Catch up with the what's hot in the live arena with our selection of live reviews from 2006. 

 

Our viewpoint of some excellent 2006 gigs!

 

James Morrison

Venue – Sheffield Leadmill. It seems as though every gig we attend is at this legendary venue. We skip the support arriving in time for a quick beer before James Morrison hits the stage. Crowd – A big sell out and by all accounts there is also some brisk tout action early doors too. Different mix tonight; usual leadmill types mixing with an unusual amount of girls and also plenty of twentysomething couples. The gig – The sound is a bit ropey early on but that’s soon in check and then its full steam ahead to an absolute blinder. Morrison is riding a tidal wave of commercial and critical success and it’s well deserved too. He really has some voice especially for one of such tender years and he has quite a knack in mixing the best aspects of soul, rock and folk to produce his own James Morrison sound. Judging by the reaction of the many girls present he’s something of a looker too; smouldering looks, the long rough hair and the shirt open that little bit has the wolf whistles and shouts of love! Morrison takes all this in his stride and retorts by saying he loves everyone here which goes down pretty well, he seems genuinely humbled by the success and adulation. Highlights – All the mega hits are played in quite spectacular fashion by James and his blatant muso session backing band (the lad on keys looks strangely like Wayne Hemingway the celebrity fashion designer), ‘You give me something’ and ‘Wonderful world’ are excellent. The Cat Stevens / Rod Stewart cover of ‘First cut is the deepest’ works suprisingly well but the encore of ‘The last goodbye’ and ‘Call the police’ is something special and will take some beating. Verdict – It’s a delight to see an exceptional artist in these surroundings, the voice is magical as is his connection with the crowd, which is visible from the get go. One wag shouts mid set ‘You fookin’ rule’ and we agree, James Morrison, you fookin’ rule!

 

The Bluetones

Venue – Leeds Cockpit. Long established and well-respected venue, probably the best in Leeds in fact parked under the railway arches. Decent crowd packed in too which suggest The Bluetones are still quite a live draw. Support – Don’t know, whilst they were on stage we were stuck outside trying to sort out our entry, could just about hear them but no more. We stroll in just as they depart stage left, bugger! The Bluetones – Underrated but enduring The Bluetones have been hitting the live venues up and down this nation for over a decade. The fact they can still draw a crowd is testament to the fact they are always a good watch and tonight is no exception. The band seem in good form tonight; the guitars seem pumped up and better than ever and then there is Mark! His vocals are spot on, his one finger keyboards the stuff of legends, his dancing as school disco as ever and he even gives plenty of attitude too, offering to fight some muppet who seems to want to have a pop. The Music – Well thankfully The Bluetones don’t disappoint on this score, they have always had the knack to write a splendid pop tune with killer melodies and tonight a load of ‘em get a damn good airing. The first couple of albums are classics but their latest self titled offering is a triumphant return to pop form and the cream of tracks from it are aired to a grand reception. ‘Head on a spike’ and ‘Surrendered’ are both quality pop tunes are sound great in the live arena. But as ever the crowd respond best to those early classics, ‘Keep the home fires burning’ from that difficult third album sounds nice but it has to be said that they choose some absolute solid gold stunners from their debut long player. Mark announces that they played ‘Cut some rug’ for the first time here and then they blast out a classic version of it, loose grooves and excellent melodies, just trademark Bluetones. ‘Carn't be Trusted’ makes a storming return, great song and really excellent lyrics. Highlight – Strange that it may sound to the hardcore but the highlights are still from that blinding second album, ‘Return to the Last chance saloon’. Opener ‘Solomon bites the worm’ is a corker but the stand out track as ever has to be ‘If’, it’s just indie guitar pop in it’s truest form. Verdict – Simply stunning, whilst great chunks of the music media ignore The Bluetones their hardcore fans are treated to magical musical nights like these. Indie pop doesn’t sound any sweeter than this.

The Automatic

Venue- Sheffield Leadmill. What a surprise it’s back to The Leadmill, not that we ever tire of this class venue. It’s rammed which is always a good sign. Support – Alterkicks. A bit low key but sound pretty pleasant and have great melodies and aren’t afraid to use them. The Automatic – On a real high from a sensational year they are in great form despite Pennies somewhat bizarre inter song chats which leave more than one person in the crowd confused. The gig – The Automatic have never been shy on stage and tonight is no exception, the energy and tunes are infectious and they have a real connection with their fans. What makes The Automatic stand out from the indie crowd is the fact that all the members of the band could well be straight out of other bands! The drummer could nicely sit in The Killers, the bassist could fit into a twee indie C86 band and then Pennie could easily be exiled from a hard core punk combo! But together they gel very nicely, look and sound the bees knees. As you’d expect they play great chunks of the magic ‘Not accepted anywhere’ yet they still manage to slip in one new song, it carries on the good work and gets a decent reception. The great thing about The Automatic is that Pennies ‘unusual’ vocal style just fits the live arena far better than on record and never sounds ‘shouty’ like some media complaints. Highlights – Jesus, now where do we start here?! The obvious ‘Monster’ is once again just an absolute beast of a song. Then there’s ‘Raoul’, ‘Keep your eyes peeled’ or ‘You shout you shout you shout’ which all really do the business. Even ‘Rats’ sounds pretty good, oh hell they’re all great! But if there is one winner then it’s a joint one, ‘Recover’ which just sounds fantastic all energy and grooves. Then obviously the other winner has to be that cover, ‘Goldigger’ is awesome. It’s a bit weird, just how many times have you ever seen the singer put down his mic and start playing the flute whilst playing a rap song! Verdict – A true indie band in spirit, live they really do rock. It’s all energy and blasting out monster hit’s, it don’t get much better than this.

 

The Cooper Temple Clause

Venue: Barnsley Lucorum Now it can't often be said that a brand new venue locally opens it's doors for business especially in what used to be the cultural wasteland of Barnsley. The Lucorum is best known for been the clubbers club and as such has a pretty cool reputation. The music venue itself is something a bit different as it's a glass roofed atrium in the middle of two old stone buildings which house the expensive bars! It's not massive but nice and airy but with a nice sized stage it's an intimate affair. Support: First up are upcoming local soundscapers Vib Gyor. This lot are gaining a bit of a rep even appearing on local news after a cracking Leeds Festival appearance and with performances like this we're not suprised. Like Doves and Longview there's plenty of epic sounds, good start then. It goes off the boil with This et al who frankly a bit dull. They look the part but you get the feeling they are trying just too hard. As they leave the stage to minimal applause you can see in their faces it didn't work tonight and that's a fair conclusion. The band: We got the feeling that the band were under some pressure on their last tour it been the first one in the post Didz era. Tonight however they seem relaxed by some considerable alocohol intake and it shows in a more comfortable performance, one they really get into. The Music: This is how a gig should be a good selection of new and old stuff, let's face it we all want to hear new tracks but deep down you really want to hear those old gems once more. They start with a new one ('Head' marked on the setlist) and it sounds pretty damn good too. The midset pairing of new singles 'Homosapians' and 'Damage' is somewhat of a masterstroke. The current single 'Homosapians' gets a fantastic reception and so it should, top Coopers stuff. 'Damage' makes a lot more sense live, sounding a bit disjointed on vinyl but paired here with the other new single they sound awesome. Another newie later on with Ben again taking main vocal reigns sounds like what can only be described as elctro hardcore pop rock, typical coopers never one to fit into one pidgeon hole. And now onto the fans favourite part of the evening, the oldies! We have traditional set stalwarts like 'Aim' and revitalised 'Who needs enemies', a killer keychance is all you need indeed! Then what should be to finish we have the song reworking to end all reworkings, 'Panzar Attack' was always a jaw dropping brute of a song but now it's a real monster. We dare anyone to stand still when this dance fuelled rock beast is in full flow. Highlight: The stunning return to form is a real plus and the duo of 'Homosapians' and 'Damage' sound great together. But the real highlight is the interaction between band and crowd, both truely feed off each other especially in a new venue and town never visited before. The reaction to 'Panzar Attack' so momumental that the band come back for a totally unplanned encore of 'Blind Pilots', so much of a suprise the roadies have taken down half the equipment! Verdict: Cool venue, great crowd reaction and a romping performance by the Coopers. Storming return to form and how!

Boy Kill Boy

Venue: Sheffield Leadmill It’s obvious when the big cool tours roll into town the only choice is the Leadmill. This NME tour is sold out, again obviously, it should be buzzing. First up: The Automatic. It’s going to be a huge year for The Automatic so it’s a bit of an arse they are up at the bizarre time of ten past seven, criminally early to make way for locals The Long Blondes. It’s doesn’t hurt the Auto lads though as they are really up for it, get stuck in and give it some hammer. Musically it’s exciting as the stage show; plenty of energy, buzzing guitars, a handsome beat or two and in Pennie the synth wizard they have a real star in the making. Hit to be ‘Monster’ is the real star turn, it’s a beast of a record and rightly is getting the band some real exposure, Rob’s vocals are pepped up by Pennie booming backing. Up there with it is still the mighty ‘Recover’ which is due a proper re-release some time soon, it’s a champion race horse of a tune. Unfortunately the only downside of the early start is the crowd, not really as up for it as the band but there’s plenty nodding away so all is not lost. Great start. Second Up: The Long Blondes The Crowd has swelled as Sheffield’s very own The Long Blondes take the stage but once again there isn’t any action in the crowd, far too many spectators to be honest. Not that there is much to shout about on stage neither, there’s been plenty of hype around this lot but they seem to be missing that spark and for us it doesn’t seem to happen. They have that arty edge, kind of like PJ Harvey mixed with Franz Ferdinand except they don’t really have that stand out killer infectious tune that Franz seems to find so often. The Long Blondes just seem to be trying too hard to be cool, that they may be but the music is the loser. Headline: Boy Kill Boy Surely it isn’t a great idea to start with the big hit is it? Well Boy Kill Boy do and ‘Back Again’ is a real statement of intent; it’s one big stomping tune and infectious as hell and knocked out in some style too. So yeah obviously it ain’t a bad idea after all! They really look the part too, like the proper rock stars they are becoming, great hair, stage presence and true star quality. They play for a startlingly short forty minutes but in that time they pack in all the choice cuts from debut ‘Civilian’ which sound big and brash here, at times on record they can sound a little tame no such problems on that score tonight. ‘Suzie’ the current single goes down a treat and ‘Killer’ lives up to its name and then some. The guitars are supercharged and vocals really hit the spot especially on the top tune ‘On my own’. The crowd are a bit more up for it and there is a bit of action down the front but they deserve better with a performance like this. A stunning if short set is over far too soon and a deserving encore is not on offer but even so it’s staggeringly good stuff.

 

 

RICHARD ASHCROFT

Venue: Doncaster Dome. This is home turf for us, which is nice so we don’t have to travel half way across the country to get to the gig. It ain’t the best in the world as it’s a converted sports hall and the sound can be dodgy but they’ve sorted it today and it sounds pretty good. The place is packed and the atmosphere is buzzing. Support: Tiny Dancers, missed them so no comment. Main Attraction: It’s been some years since we heard ‘All in the mind’ and we took a trip to see Verve for two quid at the smallest Uni venue in Sheffield. Ashcroft was off his tits and was trying to push the tiles out of the suspended ceiling, other than that they were stunning. A near lifetime later Richard returns with his third solo record and a whole different outlook to his life from those dark Verve years. Those days are long gone and he looks like he’s really grown into himself, happy and writing some of the best songs of his life. That’s been reflected in his career too; good reviews, great record sales and a huge Manchester home coming show on the horizon to look forward to. He comes out onto the big stage to a huge ovation and looks like cool itself; the hat, shades, shaggy hair and Peoples Power T shirt. He looks pretty laid back too, ready to enjoy the evening as much as his crowd. You’d expect plenty of new stuff and he doesn’t disappoint on that score with loads from his new album ‘Keys to the world’ but a surprise is the lack of his previous solo work, ‘New York’ gets a rather strange psychedelic work over but that’s about it. The other rather pleasing surprise is the shedload of Verve classics aired, as early as the second song ‘Sonnet’ is belted out to much appreciation. Of his new work ‘Sweet brother Malcolm’ the weak link off ‘Keys to the world’ sounds much, much better off the record and ‘Music is Power’ plus ‘Break the night with colour’ sounds epic. So back to the Verve then, Ashcroft picks a stunning selection of his former bands work to play tonight, these are; ‘Sonnet’, the singalong ‘Drugs don’t work’, a solo stripped down ‘History’, ‘Lucky Man’ and obviously ‘Bitter sweet symphony’, stuff of legends! Highlights: It is a night of highlights and the main set is pure genius but when Ashcroft reappears the boat is really pushed out. First off he plays a solo stripped back ‘History’ it really hits the spot, emphasising the power and beauty of this ‘Northern souls’ classic. Then still solo with just a DJ for company he pulls something really out of the bag and off the wall, ‘Lonely Souls’ a collaboration with Unkle / DJ Shadow and really shows how cool Ashcroft voice is and how adaptable too. Just to finish off his solo work on a high he bangs out ‘Break the night with colour’ normally it’s good enough to finish off any show with but he ain’t finished yet. What happens next is one of those seminal moments in rock, the definitive live version of ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’. He introduces it with the line ‘We are the generation that wasn’t supposed to write classics, it’s all been done before’ he laughs because we all know it is one of those generation defining classics. The place goes absolutely mental; monkey dancing breaks out everywhere, Ashcroft is nearly drowned out by the singing and a guy bursts out into joyous tears, it is that good! Verdict: This is one of the gigs of all time, a monumental performance yet at all times Ashcroft shows great humility thanking Pete Salisbury the drummer who has been behind him throughout his career and thanking the fans too. As he leaves the stage there is a kiss from wife Kate Radley, a kiss for a musical god.

 

Kaiser Chiefs

Venue – Leeds Millennium Square. Whoever had the idea to convert this prime piece of Leeds real estate into a gig venue has to be wholly congratulated. It holds between 5,000 and 10,000 and has shallow slope giving great views for all and is neatly paved so no mud! Crowd – Sold out in double quick time, so popular in fact they are doing it all again tomorrow night. As it’s a big homecoming the atmosphere is friendly, relaxed and tension free as everyone is well up for a good time. One piece of advice to the lone fool down the front with a scum shirt on, that’s not the best idea in the world, he gets a fair bit of stick and deservedly so. Support one – Polysics Only in festival environment does this type of band go down this well. Tokyo’s ‘finest’ are a comedy punk pop combo who give plenty of energy and enthusiasm to make up for their obvious lack of talent. Fortunately as everyone is up for a good time there’s smiles galore and they are given a rapuous reception. But beware this joke ain’t funny for long. Support Two – Graham Coxon From the ridiculous to the sublime, every time we see Coxon’s boys they just get better and better and tonight is no exception. Left field indie pop has no better purveyor of guitar fused three-minute classics than Graham Coxon. There’s bags of energy, some bizarre comedy banter and a set packed full of excellent tunes. As ever ‘Bittersweet bundle of misery’ with it’s Song 2esque guitar hooks sounds masterful and ‘Freakin’ out’ is an absolute classic despite the drummer to much amusement making an absolute balls up of it. There’s plenty from recent release ‘Love travels at illegal speeds’ and it all sounds damn smart, possibly the pic is ‘I can’t look at your skin’, vintage Coxon. It looks really rosy for Graham at the moment and look there’s no mention of Damon, damn! Main Attraction It’s been one hell of an eighteen months for Leeds favourite sons and there’s an air tonight that it’s going to be really, really special and the Kaisers aren’t in the mood to disappoint. After all this is their city, their time and undeniable their time. The crowd are singing along to the pre gig warm up songs, the atmosphere building up to boiling point and there’s one hell of a cheer as the huge velvet curtains emblazed with the KC motif open to reveal a mega light show and the eargely awaited Kaiser Chiefs. It looks like Ricky Wilson has been doing his celebrating early doors and looks somewhat worse for wear, not that this is going to get in the way of kicking out a hundred percent high octane million miles an hour performance. The only downside to note is that Ricky is somewhat erratic, that adds to the crowds enjoyment but judging by the bemused expressions by the rest of the chiefs at times they have no idea what is coming next. Ricky is quite literally all over the place in fact at one point he ends up at the back of the audience, eventually the rest of the lads see the funny side and they play an entire song with Ricky sat on a wall miles from the stage. So anyway some new songs were promised, how do they shape up? Pretty well to be fair, there’s plenty of neat guitars and loads of chart friendly choruses it all adds up to plenty to look forward to on the second album. The stand out newie is called ‘High Royds’, which takes its title from the now defunct mental institution, it starts the encore and doesn’t at all feel out of place there. But it’s a big homecoming so everyone to a man, woman or child wants to sing a long with their favourite Kaiser hit and boy do they excel on that front. With a monster set list and light show to match there’s some epic entertainment to be had and Ricky can’t wait to get everyone involved. The crowd can’t wait to do Mexican waves, sing a long on modern classic ‘I predict a riot’ and even do start the intro to the odd song especially plenty of na, na, na’s, indie stadium cabaret anyone?! It is the Kaisers city, definitely their crowd and one hell of a homecoming, bring on tomorrow night!

Dirty Pretty Things

Venue: Sheffield Leadmill. Hooray back to Sheffield’s finest and we’re not alone, sold out in a matter of minutes it’s flaming rammed. Support: Humanzi Now this has to be the best support gig in the world, the place is full to capacity and the crowd are already high as kites in anticipation for the Barat and co. What they need is a pretty solid rock band with that edge and in Humanzi they have indeed got that band. They look the part, dressed to kill with plenty of hair going off and sound pretty dandy too. Humanzi are currently been touted as Ireland’s next great export and singer Shaun Mulrooney has a fantastic accent, when he advises the crowd to give themselves a round of applause you almost hear the ‘arr go on’ in that Father Ted voice! They aren’t re-inventing the wheel but it’s good fun and the crowd are duly warmed up. Main Attraction: Dirty Pretty Things Now there are a mere two people in the audience who aren’t massive, massive Libertines fans and quite obvious that’s the shadders team! No we’re looking at this from a different angle, we’re here to see former cooperstar and all round splitter Didz Hammond, how weird is that! So how does he look then, like the star he always was in the cooper temple clause except with a little bit more limelight, he has to fight for it but it definitely comes his way, loads more vocals to add to his bass thing expertise. In fact all of these four dirty pretty things look the part but then that was never a problem with the ‘tines either, they always looked like a band full of stars but just didn’t really act like it. Now the dirties look like a band alright, in fact they look like a gang and that’s just what Barat missed after the ‘other one’ derailed big time. Musically it’s fairly obvious to be fair, now that’s not meant in a bad way it’s just that Barat was hardly to try a new dance direction was he and the crowd love him for playing it the way they love. Now the shadders team suspect that three ‘tines songs were performed but as we have no idea what they sound like we cannot confirm this! Just that the crowds reaction hits fever peak for these songs and to be fair if you didn’t know any different you probably wouldn’t guess, the ‘tines tracks aren’t exactly a million miles away from the new Dirty Pretty Things material. There’s plenty of energy, sweat, buzzing guitars and Barat’s cor blimey vocals but as they say in the first single ‘What did you expect’ nothing more, nothing less is more than enough for the Leadmill, the king is dead long live the king!

Morning Runner

Venue: Sheffield Leadmill Now this is nice, unlike most gigs that are held in the venues main room this is next door in the main bar. That’s cool because it makes a fantastic little venue and due to the reduced capacity it’s sold out and creates quite an atmosphere. First Support: Polytechnic Probably the most interesting thing that can be said about this band is that there guitarist looks a bit like Bryan Adams, musically they are that exciting and just to confirm we at shadders don’t even like Bryan Adams! Now to be honest there isn’t that much wrong with this lot it’s just that they just aren’t that exciting just got give you that buzz, can’t see anyone actually citing this lot as their fav ever band. They are just pleasant and nothing more. Second Support: The Fontenelles Doncaster’s new white hopes The Fontenelles make the short trip to the Leadmill and make a few friends en route. Sounding more Seattle than South Yorkshire this threesome ain’t no monkey’s but take their influences from the more melodic edge of Nirvana, an on form Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom or closer to home the guitar pop of The Wedding Present. It’s a slow start tonight and it looks like they might just lose the crowd but some comedy banter and an up in the tempo gets them back on side and the tunes flow like a fresh mountain spring. So be it Doncaster, Seattle or even Sheffield good honest guitar sounds are still good honest guitar sounds and ain’t that the truth. Main Attraction: Morning Runner Now this is some turnaround by Morning Runner, it’s well documented around Shadders that when we first came across this lot they were in fact totally crap! But rather than dismiss them out of hand we’ve had spies watch them and report back good things, then we travelled to Leeds to see the excellent support to Stephen Fretwell which leads us onto tonight. The crowd is a good solid Morning Runner friendly lot and even let them off a duff start when they blow the intro to the opener, it’s a great ice breaker and to be fair the only blot on the Morning Runner copy book. From the ridiculous to the sublime because the single that the tour plugs, ‘Burning Benches’ is amazing and the crowd really get behind it, it has real power and sounds pretty damn awesome in these quaint Leadmill surroundings. They look just the job too, looking like a proper poster indie band should and that singer seems to have plenty of female admirers with his pretty boy looks, the excellent major label financed light show adds to the excellent spectacle. Also like the trademark indie guitar band they cover some bases, ‘Oceans’ is delicate and demur whereas something like ‘Gone up in flames’ is a bit of a dance floor dance along and as up as they come. Second to ‘Burning Benches’ comes ‘It’s not like everyone’s my friend’ a bit of a showcase for the bands vocal talents and also features some mighty strong guitars but to be fair the name is incorrect for tonight cause after this I would suspect that everyone is indeed their friends!

Stephen Fretwell

Venue: Leeds City Varieties. This is a spin venue for me and it has to be said it is one of the coolest places to see music in the North. It’s not traditionally a music venue as such but a compact theatre best known for the ‘good old days’ music hall shows. It has a real old skool charm and exceptional acoustics; the only problem really is it’s all seats downstairs, which is a bit weird, but still strangely relaxing! The views from the balconies upstairs look excellent. It’s also nice to have a social beer sat in your seat whilst being entertained but beware the bar shuts as soon as the main act starts! Support: Morning Runner Now we like to proved wrong musically and fortunately that’s what has happened tonight with Morning Runner. We were very critical of them on their previous short lack lustre showing at York Fibbers, that night it was doubted that they were nothing more than a major label tax loss but not here, those criticisms and fears prove to be ungrounded. They certainly look the part, suiting the surroundings despite comments from them fearing the all seated audience and the fact they haven’t played to one before. Musically it all makes more sense, they manage to sound strong and yet fragile, it’s melancholic guitar rock of the finest indie order. With a performance like this it’s now evident why they’ve made friends on their big support slots, not so much taxloss but major label earner of the future. Main Attraction: Stephen Fretwell It’s been quite a time from Fretters, small town lad done real good, ‘Magpie’ has done some business for the boy enabling him to move up to cool venues like this and selling them out. Strangely he is still quite humble about the situation and shy too, in-between songs it’s still nothing more than mumblings and the shyness is a bit weird as for a big portion of tonight’s performance he’s up there just lights and a guitar for company. It takes some balls and confidence in your ability to be up there and prove yourself in front of a big crowd and prove himself he does as he has the audience in his grasp all night. The reason is easy, good honest songs, Stephen makes the art of songwriting look simple, great melodies, intelligent lyrics, just back to basics. He plays the best off the understated and indeed under rated ‘Magpie’ along with a few new tracks which are a continuation of great songwriting, fortunately no stupid daft dance direction! He finishes off with the excellent ‘New York’ which confirms pure and simple that Stephen Fretwell writes and performs great songs, spot on.