Eden sessions : Flaming Lips

The Eden project is a wonderful place.
Biodomes containing tropical rainforests. Statues made out of recycled waste. Giant bees.
All very trippy and very fitting for Wayne Coyne et al.
In fact this is probably the best marriage of performer and venue.
And Coyne certainly seemed to agree.
Yeah, the Lips didn't play all of their wellknown songs. No "The Test" or "Waiting for a Superman".
But I really didn't care.
It was the first time I'd seen them and as first support act OK Go had warned, my brain burst out of its brain socket.
We managed to find ourselves against the barrier and, erm, I did kind of get carried away with punching giant balloons back into the crowd.
All the dancing  Dorothys were excited, as were the security guards, one of whom was giddily talking about what was to happen.
Also, most crucially, the Lips were so thrilled to be there. Wayne Coyne had clearly fallen for the place (and rightly so because Eden is magical and inspiring).

This was an absolute coup for the Eden project. I remember being a teenager in Plymouth and, INXS and Oasis aside, we didn't get big acts. In 1997 the biggest was The Lighthouse Family and, well, that's wrong and a quick Google suggests things haven't changed too much.
So I felt a bit sad for the region's indie kids that Morrisey was making his Plymouth debut that night.

A brief bit on the supports. We saw a surprise (to us) appearance by Badly Drawn Boy (saw but didn't hear as his sound check took forever and OK Go were about to go onto the main stage). One of the nice things about the sessions is that even Eden visitors without concert tickets can watch the performances that aren't on the main stage (and there were a lot of acts on the two non-main stages), as it acted as tasters for not only the acts concerned but also the sessions as a whole.
And OK Go were fantastic. I'd loved their videos (if unfamiliar, try this, this and this and we'll see you when emerge from your YouTube black hole) and I wondered how they were going to be live.
Their version of White Knuckles was brilliant and the handbell edition of Return is stunning, both moving and entertaining.

All told, it was a fantastic evening.
And you MUST see this image of Wayne and the bubble and the bubbles

Kaiser Chiefs - The future is web-driven

So you are an indie band that has slipped off the radar.
Suppose you think that you need to reach beyond the 6music daytime crowd.
Do you go into the jungle? Appear on the lottery?
Or do something innovative.
Now I am not saying Ricky Wilson and the boys were consciously thinking of this but Kaiser Chiefs have managed to pull off a masterstroke.
They have made their new album, the awesomely titled The Future Is Medieval, completely customisable online. You can choose ten out of twenty tracks, the running order and the artwork.
It is also a darker sounding album than I expected (but I only really paid attention to the first two albums)
The website let's you listen to sizeable samples of each track and the site is quite lively as you would expect from them.
So go and have a mosey....
It'll probably be quite a commonplace practice before long but I don't think it'll often be done with as much panache.
And it's a very fitting step for a band that has been so much about fun and youth...

Alicia Keys v ticket touts

Next month Alicia Keys is in town to play the Royal Albert Hall in a one-off gig to mark a decade since the release of "Songs in A minor"
Yes, ten years already....

But that's not the remarkable thing.
What is very interesting is the ticketing arrangement (yes, I know I have banging on about Olympic tickets recently and I'll resume to normal non-ticket non-sport service soon).
To gain admission to the RAH, you need not only your ticket but someone in your party needs photo ID to show that they're the buyer of the ticket. Here's the RAH announcement on it.

I'm in favour of this in principle. It'll reduce touts. (It can't stop it as you'll always get unscrupulous touts and desperate fans wanting to chance it)
But it'll be interesting to see if the Albert Hall follow through on this.
I remember in the build up to the France 98 world cup seeing much UK government-funded TV ads saying that fans will be turned away at the gates if they come with tickets in someone else's name. This, to the best of my knowledge, didn't actually happen.
But it does happen at Glasto.
Yes, the Alicia Keys fans might need to be a bit patient in the queue in case someone is there sans ID. And, yes, there may well be some, if not ugly then sad, scenes.
Though, if this becomes the norm for big gigs in London, it'll eat away at the touts and their habits of bulk-buying anything at sizeable venues even if they've never heard of the acts concerned (thus reducing access to real fans).

So, Alicia and management, more power to your elbows.....

Now Eurovision's over for another year

The quality of entries this year was remarkably high.
So I was delighted that Azerbaijan and Italy came first and second, respectively. I had loved both those tunes since I heard them a few weeks back.
Italy's success in particular shattered the notion that there is a "Eurovision" song. If there is a place for exceptional jazz piano, there is a place for anything.

Take note UK.
Sure, 11th place was respectable given last year.
We need to carry on with tried and tested performers. And also having them sing songs tailored to them. So farewell to audience voting.
Yeah, in Eastern Europe, they still vote for who will represent them at Eurovision.
However, this is often the sole route for Polish/Hungarian etc. acts to generate an international following.
Acts over here will try to get onto X Factor first.

So, fairly established acts for us. It will be great to have ones that are still fresh.
Problem is that the Jessie J's will not want to do all the publicity all over Europe.
We either go for someone so big that it's not strictly necessary or someone who's prepared to put in the hours.
Of the giants, who would bite? Me, I think the BBC should ask Muse. It doesn't seem completely out of the question and they would write something powerful and fun. If that seems a bit too rocky for a BBC convinced that the Eurovision's camp (despite all the evidence), try Lily Allen.
If it has to be an up-and-comer, get Mark Ronson to produce.
But please don't make it a ballad as, shown time and time again recently, that don't get the votes.

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis first crossed my radar in 2005 at the peak of my 6Music obsession.
Back then, I had a real hunger for 50s/Motown-influenced tunes and KDL's rockabilly stylings definitely ticked that box.
For example, listen to Honolulu Rock'n'Roll: yes, it's higher tempo than the original  but it sounds to these modern ears as if it's dripping with the 1950s.
Which was made all the more extraordinary when you realised they were teenagers, and young teenagers at that.
I think their youth and the fact that they were siblings helped KDL capture the media's imagination (though that would have happened eventually given the strength of their music then as shown by Mean Son of a Gun )
And maybe, just maybe, this has seen them treated in the UK as a bit of a gimmick band.
A crying shame given their clear talent.

Last month I stumbled across I'm So Sorry, a single from March just gone. There's a melancholic edge. It's still refreshingly old-fashioned but more mature and ska-tinged.
And the video's an absolute joy. (Certainly at least one German music channel agrees with me as they had it on heavy rotation.)
In all honesty, they're possibly too niche to become huge.
But they need to be appreciated by a wider audience and maybe just maybe this is starting to happen. They certainly deserve it.

The Bluetones upcoming farewell tour

Weddings are often sources of news.
You can find out how the scrawny kid from your running club has got on. See your old physics teacher jiving way.

And at a wedding this weekend I found out between courses that The Bluetones are splitting up after their September tour.
I knew it wouldn't make headline news but I'm slightly surprised that it took seven days for the news to reach me.
Last year I saw them for the first (and, now possibly, only) time in a small hall locally and they were terrific. Some new songs but the focus was on the Britpop era. And really good banter.

They are one of those bands who had more hits you know than you might think.
If.....
Slight Return
Solomon Bites The Worm.

They also featured on last year's Scott Pilgrim soundtrack.
So go see them in September if you have any sort of penchant for guitar music. You'll make new friends.
Tour dates are here