o2academybham Archives - Page 2 of 2 -

March 24, 2017

BPREVIEW: Blossoms (NME Awards Tour) @ O2 Academy 24.03.17

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Pics courtesy of APB

On Wednesday 29th March, Blossoms perform at the O2 Academy (Birmingham) as part of the NME Awards Tour 2017 – with support from socio-political punks Cabbage, and Rory Wynne.

Doors open at 7pm; the minimum age for entry is 14 with under 16s requiring adult accompaniment. Tickets are priced at £20.25 (+bf) – as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours. For direct gig info, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

N.B. At the time of writing the O2 Academy (Birmingham) is one of the last remaining venues on the NME Awards Tour 2017 to have tickets to sell. Please check availability before attending or click here for more info from the NME.

On the back of three years touring, and a string of singles and EP’s released, Blossoms hit the road again to promote their eponymous debut studio album. A bit of a warm up before they visit mainland Europe, North America and Canada, Blossoms will be back in the UK for festival season and a potential place in the hall of fame of Mancunian indie rock.

Blossoms arrived onto the music scene in 2014 with their singles ‘You Pulled a Gun On Me’ and ‘Blow’, the video for the latter being shot at the Fitzpatrick Scaffolding yard in Stockport that was their formative rehearsal space (owned by the grandfather of bass player, Charlie Salt). After building up a back catalogue of singles, Blossoms established an almost cult following with tunes like fan favourite ‘Charlemagne’. Their latest single, ‘Sweet Honey’, was released in February this year – once again featuring a who’s who of Stockport locations.

Blossoms‘ synth-rock sound has been labeled as ‘psychedelic’ by some critics but the band themselves arguably prefer to bask in the pop mainstream, cultivating a more mass appeal. Their nostalgia of The Stone Roses has brought older fans to this new band, whilst their sun blushed melodies found favour with today’s pop luvvies and teenage dreamers.

Blossom’s Mancunian roots are a big part of their music (and name – ‘Blossoms’ being a pub in Stockport) but can they be the sound of a new generation, or will their nostalgia tinged indie rock forever remind us of 00’s indie? A dichotomy which was arguably cemented by their support slot at one of The Stone Roses’ homecoming concerts last June.

But with Blossoms‘ debut LP already hitting the No #1 in both the UK and Scottish album charts, alongside a string a plaudits from artists including Johnny Marr and Ian Brown, Blossoms seem to be on their way to fulfilling their dream of being ‘massive’. And if their tour manager tweeting ‘I don’t think @BlossomsBand can fly economy anymore’ is anything to go, they’re becoming at least as recognisable as their musical heroes.

Support band on the NME Awards Tour 2017, Cabbage, will no doubt bring some heavy opinions and political clout to the O2 Academy (Birmingham ) – alongside the self/social media professed doctor of music, Rory Wynne.

The five-piece Cabbage display ‘a penchant for juvenilia’, look childish (nappy wearing stage costumes) and seem a little… unhinged at times (check the official video to ‘Kevin’) but their appearance is deceiving. Often described as ‘Manchester’s next great…’ (I’m not sure how the headliners feel about this!?) Cabbage take their musical influences from band such as The Sex Pistols and Joy Division; their darker punkier sound with manic drums tackles Brexit, poverty and the boredom of everyday life. It will be interesting to see how Blossoms respond to such a rousing start.

‘Sweet Honey’ – Blossoms

Blossoms perform at the O2 Academy on Wednesday 29^th March, with support from Cabbage + Rory Wynne – as presented SJM COncerts. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.

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For more on Blossoms, visit www.blossomsband.co.uk

For more on Cabbage, visit www.ahcabbage.bandcamp.com

For more on Rory Wynne, visit www.rorywynne.co.uk

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For more on the NME Awards Tour 2017, visit www.nme.com/awards/tour

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

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

March 8, 2017March 7, 2017

BREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01.03.17

Words by Damien Russell / Pics by Michelle Martin

Wednesday 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.

As 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.

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.

That 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.

‘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

February 28, 2017

BPREVIEW: Elbow @ O2 Academy 01-02.03.17

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 1^st and 2^nd 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.

Officially Elbow came together in 1997, but the still original band members had been playing together since 1990 so are technically in their 27^th 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 1^st and 2^nd 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