Spellbinding performance of a career-defining record: Corinne Rae Bailey, at Ladbroke Hall, reviewed
You won’t see two more contrasting shows this year than Corinne Bailey Rae performing her album Black Rainbows and Brian…
Virgin on the astonishing: Madonna, at The O2, reviewed
When I was a kid listening obsessively to AC/DC and Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath, I despaired of music writers.…
Band of brothers
Over the past few years, the National have become the most important band in modern rock music. The strange thing…
Country’s Van Halen
Pop critics routinely make the mistake of assuming the most important acts are the ones copied by the groups they…
Playing it cool
Quite when the concept of coolness became a thing is uncertain, even to etymologists. As early as 1884, an academic…
Deluge and delight
I love Green Man. The smallish festival is the second most beautiful site I’ve ever visited (after G Fest, which…
Come let us adore them
It’s not just who our pop heroes are that marks the passing of the generations; it’s how those heroes present…
Salve Regina
We’ll get on to the brilliance of Regina Spektor in a moment. But first a question: why are pop music…
Matters of life and death
Seven years ago, I asked Bruce Springsteen what he meant when he talked of the covenant between himself and his…
A tale of two fortunes
Here’s a mystery for you. Why were Spoon, one of the most dynamic, sharpest rock bands in the world, playing…
Amazing Grace
Some artists need flash bombs to make an impression on stage. Some need giant screens. Some need to run around…
Metal fatigue
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything worse than Mötley Crüe in Sheffield. Nothing more tuneless, empty, vapid and dismaying.…
Back to black
Michael Hann on the most enduring of pop subcultures
Irish ayes
I was listening the other week to a solo album by an ageing rock guitarist, once terrifically famous. It was…
Don’t believe the naysayers
A user’s guide to how pop music works in the 21st century. Step one: you see a great new band.…
Songs for a life
Elton John has now been retiring for nearly five years. The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour began in Allentown, Pennsylvania,…
Side lines
Think of pop music as being like the parable of the sower. These days the seed falling on stony ground…
Sonic youth
Years ago, I asked Robert Plant what he felt about the world’s love of ‘Stairway to Heaven’. He said he…
The girls, the gays and the theys
The other week I saw a T-shirt bearing the caption ‘For the girls, the gays and the theys’. And if…
Going Metric
Why aren’t Metric stars? In their native Canada, several of their albums have gone platinum, but the rest of the…
