Massive Attack London Live Review

Massive Attack, Carling Academy, Brixton London, February 8th 2007

A band that seems to have shied away from the music kingdom of Myspace (prove me wrong, anyone?), Massive Attack were certainly not short of devotees at this astounding gig.
Crammed in without an inch to spare, the audience were treated to a collection of their most famous tunes to date, pleasing the old traditionalists amongst us.

Setting the pace with their newest heart-stopping song ‘False Flags’, every song played was with integrity and had the crowds mesmerised for the 90 minutes they were on stage.

Favourites from Collected, the greatest hits double-CD of 2006, played on the evening include Angel, Teardrop and the one-and-only Unfinished Symphony used in The Matrix.

Proving that there’s more to the band than a good sound, frontman Robert Del Naja and the group were actively supporting HOPING on the night, a foundation supporting Palestinian refugee children.

Their heart on the sleeve effort was widely applauded but in all honesty the guy handing out leaflets about the cause really started to grind on my nerves by the tenth time he approached us.

A clever tactic of the Attack was to have a huge light display with scrolling text giving facts and figures about the state of Palestine – entertaining and enlightening.

Refreshingly the audience were well behaved and without hardly any effort managed to blag a space at the barrier, affording me a fantastic view without the sweaty jumping teens to boot.
Exhilarating, trippy and most definitely worth the expensive ticket.

Review by Alexia Weeks

Music: Top 5 UK albums you probably never knew about

1 - We May Be Skinny And Wirey - The Crocketts
Before they were the Crimea, the Crocketts were a brilliant underground country rock crazy thrash band, they put on great live shows, often covering classic songs such as Ring of Fire and recorded 2 great albums, their first album was my favourite. 'We may be skinny and wirey' is such a wonderful journey of music and toe tapping tunes its really painful to knew they never had much commercial success. Look out for 'Tennasie' 'Strong Guy' 'Bucket and Spade' & 'Will you still care'

2 - Stamina - The Junket
Another underground pop-indie-rock band from the 90's, the Junket was a three piece band with great rythem, bass and harmonies. Stamina was actually a seven track mini album, but every song is so unique and utter genius. Look out for 'the Engine Man' & 'Punk Mickey'

3 - Everything Picture - Ultrasound
Ultrasound were the Pink Floyd of the 90's, fronted by tall, obese singer/guitarist Andrew 'Tiny' Wood, whose voice was beautiful and he knew how to rock!. Everything Picture was a concept double album, probably the 90's was not ready for it as the band soon split up. The album was epic, one track was about 30 minutes of noise and news samples mixed in with fuzzy guitars and screaming. Key Tracks include 'Same Band' 'Stay Young' & 'Floodlit World'

4 - Captain - Idlewild
I'm sure the now semi-famous idlewild don't really like this album, again a mini album of epic thrash rock proportions. There was no way in hell after listening to this album would you think 'yeah this band can do pop songs really well'. Captain is about 25 mins of the most exhilarating head banging tunes you will ever hear. You have to listen to 'Last Night i missed all the fireworks' 'Self Healer' & 'you just have to be who you are'

5 - When do we start fighting - Seafood
Probably the best indie rock album i have ever heard, possibly the best album on this top 5 list. When do we start fighting boasts amazing soft harmonies, contrasting perfectly with the harsh dark bass lines with a hint of folk. Very hard to describe Seafood, they're just perfect. Look out for 'Splinter' ' Western Battle' & 'Desert Stretched Before The Sun'

All very 90's... but all very good! CP

Music: Flaming Lips Live - Birmingham NIA

Flaming Lips, NIA Birmingham UK, November 9th 2006

The Flaming Lips are notorious for their shows, with a reputation for a psychadelic circus of performance. They didn't dissapoint with this new tour, promoting their latest album "At War With the Mystics", a funky yet assertive new interpretation of the epic rip roaring melodies we have come to know and love over the last twenty odd years. Opening the show in a suitably weird fashion were support band Deerhoof, a trio of bass, drums and lead guitar, playing a perplexing mix of de-constructed heavy metal ambiance, (including toddler like dance moves from the squeaky lead singer).

Although "The Lips" could be seen before the opening number, setting up equipment and so on it didn't prevent the entrance to the stage being theatrical yet down right trippy. With one side of the stage engulfed by dancers in Father Christmas suits armed with torches, Wayne Coyne rolled on to the stage and then the crowd in a giant inflatable aero ball, accompanied by sexy alien women, naturally. They started as they meant to go on, with twice as many giant balloons than usual. Due to the bands respect for Chandeliers at the previous nights venue, they had some left over. This little anecdote was taken from one of the many rambling monologues from the lovable hippy front man that interjected throughout the night. Covering topics ranging from the joyous discintigration of the Bush establishment to optimistic advise for troubled teens. However the sensory overload was more than enough compensation for sometimes tedious and cheesey speeches. Laser shows, puppetry sing alongs, giant glitter balls creating illusions of spinning stars and continuous streams of glittery party string being blasted at the audience left me feeling absolutley spoilt. The audience interaction was astounding, resulting in a mass Queen Kareoke during the encore, a booming cover of Bohemian Rhapsody including sing along words on the massive video screen backdropping the stage. This screen was used to display many of the bands videos, so even short arses like me had something to look at if the lips disappeared behind the crowd. Another example of how thoughtful and caring the band are towards their faithful fans.

Ultimately it has hard to say a bad word about the show as you get so much bang for your buck literally. My only complaint is that it was so jaw droppingly uplifting and crazy that my face still aches from smiling all night.

Review by Chrissy Mckenzie