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James

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Posts posted by James

  1. Radiohead were absolutely amazing, I wasn't a fan in the slightest before seeing them headline. Really incredible, not just the performace but the whole lighting setup, was just a surreal experience. KOL I only caught bits of, they got the biggest crowd of the weekend by far and got a really positive reception. Deadmau5 - was so packed I couldn't actually get inside the tent, from what I heard he was brilliant but I was happy enough watching Radiohead (time slot clash). White Lies were pretty good, the tent wasn't too packed but I think Prodigy were kicking off on the main stage so, understandable. The lead vocalist (his name escapes me) really does have a poweful voice on stage.

  2. I visited Leeds Festival last weekend, was a great weekend. I've written up a day to day report of the bands I saw, here's my friday report:

    Leeds Festival, in its 11th year, offered an interesting line-up, with an array of exciting up-coming bands, as well as the likes of Radiohead, Kings of Leon and Faith No More. Friday, with the great main stage line-up of The Prodigy followed by the Arctic Monkeys, suggested the thousands of festival-goers would be up for an energetic, sing-a-long finale to the opening evening of music.

    The opening act of the Festival Republic stage gave us Skint and Demoralised, a solo indie act, combining indie-pop with poetic, often comical breaks, showcasing the young Wakefield talent’s song and poem writing ability. Pulled Apart By Horses followed the opening act, a punk four-piece hailing from Leeds, again a local addition to the early afternoon line-up. Walking out on to the stage in fluorescent capes, it was instantly clear that this band would put on something out of the ordinary. The energy levels were overwhelmingly high for a 12:45 set in one of the smaller tents of the festival, the crowd never really caught on to the high levels of energy – leaving a lack of atmosphere in the tent and a slight lack of overall satisfaction, the venue perhaps not being so much in their favour.

    Detroit Social Club is a Newcastle based alternative rock group, awaiting their debut album after many positive critical reports and also after completing tours with Oasis and Twisted Wheel. As soon as the band began to play they gave off the aurora of a powerful rock/soul group. The performance, vocally and instrumentally was very strong; all critical approval justified. Enter Shikari attracted a large crowd for the main stage mid-afternoon. The tracks played varied from new and old album singles, along with the dubstep influenced ‘Havoc B’. The crowd was fantastic throughout, energy levels were very high and the aggression displayed by the post-hardcore band on stage was mirrored in the crowd, mosh pits unavoidable in areas. In the NME issue containing the Leeds Festival reviews, Enter Shikari was described as ‘an utterly ridiculous band’, but then again, Enter Shikari isn’t generic indie rock.

    Middle Class Rut is a heavy alternative rock duo from California. The duo’s ability to create such sophisticated and busy tracks on-stage as well as on record is very impressive, although the crowd in the Festival Republic tent consisted of no more than 80 people – certainly not the reception they deserved. Give these two a few years to gain some recognition and they could offer some of the most intense gigs around, with high tempo riffs and Stockham’s admirable drumming ability.

    White Lies played the NME stage Friday evening, performing a selection of tracks from their debut album superbly – McVeigh’s vocals so sublime they could put on a great performance in any venue. Amongst the old tracks were one or two promising sounding new tracks, a band that can only really move up in stature. The Prodigy were tipped by the majority to be one of the most powerful gigs of the weekend, and the band failed to disappoint, putting on a highly entertaining, energetic hour of Prodigy classics and new hits, of which all the crowd expected.

    Rise Against headlined the Lock Up stage and put on a great performance; new album tracks were played including ‘Saviour’, a track that wasn’t performed live on their UK tour earlier in the year. As usual, a forceful performance and a packed out venue left the gig feeling powerful and intimate, the perfect recipe for any good gig.

    A rather intoxicated Alex Turner hit the Leeds main stage at 10pm Friday, and rather predictably, but to the disappointment of the crowd, played three new songs to get things going. Despite ‘My Propeller’ being a great opener, when playing to tens of thousands of people, of which 50% have likely never heard the new album, it would make more sense to play a classic to get the crowd in the mood. The proportion of new tracks played was over a third, clearly advertising the bands new sound. Overall the Arctic Monkeys put on a strong headline performance, although somewhat overshadowed by the force of the Prodigy’s sub-headliner slot.

    ~Article by James Murray

    Saturday Report

    Sunday Report

  3. A new physical music format that allows people to buy music that has been preloaded onto SanDisk memory cards is set to launch.

    slotMusic has the support of major record labels EMI Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.

    It is expected that many of their artists, who include Oasis, Amy Winehouse and Coldplay, will be featured on the new format.

    The preloaded cards, which have a capacity of 1GB (gigabyte), will enable users to play the music on a variety of different platforms including mobile phones and MP3 and video players.

    The MP3-based tracks on the cards are encoded at a high-quality 320kbps bitrate and are DRM free, meaning that they can be played across multiple devices.

    SlotMusic

  4. There were some decent parts to that actually. Reminded me of Paln B though.

    One bit was terrible however:

    2 many kidz diying cuz a hand on a gun

    n mother left crying for sons

    im just wondering wat da goverment does

    styl we gotta be strong pik up da pen instead of a gun

    That last line needs looking at I think.

  5. Friendly Fires are an English band from St Albans, Hertfordshire. They are currently signed to XL Recordings. Their self-titled debut album was released on 1 September 2008.

    51k3X0quuCL._SS500_.jpg

    Buy Here

    I think This albums pretty good as a whole. It's not really Pop, more a cross between Indie and Electronica, just in a way not explored before. It reminds me a little of Justice but with proper lyrics. Here is a cut from the album

    Friendly Fires - Paris

  6. How about adding a Live video subforum in Music Videos.

    Don't know about everyone else but for me watching live performances is more interesting that the music videos half the time.

  7. Shoplifting...

    Seems a little OTT.

    At the end of the day what can they directly do to help. I know virgin broadband have teamed up with some other organisation to crack down on music downloading, but this will, and I'm sure already will have lost them customers. They're not shoplifting they're just trying to keep their customers happy; and by introducing anti downloading bullshit this clearly won't please customers as a the vast majority probably download illegally anyway.

    this Paul McGuinness geezer, and anyone else still putting the blame on anyone needs to get with the times and move on. These people should be promoting a new physical format as people will always want music on physical release, and as DAIC, at a more reasonable price to carry on making money from music; because moaning really won't help/

  8. haha. Britain to win it? :D

    Somehow doubt that.

    There were a few electronic bands but to be fair It's a rock festival.

    If you've heard of:

    Pendulum

    Crystal Castles

    Hadouken

    and then Dizzee Rascal.

    But not much electronic stuff unfortunately.

    Oh yeah, and the Killers were really good. One of the highlights... many highlights.

  9. No not Kings Of Leon, although they are reumoured for next year I think.

    The big ones were;

    Rage Against The Machine

    Metallica

    The Killers

    There were other big bands like Queens of The Stone Age but my tastes don't fit a lot of the more known stuff.

    Bloc Party were my favourite :)

    The Subways and The Enemy were good too.

    PLayed a lot of tennis? Never picked that up myself. Got a football (soccer) match tomorrow though. ;)

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