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March 19, 2018March 18, 2018

THE GALLERY: Feeder @ O2 Academy 14.03.18

Words by Eleanor Sutcliffe / Pics by Phil Drury

“Satisfying but damaging in the long run.”

This is how, on the walk to the O2 Academy, my friend described my life decisions. Worryingly, it applies to most aspects of myself – my career, university, my student diet (sorry mum). It also applies to my music taste. Once I discover a band I love I can very easily run their music into the ground by playing them on repeat, which is exactly what I did with Feeder’s Echo Park album after my dad played it to me when I was younger.

Since then, I’ve viewed the band rather like how you’d see your distant relatives – comforting and nostalgic to begin with, but monotonous when listened to for hours on end. However, when Feeder announced a Best Of tour it only seemed fair to drop in and see if, after all these years, they still knew how to fire up a crowd.

Walking up to O2 Academy, I was stunned to see there was no queue. Had we come on the wrong day? Was security being surprisingly efficient on this particular Wednesday evening? Peeking our heads through the doors, we were greeted with a sight that would make even the most seasoned performer feel queasy – a half empty main room. Undeterred, we grabbed a drink from the bar and wandered through the sparse crowd to catch the support act.

First on were Sweet Little Machine, who won their support slot through a competition with Kerrang! Unsurprising really, as they reminded me of a reincarnation of Green Day just with better hair. Their singer coaxed the room into multiple singalongs – hardly a laborious task, considering most of the songs sounded the same. And yet, their charming demeanour swayed both me and the crowd, with song titles such as ‘Dickwad Prickface’ resulting in inexplicable laughter.

It’s clear to see that Feeder’s fanbase have not gone AWOL as we had predicted. On the contrary, as soon as Feeder took to the stage, the room suddenly swarmed with fans singing and dancing. Maybe booking 02 Academy’s main room wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

When Feeder announce a best of show, make yourselves comfortable – because you’re not leaving for a while. With a mammoth 24 song set you’re pretty much guaranteed to hear a song you know, even if you’re as forgetful and unobservant as I am. Of course, signature songs such as ‘Buck Rogers’ and ‘Just the Way I’m Feeling’ went down a treat, but so did Feeder’s new material such as ‘Figure You Out’ which made it midway into the main set.

Visually the show was incredible too, with three large screens displaying various video clips that reminded me, nostalgically, of the kaleidoscope style clips I used to watch on Windows media player when I growing up. For a main room show, it was surprisingly personal too. Feeder‘s frontman and singer, Grant Nicholas, let the crowd choose between ‘Crash’ and ‘Cement’, candidly explaining the stories behind some of the bands most famous songs, from the writing to memorable performances.

Finishing their encore with their now iconic track ‘Just A Day’, it was clear to see why Feeder are still as popular as they were back in the 90’s. With a room teeming with fans both young and old, their music is as addictive now as it ever was. Which means I’m back to playing Echo Park on repeat for the next six weeks. Again.

Feeder @ O2 Academy 14.03.18 / Phil Drury – Birmingham Review

For more on Feeder, visit www.feederweb.com

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Sweet Little Machine – supporting Feeder @ O2 Academy 14.03.18 / Phil Drury – Birmingham Review

For more on Sweet Little Machine, visit www.soundcloud.com/sweetlittlemachine

For more from Kilimanjaro Live, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.kilimanjarolive.co.uk

For more on the O2 Academy Birmingham, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

March 16, 2018March 16, 2018

BPREVIEW: Evita @ Birmingham Hippodrome 20-24.03.18

Words by Ed King / Production shots by Pamela Raith

Evita runs at the Hippodrome from Tuesday 20^th to Saturday 24^th March – as produced by Bill Kenwright, with special arrangement from The Really Useful Group.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long established musical comes to Birmingham following ‘smash hit runs’ in London and beyond. Evening performances will be held at 7:30pm every night from Tues 20^th to Sat 24^th. Matinee performances will be held at 2pm on Weds 21^st and Thurs 22^nd, with a further matinee scheduled at 2:30pm on Sat 24^th.

Reflecting the Hippodrome’s wider programme, provisions have been made of those who are hearing or sight impaired at the following Evita performances: Weds 21^st at 7:30pm (captioned), Thurs 22^nd at 7:30pm (BSL interpreted), Sat 24^th at 2:30pm (audio described).

Tickets are priced at £15-49, depending o the date/time of performance and positioning within the theatre. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of dates, times and online ticket purchasing, click here.

One of the century’s most recognised female public and political figures, Eva María Duarte de Perón climbed her way from a socially and fiscally forgotten childhood to become the First Lady of Argentina.

On the way up the ladder, she was also a revered actress, model and radio star – eventually becoming co-owner Argentina’s most prominent broadcaster, Radio El Mundo. And if cancer hadn’t taken Eva Perón at the young age of 33, she may well have become Vice President of Argentina – sitting in office alongside her husband and el predidente, Juan Perón.

Wildly popular with the working classes of Argentina, Eva Perón became to stand as a beacon of hope for the proletariat – having risen up the ranks herself, yet still mistrusted by the country’s political elite and social bourgeoisie. Many argue that it was Eva Perón, standing beside her husband at many a rally and public appearance, that cemented the political progress of Juan Perón from Minister to President.

But many also argue to the contrary, claiming the often contradictory administration – that would spawn the continuously contradictory political movement known as Perónism – was a merely a disguised dictatorship that only played ‘the people card’ for political gain and even personal glory. It is this dichotomy that Rice and Webber brought to the stage with their musical Evita, when they turned their rock opera album into a West End production in 1978. Forty years later and Evita is still touring the world, with its name sake still considered a ‘Spiritual Leader of the Nation’ after being officially awarded the title in 1952.

This current production of Evita sees Madalena Alberto return to the title role, after playing Eva Perón in the 2004 West End revival. The role of Che, who acts as the story’s narrator and filters into many supporting and ancillary roles, will be played by Gian Marco Schiaretti.

Evita @ Birmingham Hippodrome 20-24.03.18 (featured cast members may vary)

Evita runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 20^th to Saturday 24^th March. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of dates, times and online ticket purchasing, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/evita

For more on the Birmingham Hippodrome, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com

March 16, 2018

BREVIEW: Phil Wang @ The Glee Club 11.03.18

Words by Helen Knott

Phil Wang emerges on stage at The Glee Club to the strains of ‘Kung Fu Fighting’, setting the scene for an evening where the influence of his East Asian heritage is never too far away.

During this 90 minute show, titled Kinabalu – named after the highest mountain in Malaysia, Phil Wang covers a multitude of topics, from Chinese New Year, to his aim to die a hero’s death, to his dislike of scary movies (which he dismisses as “a purely western privilege” as no one needs to watch scary movies in Syria). Wang‘s on-stage persona is of a 28-year-old man who is probably not quite as cool as he thinks he is. He may equate buying lube with being a true adult, but he’s buying it in Waitrose and he’s not happy about the high price.

The set is littered with brilliant gags (personal favourite: “You ever done a fart so bad you lose a bar on the Wi-Fi?”) but Wang is most compelling when he concentrates on serious issues. His heritage – he’s half Malaysian, half British – gives him a strong voice on subjects such as Brexit, colonialism, and racism. Wang may have lived in the UK for his entire adult life, but he maintains an outsider’s point of view: for example, he feels more comfortable being patriotic than his British-born friends because he knows what it’s like to live somewhere without the things we take for granted. In short, “You can drink your tap water!”

Wang’s section on Brexit may include some fairly straightforward quips (“I voted remain, as you can tell by my vocabulary”) but it comes through the filter of his childhood in Malaysia, which was part of the British Empire. He argues that globalisation, which brought his parents together and Wang to the UK, came about because of entities like the British Empire. Therefore, in his eyes it’s not a wholly negative period of history, for Malaysia at least. He suggests that the EU is “the first empire built by peace instead of war”, and he’s disappointed that the British public rejected it. It’s interesting stuff, and a take on Brexit (a subject that no comedian seems to be able to avoid at the moment) that is genuinely fresh on the stand up circuit.

Despite the show’s focus on Phil Wang as an entity – his family, his career, his relationships – you get surprisingly little sense of Wang the man. He still has his guard up, often referring to himself in the third person and continually punning on his own surname for a cheap laugh. The only part of the show where it feels like you see the authentic Phil Wang is when, after a section about his girlfriend, he admits that they split up a month ago but he hasn’t bothered to change his material. It’s a fleeting feeling however, as the newly-single Wang quickly turns it into a hammy call-out for groupies.

As a show, Kinabalu is a little too long and doesn’t have much of an overarching thrust – it really just peters out at the end. But when you have jokes as good as Phil Wang, it doesn’t matter too much. Although on his next tour I’m hoping for maybe fewer lube stories and more insightful political analysis.

For more on Phil Wang, visit www.philwang.co.uk

For more from The Glee Club venues, including further event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.glee.co.uk

March 15, 2018March 15, 2018

BPREVIEW: Rews @ Hare & Hounds 22.03.18

Words by Ed King

On Thursday 22^ndMarch, the rock powerhouse of Rews returns to Birmingham – closing off their England tour dates with a special headline gig at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath).

Support on the night comes from Tamworth’s garage rock two piece, You Dirty Blue, and Birmingham’s rising punk balloon, P.E.T

Doors open at 7:30pm, with tickets priced at £8 (plus booking fees) – as presented by Metropolis Music and Birmingham Review. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

At the time of writing this gig has all but sold out, with literally only a handful of tickets left on sale. There are also waiting lists available, for returns and cancellations, through the registered ticket agents – but it’s changing by the hour, so click on the following links for Ticketmaster, Skiddle or See Tickets to get updates and info. And hopefully tickets.

You can also check in with one of the support bands, You Dirty Blue or PE.T, as well as us at Birmingham Review HQ who will be mopping up any local returns. We suggest you do it quickly though and with a few fingers crossed – swing over to the Birmingham Review Facebook event page for this gig, or email info@birminghamreview.net and we’ll can check down the backs of a few cyber sofas for you.

The term ‘rising balloon’ gets bandied about these days, and quite often by me. It’s exciting to see an artist in nascent and the tried/tested metaphor is often an appropriate badge of both recognition and applause. But I can’t use this term for Rews anymore, as their rising balloon got caught on the tail end of a NASA space shuttle and is now in confident orbit around the planet. Quite simply, and without allegory or hyperbole, Rews are set for huge things. HUGE. SO NOW I’M USING CAPITALS INSTEAD.

And every inch of it is deserved. Not only have Rews mastered the addictive rock formula on record but they are phenomenal live. PHENOMENAL. So phenomenal, in fact, that after seeing Rews at The Flapper in February 2017 we booked them to headline the Birmingham Review Winter Showcase at the Actress & Bishop the following November – a venue now probably fundraising for a new roof, after Rews tore the old one clean off and scattered it across the city. We’re biased, but it was a stonker of a gig. Which seems to be de rigueur for Rews as their relentless touring and festival sets have won them a huge fanbase in a relatively short space of time. And again, every inch of it is deserved.

Rews’ debut album, Pyro, is a stellar debut too – being one of the first artists signed to Marshall Records and doing the iconic rock brand nothing but proud. And if you haven’t already got yourself a copy of then 1) shame on you, 2) shame on you again, 3) get thee to an online retailer before we fetch the wooden spoon and naughty step. You can read our Birmingham Review of Pyro here.

The reciprocal feather in the cap of this gig is that Rews added Birmingham onto their spring tour dates because of the all-round awesomeness of their last gig in the city. So, this is down to you. Yes, you. The live music endorsing public and punters of Birmingham, you did this. It’s not too often that Birmingham sits as one of the cherries on a national tour circuit, but for Rews we are. Or were. And shall be again. So, with a single (tough and manly) tear in one eye and civic pride in my belly, I salute you all. VIVE LE BIRMINGHAM LIVE MUSIC SCENE.

But it’s not all Rews, Rews, Rews… as much as that would suffice, you’re getting two more bands for your musical buck on 22^ndMarch. Lucky sods, the lot of you.

First up is the Tamworth based garage rock two piece, You Dirty Blue. Well established on the local live circuit, Birmingham Review happened across You Dirty Blue at Centrala back in July 2017 – as they joined a pretty stellar line up at The Hungry Ghost’s ‘Amerika/Lazaro’ single launch.

Although sandwiched by the great and good, You Dirty Blue were one of the stand out acts from the evening – with the gloriously raw yet proficient edges that any true DIY artist needs to make their mark. We became hooked. And a few months later we got to sink our teeth in a little deeper, as You Dirty Blue released their ‘monstrous debut’ EP, Tough Crowd, just before Christmas. In short, we gave it a resounding thumbs up… with a cheeky middle finger thrown in for good measure. But again you can always read our Birmingham Review of Tough Crowd for yourself, just click here. Pah… independent thought is for suckers.

Second support for the night comes from P.E.T – ‘Birmingham’s rising punk balloon’… for want of a better expression. But that they are; P.E.T are the new kids on the Brummie block and have already racked up a few decent support gigs and industry endorsements since forming in late 2017.

In your face, feisty, not shy of screaming into the microphone, P.E.T are the essence of post-punk punk. But they’ve got the smarts to go with it – citing an impressive list of influences that many older (self-declared) aficionados wouldn’t have in their cultural cache. Go ahead, test it, ask P.E.T “…do you know a band called The Slits?” and see what happens.

Plus, they’ve got all the raw bolshiness that you can get from a band who just love playing and performing – you ‘aint going to see P.E.T on a stage and forget about them in a hurry, especially if your standing at the front. But we think they’re mostly harmless. At least, no one’s been injured yet. Not visibly. Keep an eye out for P.E.T though, we sense curious times ahead.

And as a picture paints a thousand words, and there’s nearly that above us already, we though we’d end with a few moving image reminders of Rews. Too tough to pick one song, so we’ve gone for two – one recorded, one live. Viddy below my droogs and we’ll see you at the Hare & Hounds on 22^nd March:

‘Your Tears’ – Rews

‘Can You Feel It?’ – Rews (live at Hawley Arms for Camden Rocks)

Rews perform at the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) on Thursday 22^nd March, with support from You Dirty Blue and P.E.T – as presented by Metropolis Music and Birmingham Review. For direct event information and online ticket sales, visit http://bit.ly/2FL53hm

For more on Rews, visit www.rewsmusic.com

For more on You Dirty Blue, visit www.youdirtyblue.com

For more on P.E.T, visit www.facebook.com/petbanduk

For more from Metropolis Music, visit www.metropolismusic.com

For more on the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath), including venue details and further event listings, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

March 13, 2018March 12, 2018

BPREVIEW: Paloma Faith @ Genting Arena 21.03.18

Words by Ed King

On Wednesday 21^st March, Paloma Faith performs at the Genting Arena – with support from the Liverpool based jazz and soul artist, XamVolo.

Doors open at the Genting Arena from 5pm (Forum) and 6pm (Arena), with XamVolo performing at 7:30pm followed by Paloma Faith’s headline set at 8:30pm. Tickets are priced at £40.45 / £51.75 depending on your position within the arena, as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours.

For direct show information, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Paloma Faith is out on tour with her fourth studio album, The Architect – coming to the Genting Arena to play one of her final England based shows, before heading out for two dates in Ireland and two dates in Australia. Paloma Faith has further UK dates planned for June, July and August, including the inevitable appearances across the festival season. For direct information on all the Paloma Faith shows announced for 2018, click here.

The Architect was released in November 2017, entering the UK charts at No1. No small achievement. Mind you, Paloma Faith’s previous three albums all hit the double platinum markers in the UK albums charts. So no small achievement times three, times 600k, and counting. And to think Epic Records wanted to wait a while…

Championed by Radio 2, Paloma Faith was invited to headline one of a series of special concerts from the broadcaster as part of The Architect’s introduction in last year. And despite a somewhat overzealous smoke machine, the show introduced a breadth of new content to Faith’s already fervent fanbase.

Inspired by the call to arms of common concerns and compassion that Marvin Gaye presented with What’s Going On, Paloma Faith’s fourth album moved away from the tropes of relationships, heartbreak, love and loss – exploring a more socio-political landscape and the issues we all face within it.

The album’s opening track, ‘Evolution’, features a soliloquy from Samuel L Jackson about the dichotomy of masculinity, with writer and political/social activist Owen Jones offering a reminder of the basic human rights much of society had to fight for (and our responsibilities to honour those who fought for them) in ‘Politics of Hope’.

But love is always at the heart, and even if it embraces socio-political thoughts, ambitions and endeavour, The Architect is not an outright political record. It’s a human record.

Plus, a Paloma Faith show is just that, a show. And the arena tour that’s supporting her latest LP is set to be packed with all the soul and spectacle the world has come to expect from this unique artist and performer.

‘Til I’m Done’ Paloma Faith (live session)

Paloma Faith performs at the Genting Arena on Wednesday 21^st March, with support from XamVolo – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours. For direct gig information, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.gentingarena.co.uk/whats-on/paloma-faith

For more on Paloma Faith, visit www.palomafaith.com

For more on XamVolo, visit www.xamvolo.com

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

For more from the Genting Arena, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.gentingarena.co.uk