Sunday 23 June 2013
Gig Review: Live at the Lido 2013
Live at the Lido is becoming a well known event in the Ilkley area, and this year's one day festival proves why its reputation is growing. First up are Asylum (3/5), who start the day with a cheerful set of covers; The Artic Monkey's I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor being the best received. However, it's Black Clover (4/5) who are the first band to get a real reaction from the crowd; their powerful brand of punk rock providing much excitement. They're also the only band today who play a spontaneous encore, tearing through fan-favourite Here We Go Again after demand from the crowd. Things take a step back in intensity when Texacana (2/5) take to the stage; their American influenced country failing to lift the audience. Happily, Beth Armitage (4/5) is better received, with sing alongs, waves and, remarkably, small mosh pits breaking out throughout her set of acoustic numbers. She also sets herself apart from the majority of solo artists in managing to play an entire show without any backing at all, and her version of Rihanna's Diamonds gives the crowd the opportunity to make diamond shapes with their arms throughout the rest of the day. And the day continues to improve with The Concetines (4/5), who despite a diminished crowd turn in a superb set powered by speedy drumming and powerful bass lines. It's a standard La Fin? (3/5) can't quite live up to, but their alternative rock still keeps the audience baying for more. However, the music really steps up when Marc and Abi (5/5) arrive. Their musical talent is clear from the start as their impressive blend of country and folk inspires the crowd into a bizarre range of dances, from waltz to funk. It's testament to their strength as musicians that they keep everyone hanging onto every note without playing anything resembling rock or metal. The Puppeteers (4/5) also put on a strong showing, their self described bluesy rock sounding more violent and powerful than those words could ever encompass. While their set is given a strong response from the crowd, it's Notion (5/5), who get the biggest response so far. While being sponsored by a tuxedo company might not be the most rock n' roll thing to do, they more than make up for it with their "perfect for moshing" style of music, and the crowd react accordingly. Headbanging, circle pits and even a couple of walls of death break out throughout their set, making them possibly the most intense band of the day. And it doesn't let up with Clear (4/5) whose energetic set of covers provides the backdrop for further moshing and dancing. For middle aged ladies and gentlemen, they have a remarkable ability to pick the tracks a young crowd will dance to, and a Song 2/Smells Like Teen Spirit medley and versions of Call Me Maybe and Pumped Up Kicks are greeted with perhaps the best reactions of the day. Unfortunately, by the time Boys Off The Bench (3/5) appear, the night is drawing in and the rain is falling fast, meaning that they play to a significantly smaller crowd than the bands who played before them. It's a shame, because their set rivals many of the earlier bands. Still, the rain doesn't stop those sticking it out to the end from enjoying themselves. And a little rain is hardly going to stop Shatter the Skies (5/5), as their monolithic metal ignites the remaining hardcore metallers to mosh and headbang till the bitter end. Their set is so powerful and intense that even such rarities for a metal band as a cello and keytar don't seem a step out of place, and their stunning cover of Slipknot's Duality provides Live at the Lido with a phenomenal finish.
Monday 3 June 2013
Gig Review: Muse at the Etihad Stadium Manchester, 1.6.13, Plus Dizzee Rascal and Bastille
As Muse ride the colossal tsunami of last year's number one album The 2nd Law, a single question has found itself on the lips of fans and critics alike: is there anywhere left to go? Over the course of nineteen years together, the Devonshire trio have recorded platinum albums, headlined festivals and sold out stadiums, but can this group of survivors continue to morph and change to create music that consistently pushes the bar of what can and can't be done? On this most massive of massive tours, perhaps we could find an answer.
Before anything is discovered however, Bastille take to the stage. As new kids on the alternative scene, it's obvious that the quartet intend to display their potential to fill venues of this size with this opening support slot. With just a single studio album, they lack the wealth of material Dizzee or Muse have to choose from or the fans to sing it back at them, which amounts to a muted response from the enormous crowd. Despite their musical excellence, songs such as Bad Blood and Flaws seem more suited to an intimate surrounding than the Etihad Stadium, and the band themselves appear understandably uncomfortable playing in such a titanic location. Each member, including lead singer Dan Smith, seem rooted to their chosen spots on stage, and tonight only mega-single Pompeii truly gets the 60,000 strong crowd jumping and singing.
By contrast, Dizzee Rascal is explosive. From the word go he and his two supporting singers are bouncing across the stage to the sound of Rascal's trademark expletive-filled grime-rap. While they lack Bastille's carefully crafted songs, Dizziee and his boys more than make up for it in pure energy, with each song powered along by the seamless beats and grooves of the onstage DJ. Opening with Here 2 China, The London-born rapper is immediately urging the crowd to jump, mosh and sing along to a set heavily relying on unreleased material from his upcoming album, The Fifth. The fact that no-one has heard many of the songs aired tonight fails to stop the crowd from going absolutely mad, although particular enthusiasm is reserved for classic Rascal tracks including Bass Line Junkie, Holiday and, inevitably, the number-one single Bonkers. He may have originally been seen as a poor fit for as sophisticated a band as Muse, but over his forty-five minute set Dizzee proves that his is the perfect act to get a crowd of any size in the mood for any band.
Muse, however, are a class apart. Out of all three bands here, they are the ones who have proved beyond any doubt that they are ideally suited to playing the world's largest venues, and on this enormous stage they are in their element. Clearly aiming to excite their audience to breaking point, the intro to The 2nd Law: Unsustainable fizzles into life ten minutes late, before a powerful fireball signals the cue for the band to launch into Supremacy. Much has been said of the musical virtuoso that is singer, guitarist and pianist Matt Bellamy, and tonight he is utterly on top of his game; every screaming guitar solo note perfect, every riff charged full of power and every vocal line beautifully sung. Drummer Dom Howard and Bassist Chris Wolstenholme also appear eager to play to such a huge crowd as the band launch immediately into fan-favourite Supermassive Black Hole. Over the seventeen song main body of the gig, the bands' onstage energy and presence never relents, with Bellamy in particular charging around the stage like a man on fire. Over six albums Muse have built such a wealth of material that they can pull out tracks from both their most recent albums and their nineties roots without their performance ever feeling disjointed, which makes for an impressively varied and developed setlist. Giving rare showings to lesser-known songs such as Dead Star and Guiding Light while ignoring barnstorming hits like Hysteria might be seen as a tad self-indulgent, the this unpredictability is part of what Muse is about, and hearing these regularly forgotten tracks gives Muse's performance a personal touch. Moreover, Bellamy barely speaks the crowd which makes it all the more impressive that the show feels so personal. Of course, today's Muse shows aren't just about the music, and tonight's performance is fuelled by a huge LED screen behind the band and hundreds of strobe lights, along with chimneys belching flames into the night sky. Naturally, it's the most powerful and popular tracks such as Knights of Cydonia, Bliss and Stockholm Syndrome that really strike a chord with this crowd, so it's fortunate that Muse have dozens of such tracks to choose from.
After a stunning rendition of Stockholm Syndrome closes the main body of the performance, the band retire to a small second stage at the end of a catwalk that extends deep into the amassed fans. Here the band take a moment to shed light on the rarest of their songs, playing a beautiful acoustic version of Unintended; a long-forgotten song from first album Showbiz, giving the most hard-core of Muse fans a chance to raise their voices above the rest. Blackout sees a ballerina suspended from an enormous plastic light bulb floating across the crowd, while Undisclosed Desires gives Matt the opportunity to shake hands with screaming fans (including myself) at the barrier between stage and crowd.
Of course, the band return for two extended encores, the first seeing a thirty-foot tin robot dancing to the dubstep beats of The 2nd Law: Unsustainable, before the classic Muse anthem Plug in Baby, which seems even more colossal than the robot itself! The band's Olympic theme song Survival follows, before an extended version of The 2nd Law: Unsustainable introduces the second encore, which features the powerful revolutionary track Uprising before Starlight delivers Manchester a towering, pyro-fuelled finale.
With this phenomenal concert Muse have once again proved that they are better than ever before, and continue to strive to become the greatest band on the planet. Perhaps they have gone everywhere they can go, but they are still showing us that nothing can stop creativity, and nothing can stop their ideas.
10/10
Before anything is discovered however, Bastille take to the stage. As new kids on the alternative scene, it's obvious that the quartet intend to display their potential to fill venues of this size with this opening support slot. With just a single studio album, they lack the wealth of material Dizzee or Muse have to choose from or the fans to sing it back at them, which amounts to a muted response from the enormous crowd. Despite their musical excellence, songs such as Bad Blood and Flaws seem more suited to an intimate surrounding than the Etihad Stadium, and the band themselves appear understandably uncomfortable playing in such a titanic location. Each member, including lead singer Dan Smith, seem rooted to their chosen spots on stage, and tonight only mega-single Pompeii truly gets the 60,000 strong crowd jumping and singing. 
By contrast, Dizzee Rascal is explosive. From the word go he and his two supporting singers are bouncing across the stage to the sound of Rascal's trademark expletive-filled grime-rap. While they lack Bastille's carefully crafted songs, Dizziee and his boys more than make up for it in pure energy, with each song powered along by the seamless beats and grooves of the onstage DJ. Opening with Here 2 China, The London-born rapper is immediately urging the crowd to jump, mosh and sing along to a set heavily relying on unreleased material from his upcoming album, The Fifth. The fact that no-one has heard many of the songs aired tonight fails to stop the crowd from going absolutely mad, although particular enthusiasm is reserved for classic Rascal tracks including Bass Line Junkie, Holiday and, inevitably, the number-one single Bonkers. He may have originally been seen as a poor fit for as sophisticated a band as Muse, but over his forty-five minute set Dizzee proves that his is the perfect act to get a crowd of any size in the mood for any band. 
Muse, however, are a class apart. Out of all three bands here, they are the ones who have proved beyond any doubt that they are ideally suited to playing the world's largest venues, and on this enormous stage they are in their element. Clearly aiming to excite their audience to breaking point, the intro to The 2nd Law: Unsustainable fizzles into life ten minutes late, before a powerful fireball signals the cue for the band to launch into Supremacy. Much has been said of the musical virtuoso that is singer, guitarist and pianist Matt Bellamy, and tonight he is utterly on top of his game; every screaming guitar solo note perfect, every riff charged full of power and every vocal line beautifully sung. Drummer Dom Howard and Bassist Chris Wolstenholme also appear eager to play to such a huge crowd as the band launch immediately into fan-favourite Supermassive Black Hole. Over the seventeen song main body of the gig, the bands' onstage energy and presence never relents, with Bellamy in particular charging around the stage like a man on fire. Over six albums Muse have built such a wealth of material that they can pull out tracks from both their most recent albums and their nineties roots without their performance ever feeling disjointed, which makes for an impressively varied and developed setlist. Giving rare showings to lesser-known songs such as Dead Star and Guiding Light while ignoring barnstorming hits like Hysteria might be seen as a tad self-indulgent, the this unpredictability is part of what Muse is about, and hearing these regularly forgotten tracks gives Muse's performance a personal touch. Moreover, Bellamy barely speaks the crowd which makes it all the more impressive that the show feels so personal. Of course, today's Muse shows aren't just about the music, and tonight's performance is fuelled by a huge LED screen behind the band and hundreds of strobe lights, along with chimneys belching flames into the night sky. Naturally, it's the most powerful and popular tracks such as Knights of Cydonia, Bliss and Stockholm Syndrome that really strike a chord with this crowd, so it's fortunate that Muse have dozens of such tracks to choose from. 
After a stunning rendition of Stockholm Syndrome closes the main body of the performance, the band retire to a small second stage at the end of a catwalk that extends deep into the amassed fans. Here the band take a moment to shed light on the rarest of their songs, playing a beautiful acoustic version of Unintended; a long-forgotten song from first album Showbiz, giving the most hard-core of Muse fans a chance to raise their voices above the rest. Blackout sees a ballerina suspended from an enormous plastic light bulb floating across the crowd, while Undisclosed Desires gives Matt the opportunity to shake hands with screaming fans (including myself) at the barrier between stage and crowd. 
With this phenomenal concert Muse have once again proved that they are better than ever before, and continue to strive to become the greatest band on the planet. Perhaps they have gone everywhere they can go, but they are still showing us that nothing can stop creativity, and nothing can stop their ideas.
10/10
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