Category: Music

Next year, the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra is starting something of a residency at the Barbican and other venues in East London. It’ll happen for at least a couple of years in the run-up to the Olympics. All I can say is that on 1 October, when tickets go on sale, you should…

I’ve seen some great concerts recently which were all very different, but all worth mentioning here. 15 May saw Icelandic “Music Through Unconventional Means” which featured the Southbank’s artist in residence, Shlomo, who’s a beatboxer, performing with one of my favourite groups, Amiina, and another Icelandic performer, Valgeir Sigurdsson. The first half of the concert…

The Peatbog Faeries are a band that I really came across when I was up in Skye last year. I’d seen posters for all over the place for a concert I wouldn’t be able to make, and was vaguely aware that I’d seen coverage of them in things like the Celtic Connections TV programmes that…

The other day I was talking about secondary ticketing and my despising of the general dishonesty of it all. Well now Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails has explained the situation from a band’s side of things. He doesn’t like secondary ticketers, or “re-sellers” as they’re known. Like me, he considers them touts, or scalpers…

For some reason – two weeks after I went to see the gig, I haven’t mentioned that I saw Ane Brun at the always wonderful Union Chapel. It was absolutely superb – it’s really hard to explain how wonderful the sound was. Brun has a recent album out, possibly re-released recently with a couple of…

What a foul expression “secondary ticketing” is. It’s the terminology used to refer to those sites that let the “fans” resell their tickets. Sites such as Seatwave and Viagogo allow you to buy and sell tickets safely and securely. They’ve grown out from the eBay ticket selling business. But are they really for the “fans”?…

Wherever music collection agencies and internet sites exist, there are problems. The latest disagreement is the very public falling out between Google, owners of YouTube and PRS the UK collection agency. And when that story reaches the Ten O’Clock News, you know that it’s a significant one. When thousands of music videos start to disappear…

In the last seven days I seem to have seen a lot of music, although I did pay the price just a little. Last Sunday I went to The Junction in Cambridge to watch Bellowhead. Just to be clear, I don’t live in Cambridge, so it was a bit of a trip to see them.…

Have I mentioned before that I hate the Brits? Well – yes I have. Having studiously avoided them for several years now (despite working for a music radio station), I decided to watch this year simply because the Pet Shop Boys are getting the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. But this is dire. I…