Hyde Park calling...

I recently had the absolute pleasure of seeing one of my favourite bands at the recent 2011 Hard Rock Calling "festival".

This is my second time of seeing the Vegas 4 piece, and after a short period of hiatus, and a speculative solo effort by lead singer Brandon Flowers, The Killers returned to their accepted spiritual home in the UK with a bang!

The group that brought the world 'Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll', were nothing short of top form! One of my fears in going to see them again was that the show would be an (all but) carbon copy of the pervious show; this because having seen their setlists over the past couple of years, and their 2009 DVD and all having basically the same line up. But to my delight they had shaken out the cobwebs of the hiatus and looked to be really enjoying playing music together again!

 

Much in the way the Killers have done over the past 7-8 years, they truely put on a fantastic show! The only way I can describe a Killers gig is by offering all the entertainment factor and hit power of a current act such as the the Arctic Monkeys, and mixed it up in a blender with the excitement of a Freddy Mercury and Queen performance, inherantly including all the charisma and showmanship.

This gig finished up with their self professed favorite piece of music together, When you were young. Hopefully this is still only the youth of a long and healthy career for the Killers! And I'm hoping to hear some new material by the end of the year/ start of next!

Cheers! 

Tx

The setlist was:

‘Indie Rock & Roll’
‘Spaceman’
‘Somebody Told Me’
‘For Reasons Unknown’
‘Smile Like You Mean It’
‘Losing Touch’
‘Bones’
‘Spaceman Reprise’
‘Bling (Confessions Of A King)’
‘Shadowplay’
‘Human’
‘Moon River’
‘Read My Mind’
‘Mr Brightside’
‘All These Things I’ve Done’
‘This Is Yoru Life’
‘Jenny Was Friend Of Mine’

‘When You Were Young’ 

MONA...

Hey guys!

Apologies for the long delay between posts, all work and no beer make Tom a VERY dull boy!

 
Today I’m going to be talking about a gig I had the absolute pleasure of attending, with my good friend Mark. This is a band that has recently been nominated for the BBC sounds of 2011, the MTV Earls of Indie awards, and won the MTV New Band for 2011.  
MONA are an American four piece rock band, hailing from Nashville, Tennessee. Formed in 2004 and sporting a boarder line 60 Greaser style and a Johnny Cash swagger, (that even the man himself would be proud of) these guys transcend merely a rock band…. They’re a bunch of genuinely top blokes!

Arriving in the Cockpit, Leeds, you’d be hard pressed to think it was much of a ‘big group’ music venue. It’s small and cramped, but in some ways has an elegance and intimacy that larger venues sorely lack… and filled almost to capacity it was ready to rock.

MONA took to the stage with a ‘cryptic’ set list, and to an air of high anticipation throughout. Having herd four of tracks (…which I loved…) I had very high hopes for a great gig, and being stood right at the front, within touching distance of the guitarist build my excitement further!

The band started without further-adu, and slammed straight into their second single “Trouble on the Way” which, I’ll be honest I had no idea what the rest of the crowd where doing, all I know is I was loving it!

Moving swiftly forward they hammered home their latest single “Teenager”, a personal favourite, and the crowd was going wild. With a high ‘student’ population at the front it was hard to miss the elation throughout, my only problem was that it seemed to be over too fast…

Then came the other two MONA tracks I’ve herd, “Lines in the Sand” & ”Listen to Your Love” (which the band have a new video out for… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6spfw6JNsM) It was a great feeling to be within a group of people who all had the same feeling that they were witnessing the start of something special.

However, after the first four songs had been played, and with no debut album out there seemed to be a sense of nervous anticipation about what was to come next. The gig was rocking, but all of the big hitters had been knocked-out… or so we thought!

MONA managed to keep a rocking audience without the aid of ‘headline tracks’! Something I’ve never experienced before! Tracks such as “Say You Will” went down a very well with the crowd, and with the lead singer actually jumping into the (only about a foot away) audience during “Pavement” it seemed they could do no wrong!

Then came the encore, which felt like it was over all too fast….

Only for the band to throw away the rule book, and give the crown exactly what the wanted, by coming out and performing the Johnny Cash inspired “Lean Into The Fall” as a second encore!

After the gig I was left with the impression of a band that are in the ascendancy. A highly polished, and flowing performance, gave MONA the feel of a band who just naturally click. Leaving the crowd wanting more and a burning desire to hear more more more!!

MONA are releasing their self titled debut album on the 16^th May, and pack more punch than your average indie-rock bands put together. If you get the chance DEFINATLY go and see them, if not be sure to check out the album when it comes out, it should be a stormer!

(Had to mention also that after the gig in the attached bar me and Mark got to meet the band, and they’re a bunch of seriously cool guys, and put up with basically a pair of, what were by then, “fan girls” in the two of us. Cheers lads!)

Thanks for reading! Get involved with MONA on Fb and Twitter:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/monatheband

http://twitter.com/#!/MONATHEBAND

Cheers Tx

The Golden Age of Funeral Party

Live At Manchester Academy 3 - 27.1.11

When I heard that Funeral Party were coming to town I jumped at the chance to get involved. This is a band that has received hype from pretty much everyone involved in music, including Radio 1’s Zane Lowe. I was also quite excited, as I’ve been listening to them since the first demos started to appear!

For a gig that wasn’t sold out, on a freezing cold January night in Manchester I half expected the band not to turn up, however this was not to be the case. The opening act were a testimony to this, ‘Flashguns’ certainly strutted their stuff showing off all their talents (including the lead singers massive ego). Nevertheless they put on a good show, and got the crowd nicely warmed up for the headlines.

Funeral Party took to the stage, a band whose debut album ‘The Golden age of Knowhere’ has been likened to The Strokes, and other such early noughties punk-funk stylings. The band certainly brought their A-game, with their socio-cultural musings mixed with their fast paced tunes pummelling the crowed from every angle. Their style seemed perfectly suited to the relatively small venue and the appreciative (mainly student based) crowd. With barely time to breath between songs the set flowed nicely from one track to the next, combining thumping guitar riffs and catchy hooks.

Highlighted in the show however was the bands lack of diversity in their songs (not that I have a problem here!) The lack of certain subtleties, such as a really good ballad to accompany the heavy hitting tracks, was obvious. However it made for quite a refreshing change, as instead of constantly changing instruments, and slowing down the pace of the show, merely to speed up again the band merely powered through.

Tracks such as ‘Carwars’, ‘Golden age of Knowhere’ and ‘Finale’ were all massive highlights of the show, seeing the lead singer actually throwing himself into the crowd during ‘Finale’ and the crowd refusing to let the charismatic Chad Elliott back onto the stage.

The real headliners however were ‘NYC Moves To The Sound Of LA’, which was played pre-encore, and ‘Just Because’ which was saved for the very end sending the crowd crazy.

I really like this band, and feel their live show delivers some cracking tracks and a maturity that you wouldn’t expect for such (for want of a better word) a ‘young’ band. I feel the live show is complemented nicely by a top album, and while proving how good they are, also wears their weaknesses on their sleeve proudly.

A top gig, one I’d advise anyone to see!

Cheers for reading!! Leave me a comment let me know what you think!
Tx

(Coming Soon The Whit Lies and MONA!)