It's been a pretty hectic few months here at No Static Towers regarding live shows. We seem to be in one of those rather fabulous cycles where most of my favourite bands and artists are touring at the same time and subsequently hardly a week has gone by without at least one visit into our nation's capital to get hot and sweaty and fling myself around to some stupendous tunes. Long may it continue! Hopefully, this post will give you a little taste of some of the sights and sounds I've recently experienced.
ANGEL OLSEN: The Roundhouse 23/5
BUFFALO TOM: Islington Assembly Hall 9/6
In 1992, Boston indie/grunge trio Buffalo Tom released their third album: the simply superb Let Me Come Over. It was their crowning achievement and the moment all their early potential and nascent songwriting chops coalesced and flowered into bloom. It stopped me in my tracks and blew my mind in 92, and it still does the same to me today. Subsequent releases never quite matched up - although they all have their stellar moments - and there has been long periods of inactivity since. However, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that landmark record, the Tom have reconvened and made a short trip to Europe in early June for a handful of shows so they can play the whole damn album in full. Truly, my indie-rock chalice doth overflow! The night was split into two sets, the first being a trawl through the rest of the Tom catalogue. Singer and guitarist Bill Janovitz was on sparkling form with his repartee and self-deprecating humour, as he and his two cohorts - bassist Chris Colbourn and drummer Tom Maginnis - rattled through shoulda-been mega-hits like Summer, Sodajerk, Treehouse, Wiser and the monumentally moving I'm Allowed. The second half of the evening was the real meat on the bone though as - after a 15 minute break for refreshments and, for Janovitz at least, a fresh shirt - the guys returned and struck up the chords of LMCO's opening track, Staples. What followed was a gloriously life-affirming 45 minute Proustian rush of grungy riffs, powerhouse drumming, jangly chords and - during the spine-tingling chorus of Taillights Fade - grown men in the audience openly weeping. And that's without even mentioning the wonder that is Larry. Arguably their finest moment, and the song that should have made them superstars, the rendition of which on this particular evening had the entire room singing lustily into the air and throwing their arms around the person nearest to them. And considering the majority of the audience was made up of rotund and balding men of a certain age, it made for quite a spectacle. And it's a song about a lost cat! There was just time for a quick encore of early fave Birdbrain - as well as a new song from their forthcoming PledgeMusic funded new album - and then the Tom were gone. A wonderfully memorable night.
PROPHETS OF RAGE: Brixton Academy 13/6
Rage Against The Machine. Public Enemy. Cypress Hill. Three brilliant bands who straddled the worlds of rap and rock like gods in the late 80s and early 90s. Not only did they all make music of real power, but they all managed to successfully integrate politics and anti-fascist polemic into their music without the listener feeling as if they'd been bashed over the head by it. Rage Against The Machine however have not made a new album for almost two decades, and in recent years both Public Enemy and Cypress Hill have faded from view somewhat - both bands having been overtaken by a new breed of hip-hop artist. To be fair, the three musicians in RATM - guitarist Tom Morello, bassist Timmy C and drum titan Brad Wilk - did go on to record three excellent albums with the late and very much missed Chris Cornell as Audioslave. That band though, ceased to exsist 10 years ago, so a new outlet was needed. With Rage's vocalist Zack De La Rocha seemingly turning his back on music, Morello and co have teamed up with PE frontman Chuck D and Cypress linchpin B Real to form Prophets Of Rage. Originally put together last summer as a riposte to the ass-backwards idiocy of Donald Trump and his unstoppable rise to power, the response to the bands live shows was so ecstatic that it was an absolute no-brainer to continue on and tour the world - as well as making music - the first fruits of which will be with us in September on their self-titled debut album. In early June, the group played their first British show at the mad as a box of frogs mud-fest that is Donington's Download Festival, before a quick jaunt down the M1 to Brixton for this quite incendiary show. Correctly surmising that the sold-out crowd would quite happily wait for the new album before hearing most of it, only 3 new songs were aired so what we were treated to instead was a phenomenal 90 minute journey through the best of all three original band's back catalogue. B Real took on the lions share of De La Rocha's vocals on the majority of Rage tracks - his nasal whine bringing a new flavour to classics like Know Your Enemy, Take The Power Back, People Of The Sun and Bullet In The Head. Chuck D took centre stage for a storming rendition of Fight The Power - the lyrics of which are sadly just as pertinent today as they were in 1989. B Real and Chuck D also clubbed together for a rip-roaring medley of all their classic hip-hop joints - mashing up Insane In The Brain, Bring The Noise, I Aint Goin Out Like That and Welcome To The Terrordome to serious mosh-worthy effect.
As a unit on stage, the sextet - with PE's DJ Lord spinning the beats at the back - are as exciting as anything I've witnessed, and tight as a gnat's chuff musically. Aside from the pummeling intensity though, there was time for reflection as midway through the set, Morello placed a mic stand in the centre of the Brixton stage before a lone spotlight picked it out. Then he, Timmy C and Wilk performed a beautifully understated instrumental version of Audioslave's Like A Stone - with Brixton's 5000 strong crowd taking over the vocals. As tributes to Chris Cornell go, it was one of the most hearfelt and moving. There was only one way to finish of course, with B Real introducing the final song with the words: "These are dangerous times, people. And dangerous times call for dangerous songs. This is the most dangerous fucking song in the world". To this day, Rage's 1992 masterpiece Killing In The Name still raises the hairs on the back of your neck and causes the adrenaline to flow. The Prophets Of Rage version is no different and the atmosphere inside Brixton - already at fever pitch - was amped up a thousand fold as the band built the song up to it's firestorm of a climax. Listening to 5000 people - mostly thirty and fortysomethings with kids, mortgages and the like - screaming "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!" whilst raising both their middle fingers to the sky was quite simply hilarious, thrilling and magnificent in equal measure. I haven't had that much fun in ages.
GUNS N ROSES: Olympic Stadium 17/6
I last saw Guns N Roses live in 1993 at the soulless crater that is The Milton Keynes Bowl. They were at the arse-end of their imperial period - the stratospheric heights of the Appetite For Destruction days long behind them. The hubris of releasing two albums on the same day in 1991 - although both Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 contained superb moments - had damaged their credibility in a major way. Cool as fuck rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin had left the band - never to return - and bassist Duff McKagan was so wasted on heroin and booze that his pancreas eventually exploded. Mercurial frontman Axl Rose's massive ego had all but consumed him and his relationship with lead guitarist Slash had trickled to a non-existent puddle. That performance in 93 had it's moments, but there were technical issues, frosty onstage disagreements, and - as would become the norm in future years - Axl's timekeeping and reluctance to adhere to the curfew meant huge swathes of people left the venue halfway through the gig just to be able to get home. The possibility of the band living up to all the early predictions made of them and becoming the biggest band in the world seemed laughable. Over the following two decades, Rose would continue to alienate both Slash and McKagan to the point that they both left the band they founded. Rose limped on with a revolving bunch of hired hands and toured continuously - all the while sullying the legacy of a once great rock and roll band. Somewhere in the middle of all that, there was a new album in Chinese Democracy which unfortunately fell flat on it's face commercially. The likelihood of a full-blown reunion of the original line-up seemed as remote as Ed Sheeran writing a good song. Especially after Rose joined AC/DC last year for a huge world tour to replace Brian Johnson. However, rumours and rumblings of a rapprochement between the previously warring members started to circulate last summer and incredibly, almost in the blink of an eye, Rose, Slash and McKagan had made up and announced the huge Not In This Lifetime tour - so named after a quote from Rose a few years ago when asked if GnR would ever reform. Reviews of the US gigs were uniformly positive and the British leg arrived in June with two totally sold-out shows at Stratford's Olympic Stadium. The prospect of seeing three fifths of the original group was obviously something 160,000 stone-cold rock fans just couldn't pass up.
Rose has seemingly learnt from past mistakes and sticks to the allotted start time - the crowd can't quite believe their eyes when the band bound on stage at 8:00. Slash immediately catches the eye - his look hasn't changed in almost 30 years so why change now? Black leather trousers? Check. Sleeveless denim jacket? Check. Huge black top hat? Check. A mass of tumbling black curls obscuring his face? Check. Tremendous. On the other side of the stage stands Duff, who has absolutely no right to look as fit, healthy and downright cool as he does considering what he's been through. The rest of the band is made up of keyboardist Dizzy Reed - who's been with Rose off an on since 91, guitar prodigy Richard Fortus and powerhouse drum machine Frank Ferrer. The five of them together make a hell of a noise as they strike up the chords to It's So Easy - one of 8 tracks from Appetite given an airing on this particular evening. Rose himself then runs on stage, carrying a few extra pounds for sure and looking like a strange cross between Charlie Drake and Simon Cowell. But, wonders will never cease, he's waving and smiling and spends the rest of the night looking like he's having the time of his life. Vocally he still has it in spades too - his scream during a magisterial Welcome To The Jungle hitting all the notes it should and sounding even better than the recorded version. He puts in a monumental shift and is ably matched by his long-standing comrades. Slash's solos are a wonder to behold and Duff just exudes all kinds of poise and presence. The show is stuffed full of hits - You Could Be Mine is extraordinary and Sweet Child Of Mine almost brings the house down only to be beaten to the punch by a quite frankly stupendous 15 minute rendition of November Rain. Paradise City closes the show in astounding style, accompanied by fireworks, confetti and tens of thousands of punters screaming "TAKE ME HOOOOOOOME!!!!" as loud as their lungs will allow.
There were niggles - way too many covers (although their version of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun was lovely) and far too many costume changes for Rose which left Slash and Fortus to pick up the slack with a series of instrumental guitar wig-outs. I wouldn't have minded if Roses's outfits were worth the bother - there's probably a right time to wear a Union Jack cowboy hat and matching bandana, t-shirt and jacket combo - but it's more likely to be when you're celebrating the Queen's 100th birthday on The Mall. Not when you're trying to look good whilst fronting one of the great rock and roll bands. Sack the stylist, Axl. All in all though, the whole gig - all two and a half hours of it - was a fantastic surprise and a thoroughly decent way to spend a Saturday night. What happens now for GnR is anyone's guess. More touring? A new album maybe? I doubt even the band have any clue. For now though, this gig will do nicely.
TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS: Hyde Park 9/7
The annual Barclaycard British Summertime Festival in Hyde Park is a strange beast. Massively corporate of course, with high-class bars and eateries dotted about the site and an overwhelming choice of ticket packages to choose from. It does however attract some of the finest musical guests. This year there were appearances from Green Day, The Killers, Phil Collins, Kings Of Leon, Pixies, Elbow, Tears For Fears and on the final day, a rare UK visit from Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers. Celebrating 40 years at the rock and roll coalface, this gig was advertised as a full-blown greatest hits extravaganza and that's exactly what a sell-out crowd of 60,000 die-hard fans got. For my money, Petty doesn't get enough recognition in this country for his stellar library of songs - he's revered back home in the States of course - so to see him and his band fill out such a huge venue was wonderfully heartening and thoroughly deserved. After a splendid support set from Fleetwood Mac doyen and modern day faery queen Stevie Nicks, Petty and co arrive on stage to rapturous acclaim. Kicking off with early stalwart Rockin Around With You - which Petty explains was the first song they ever played in England way back in 78 - the band deliver classic after classic, veering from slow, bluesy shuffles like Mary Jane's Last Dance to the pristine sheen of Free Falling and I Won't Back Down. Nicks reappears too for a perfectly serviceable run through her big hit duet with Petty from 1981 in Stop Draggin My Heart Around. There's also time for a splendid little acoustic section drawn solely from possibly the most underrated album in the Petty canon - 1994's Wildflowers. Petty still looks and sounds exactly like he's always done, that nasally drawl of his sounding perfect on a hazy summer's eve, whilst the Heartbreakers themselves are on marvelous form. Just like Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band, this is a group of musicians who have played together for so long - they were Mudcrutch for a good few years before becoming The Heartbreakers - that they know exactly what each of them are going to do before they even do it. There's no chaff at all with these guys - it's all wheat. Guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboard maestro Benmont Tench deserve special mention. The set ends with early humdingers Refugee and the timeless American Girl - which has many of the punters, mostly of pensionable age, frugging furiously across the Hyde Park grass. Wonderful stuff.
Just a selection there of my recent gigular highlights. I also managed to fit in trips to see Oxford shoegaze legends Ride, performing songs from their first album in 20 years to an adoring throng. There was a splendid evening of gnarly, throbbing stoner rock with Arbouretum, an extraordinarily funksome and shirt-moisteningly groovy couple of hours in the company of Lettuce, as well as a night of sparkling Britpop era hits from Richard Ashcroft who filled out Brixton in July and mixed up his excellent new material with Verve classics like Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work. I was also lucky enough to catch The Grizzled Godfather Of Grunge himself - the mighty Mark Lanegan - who brought his current band to Camden in June and regaled us with a haunting selection of electronica-infused blues tunes. On top of all that, indie rock royalty came to Hyde Park the day before Tom Petty, when the peerless Pixies used their allotted hour as the support act for the Kings Of Leon (which must have been some kind of bizarre technical error, surely?) to remind everyone of their brilliance, rattling off barnstormer after barnstormer. Gouge Away, Debaser, Monkey, Bone Machine, Where Is My Mind, Hey, Wave Of Mutilation, Vamos. All present, correct and utterly stunning.
2017 only gets better though: Coming up on the horizon are gigs from Endless Boogie, The National, Sigur Ros, Suzanne Vega, Tori Amos, Living Colour, Beth Ditto, The Breeders, Grizzly Bear, Metallica, Steely Dan, Slowdive, Fleet Foxes, Sun Kil Moon, Mastodon, Dinosaur Jr and many more! And oh yeah, just the small matter of The Green Man Festival in Wales. Watch this space for a full report!
