Live Music News & Reviews

After tonight’s sanitised and frankly dull Brit Awards ceremony, London Venue Guide presents some highlights from when the good old days when the Brit Awards provided some entertaining and downright embarassing moments.

1. 1989 was the nadir as Sam Fox and Mick Fleetwood made presenting the Brit Awards look as difficult as finding Sir Allen Stanford.

2. 1996: Oasis made us wince as Noel Gallagher states he has more money than the crowd before saying to Michael Hutchence “Has-beens shouldn’t present awards to gonna-be’s.”

3. 2000 and this time it’s Radio One DJ Brandon Block’s turn to make an idiot of himself as he somehow finds himself on stage, looking a little worse for wear, and ends up in an argument with Ronnie Wood.

4. 1996 and Jarvis Cocker gatecrashes Michael Jackson’s biblical style performance of Earth Song to waggle his bum and lift his top up.

5. Joss Stone 2007 fails to take heed of the advice it’s best to stay silent and look a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Her accent is harder to place than Christian Bale’s

Doves have announced a full UK tour this Spring, after the smattering of shows that recently sold out for this March. The band will be supporting the relesae of new album ‘Kingdom of Rust’ (out April 6), which London Venue Guide is very much looking forward to, with the dates in April and May. The tour will do nothing to dampen rumours that Doves are set to play Glastonbury this year. The Doves play London’s Brixton Academy on May 1.

Full dates below, tickets for the Doves go on sale on Friday 20 February at 9am here. Watch the band’s new single, Kingdom of Rust here.

Cambridge Corn Exchange (April 15)
Brighton Dome(16)
Birmingham O2 Academy (17)
Belfast Ulster Hall (19)
Dublin Olympia (20)
Glasgow Barrowland (22)
Edinburgh Picture House (23)
Leeds O2 Academy (24)
Manchester O2 Academy (26)
Newcastle Academy (27)
Sheffield Academy (28)
Reading Hexagon (30)
London Brixton Academy (May 1)
Southampton Guildhall (4)
Nottingham Rock City (5)
Norwich UEA (6)
Bristol O2 Academy (7)

Franz Ferdinand and Rolf Harris may be the only acts confirmed for Glastonbury so far, but there are a number of strong rumours flying about. Most people seem to agree the headliners will be Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Blur, plus possibly one other, according to Emily Eavis, who claims she has two headliners for the Saturday night. London Venue Guide has a feeling (hopes!) the fourth act could be Arctic Monkeys, who have confirmed a number of European festival appearances in August 2009, and whose Alex Turner is becoming something of an old Glastobury hand after a headline slot in 2007 and playing with the Last Shadow Puppets in 2008.

We would also love to see Radiohead back, particularly after last year when Thom Yorke caused a fuss by turning down a headline slot because he felt the festival wasn’t green enough. What are the chances? Well if they do play a UK Festival this year, Glastonbury can certainly claim to be the greenest, especially compared to V, which they headlined in 2007.

Other acts that could well play include Doves, who have a new album out this year and who are touring in March, and more likely, The Specials, newly reformed and as perfect a Glastonbury act as one could hope for. Orbital are also sure to play this year, with the old Glastonbury stalwarts having reformed in 2009 for a series of one-off gigs.

Bands who have confessed to their fans that they are playing include Lily Allen and Kaiser Chiefs.

More to come.

The 2009 Grammy Awards took place last night. The key winners were as follows:

BEST NEW ARTIST
Adele
Duffy
The Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, Raising Sand
Coldplay, Viva La Vida
Ne-Yo, Year Of The Gentleman
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Radiohead, In Rainbows

SONG OF THE YEAR
“American Boy,” Estelle Featuring Kanye West
“Chasing Pavements,” Adele
“I’m Yours,” Jason Mraz
“Love Song,” Sara Bareilles
“Viva La Vida,” Coldplay

RECORD OF THE YEAR
Adele, “Chasing Pavements”
Coldplay, “Viva La Vida”
Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
M.I.A., “Paper Planes”
Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, “Please Read The Letter”

BEST DANCE RECORDING
Daft Punk, “Harder Better Faster Stronger”
Hot Chip, “Ready For The Floor”
Lady Gaga & Colby O’Donis, “Just Dance”
Madonna, “Give It 2 Me”
Rihanna, “Disturbia”
Sam Sparro, “Black & Gold”

BEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM
Brazilian Girls, New York City
Daft Punk, Alive 2007
Cyndi Lauper, Bring Ya To The Brink
Kylie Minogue, X
Moby, Last Night
Robyn

BEST POP PERFORMANCE, FEMALE
Adele, “Chasing Pavements”
Sara Bareilles, “Love Song”
Duffy, “Mercy”
Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
Katy Perry, “I Kissed A Girl”
Pink, “So What”

BEST POP PERFORMANCE, MALE
Kid Rock, “All Summer Long”
John Mayer, “Say”
Paul McCartney, “That Was Me”
Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours”
Ne-Yo, “Closer”
James Taylor, “Wichita Lineman”

BEST POP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS
Coldplay, “Viva La Vida”
Eagles, “Waiting In The Weeds”
Gnarls Barkle, “Going On”
Maroon 5, “Won’t Go Home Without You”
OneRepublic, “Apologize”  

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP WITH VOCALS

“Rock N Roll Train,” AC/DC
“Violet Hill,” Coldplay
“Long Road Out Of Eden,” Eagles
“Sex On Fire,” Kings Of Leon
“House Of Cards,” Radiohead

BEST ROCK SONG
Bruce Springsteen, “Girls In Their Summer Clothes”
Radiohead, “House Of Cards”
Death Cab For Cutie, “I Will Possess Your Heart”
Kings Of Leon, “Sex On Fire”
Coldplay, “Violet Hill” 

BEST ROCK ALBUM
Coldplay, Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends
Kid Rock, Rock N Roll Jesus
Kings Of Leon, Only By The Night
Metallica, Death Magnetic
Raconteurs, Consolers Of The Lonely 

BEST ALTERNATIVE ALBUM
Beck, Modern Guilt
Death Cab For Cutie, Narrow Stairs
Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
Radiohead, In Rainbow

BEST RAP ALBUM
Jay-Z, American Gangster
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Lupe Fiasco, The Cool
Nas
T.I., Paper Trail

BEST RAP PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP
Big Boi feat. Raekwon & Andre 3000, “Royal Flush”
(Taylor couldn’t pronounce “Raekwon” quite right. Aw.)
T.I. feat. Kanye West & Lil Wayne, “Swagger Like Us”
Lil Wayne feat. Jay-Z, “Mr Carter”
Ludacris feat. T.I., “Wish You Would”
Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West, “Put On”

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
Estelle feat. Kanye West, “American Boy”
Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, “Low”
John Legend feat. Andre 3000, “Green Light”
Lil Wayne feat. T-Pain, “Got Money”
Lupe Fiasco feat. Matthew Santos, “Superstar”

 BEST RAP SONG

 “Lollipop,” (Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major)D. Carter, S. Garrett, D. Harrison, J. Scheffer & R. Zamor, songwriters
“Low,” (Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain)T. Dillard, M. Humphrey & T-Pain, songwriters
“Sexual Eruption,” (Snoop Dogg)Calvin Broadus, S. Lovejoy & D. Stewart, songwriters
“Superstar,” (Lupe Fiasco Featuring Matthew Santos)Lupe Fiasco & Soundtrakk, songwriters
“Swagga Like Us,” (Jay-Z & T.I. Featuring Kanye West & Lil Wayne)D. Carter, S. Carter, Clifford Harris & Kanye West, songwriters (M. Arulpragasam, N. Headon, M. Jones, J. Mellor, T. Pentz & P. Simonon, songwriters)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
American Gangster
August Rush
Juno
Mamma Mia!
Sweeney Todd—The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM FOR MOTION PICTURE, TELEVISION OR OTHER VISUAL MEDIA

“The Dark Knight,” James Newton Howard & Hans Zimmer, composers
“Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull,” John Williams, composer
“Iron Man,” Ramin Djawadi
“There Will Be Blood,” Jonny Greenwood, composer
“Wall-E,” Thomas Newman, composer

 BEST SHORT-FORM MUSIC VIDEO
Erykah Badu, “Honey”
Gnarls Barkley, “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul”
Alicia Keys & Jack White, “Another Way To Die”
Radiohead, “House Of Cards”
Weezer, “Pork & Beans”

Glastonbury 2009 has sold out, no doubt bringing a sigh of relief to organiser Michael Eavis after last year’s festival barely broke even. All of the registration tickets have sold out, although with probable cancellations, a limited number are likely to go on sale in April.

The fact that this year the festival has sold out despite any acts being announced implies that last year’s slow ticket sales had less to do with Jay-Z headlining and more to do with a number of consecutive wet Glastonburies. Fortunately for the festival, last year the weather was fine, reminding everyone just why they bother in the first place.