Vampire Weekend are releasing their new album ‘Contra’ on January 11th next year and so confident are they that you will love it they put the tickets on sale yesterday. I saw them at Leeds Festival both this year and last and I can confidently say it’ll be a good night for anyone who gets a ticket

VAMPIRE WEEKEND LIVE, FEBRUARY 2010

Sunday 7^th Cambridge Corn Exchange

Monday 8^th Manchester Apollo

Tuesday 9^th Leeds O2 Academy

Wednesday 10^th Birmingham O2 Academy

Friday 12^th Newcastle O2 Academy

Saturday 13^th Glasgow Barrowlands

Sunday 14^th Edinburgh Picture House

Tuesday 16^th London Brixton O2 Academy

BUY TICKETS

Recently there has been an influx of average material from artists I previously thought failproof. Point of reference – Kings of Leon’s fourth album ‘Only By The Night’. What happened there? It was like each album they got better and better and then all of a sudden lost it! The sudden fondness by Radio 1 didn’t help (If you live in England you’d better pray to God Radio 1 don’t suddenly ‘discover’ your favourite band because the overplaying will be enough to drive you into burning all their CDs and start listening to JLS). But I digress, the point is that the last couple of years have been pretty good with regards to new music but when it comes to well-established artists releasing new music there is just nothing great about it.

Julian Casablancas is, as always, the exception. Phrazes for the Young is not ‘Is This It’ but then it’s not 2001 either and times have changed, if only in the sense that artists are now being influenced by different eras, predominantly the eighties. None of them have done it as well as Casablancas’ though. First single 11th Dimension is brilliant in the fact that, despite managing to evade the stale format followed by many popular artists these days, it’s really easy to listen to and likeable to everyone.

My favourite track from the album is ‘Left and Right in the Dark’. It really is a 10/10 song with at least two hooks that you don’t stop thinking about for the next few hours after you’ve listened to it. Lyrically it is an adventure into your dreams,

‘Sliding across the Indian wildnerness
Like the wind, riding down sore throats
6am and you’re in Hollywood
And you’re dancing, we made it’

Banality is never an option with Casablancas, even when writing about the most everyday subjects he makes them seem so beautiful that we all feel like we’re living the life of poets. There’s tragedy in the first drink of the evening and beauty in the final kiss, I’ve never hidden my love for Julian Casablancas and, indeed, The Strokes and I think that’s probably why.

Phrazes for the Young is an album that proves Julian Casablancas is the David Ruffin of The Strokes i.e. the one who the brilliance rests on. Without him, the other members have created pretty good albums but nothing to this standard. Buy it, honestly, you won’t regret it.

You Know Im A Dancing Machine

 

credit to rebeldiamond from happyalone forum

French Group M83 started the show on Friday with a half hour set which, being as unfamiliar as I was with their music, I didn’t totally enjoy. But talking to people after who know a bit more about them than me told me they were ‘awesome’. So.. well done M83?

Kings Of Leon were on at 8:45 – exactly when they said they would – and kicked the show off with Crawl (surprising noone but when a song is that good does it really matter that its so predictable? A: NO.)

Okay so here’s the setlist

Crawl
My Party
Razz
Mollys Chambers
King of the Rodeo
Joe’s Head
Fans
Revelry
Milk
4 kicks
Pistol of Fire
Wasted Time
Sex On Fire
The Bucket
Notion
Use Somebody
On Call
Closer
Cold Desert
Slow Night So Long

Encore:
Knocked Up
Manhattan
Charmer
Black Thumbnail

Apparently people like crowdsurfing to Knocked Up. How does that even make sense??? Surely you’d be crowdsurfing during Molly’s Chambers or Charmer or something. Seems the slow ones really are the best. (Although I think even the dumbest crowdsurfers realised Milk probably wasn’t the best time)

And yes, I do totally regret not buying tickets for January’s shows. Anyone want to put me on the guestlist?

If you’re in the mood to see possibly one of the most legendary musicians ever play live then you might want to click here before tickets sell out.

The man behind some of the best songs of our century (‘Like a Rolling Stone’, ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, etc.) has announced he’ll be playing Sheffield, London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh in April and May.

If I had £42.00 I’d have already bought my ticket

Half an hour into Leeds Festival and I wanted to go home. The mud was ridiculous. Luckily, not only am I precious, I also have Scrooge tendencies and the ticket had cost 180 pounds – to waste it would have been close to sin.
 
The better line up today was the NME/Radio 1 stage – The Metros opened the show but sadly I’m not familiar with their music so I couldn’t possibly tell you how good a show it was, likewise Yeasayer although you will be pleased to find out that their bassist closely resembled Kip from Napoleon Dynamite when he went through his hip-hop phase – moustache included - which was of course fantastic.
 
Adam Green came next. I love Adam Green. I think his music is brilliant and his outfits even more so. He did not disappoint despite the fact he’d broken his foot in ‘Notting-ham’ last night. And the outfit – how does a tasselled t-shirt sound? That’s right, you heard it, tasselled. All the way down the arms. The show included songs like Carolina, Festival Song and Leaky Flask. Unfortunately for Adam his microphone stand was playing along. By the end of the last song it had broken in half but luckily he just did what any self-respecting artist would do and pretended to ride it across the stage like a pony.

I had to wait till half past 7 to see another artist I love although I did pop in to see Pendulum. It was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I lasted about half an hour in the moshpit before I made my excuses i.e. fought my way out. I only went in there in the first place so I could get front row for Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band who were exceptional, despite a lukewarm reception from the crowd. They opened with NYC – Gone, Gone, a perfect choice as it is both short and snappy, and finished with I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital) rounding off a set which was more energetic than you may have suspected from the boy behind Bright Eyes.
 
Last Shadow Puppets next. It was only their third gig but fortunately it turns out they both have experience with other bands so they were kind enough to playe a brilliant show anyway. They even had the generosity to play my favourite song, Seperate And Ever Deadly, which was great when I could hear it over the shouts of ‘I Love You Alex!’
 
I’ve got to say, I was so tired by the end of their show I had to move towards the back for The Cribs. I have seen them before and know the carnage they cause in the moshpit but tonight everyone in the tent was loving them – even considering the fact Ryan Jarman did ‘damn us all to hell if we’re booing Metallica’. Previously a threesome, The Cribs recruited former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr (or as Ryan called him, Johnny Jarman) earlier in the year to play with them on the NME Shockwaves tour and he has now become a fully fledged member of the band. Lucky for us this meant new songs which, being The Cribs, is always a treat. They opened and closed with classic songs, ‘Our Bovine Public’ and ‘I’m a Realist’ respectively so they had the whole tent singing, actually, earlier in the day Lightspeed Champion had led the crowd through a quick rendition of I’m a Realist and told us he would be in the middle of the moshpit. I didn’t see him but who knows? It is not as if his hat makes him stand out from a crowd

I’m setting off tomorrow but I’ll be writing the blog for www.Leedsfestival.com so I think you can probably click there and find it somehow. I’ll bring back lots of pictures as well.

 See you on the other side!

If you like that sort of thing

You can download new song ‘Death Will Never Conquer’ from Coldplay.com now. It’s not on the album Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends but it was recorded in the same sessions.

I haven’t downloaded it so I can’t tell you how good it is. Coldplay have always been a bit too bland for me but feel free to tell me what you think about it.

Starring supermodel Behati Prinsloo. I love it.

Because he’s crazy (Or as the parole board put it, a ‘concern for public safety and welfare’).

Mark Chapman, who is now 53, infamously shot Lennon near his New York apartment in 1980.  John Lennon was a genius, and a hero to thousands of people. The parole board called his death ‘a horrendously tragic event which has impacted many individuals’.

Chapman can reapply in 2010 but fingers crossed he’ll stay behind bars for longer than that.

NME are asking readers to vote on who they are most looking forward to seeing. Rage Against The Machine are currently (and unsurprisingly) at the top with a current rating of 7.44 out of 10. 1 being not bothered and 10 being can’t wait.

Here’s my top 10

1.) The Killers – my favourite band when I was 14 and one of the few bands that have survived being ridiculously overplayed by Radio 1.

2.) Adam Green – I can’t wait to see what fantastic outfit he is wearing plus he’s bound to have some banter for the audience. And if he plays Carolina, I’ll love him forever.

3.) The Cribs – The Yorkshire trio (or is it quartet now?) headline the NME stage, I can’t think of a reason I would miss it. Especially since they’ll be playing new songs and maybe injuring themselves.

4.) Conor Oberst – I love his new album.  I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital), Lenders In The Temple, Danny Callahan, Cape Canaveral… If he plays any of those it’ll be one of the best shows of the weekend. Plus, if he plays Lua, I might cry.

5.) Vampire Weekend – Oh you already know this one. They’re one of the most hyped about bands of 2008 and not without good reason - I believe I know all the words to their album.

6.) Last Shadow Puppets – First I hated them, now I love them. Lyrically, as clever as Arctic Monkeys. Musically, as classic as Scott Walker – I hope they’re as good live.

7.) We Are Scientists – the funniest band around but they still take their music seriously. The crowd will go mad.

8.) The Raconteurs – I’m hoping Jack will be wearing a fantastic, fantastic outfit. If not, they’ve always got the brilliant songs to fall back on.

9.) Santogold – I just want to hear Lights Out live. I love that song. Hey and maybe she’ll invite Julian and Pharrell onstage for a quick rendition of My Drive Thru… we can hope.

10.) The Teenagers – Good aren’t they?