The Dear and Departed came on stage and sang Love Like Winter with Davey - which you can watch just below (Although, this video was taken by me in Manchester, but equally as good!).



I would definitely recommend to people to go and see them if you ever get the chance! You won’t be disappointed! I know I can’t wait til they come back! Let’s just hope the wait isn’t so long this time!


Photos:

AFI
The Dear and Departed
Sick of it All

Jodi

Bowling For Soup Acoustic Tour!

For an acoustic show, this was actually pretty good. I haven’t had the chance to see Bowling For Soup live before, but these guys were really funny and did a great set so I’ll definitely be seeing them when they come back with the whole band. From the moment they got on stage it seemed they didn’t really plan on what they were going to play, they took suggestions from the crowd, and they had a book of song names in front of them and played songs randomly and it was really good. They saved one of their best songs til almost the end of the set, that most of the crowd shouted out about an hour before they even finished, and that song was 1985! I didn’t really see much of the support acts as I got there just as the second band was finishing, but I really enjoyed Jaret and Eriks set, it was a good night, especially when they played this. Click here for more photos!



Jodi