ARCADE FIRE (London Hyde Park, 03/07/14)

The last Hyde Park show was, by some measure, the worst AF gig I've ever seen. The setlist was weird ("Wake Up" just didn't work as the second song), the sound was rubbish and the surfeit of Mumfordian terrorists chatting their way through proceedings made me want to set fire to a whole load of 16 year olds. But after a particularly uninspiring start, this wound up a damn sight better. No real surprises except "Crown of Love", but much fun was had and the finale of "Power Out", "Here Comes The Night-Time" and "Wake Up" was pretty much the epitome of how an encore should be done.

STEVIE WONDER (London Clapham Common, 29/06/14)

The boy wonder turned elder statesman of soul may not be as sprightly as he used to be, but man, he's still one of the greatest songwriters ever to have graced this green Earth. Two and a half hours of hit after hit after hit (seriously: "Sir Duke"->"I Wish"->"Signed, Sealed, Delivered"->"You Are The Sunshine Of My Life"->"My Cherie Amour"), well judged covers in tribute to Bobby Womack and Gerry Goffin, self-deprecating jokes in a faux-South London accent and of course the song with the Funkiest Guitar Line In History (TM) to close. Perhaps a little less Jesus chat and a bit more "Misstra Know It All" wouldn't have gone amiss, but eh, he's Stevie Wonder- he can do whatever the hell he wants.

LONNIE LISTON SMITH (London Jazz Cafe, 28/06/14)

The jazz-funk pioneer and former Miles Davis collaborator is 73 years of age, but time and fading eyesight hasn't dimmed his ability to play some damn funky keyboards. Some material heavily verged on the cheesy, but "Expansions" remains a bona fide, stone-cold classic of the genre.

DAPTONES SUPER SOUL REVUE (London Shepherd's Bush Empire, 27/06/14)

For soul of the old-school variety, you can't do much better than the Daptones label, and this showcase of their finest talent did not disappoint. Sharon Jones, recovered from cancer and more vivacious than ever and Antibalas with their energetic Afrobeat both put on excellent sets, but the night inevitably belonged to "The Screaming Eagle of Soul" Charles Bradley, a once-homeless sexagenerian reborn as an soul man with the voice of James Brown and the moves of a drunken uncle.

CAMDEN CRAWL (London Electric Ballroom/St Michael's Church, 21/06/14)

It's a shame this year's Camden Crawl ended in bankruptcy and acrimony, because for all its overambition, I had a hell of a lot of fun. The much-reduced, Greatest Hits toting incarnation of Of Montreal triggered mild anarchy at the front of the Electric Ballroom, antifolk messiah Jeff Lewis killed it with one of the sharpest and witty sets I've seen him do (his ode to British cuisine almost brought a tear to my eye...) and Au Revoir Simone and Haiku Salut bookended proceedings with sheer loveliness.

VIOLENT FEMMES (London Troxy, 18/06/14)

Some older bands, when reuniting to play material from their long-distant youth, clearly expend the least amount of effort possible in doing so (*cough*Pixies*cough*) but the Violent Femmes looked like they were having the time of the lives, and ensure we did as well. Plus, they played "Blister In The Sun" twice because they could, and that made me very happy.

RAMONA LISA (London Courtyard Theatre, 17/06/14)

The natural inclination when discussing Ramona Lisa, the solo project of the immensely talented Caroline Polachek, is to bring up comparisons to her more established synth-pop outfit, Chairlift (best known for scoring an iPod commercial with the excellent "Bruises" back in 2008). However, her dramatic debut London performance would perhaps be better paralleled with Swedish electro-oddball's The Knife, in particular their controversial Shaking The Habitual tour, in that it was less a traditional gig and more a piece of performance art. Yet whilst The Knife shows suffered a surfeit of pretension and a shortfall of substance, Polachek's melding of music and dance proved significantly more interesting and artistically unified. Stylistically, her inspiration seems to be the late 60's- the crisp, sterile retro-futuristic white jumpsuits, the sinister eye motif, the purposefully kitsch choreography. Instruments are nowhere to be seen (a rare example of this being a good thing), audience interaction is restricted to a few words and cleverly-utilised projections augment the beguiling, stylised atmosphere. Yet this impressive stagecraft isn't delivered at the expense of the music, which combines the melodic strengths of her other band with the dreamlike otherworldliness of Julia Holter. A triumphant introduction to Polachek's brave new world, Ramona Lisa are destined to become one of the "must-see" live acts of 2014.

WYE OAK (London Islington Assembly, 10/06/14)

Review: HERE

ARCADE FIRE (London Earls Court, 06/06/14-07/06/14)

To be honest, I thought the days where Arcade Fire's shows were something to rave about were long past. Sure, the Suburbs tour featured the likes of "Tunnels" and "Wake Up" so they couldn't be all bad, but the magic was certainly starting to wane. But the Reflektor tour, for the most part, has been a real return to form. Sure, they still persist in playing fucking "Rococo", but a Funeral-heavy setlist, juxtaposed with the best tracks from the new album (plus a sprinkling of Neon Bible, an LP they pretty much excised in the last tour) and an impressive stage setup worthy of their new arena-filling status resulted in what was undoubtedly the most out-and-out enjoyable gigs I've seen in a very long time.

SHANNON AND THE CLAMS (London Lexington, 04/06/14)

A rollocking, if slightly shallow set from a band that's basically an encapsulation of West Coast California circa 1961. Good fun, even if their punchy garage-rock/doo-wop fusion gets a bit old over the course of an hour.

PRIMAVERA SOUND FESTIVAL (Barcelona Parc del Forum, 29/05/14-01/06/14)

A long overdue return to Catalunya for another round of Primavera Sound, and what a doozy it was. Colin Stetson with his saxamophone, Neutral Milk Hotel->St Vincent->Queens of the Stone Age->Arcade Fire providing my own personal indie jukebox, Nic Offer's godless gyrating, Trent Reznor's intense emoting, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan summoning eldritch gods of rain, Sean Kuti's melding of A-grade Afrofunk and anti-neoliberalist ranting, Za! providing the glorious middle-ground between Boredoms and a.P.A.t.T I was unaware I so fervently needed and a frankly unwise quantity of absinthe. Still not got over the lack of pizza cones though.

THE OCTOPUS PROJECT (London Lexington, 26/05/14)

Not only did the Octopus Project, a more psychedelic Holy Fuck with added theremin, manage to blow up three separate bits of equipment tonight, they also succeeded in blowing our minds. God knows why the Austin band remains under the radar for so many, but their propulsive onslaught of percussive electronica never fails to seriously impress.

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL(London Roundhouse, 22/05/13-23/05/14)

 First night, stood at the back, pretty underwhelmed. Second night, got to the front barrier, absolutely loved it. Truth is, Neutral Milk Hotel aren't a particularly well-rehearsed or exceptional live band, which given I've waited a decade to see them isn't something I hoped I'd have to say. With the exception of Jeff Mangum's abrasive yet remarkably powerful vocals, they're mostly carried by their enthusiasm and the audience response to their deservedly revered catalogue of songs. That explains why the experience was so much better from close-up, where the regular failure to keep in time didn't matter as much as the fact I was surrounded by hundreds of other fans singing "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" at the top of their voices. Don't think anyone could accuse this of being a masterclass in performance, but as a chance to join in a communal singalong of some of my favourite songs of all time it was pretty unimpeachable.

OWEN PALLETT (London Oval Space, 21/05/14)

Given I've seen the Artist Formerly Known as Final Fantasy in churches, fancy concert halls and on one occasion, surrounded by palm trees in the Californian desert, it seems odd that one of the best shows I've seen him play took place in a converted industrial space in Hackney. But there you go. His new material sounded great ("The Riverbed" has an almost post-rock brutality about it), the older material even better ("Lewis Takes Off His Shirt"! "This Lamb Sells Condos"! "This Is The Dream Of Win And Regine"! "Song Song Song"!) and Owen seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself, which wasn't the case the last time he played London. A blinder of a show.

TYONDAI BRAXTON (London Oval Space, 20/05/14)


An improvisational electro-percussive riot, courtesy of the erstwhile Battles frontman. It occasionally slipped into noodly pretentiousness, but the last third was as rhythmically brutal as Boredoms (the highest of all possible compliments).

EZRA FURMAN (London 100 Club, 19/05/14)


Why would you pay money for a gig just to chat through the whole damn thing? It's a question I had to ask myself several times tonight, as a typically spirited performance from Ezra and his Boyfriends was repeatedly ruined by the London Dickhead Fraternity. The sooner a swift crowbar to the kneecap is introduced as a legitimate response to this sort of thing, the better.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH (London Songkick HQ, 16/05/14)



Review: HERE

WHITE HINTERLAND (London Birthdays, 14/05/14)


The problem for artists as quirky and complex as Casey Dienel is that their music always doesn't lend itself to being performed solo. In fairness, she made a decent stab and she's certainly a charismatic presence, but her beguiling Bjorkishness didn't come across as effectively as I'd hoped.