STICKY CARPETS

CUD performing I’ve Had It With Blondes at The Leadmill...

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 06:05:57 +0100

CUD performing I’ve Had It With Blondes at The Leadmill Sheffield 2012

Gutted I couldn’t be in the UK for this. #SCNY

The Wedding Present. “Back a Bit… Stop”...

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 05:40:29 +0100

The Wedding Present. “Back a Bit… Stop” 30.05.12 Els Concerts del Cabaret Elèctric

Not so much an acoustic radio session, as minus drum and bass. Quality as ever.

Chromatics a surprise alternative to Neon Indian

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 13:15:49 +0100

Chromatics a surprise alternative to Neon Indian

Neon Indian - Village Underground.

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:55:08 +0100

Neon Indian - Village Underground.

Neon Indian - Village Underground

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:50:40 +0100

Neon Indian - Village Underground

Neon Indian - Village Underground, Shoreditch. 6/6/12

Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:14:00 +0100

Does Philip Green spell the death for Electro?

As I reflect on the Neon Indian gig I’m left with one persistent question.Has the man that gave the world two t shirts for a tenner finally moved into the world of music? Neon Indian certainly shop in his stores and the lead singer clearly thinks he’s a teenage girl in the way he holds the Mic as if its his hairbrush.

Neon Indian played some tracks from Era Extrana which is definitely worth listening to but they aren’t a band that can back it up live. The fact that Village Underground was full when the fantastic support act Chromatics were on compared to when Neon Indian played their encore the room was empty. This spoke volumes for their ability to perform live.

For me personally it came down to the lead singer Alan Palomo being a weak front man who’s far too narcissistic. His annoying habit of flicking his head with a bizarre near metronomic regularity along with his over the top Mic holding style. A style which was not very well connected to the mood of the song. It would be like dancing trance to the Dirty Dancing sound track; it just didn’t fit.

Aside from the overall ‘showmanship’ the sound was laboured and save for the odd moment there was little really to get excited about across their entire mid week set. It seemed the only real connection between group and audience was located in small pockets of drunken teenage Saturday girls dressed almost exclusively in Green’s finest apparel.

The high point and real bonus of the evening was the delicious sensory overload that are Chromatics. Despite their billing as ‘support’ the crowd were treated to a group brimming with confidence and a sack full of great tunes that undoubtedly sees them set on a solid upward trajectory.

Instantly mesmeric, Chromatics, from the very first beat took those of us lucky enough to have chanced upon them on a sonic journey through a trancing electro landscape littered with epic cannons, vast parries and teasing sound scapes.. A journey that was a truly great live experience.

Sticky Carpets rates Chromatic a very solid seven and a half pints out of ten. Killer sound!

Sadly with Neon Indian the team at Sticky Carpets thought little point in telling anything other then the truth which saw them peek at a generous three pints of shandy out of ten.

The Horrors @ Brixton 25 May 2012

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:20:14 +0100

On exiting the gig leaving early an enthusiastic camera man / reviewer asked for my opinion of the gig. I said it how it was: really shit. Bands have to learn how to set up their sound for the venue they’re playing in and The Horrors let themselves down massively.

A relatively large crowd started to disappear in a steady stream of disappointment. There was little reason in hanging around. We left. I’ll have to be satisfied with listening to Skying not knowing which tracks they actually played last night.

As A Simpson said “I go to a lot of gigs and you want to like them all but you know if you think a gig is shit its because it probably is” and that gig was.

Anyway it turns out the enthusiastic reviewer was a mate of the band and when A Simpson wanted to give his opinion the reviewer refused to take it!

Stickycarpets rates this gig 0 pints out of 10 - it was as exciting as mineral water

Photo

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:14:51 +0100

One of the greatest songs ever written: Hüsker Dü - Green Eyes

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:47:19 +0100

One of the greatest songs ever written: Hüsker Dü - Green Eyes

THE CULT - “Fire Woman” (SXSW 2012 - March 17)

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:35:22 +0100

THE CULT - “Fire Woman” (SXSW 2012 - March 17)

This week’s gig: Pulp at Radio City.

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 16:04:28 +0100

This week’s gig: Pulp at Radio City.

Tonight’s entertainment: @wildflagmusic

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:50:52 +0100

Tonight’s entertainment: @wildflagmusic

Up close and personal tonight with the @weddingpresent. What a...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 04:57:25 +0000

Up close and personal tonight with the @weddingpresent. What a gig. Seamonsters never sounded better.

Must. Stop. Watching @weddingpresent videos. See you tomorrow.

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:04:10 +0000

Must. Stop. Watching @weddingpresent videos. See you tomorrow.

The House of Love - ‘Christine’, South Bank Show...

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:57:21 +0000

The House of Love - ‘Christine’, South Bank Show Review 88

Black Keys with special guests the Arctic Monkeys, Madison...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 23:57:41 +0000

Black Keys with special guests the Arctic Monkeys, Madison Square Garden, Monday 12 March 2012.

Should be a great gig.

The WORST song ever written in the history of the world....

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:36:27 +0000

The WORST song ever written in the history of the world. Discuss.

Laibach cover version of Opus europop hit ‘Life is...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:10:44 +0000

Laibach cover version of Opus europop hit ‘Life is Life’

Rooms Filled With Light - Out NowFIRST LISTEN: ROOMS FILLED WITH LIGHT

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:15:15 +0000

Rooms Filled With Light - Out NowFIRST LISTEN: ROOMS FILLED WITH LIGHT

Snow Patrol - The O2, London 10 Nov 2011

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:54:26 +0000

Sticky Carpets is pleased to welcome back football blogger extraordinaire, The Ball is Round with a review of the recent Snow Patrol gig at London’s 02. Over to you Stu:

I remember the date as if it was only yesterday. It was Tuesday 14 June 2005. The venue was Manchester’s City of Manchester Stadium. I was here to see U2 on their acclaimed Vertigo Tour. I normally give support acts a wide berth but on this tour the supporting cast was impressive. The Killers, Feeder, Athlete and Idlewild were pencilled in for various European dates but for this night we had a new one on new, Snow Patrol. My trusted sidekick, the Current Mrs Fuller was more knowledgeable than me, having bought their Final Straw CD for the car. Their thirty minute set included Chocolate, Spitting Games and the haunting Run that singer Gary Lightbody sang solo. I was hooked.

Seven years later and I was returning to see them for the sixth time as they closed their tour with the final night of three at the O2 Arena in London. Our last interaction with the band had been at a special set of gigs at the Royal Albert Hall a couple of years ago when they lined up with a full orchestra. But last night they were back to their roots with heavy guitars, pounding drums and a light show that would put most groups efforts to shame.

They opened with I’ll Never Let Go, before launching into Take Back The City, one of the first of many that had the crowd on their feet. Hands Open went down well after that before the lights went down and the familiar chords of Run started up. The last time Snow Patrol played in the O2 prior to this tour Lightbody played this song solo but tonight it was notched up a gear and played with passion and emotion.

My youngest daughter’s first song she learned to sing was Chasing Cars, undoubtedly the group’s finest moment. Trivia fact for you - the song was the last one ever performed on Top of the Pops when it finally ended in July 2006. The song was also the most played in the first decade of the century according to the Phonographic Performance organisation.

It was hard to follow such a high but they did with the vastly under-rated Chocolate from their Final Straw album. The show ended with the subdued Fallen Empires which featured support act Everything Everything and You’re All I Have. But with two big tracks still to come it was obvious that the encore would follow irrespective of the clamouring of the crowd.

They returned with the new song Lifening before crashing into the anthem-like Open Your Eyes and finally rounding off the evening with Just Say Yes.

Previously at the O2 they had finished the show with the experimental symphony The Lightening Strike - all 17 minutes in it’s finest. But tonight was different show. Not my favourite one they have ever done - I am still trying to warm to Fallen Empires but still enough to remember why I sat up and took notice all those years ago.

The Ball is Round

Set list:

I’ll Never Let Go
Take Back The City
Hands Open
This Isn’t Everything You Are
Run
Crack the Shutters
In the End
Set the Fire to the Third Bar
Make This Go On Forever
Shut Your Eyes
Chasing Cars
The Garden Rules
Chocolate
Called Out in the Dark
Fallen Empires
(with Everything Everything)
You’re All I Have

Encore:

Lifening
Open Your Eyes
Just Say Yes