Enjoyed Brett Anderson’s show at the Tivoli (De Helling) in Utrecht. Of the good: He’s not as aloof as he was in the past. Voice as strong as ever. Has stopped twirling his microphone. Of the bad: He’s been writing the same songs for the past 20 years. He needs to eat a few hamburgers.

Natasha Khan’s tom-boyish, goofy performance was alright and the music was solid and I loved the way she dressed her stage… but I wasn’t feeling it. I hear so many other artists in her music and voice, and I’m not sure what makes Khan’s music hers. I kept thinking ‘Sounds like Tori Amos sounding like Kate Bush, not as distinctive’, ‘Sounds like Sinead… not as other wordly’, ‘Gosh, this is very Olwen Fouere’, (Who?), ‘Bit of Bjork, not as barking…’ I left before the end of the show. Ben Christophers played keyboards in the band. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again.

dEUS’ frontman Tom Barman ignoring the smoking ban at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. Seen on December 4, 2008.

View more of my dEUS photo’s on Flickr.

Drifting and Tilting – The Songs of Scott Walker
Barbican Theatre, November 13, 14, 15

review to follow

Guy Garvey’s a perfectionist. One of those type of singers whose entire experience of a show can be ruined by missing one single note. When he does that at the end of a particularly taxing and otherwise perfectly angelic song, the disappointment is clear on his face. ‘No worries, mate,’ someone shouts.

There’s bands that make you want to dance, and bands that make you want to shoe gaze, bands that make you angry and bands that make you want to take to the barricades. Elbow’s a band that makes me think of everybody and everything I’ve ever loved in my entire life, family, friends, lovers, entire cities, and make me love them even more.

Throw those curtains wide!

Martha Wainwright @ Rogue’s Gallery, originally uploaded by Caroline.

One of the highlights of the 4-hour journey that was Rogue’s Gallery London. Martha Wainwright, a striking blonde with killer pipes belting out Lowlands Away, which her brother Rufus and mother Kate McGarrigle had sung on the Rogue’s Gallery album.

By the way, this was the night’s set list:

1) CAPE COD GIRLS / CROSSBONE SCULLEY – Baby Gramps + Chorus

2) HOG EYE MAN – Martin Carthy + Chorus

3) MY SON JOHN – Tim Robbins + Chorus

4) HAUL AWAY JOE – Teddy Thompson + Chorus

5) BALTIMORE WHORES – Gavin Friday + Eliza Carthy

6) FAREWELL NANCY – Langley Sisters/Ed Harcourt
7) OLE OG – Langley Sisters/Ed Harcourt

8) SAM’S GONE AWAY – Robyn Hitchcock + Chorus

9) LEAVE HER JOHNNY – Sandy Dillon

10) BONNIE PORTMORE – Kami Thompson + violins

11) ROLLING SEA – Eliza Carthy

12) DAN DAN + OBOE DUEL – David Thomas
13) FIRE DOWN BELOW – David Thomas

14) GED A SHEOL MI AIR – Julie Fowlis

15) MINGULAY BOAT SONG – Chris Difford + Kami

16) GOOD SHIP VENUS – Richard Strange

17) LONG TIME AGO – White Magic
18) BLOOD RED ROSES – White Magic + Chorus

19) COAST OF HIGH BARBARY – Neil Hannon
20) TURKISH REVELRY – Neil Hannon + Gita

21) BAY OF BISCAY – Norma + Martin, Eliza

22) SALLY BROWN – Teddy Thompson

23) BULLY IN THE ALLEY – Gavin/Sandy/ Pete?
24) BONEY WAS A WARRIOR – Gavin w/ Shane/Pete?

25) SOUTH AUSTRALIA – Shane McGowan w/Tim/Pete + Chorus

26) HAUL ON THE BOWLINE – Tim Robbins + Chorus
27) THE CRUEL SHIP’S CAPTAIN – Tim Robbins + violins

28) CAROLINE AND HER YOUNG SAILOR – Suzanne Vega + violins

29) LITTLE BOY BILLIE – Ralph Steadman + Chorus

30) ONE SPRING MORNING – Teddy + Kath Williams + violins/BVs

31) ROW THE BOAT CHILD – Jenni Muldaur + Chorus + violins

32) DRUNKEN SAILOR – David Thomas + Shane + Tymon

33) LOWLANDS LOW – Chris Difford + Gita

34) LOWLANDS AWAY – Martha + violins

35) GREY FUNNEL LINE – Martha

36) NEW YORK GALS / WILD GOOSE – Robyn Hitchcock + Chorus

37) PINERY BOY – Gavin Friday + violins

38) TURAS – Julie Fowlis

39) LIVERPOOL CHANTEY – Shane + Pete Doherty & Tim + Chorus

40) THE MERMAID – Martin
41) THE NIGHTINGALE – Eliza
42) SHALLOW BROWN – Norma + Chorus

43) OLD MAN OF THE SEA – Baby Gramps

Lou Reed and Shane McGowan, originally uploaded by Caroline.

My first time competing for shots in the photo pit. All the other photographers were male, tall, big and Irish.

I’ve have tons to edit when I get back home. Rogue’s Gallery was quite the event. Shane McGowan riling up the crowd with Dave-id, Guggi and Gavin Friday. Actor Tim Robbins (who is recording an album?) jamming with Lou Reed. David Thomas (Pere Ubu) in a class of his own. Folk, pop, rock an avant-garde sharing the same stage, stuck together with Hal Willner’s glue.

Doing it all over again next week in London.

The minute Elbow started their show with most of the band members blowing trumpets, I knew we were in for a treat. I’ve loved Guy Garvey’s voice from the moment I first heard Leader of the free world on MTV, but I’d never seen the band live before.

This was my first show in a long time. I’ve been lazy about going to gigs, skipping most of the
ones I’d bought tickets for this year. I’m glad it was a good one.

There’s something quite moving about Elbow’s songs and Garvey’s voice in particular, which is often compared to Peter Gabriel’s. I hear it too. It’s that other wordly vibe that Gabriel has in spades. It’s more subtle in Elbow’s lead singer, but it still affects my tear ducts. I felt myself welling up a number of times, particularly during the first 15 minutes of the show.

Elbow is a band I like, but have never invested in before. Haven’t bought their albums, haven’t learned their history. I didn’t even know the singer’s name before last night. I don’t know what the songs are about, but now I’m eager to find out.

No pro cameras allowed at this show, so I only took a couple.

Reading Matthew’s ‘premature evaluation‘ of R.E.M.’s upcoming album Accelerate, I realised I’d never posted my thoughts on the two shows I saw the band do in Dublin last summer. I did write about it on my Dutch music blog, but even fewer people probably read that than visit over here. So here’s a quick translation.

‘This is not a show,’ says Mike Mills, addressing the crowd through a megaphone. It’s not a gig, it’s an ‘exercise in terror and music’, Stipe explains, ‘We are R.E.M. and this is what we do when you’re not looking.’

But this time we are looking. Stipe may not be wearing make up and he may be cheating with the lyrics, using printed sheets and a MacBook on an upturned flight case, it’s still R.E.M. on stage: the three members of the band, guest guitarist Scott McCaughey and drummer Bill Rieflin.

We are in Dublin’s beautiful Olympia Theatre, a small Victorian venue in the middle of the city. This is the location R.E.M. has picked for five nights, trying out the songs they are recording with producer Jacknife Lee in a studio in county West-Meath.

It’s not the first time R.E.M. has picked an Irish studio to record in. ‘Uncle’ Stipe has godchildren in this country, he’s part the U2 family in the broadest sense of the word. It’s like the mafia, once you’re in, you’re in for life.

Bono and The Edge are present at the first two shows of the five night run. Stipe thanks them from the stage, for their support and ‘for keeping me grounded’. The band’s real relatives have flown in too. On the fourth night, Stipe is telling the audience a story and when he uses the word ‘blowjob’ he suddenly buries his bright red face in his hands. ‘I forgot we’ve got family members in tonight, young ones too… well, if you didn’t know that word before…’

He’s very talkative in between the songs. They play eleven new tracks every night as well as various oldies from their first couple of albums. They fit in with the new songs the best. For the first time, Stipe explains his obscure lyrics, telling us what the stories are about and shedding light on the art of songwriting. On the third night the old songs are mostly off Fables of the Reconstruction, on the fourth it’s even further back to Chronic Town, Murmur and Reckoning.

The tickets to these shows were exclusively sold via R.E.M.s mailing list, so the people in the audience are mostly big fans, hearts ready to burst. No hits. It’s the dream of every super fan. ‘I hadn’t heard this song in 24 years until this afternoon,’ Stipe says, holding the lyrics in his hands. We savour obscure tracks like West of the Fields, Wolves Lower, Carnival of Sorts, 1000000, Harborcoat, Second Guessing and These days.

The new songs work well in the live setting, sounding like vintage R.E.M. already, with added power courtesy of Bill Rieflin’s power drumming. In ‘Horse to water’ you feel the fire of Gravity’s Pull, and the ballad ‘Until the Day is Done’ is a gorgeous ‘King of Birds’-type ballad. The band was hurt by the slating their last album Around the Sun got in the press and determined to strike back. The songs aren’t finished yet, that much is obvious when Stipe changes lyrics on his MacBook in our presence, or when guitarist Peter Buck stops a song to explain the middle eight to bass player Mike Mills. But they’re getting there.

The band sounds great, a full rich sound, crystal clear even on the upper balcony of the venue. U2′s sound engineer of the last 30 years, Joe O’Herlihy, is manning the soundboard, doing a great job. Whether the band has managed to capture that sound on record, we’ll find out in April.

No, I’m not a fan of 30 Seconds to Mars, but what else do you do when you arrive in Dublin on the late flight and don’t fancy an early night in your grotty hotel?

For the first time in their career the band played two shows on the same night, to accomodate the demand for tickets while dealing with a tight schedule. All of emo-Ireland gathered at The Ambassador, a worn out venue that used to be a cinema and will soon be a library, if I’m not mistaken.

The horde of teenagers was clad in black, pretty features enhanced with thick mascara. Emo kids, comparable to 80s Goths, but somehow sexier. Self assured, more money in the pocket, designer accessories in the bag. I have never seen so many digital cameras at a show. It’s fun to watch them have so much fun.

Jared and his band rushed through the first concert on the night. They were late and half their gear was stuck in traffic somewhere. The younger fans had to make do with a 40-minute show, but the grave yard shift sort of got their money’s worth. It takes 60 minutes for the band to play their second album Beautiful Lie in its entirety, in sequence, from ‘Attack’ to the hidden track and Bjork-cover ‘Hunter’.

Sparks flew. The band are well rehearsed, professional but not coasting. They seemed to be enjoying themselves too, and though you never know with these L.A. boys, genuinely surprised by the Irish crowd’s vocal fervour.

Leto – a good frontman, not a bad actor, I don’t really believe his flimsy lyrics – wrapped himself in an Irish flag and donned a hat. For a moment his strutting reminded me of the young Bono, though the music pummelled, never really soared the way the Irish band’s would. Playing without their own light show or P.A. has brought the band closer the audience, Leto said: ‘Thank you so fucking much.’