BREVIEW: Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17

BREVIEW: Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17 / Rachel Mason - Birmingham Review

 

 

 

 Words by Damien Russell  Pics by Rachel Mason

Hot on the heels of her album release, Laura Marling embarked on a 32 date international tour  – playing to a sold out show at the O2 Institute on 14th of March.

It’s a gig I’ve been looking forward to. I like the album, Semper Femina (although it’s not perfect), but my friend is a long-term fan of Laura Marling and is mad keen for the show. I’ve not seen Marling before but hear good things, so I ignore the fact it’s been a long and stressful day and commute up from Basingstoke to be there just as the support band are starting.

Said support are a four piece country/soft rock group who are melodic but slow. The singer’s quite quiet and in-between songs I have no idea what he’s saying, so I must confess I never got their name. They unfortunately fail to get my enthusiasm, and I see pockets of people chatting who seem equally disengaged.

The band are clearly competent but just a bit too slow and a bit too laid back. Their last song, before clearing the stage for Laura Marling, is an up-tempo number and exactly what they should have been doing the whole time. It’s a shame as you can see they recognise that song is the best received, but just don’t seem to have made the connection.

BREVIEW: Ethan Jones – supporting Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17 / Rachel Mason - Birmingham ReviewI notice there doesn’t seem to be much activity preparing the stage. It seems odd but I don’t have to wait long to find out why; out with Laura Marling come the bass player and drummer from the support group, as part of her backing band. A nice touch and something that must make the tour more efficient. Additionally Marling has two backing singers and an electric guitarist.

The first song of Laura Marling’s set is ‘Soothing’, the opening track from the album. In fact the first five tracks tonight are the first five off Semper Femina, played in tracklist order. ‘Soothing’ is my favourite song off Semper Femina and while I feel it’s only right that it has such a prominent place in tonight’s set, I am disappointed that the double bass I’m certain must have been used on the record to get that fantastic deep sound is nowhere to be seen. The double bass does feature on later songs in Laura Marling’s set tonight, but not on the one I feel it really needed (to read Damien Russell’s Birmingham Review of Semper Femina, click here).

BREVIEW: Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17 / Rachel Mason - Birmingham ReviewThe five track Semper Femina section is followed by a tri-song treat of Laura Marling on her own, performing tracks #7 and #8 (‘Next Time’ and ‘Nothing, Not Nearly’) again from her latest LP, alongside ‘What He Wrote’ from the 2010 album I Speak Because I Can. The final new track, ‘Nouel’, finishes off this section of the set with the full band again. I like the split and the way all of the new tracks are performed together, it has a touch of the dramatic about it and is something I rarely see done.

The tracks themselves are lovingly reproduced from the album to the stage, and although I pick up a couple of small arrangement changes for the live setting each track is easily connected to the studio version. But when Laura Marling takes the stage alone, it’s a real highlight of the set; her stripped down version of ‘Nothing, Not Nearly’ is, in my opinion, much better than the album version. Her solo performance of ‘What He Wrote’ is the best song in the set by far.

BREVIEW: Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17 / Rachel Mason - Birmingham ReviewFollowing the new material, Laura Marling and her band run through some of her best known other songs – including ‘Daisy’, ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’ and ‘Darkness Descends’ – before ending the set with ‘Rambling Man’ and her trademark announcement that she doesn’t do encores.

Musically, the group were solid and the songs are obviously good, but there’s something missing in the band’s performance tonight that makes me wonder if they’re as well rehearsed as they could be. There have been a few minor slip-ups tonight; nothing major, but coming from either inexperience in the musicians (hard to believe) or a lack of preparation time.

Laura Marling herself is excellent musically but spends the gig gazing into the middle distance, leaving me feeling a she’s not entirely with us tonight. We get a couple of “how are you?” but little in the way of other banter or engagement.BREVIEW: Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17 / Rachel Mason - Birmingham Review

On the whole, it was a good night but it was far from a great one; even the reactions from the other crowd members seemed muted. I think next time I see Laura Marling (and yes, I think there will be a next time) I’ll make sure it’s at one of her solo shows. Otherwise I’ll stick to the albums.

For more on Laura Marling, visit www.lauramarling.com

For more from O2 Institute, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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

 

 

BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17

BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review

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Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Michelle Martin

Birmingham ReviewWednesday night after a long day at work; I’m in the mood to be entertained and on their Little Fictions album tour, Elbow are the ones to do it. Little Fictions is already gracing the top spot of the charts and there’s little fear of the band’s new material being an untested surprise. What I’m keen to see is the unknown (to me) quantity of Richard Jupp’s replacement, Alex Reeves.

The O2 Academy is buzzing and it’s full. Not ‘long wait at the bar’ full; ‘standing in the entrance and on the stairs’ full. The atmosphere is good; everyone’s patient and calm but focused on the stage waiting for The Moment. The Entrance.

BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham ReviewAs I’m sure you may have guessed Elbow come out to a roar of appreciation, then launch into ‘Gentle Storm’ off the new album. I love the faith they put into their new material and I think it’s faith well placed. ‘Gentle Storm’ is a great set opener for a band who make you feel more like friends than fans.

It’s immediately apparent that Guy Garvey is on form tonight and if you haven’t seen him in action before, you really should. He has a flair for the dramatic while singing, flourishing to the crowd and striding across the stage. Plus he has ‘the gift of the gab’ to say the least. A very welcoming host, Garvey seems just as happy to chat as to sing and I would be surprised if there was anyone in the O2 Academy tonight who didn’t feel warmed by his charm and openness.

Elbow move from their new album to ‘The Bones of You’ from their 2008 album, The Seldom Seen Kid; the two songs work well together, building the set nicely. Alex Reeves, the new boy with big shoes to fill, fits in well and seems quite at home. I did notice one timing slip in the middle of the set but the band are working as unit and covered it to the point of being barely worth mentioning.BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review

As the set progresses and the initial excitement settles down a bit, there are two things that I notice. 1) the lighting design for this show is excellent. Really well thought out rises and falls, good highlighting of key members at the right times and good attention to detail following Garvey in his antics. 2) This is the Guy Garvey show.

Not to say that the band weren’t on form and playing excellently (they did) but Guy Garvey is a natural showman and dominates both the stage and our attention. The other band members are static in comparison and I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a show in two halves, disjointed somehow.

I’m a definite guy. Not often are people left wondering as to what my opinion is. I rarely have to sit and have a good long think about how I feel about something. Elbow, however, have given me a big helping of inner conflict. I love Elbow’s music (and their new music in particular) and I love Guy Garvey, but I found the lack of interaction amongst the band tonight and the one-man stage show unfortunately a bit off-putting.

BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham ReviewThat aside, Elbow have a cracking back catalogue and the classics go down as well as you would expect. ‘Lippy Kids’ is a real highlight with Garvey predictably getting everyone to sing along (not the only sing-along we had over the evening; another great piece of stage craft saw the audience split into four doing a round of harmonised notes under his direction).

After the final strains of ‘Build a Rocket Boys!’ fades away, the new material holds its own again and ‘Magnificent (She Says)’, the penultimate song before the encore, feels like it would have sat just as well as a set closer. If you like the radio version you’ll love it live.

BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17 / Michelle Martin - Birmingham Review‘My Sad Captains’, ‘One Day Like This’ and ‘Kindling’ were the encore songs and the final testament that the set list is well put together; and the crowd head out into the damp evening air with an atmosphere of satisfaction but sadness that it’s all over.

Misgivings or inner conflict aside, I catch myself singing Elbow songs all the way home. And the next day. And the day after…. I think I’ll see them again next time they’re in town.

For more on Elbow, visit www.elbow.co.uk

For more from the O2 Academy, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

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BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18

BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18 / Reuben Penny - Birmingham Review

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Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Reuben Penny

I’d largely forgotten what it was like to be so focused on a band that you let your pint get warm. Especially at what is rapidly approaching six quid a time.Birmingham Review

I walked into the Band of Horses gig with an open mind, having decided to take my friend whose birthday it was not knowing that she loved Band of Horses. A happy accident, but one that left with a 40-minute drive and a lot of waxing lyrical about how good they are. I try not to believe any kind of hype and make my own mind up; not having seen Band of Horses before, I nodded and smiled in all the right places but would leave it to the band to do the real talking.

The evening seemed a bit flat on the run up to the main event; slow to get people in, quite a subdued support band, sedate lighting. So when Band of Horses came on and launched into a slow number, I wasn’t holding out much hope.

Sometimes it’s good to be wrong.

Band of Horses finished the first half of what turned out to be called ‘Dull Times/The Moon’ (you got me guys) and then launched into the second half which opened the set proper. And it was a launch. They hit the audience with song after song for 30 minutes plus, without even stopping to let a full round of applause ring out and with the instrument changes they throw in. That’s no mean feat.

BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18 / Reuben Penny - Birmingham ReviewI was impressed. You may be able to tell. That level of polish and co-ordination takes a lot of work and a lot of gigs to get right; it’s clear that while Band of Horses might not be making leaps in innovation musically, they are a professional and dedicated outfit.

They also have a new album to promote, Why Are You OK, but interspersed the set well with classics; all the new material was consolidated into the first half of the set, leaving the second half for crowd pleasers. A reward for being patient with the new material. And I don’t feel like we needed it. I think Why Are You OK has some strong songs on it the band playing them fresh on this tour, and the few gigs they did last year, did them proud.

The first half of the set had some great dynamic shifts too, with the straight through approach feeling more like a stage show than a race to the end. We had ‘Solemn Oath’, ‘Casual Party’, ‘Country Teen’ and ‘Throw My Mess’ off the new record, side by side with ‘The Great Salt Lake’, ‘Marry Song’, ‘Laredo’ and more from the back catalogue. I couldn’t help feeling it drop off a bit about halfway though.

BREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18 / Reuben Penny - Birmingham ReviewBy the time ‘In A Drawer’ was performed, the last song they played off the new album, things had settled down a bit and lost a little momentum. Still high quality material, just that compared to the grand entrance the peak had passed and what I would normally expect to be a big build up to the real big crowd pleasers, was more of a stroll.

But the crowd pleasers are just that and left everyone on a high, with the live rendition of ‘Is There A Ghost’ being especially good. I had heard rumours Band of Horses were not doing encores for some of the gigs on this tour and I wondered if they would for us. But they didn’t disappoint; ‘The Funeral’ ended the set, and with a roaring applause the evening.

They look like truckers, they play like rockers and they put a setlist together well. But the lull in the middle was shame and if I’m honest, they’ve stayed true to form and kept to their own brand of Southern Rock without too much change or re-invention.

Overall, Band of Horses came over as a relaxed group who put on a good show; I would absolutely recommend seeing them if you ever get the chance.

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For more on Band of Horses, visit www.bandofhorses.com

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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

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BPREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01-02.03.17

BPREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01-02.03.17

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Words by Damien Russell

With a new album and 35 dates lined up, Elbow are touring the UK – coming to Birmingham for two dates at the O2 Academy on the 1st and 2nd of March. C Duncan is playing in support on both nights.

Doors open at 7pm and have a curfew of 11pm. Tickets are priced at £39.37 (excluding fees) as presented by Goldenvoice. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.Birm_Prev-logo-MAIN

Officially Elbow came together in 1997, but the still original band members had been playing together since 1990 so are technically in their 27th year together. Elbow released their latest album, Little Fictions, in February this year. Having gone Silver in the UK and reached No1 on the official album charts and, Elbow are on the road promoting their seventh studio album on a 35 date tour of venues, forests and festivals.

With a name inspired by a line in the BBC TV drama The Singing Detective – in which the central bed ridden character, Philip Marlow, describes the word ‘elbow’ as the loveliest word in the English language – Elbow are a band that have avoided many of the rock band stereotypes of their age. There are no tabloid scandals, no drug influenced parties or smashed up hotels in their media history. No high-profile divorce cases or public fights. There haven’t been any major arguments or fallouts. Richard Jupp left in March 2016, the first line-up change in 25 years, and that was an amicable split; no ‘musical differences’ fight.

Elbow have never had the standard ‘rise and fall’ musical success rate either. Their fourth album won them the Mercury Music Award – The Seldom Seen Kid (Mar 2008), whilst their sixth album, The Take Off and Landing of Everything (March ‘14) was their first LP to reach the No1 spot.

On The Take Off and Landing of Everything,  Guy Garvey said; “We’ve been going very left-field with things. We are trying out new things”. The story is that the album was led by Elbow’s erstwhile drummer Richard Jupp, who would record his parts first and then Garvey would try to write lyrics to them. I have no idea how anyone would go about writing lyrics to a drum beat but nobody can say it didn’t work.

Reviews for Little Fictions read like a roundup of the ‘Elbow experience’; capturing elements from their previous portfolio whilst giving several tracks a new focus on texture and groove.

‘Magnificent’ (She Says) – Elbow

Elbow perform at the O2 Academy on 1st and 2nd March, with support from C Duncan. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

For more on Elbow, visit www.elbow.co.uk

For more from the O2 Academy, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham

For more from C Duncan, visit www.c-duncan.co.uk

For more from Goldenvoice, visit www.goldenvoice.com

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BPREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18

BPREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18

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Words by Damien Russell

On the 20th of February, Band of Horses will be performing at the O2 Institute – playing in Birmingham as part of 7 UK/Ireland dates on their international tour.Birm_Prev-logo-MAIN

Doors will be opening at 19:00 and tickets are £25.75 (plus booking fees) as presented by SJM Concerts. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

For those of you not already familiar with Band of Horses there’s a fair amount of catching up to do. The band formed in 2004 and in their 13 years have had 6 studio albums and 1 Grammy nomination. They have also had 8 line-up changes, although band leader Ben Bridwell has remained constant throughout.

BPREVIEW: Band of Horses @ O2 Institute 20.02.18Band of Horses hit the ground running with their first album Everything All The Time, a minor hit that charted internationally – even in Scandinavia, where it found the lower reaches of both Sweden and Norway’s national album charts. The band’s debut single, ‘The Funeral’, has been used in numerous television series, films, video games, and advertisements.

Their successes continued and their third album, Infinite Arms, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Alternative Album category. The LP also and featured in the Best Albums of 2010 lists from Q Magazine (#21), NPR Listeners (#15), Filter Magazine (#10) and Paste Magazine (#14). The song ‘Laredo’ was placed at No28 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s top 50 songs of 2010.

Band of Horses’ sixth and latest album, Why Are You OK,  was released in June 2016 and brings the band back to a fuller sound. In an interview with Gigwise.com, Ben Bridwell said; “I wanted to pore over it and explore some more sincere themes, instead of speaking in riddles so no one knows what I’m talking about. That was fuelling the fire and that takes time.”

For a pre-gig taster, check out Band of Horses’ latest single, ‘Solemn Oath’ – released on June 10th 2016.

Band of Horses perform at the O2 Institute on Monday 20th February, as presented SJM Concerts. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Band of Horses, visit www.bandofhorses.com

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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

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