This recreation of Dylan’s Free Trade Hall concert is supremely good
In May 1966, Bob Dylan toured the UK with The Band, minus drummer Levon Helm, and abrasively pulled the plug…
The case against re-recording albums
In 2012, Jeff Lynne released Mr Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra. Except it wasn’t. It was…
Drunk on devotion
The intimate acoustic show can denote many things for an established artist. One is that, in the infamous euphemism coined…
Four-minute wonder
As the sun sets on another too-long summer festival season, let us take a moment to reflect on the Festival…
Strange folk
In a few days, Lankum will most likely win the 2023 Mercury Music Prize for their fourth album False Lankum…
Uneasy listening
I have always been fascinated by artists who bounce between tonal extremes when performing, particularly the ones who serve their…
Brought to book
‘We all secretly want to be rock stars,’ the 2022 Booker Prize-winning author Shehan Karunatilaka said recently. By ‘we’ he…
Heaven knows they’re miserable now
Bands that have hung around, or gone away and come back again, occupy an increasingly sizeable percentage of pop’s bandwidth.…
Dream team
Most artists begin an arena show with a bang: emerging from the floor, the gods, on a hoist, everything short…
A tale of two troubadours
There are artists you go to see expecting to be challenged, surprised, even let down. And there are artists you…
Nepo daddies
Rob Grant releases his debut album, Lost at Sea, this week. A 69-year-old millionaire and former ad man, furniture exec…
Hoists, HD and horses
Scheduling open-air concerts in mid-May in northern Europe is a triumph of hope over experience. I last spent time with…
Sad-face emoji
Whether by accident or design, the mathematical theme of Ed Sheeran’s previous album titles (+, ×, ÷ and = respectively)…
Americana Coldplay
Once upon a time, rock bands wished for nothing more than to look as though they posed a clear and…
The borrowers
I’m not a natural lender. I’m a reasonably soft touch when it comes to money, but regarding the important things…
Less than the sum of their parts
Recently in these pages, ruminating on the ghastly Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I wrote that music does not…
Feelgood fury
There are several reasons why Young Fathers currently feel like the most exciting live band in Britain, but for now…
