music

The Brit Awards 2015

/ James Fenney

brits 2015

The biggest music awards in Britain (the clue is in the name) have delivered a memorable evening of thrills and spills. The big winner of the night was Ed Sheeran picking up best album and best male. Sam Smith, who cleaned up at the Grammys, walked away with the award for best breakthrough act. Paloma Faith won best female, Royal Blood won best group and Mark Ronson won the award for best single for ‘Uptown Funk’. The international categories for best male, female and group were won by Pharrell Williams, Taylor Swift and Foo Fighters respectively. Many of the night’s winners also performed as well as George Ezra and Take That. One of the big talking points of the evening though was Madonna’s big fall after she was blown offstage by a wind machine thanks to her large cape.

What are your thoughts on the awards? Personally I think the results were hardly surprising, that generally the right people won and the ceremony featured some good performances.

Reading/Leeds line-up faces criticism

/ James Fenney

leeds sexism

The tandem festivals of Reading and Leeds have been widely criticized for having a sexist line-up. Out of the nearly 100 acts thus far announced only nine of them feature at least a single female member. While a male-centric festival line up isn’t anything new, the above image certainly emphasizes just how big the difference is. I certainly don’t see it as a deliberate exclusion of women, more of a matter of genre. Less and less women are getting into rock music and making it big. The line-up just shows how big the gap in the musical market is and how far both the industry and society have to go to even things out.

Live Review: Ryan Adams, De Montfort Hall Leicester, 21st Feb 2015

/ James Fenney

RA3

American rocker Ryan Adams is probably one of the hardest working musicians in the business. His long career has recently culminated in his latest eponymous release (his 14th solo album), which has received critical acclaim and resulted in 3 Grammy award nominations. I was pleasantly surprised to find he was touring the UK and far more surprised that he had decided to grace Leicester with his presence. Naturally, I had to get a good spot front and centre for his performance. Continue reading →

Live Review: Little Big Town, The Ritz Manchester, 11th Feb 2015

/ James Fenney

little big town

(Guest Author: Ailish Barker-Brown)
American Country band, Little Big Town, had an extremely successful 2014 with the release of their sixth studio album, ‘Painkiller’ of which the lead single, ‘Day Drinking’, went on to reach number 2 on Country Airplay. They also won Vocal Group of the Year at the CMA (Country Music Association) Awards in November, beating Lady Antebellum, and were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry by country legend Reba McEntire. They’re all set for a successful 2015 too, beginning with their UK ‘Painkiller’ tour and the release of their latest single, ‘Girl Crush’. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to see them perform at The Ritz. Continue reading →

Foo Fighters to headline Glastonbury

/ James Fenney

ff1

Dave Grohl & co. have revealed that they will be headlining Glastonbury 2015. The announcement came in their video acceptance speech for NME’s best international band award. Other winners at the awards included Kasabian for best British band and best album, Royal Blood for best live band and best new band and Jamie T for best track and best video.

Johnny Depp joins supergroup

/ James Fenney
Johnny Depp Joe Perry Alice Cooper

image source: the Guardian

The larger-than-life character actor has joined forces with Alice Cooper and Joe Perry of Aerosmith to form a new band called “Hollywood Vampires”, named after Cooper’s former drinking club whose members included Keith Moon and John Lennon. The band are due to make their debut at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil. Thus far no other dates have been announced. The new group comes as a surprise after Depp’s recent comments on actors turned musicians being “sickening”. It’s too soon to tell how successful this new venture will be but I’m fairly sure it will be a sight to behold.

Is there such thing as good music?

/ James Fenney

highfidelity

If you’re the kind of person to get into lengthy and heated debates about music, then you’ll be used to someone interjecting with a comment along the lines of “Music is an art form, it’s all just opinion and personal taste”. It’s the kind of remark that requires some thinking time and possibly some more lengthy discussion. Saying that it’s all based on opinion does then pose us with the question as to whether there’s even such thing as good or bad music. Short answer? Yes… but It’s not quite so simple as that. Continue reading →