Everyone should buy Heroes. This isn’t an end-of-review spoiler, or a statement that affirms the bringing together of musical heavyweights such as Rufus Wainwright and Elbow can only go well. The main reason to buy Heroes is War Child, the charity behind the record.
Buy stupid hat - 9.30PM
Welcome to the latest instalment of weekly festival news.
No time for portaloos
Another week, another load of festival news – like a massive delivery of portaloos or pear cider, I’d imagine.
Mostly WTF is what we thought. Though not to the extent of having induced any sort of seizure, as we wouldn’t expect anything more (or less – well, technically not ‘less’).
Here’s what got revealed earlier today…
British Male Solo Artist
Ian Brown
James Morrison
Paul Weller
The Streets
Will YoungBritish Female Solo Artist
Adele
Beth Rowley
Duffy
Estelle
MIA
British Group
Coldplay
Elbow
Girls Aloud
Radiohead
Take That
British Single
Adele – ‘Chasing Pavements’
Alexandra Burke – ‘Hallelujah’
Coldplay – ‘Viva La Vida’
Dizzee Rascal – ‘Dance Wiv Me’
Duffy – ‘Mercy’
Estelle feat Kanye West – ‘American Boy’
Girls Aloud – ‘The Promise’
Leona Lewis – ‘Better In Time’
Scouting For Girls – ‘Heartbeat’
X Factor Finalists – ‘Hero’
British Album
Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends
Duffy – Rockferry
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Radiohead – In Rainbows
The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
British Breakthrough Act
Adele
Duffy
The Last Shadow Puppets
Scouting For Girls
The Ting Tings
British Live Act
Coldplay
Elbow
Iron Maiden
Scouting For Girls
The Verve
International Male Solo Artist
Beck
Neil Diamond
Jay-Z
Kanye West
Seasick Steve
International Female Solo Artist
Beyoncé
Gabriella Cilmi
Katy Perry
Pink
Santogold
International Group
AC/DC
Fleet Foxes
The Killers
Kings Of Leon
MGMT
International album
AC/DC – Black Ice
Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
The Killers – Day & Age
Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
The Week That Was - The Week That Was
In no particular order, these albums were my personal highlights of the fantastic musical year that’s now drawing to a close. … Continue Reading
null
Everyone’s favourite Mercury Prize-winners, Elbow, are heading out on the road next year for the biggest tour to date.
Following their fantastic call-to-arms of a win at London’s Grosvenor House (quotes here, review here), Guy Garvey and the gang have announced a 12-date tour which goes on sale tomorrow (Tuesday 4th November) at 9am. Tickets are available here, or if you’re out of luck with t’interweb then you can always call the 24-hour credit card hotline on 0871 2200 260 – note that the Wembley Arena date is already on sale.
Here’s the dates, with some additional box office telephone numbers thrown in for extra measure:
February
Saturday 28th     Brighton Dome                        01273 709709
March
Sunday 1st         Southend Cliffs Pavilion          01702 351135
Monday 2nd       Bournemouth Solent Hall         0844 576 3000
Tuesday 3rd        Sheffield Academy                  0844 477 2000
Thursday 5th      Newcastle Academy                0844 477 2000
Friday 6th           Edinburgh Corn Exchange        08444 999 990
Saturday 7th       Blackpool Empress Ballroom    0871 2200 260
Monday 9th        Llandudno Arena                     01492 872 000
Tuesday 10th     Bristol Colston Hall                   0117 922 3686
Wednesday 11th  Plymouth Pavilions                  0845 146 1460
Thursday 12th    Newport Centre                       01633 622 666
Saturday 14th     London, Wembley Arena          0844 815 0815 / 020 7734 8932
Muso’s Guide hung out on the red carpet, the balcony, the smokers’ haven, the toilets – not just for fun, oh no, but for the chance to catch up with a few of the nominees.
We’re dead glad Elbow won, for what it’s worth – and since Awards night, we’ve been listening to The Seldom Seen Kid over and over, and it’s seeped into our bloodstreams. 17 years in the making, their fifth album is arguably their finest, combining the symphonic quality Leaders Of The Free World with the question-posing omniscience of Cast of Thousands – and it was a tad the musical versin of watching Kelly Holmes finally win gold, and do it twice.
Enough gushing, here’s the night in quotes.
On their posse: “It’s less strange for us (being nominated) because we’ve got some of the London Bulgarian Choir with us today and one of them just flew in from Canada. She’s off her head at the moment, so you just look at her and laugh. She thinks she’s in Tesco – ‘where’s the bread?’.”
On their upcoming performance: “The audience can expect to explode with joy. Just the usual handstands, pyrotechnics, blood, sweat, tears – an emotional rollercoaster.”
On the background to Stainless Style: “It was approached by Boom Bip here, to write some lyrics and some catchy melodies for the music he’d been creating and I had a listen and it was extremely glossy and energetic. We had to come up with a theme that fitted those kind of beats, and my life story didn’t really fit in so instead we wrote a biographical album about the car manufacturer John DeLorean which reads like a Greek tragedy in a very colourful way.”
On the future of the band: “We’ll spend the holidays with our families and get back together at the beginning of the year and try to work out the ideas and start drawing inspiration and start writing. We’re definitely going to work together again. We definitely have future plans. How many albums that’ll be, we have no idea. It’s a very easy, very natural way of working so we’ll see how it goes.”
On what she’d do if she won: “I danced on the tables at my album launch, I’d probably dance on buildings at this point. I may get arrested, I don’t know.”
On the future: “My aim next is a Brit and a Grammy.”
On playing corporate gigs like this: “I give it the same energy every time. My thing with performing live is that I always get on and do my best. I’ll go out there and really kill it. I do that every time, or at least I try to.”
On her US influence: “The names on it are American, but it’s still me. None of the songs feel like big American productions – I don’t think ‘American Boy’ sounds anything like an American song. I don’t think ‘Shine’ sounds anything like a Swizz Beats song. They all sounds like me, and I’m from west London.”
On who’d get the trophy if they won: “It’s a touchy subject. We’ve already fell out about it a couple of times.”
On Burial: “I thought Burial’s album was fascinating. Well I would say that, because I am Burial.”
On this year’s shortlist: “I think this it’s great. It’s a brilliant set of nominations, very eclectic, very mixed. And it reflects how people are much more open to different sorts of music. There used to be a time when people thought, ‘I like this sort of music,’ or ‘I like that sort of music’. And now, people have realised that they can like any sort of music, and it’s great that there’s established artists and brand new artists. And there’s fantastic singers too, like Estelle and Adele.”
On the perfect Later… guest: “You’ve got to be great at playing the music that you play, and be completely committed. And that’s got to be your world. And also, the ability to communicate your music to other people.”
On the shortlist: “I’m rooting for any number of the bands. I really, really don’t mind who wins. If you were to ask who I’d like to win, it could be any number of them – Neon Neon, Last Shadow Puppets, Rachel Unthank, Laura Marling, Radiohead.”
On the night’s performances: “They were all brilliant. The only thing I heard live that I didn’t really know was the Portico Quintet. Quartet? Quintet? Quartet. I’m gonna go and buy that.”
On Elbow’s future: “We’re starting album six, we’re already a few songs in. We’ll probably spend next year doing a little bit of touring, so hopefully it’ll be ready by the end of next year.”
So, Muso’s Guide’s hung out on the balcony at Grosvenor House watching the 2008 Mercury Music Prize, just to keep you entertained. And here’s the lowdown:
Laura Marling evaded the red carpet press run, preferring to saunter off sneakily down the side.
Alex Turner and Alexa Chung, a.k.a. Alex(a), were spotted canoodling on the stairs in a non-attention seeking fashion. Earlier (pre-red carpet), Alex (alone) was spotted looking a tad lost and confused in the hotel lobby. Perhaps it was because he wasn’t s’posed to have arrived yet? Alex might also have a slight bipolarity, with the more affable side verging on friendly.
Adele looked lovely. We like her hair like that.
The food on the tables looked lovely. In perfect complement with the wine, which totalled around two bottles per seated guest. Or twenty. It looked boundless, endless, omnipresent.
A lot of journos didn’t do their research: “is that Rachel Youthank,” was heard at one point of the evening, without even a hint of embarrassment let alone irony.
We’ve got a bit of a thing for Gruff Rhys and Guy Garvey. And a particular thing for the bling/lego mash-up that Gruff, Boom Bip, and Har Mar Superstar were decked out in…
Your mum would love the Portico Quartet. Equally, Rachel Unthank and The Winterset would love the Portico Quartet.
Jools Holland must have nerves of steel – the audience showed little love or attention for his between-song chat.
A larger percentage of said audience members at the Mercury Music Prize smoke than the comparable percentage of the population.
Robert Plant isn’t camera shy, nor as press shy as reported.
Burial? Bah, he’s yesterday’s news.
Not a lot of people know the names of anyone other than Guy Garvey in Elbow.
Conor McNicholas wore a grey suit. Lauren Laverne wore one of the most stunning dresses we’ve ever seen or are likely to see.
The respect between artists is real. They’re all genuinely humble/humbled.
If you attend the ceremony, you get to find out who the not-so-secret judging panel comprises. There’s a fact.
Dressed in our, ahem, Tuesday best, Muso’s Guide got to hang out on the balcony at London’s swanky Grosvenor House to watch the Mercury Music Prize 2008. We spent most of the night looking down on the back of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ collective lion-esque mane.
You’ve seen our preview, right? If not, here it is: http://www.musosguide.com/musos.wp/?p=136
We said we wanted Elbow to win, but we stuck our tenner on Laura Marling. And damn it, we should’ve had more faith in the panel.
So in similarly concise fashion, here’s a rundown of what we thought of the night’s performances. Yep, that’s right, the stuff that wasn’t on TV. In order of how we saw it, a little like this:
The Last Shadow Puppets
With a 15-piece orchestra and a conductor, Kane and Turner look like they’ve been swept in on wave from the 1960s. The sense of grandeur is enormous as they play ‘The Age Of The Understatement’. But it’s still not innovative, merely charming. Merely, she says…
Neon Neon
Complete with a cameo from Har Mar Superstar, Neon Neon go all out with a medley of ‘Mystery Girls’, ‘I Told Her On Alderaan’, and ‘Trick For Treat’. And it’s super-schmaltzy, far more accessible and hook-laden live than listened to through headphones. Hell, even Cate Le Bon makes an appearance.
Rachel Unthank and The Winterset
To say that Rachel Unthank has a piercing voice would be to underestimate the charm of The Winterset; ‘Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk’ is timeless, sparse folk which entirely fails to come across on the television. The way that the parts collaborate to make something larger is rare, a real visual gift.
British Sea Power
Playing ‘No Lucifer’, BSP step up the gear a notch or fifteen. They make a statement without being markedly traditional, controversial, or innovative – and that’s a massive compliment. At the time, we feel it might just be their night – the performance is esoteric, HUGE. And the London Bulgarian Choir add a cherry on the top.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
The first non-live performance, a version ‘Gone Gone Gone’ is streamed onto the large screens. It looks like a studio recording. The crowd don’t seem to give two pigeons about this, and we can’t blame them – it’s timeless only in the sense that it could’ve been picked up with a magnet from a number of eras. Dull stuff, sadly.
Portico Quartet
‘Cittagazze’, as we already told you, is way way way far from the token jazz entry that pigeonholing’d have you think. It’s focused to the point of OCD, and in spite of being relocated as far as possible from their home on the South Bank, Portico Quartet go down a real treat. We’ll be keeping our eyes open for the latest from this lot.
Burial
As if it was ever going to be conveyed any other way, any anticipation is silenced by a ‘Ghost Hardware’ video clip. Is it really that special, we wonder… one thing is for sure: it sounds a lot like the late 90s’ mainstream garage/dubstep crossover. And it’s creeping and seeping and all that, but just not special enough.
Estelle
With a post-red carpet outfit change, ‘Pretty Please’ shows off the way that Shine mixes Estelle’s distinctive voice with a truly polished glitz. Robert Plant nods along (we haven’t got a one-track eye), and this US-tinged modern soul is far from just the mainstream option. She’s dynamic and eye-catching live, to boot.
Laura Marling
We’ve already talked ourselves out of financial gain from the £10 we gave to the bookies, and this does and doesn’t help in equal part. It’s half-Carole King, understated ditty, and half-nervous, anachronistic teenager. ‘Night Terror’ perpetuates the confusion over whether Marling is nervous, happy, delicate, or otherwise.
Radiohead
A studio version of ‘Nude’ is played out, and Muso’s Guide has an epiphany as to Radiohead’s continued success: it’s because they siphon out the mediocrity from your favourite bands. The soaring woos in the finale are ever dramatic even from behind a screen, and they’re constantly pushing forward.
Adele
An acoustic version of ‘Crazy For You’ is played out, and the Londoner is wearing glittery eye make-up similarly to what we’ve decked ourselves out in. This track is spine-tingling in a way that 19 never even gets close to conveying. She’s effortless, but ever-quickly approaches overwrought as the song continues.
Elbow
‘The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver’ is the pinnacle of Elbow’s 17-year career, and Guy Garvey is built for GQ covers. A hearty, masculine performance with stirring vocals makes this a true finale of a performance – the song’s lull lures you into a sense of calm only to soar over and over into a hugely uplifting crescendo. Sublime.
To say ‘that was that’ again would be blasé; the performances are mostly phenomenal tonight, and the patterned carpet et al act as the perfect foils. The nominees are a fantastically broad representation of the UK music scene, and they all get their idiosyncrasies across live in spite of the corporate feel of the bash.
On what basis can any sort of panel decide if the once ‘Banksy of dubstep’ is better than the Carole King of the 21st century, anyway? We’re not all that convinced they really can, but if we cast that doubt aside, we’re left with the following train of thought…
Recent comments