live music

New Order’s oldies still sound like the future

14 October 2023 9:00 am

The intimate acoustic show can denote many things for an established artist. One is that, in the infamous euphemism coined…

Uneasy listening: Kathryn Joseph, at Summerhall, reviewed

19 August 2023 9:00 am

I have always been fascinated by artists who bounce between tonal extremes when performing, particularly the ones who serve their…

A giddy delight: Regina Spektor, at the Royal Festival Hall reviewed

29 July 2023 9:00 am

We’ll get on to the brilliance of Regina Spektor in a moment. But first a question: why are pop music…

Intoxicating: Bruce Springsteen, at BST Hyde Park, reviewed

15 July 2023 9:00 am

Seven years ago, I asked Bruce Springsteen what he meant when he talked of the covenant between himself and his…

Why aren’t Spoon filling stadiums?

1 July 2023 9:00 am

Here’s a mystery for you. Why were Spoon, one of the most dynamic, sharpest rock bands in the world, playing…

Dazzling – if you ignore the music: Beyoncé, at Murrayfield Stadium, reviewed

27 May 2023 9:00 am

Scheduling open-air concerts in mid-May in northern Europe is a triumph of hope over experience. I last spent time with…

In praise of goths – the most enduring of pop subcultures

27 May 2023 9:00 am

Michael Hann on the most enduring of pop subcultures

Only traces of their eerie early spirit remain: Kings of Leon, at OVO Hydro, reviewed

9 July 2022 9:00 am

A few years ago, I spoke to Mick Jagger and asked him which of the (relatively) new crop of rock…

The subtleties of her songbook were lost in this enormodome: Diana Ross at the O2 reviewed

2 July 2022 9:00 am

When Motown first packaged up a roster of artists and songs that could be embraced by a non-black audience, no…

I’m not sure they ever reached a fourth chord: Spiritualized, at the Roundhouse, reviewed

21 May 2022 9:00 am

Every so often, Jason Pierce drifts into focus. It happened at the end of the 1980s, when his then group…

A joy – mostly: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, at Usher Hall, reviewed

14 May 2022 9:00 am

Drummers are patient chaps, in the main. Think of Ringo in Peter Jackson’s recent Beatles docuseries, Get Back. Lolling around…

The perfect pop star: Dua Lipa at the O2 Arena reviewed

7 May 2022 9:00 am

Dua Lipa’s second album, Future Nostalgia, was released at the least promising moment possible: 27 March 2020, the day after…

I would be surprised if his next tour included arenas: Louis Tomlinson at Wembley reviewed

30 April 2022 9:00 am

You don’t need to be a historian of pop to realise that having been part of a huge manufactured group…

Felt like being caught on the moors in a storm: Keeley Forsyth, at the Barbican, reviewed

19 March 2022 9:00 am

It took a moment to realise Keeley Forsyth was there. There were already three musicians, faint figures on a dark…

Expectations were met and then exceeded: Arooj Aftab, at Celtic Connections, reviewed

19 February 2022 9:00 am

We gathered on a freezing Sunday night, inside a barrel-vaulted church designed in the 1890s by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, to…

One of the most exciting hours I’ve spent in ages: Turnstile at O2 Forum Kentish Town

12 February 2022 9:00 am

Even leaving aside its origins as prison slang, punk has always meant different things on either side of the Atlantic.…

Triumphant: Idles at the O2 Brixton Academy reviewed

29 January 2022 9:00 am

The single thing you don’t want when you are beginning a run of four shows in a prestige venue, with…

The quiet radicalism of the Chieftains

27 November 2021 9:00 am

Pop quiz time: which act was named Melody MakerGroup of the Year in 1975? The answer is not, as you…

One of many soul acts looking back 50 years and doing very good business: Black Pumas, at the Roundhouse, reviewed

20 November 2021 9:00 am

No musician ever went bust overestimating the public desire to hear classic soul. Slapping on a Motown backbeat has revived…

Joyous perfection from a band that's sure to go far: Gabriels at The Social reviewed

30 October 2021 9:00 am

The bigger the next big thing, the smaller the room you want them playing in. You want the people who…

Banal and profound, bent and beautiful: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis at Edinburgh Playhouse reviewed

2 October 2021 9:00 am

Nick Cave has always been drawn to parable and fable, but more than ever these days he is engaged in…

Teenage Fanclub are not a dramatic group, but they are lovely

18 September 2021 9:00 am

They may no longer get many teenagers at their shows spending all their money on merchandise, then throwing up on…

Cast a spell, clear and sharp as frost: The Unthanks, at Edinburgh International Festival, reviewed

4 September 2021 9:00 am

As August unwound, the EIF settled into the cavernous gazebo that is Edinburgh Park, and things began to loosen up.…

A perfect welcome back to live music: Sarathy Korwar at Kings Place reviewed

29 May 2021 9:00 am

There is a reason music writers tend to stick with music writing rather than transferring their manifold talents to the…

'You can't have opinions any more': Rick Wakeman interviewed

19 December 2020 9:00 am

Rod Liddle talks to Rick Wakeman about lockdown, the Sex Pistols, and how you can’t have opinions any more