Live Music News & Reviews

Last night at London’s Troxy, a wonderfully restored Art Deco Theatre in the East End, Peter Doherty played a long set mixing songs from his current Grace / Wastelands solo LP with a number of songs from his Libertines and Babyshambles careers. With a host of special guests, including Graham Coxon, Wolfman, Dot Allison, Lee Mavers and Stephen Street, the show had a cabaret feel about it. 

Arriving on stage in a smart three-piece suit just 20 minutes late, Doherty began with a solo acoustic version of Music When the Lights Go Out, before Graham Coxon joined him onstage for Arcadie. The remaining members of the band for the evening, including Babyshambles’ drummer Adam Ficek and bassist Drew Mcconnell, then joined him onstage to play the Grace / Wastelands album almost in its entirety.

Playing with Graham Coxon seems to give a new dimension to Doherty’s live shows, him being a more adept guitarist than Babyshambles’ Mik Whitnall. Coxon too seemed to be enjoying it, and with keyboards / melodica and a string section, the songs had a rich and full sound tonight. Highlights of this part of the set included a superb version of Last of the English Roses, 1939 Returning (for which some of the crowd were expecting Amy Winehouse to guest), Lady Don’t Fall Backwards and A Litte Death Around the Eyes. At one point Grace / Wastelands Producer Stephen Street appeared onstage in a huge Indian headdress, as Doherty sang Happy Birthday to him.  

The Grace / Wastelands album is something of a return to form for Pete Doherty, although there are a number of weak tracks such as Sweet By and By and Salome, and during these songs time slightly dragged, but the format of the show maintained entertainment levels. With the rest of the band leaving the stage, playing fine acoustic versions of The Good Old Days and For Lovers, during which Wolfman shared vocals.

Pete Doherty next introduced the La’s elusive Lee Mavers, who missed his cue to come onstage, forcing Doherty to play an acoustic version of Can’t Stand Me Now, prompting a huge audience singalong. Mavers finally did appear complete with bottle of lager, and despite looking nervous, played a great version of Son of a Gun, the voice still sounding great. The band then returned to the stage complete with Stephen Street on guitar for more songs from Grace / Wastelands. A beefed up version of Albion marked the end of the set, complete with strings and keyboards. This was a very different sound from the ramshackle Babyshambles, and whilst the likes of Pipedown do have their place, there is no doubting that this was a tight performance with a high quality of musicianship. Coxon’s guitar on Broken Love Song was superb, and this brought the set to a close.

After a ten minute break Lee Mavers reappeared on stage to play There She Goes, before Doherty finished by introducing ”The first song I ever learned on the guitar” - Time For Heroes (solo played as it should be for the first time since the days of Carl, by Graham Coxon) and a raucous version of Fuck Forever, which prompted a mini stage invasion during which an under-dressed female attached herself to Doherty for 2 minutes before being carried off by the General.

All-in-all a good show then. The addition of Coxon highlights what a good band Babyshambles could be, and while that that may be too harsh on their current guitarist (Whitnall did write the terrific I Wish) this was much better than any recent show Doherty has played with Babyshambles. The cabaret-style format of guest musicians, acoustic sets and string sections worked very well and the variety maintained the interest even through some of Doherty’s current album’s weaker tracks.

Doves returned to the live scene last night to preview songs from their forthcoming album Kingdom of Rust, their first release since 2005’s Some Cities.

Their sold out perfomance at the HMV Forum wasn’t without its hitches - they arrived onstage to much cheering and promptly left without playing a note after a technical cock-up, but 10 minutes later they were back to open with new song and album-opener Jetstream, with its sparse intro and swirling keyboards building up to a metronomic keyboard break. A low-key Snowden from Some Cities followed, and it wasn’t until Pounding 4 songs in that the gig kicked to life.

Black and White Town predictably got the crowd jumping, but new song 10.03 also made an instant impact, it’s driving beat owing much to Doves early incarnation as Sub Sub. Whilst sounding great live, Doves do not have a huge stage presence, so it was just as well they were playing in front of a projector displaying graphics such as maps of Manchester on old B side “Northenden”. This display really came into its own on penultimate song “Here it Comes”, which featured superb vintage footage of people dancing at one of Wigan Casino’s legendary Northern Soul nights.

Doves finished with Their Goes the Fear, one of their finest songs, which climaxed in the band members playing cowbells and drums to the backdrop of Rio de Janeiro carnival scenes.

The new album is a strong one - more uptempo than the somewhat understated Some Cities. It’s been a long time coming but it’s worth the wait - Doves seem to fill that gap between the type of ramshackle indie music that is too lightweight, and the unbearably ernest anthems from the likes of Coldplay just prefectly. If you haven’t already then you should get tickets to see Doves at Brixton Academy.

The latest rumour doing the rounds concerns the possibility of the Stone Roses playing Glastonbury. Rumours first circulated today of the Stone Roses reforming in 2009. Coachella, the LA music festival which famously offers big paydays as an enticement for bands to reform (in the past The Pixies and the Stooges have reformed for Coachella whilst the Smiths and the Cocteau Twins have been invited to play in 2009), is reportedly interested.

This in turn has led to the possibility that the Stone Roses will play Glastonbury, rumours which have appeared annually since they pulled out of a headlining slot at the last minute in 1995, paving the way for Pulp’s festival-stealing set.

Rumours are also circulating that the White Stripes will be added to the ever-growing Glastonbury bill (the White Stripes headlined in 2005 and Jack White made two appearances last year, one with the Raconteurs and a guest slot with the Last Shadow Puppets). Michael Eavis has said he is keeping one slot free (before Bruce Springsteen) for a “major band” which will be kept a surprise. It is all getting quite exciting, keep tuned to London Venue Guide for the latest rumours.

Disappointing news today as it is announced that all music videos will be removed from YouTube by Google. The move comes after negotiatns to renew the licence between Google and PRS for Music, which previously allowed Google to show professional videos to UK browsers, broke down. Google had apparently wanted to pay much less than at present to musicians to show the content, whilst Google in turn claimed the new deal on offer would have meant it losing money everytime a video was played.

A statement from Google said: “Our previous licence from PRS for Music has expired, and we’ve been unable so far to come to an agreement to renew it on terms that are economically sustainable for us.”

“We’re still working with PRS for Music in an effort to reach mutually acceptable terms for a new licence, but until we do so we will be blocking premium music videos in the UK that have been supplied or claimed by record labels. This was a painful decision, and we know the significant disappointment it will cause within the UK.”

Content started coming down today, with Google claiming all professional videos will be removed over the next couple of days. Bah humbug.

Posters have started appearing on London’s Underground announcing ten O2 dates this July. More details to be announced at a press conference this afternoon

It’s the news most of Britain has been waiting for…Michael Jackson is to play a residency at the O2 Arena this summer. After Prince’s hugely successful shows last year, this time it’s Jacko’s turn to try and reinvigorate his reputation with a series of London gigs. Rumours are that ticket prices are expected to reach new heights, another attempt for Michael Jackson to clear his debts after the recent announcement of an auction of his stuff? More details are to be announced on Thursday. Keep tuned to London Venue Guide for more details.