Robbie Williams on The Graham Norton Show

Party Like a Russian, the name of Robbie Williams new track and I’ve just heard it on The Graham Norton Show on BBC1 and I’ve got to admit even I liked it. The song itself sounds raw, energised and abstract. A female member of the audience got a pleasant (ish) surprise when Robbie sat on her lap, some people get all the luck don’t they. The performance itself was eye-catching and had some authentic Russian vocals on it, even the backing band looked authentic in their attire. If anything you could almost class this as a potential Bond song. Even though I’m not much of a fan I quite liked it.

 

 

MacMillan Fest 2016@ various venues, Nottingham 3/9/16

The annual event known as MacMillan Fest returned for another year and both Rock City and Rescue Rooms played host to event this year. With 67 acts on the bill the event organisers have pulled out all the stops to make this the best event to date yet. MacMillan Fest is organised by IKE Promotions, courtesy of its head organiser, Kris Davis. The event attracts big names every year to headline its festivals.

This years’ main headlining acts consisted of Seafret and Sikth, whom individually, managed to pull full crowds on both the main stages. Headlining duo Harry Draper and Jack Sedman who make Seafret have only been on the music scene since 2014 and have been making a name for themselves since, closed the night at the Rescue Rooms. Over at the main stage at Rock City, rock metal veterans, Sikth, helped bring the night to a close.  

Other acts that appeared were High Tides, Chasing Dragons, Continents, The Mocking Jays, Inme, The Mitherhead and Black Cats & Magpies raised the roof, you could practically smell the sweat, adrenaline and energy. Returning bands were Our Saving Day and Eyre Llew. Over at the acoustics area at the main bar were Billie, Joseph Knight, Bethany Jowett and Ellie Keegan, who proved that acoustics are just as good as rock/metal bands.

Overall it was a successful day with many musicians, both local and from further afield, playing at all seven venues with plenty of food, drink and merchandise to go around, and oddly enough people willing to get their hair cut for the cause. Don’t ask.

The annual music event which takes place every year in September is to raise both awareness and money for the MacMillan Cancer charity and also helps support local artists at the same time.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Nottingham Post Q&A with Brad Dear

A music Q&A I did with upcoming musician Brad Dear in the run up to the recent Splendour Festival. Have a read and enjoy, the full interview’s on the Published Pieces page.NN19-NEP-E01-S3-004-0902-CD

Subba-Cultcha review piece

An article I did for online magazine/website Subba-Cultcha; MacMillan Fest 2016. Have a read and enjoy at your own leisure.

http://www.subba-cultcha.com/reviews/1833

The infamous single-day-event otherwise known as MacMillan Fest has returned to Nottingham again, this can only mean one thing, two of the town’s best known venues; Rock City and Rescue Rooms, will be heaving with non-stop rock all day long with a mixture of new and returning bands, and some pretty good headliner to. With 67 bands listed on the band bill for the music crammed day the organisers have put everything they’ve got to make this date a must-see event in your dairy. MacMillan Fest is hosted ever year by Kris Davis, who has undeniably worked very hard to make this day one to remember. Over its’ past few years MacMillan Fest has pulled in numerous big names such as Bleed from Within to help it become extraordinary. This time around, two of the headlining acts that got the people packed into the main venues were Seafret and Sikth, whom managed to fill both venues on both the main stages. Seafret, who only came onto the music scene two years ago but have been building momentum ever since they clo

Biffy Clyro @Reading (R+L)Festival 2016

So, after three days of sheer music madness the North/South music mecca of Reading+Leeds has come to a close, and only on BBC4. Tonight’s headliners, Biffy Clyro, made their second appearance on the Main Stage, three years since their last one, and it was just amazing. Led by frontman Simon Neil the Scottish trio sang many of their infamous hits including Rebel Chord, 57, Bubbles, Black Chandelier, The Captain, Many of Horror and Stingin’ Bell to name but a few. For me it was just sheer bliss to watch and to hear some of my favourite songs by Clyro was definitely worth staying up for (armed with a glass of JD &coke). So, that wraps it up for next year, see you again next year R+L.

RHCP @Reading (R+L) Festival 2016

Not long finished watching RHCP play the main stage @Reading on BBC4, and this will have been their fourth time now, it seems that we just can’t get enough of them. With a jammed-packed set crammed full of hits including Californication, Under The Bridge, The Getaway and By The Way this was just the perfect reason to stay up till the wee (early hours). As always stage antics aren’t too far away the it comes to the Chilli Peppers as at one point, Flea, hand-walked across the stage with a small person (either one of the band members’ kid’s or a fan). However they saved the best till last and performed their monster hit Give it Away, just fantastic to watch. RHCP feel free to come back anytime.

Disclosure @Reading (R+L) Festival 2016

Not long finished watching Disclosure headline the main stage (alongside The Foals) at the Reading (R+L) Festival via the red button service, it was a great hour spent watching them. It was amazing listening to them perform the hits from both their Settle and Caracal albums including When a Fire Starts to Burn, Holding On including one of their recent new singles Boss. They were joined on-stage by new artists Brandon Reilly for another new song Moving Mountains which sounded fantastic, seriously that guy’s got some vocals on him. They ended their set on their hit debut track Latch which is a guaranteed crowd pleaser.  Over on the NME/Radio 1 Stage American duo Twenty One Pilots performed set their and I have to admit that I’ve never really heard any of their music till now; I have missed a lot. I have to say they did an impressive cover of House of Pain’s Jump Around and got to crowd surf.

 

Though I’ve said it before I’ll say it again; this is one reason why BBC3 was brilliant as a TV CHANNEL!!!

The Rise of LGBT Athletes in Sports

A small article I did for WhatsOn magazine. In two recent articles Team GB is said to have showed more support for LGBT athletes over the past decade or so than any other and that we had at least 44 openly LGBT athletes at the recent Olympic Games in Rio. Overall I think this is an amazing achievement in the sporting world and definitely shows an increase in role models for the LGBT community with people such as Tom Daley, Nicola Adams, Tom Bosworth and Helen Richardson-Walsh

http://uk.whatson.uk.com/lgbt-in-athletics/

uk.whatson.uk.com
Has representation of the LGBT community in sport increased as more athletes come out all over the world in support?

 

 

Go Team GB @Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Currently watching the Closing Ceremony on BBC1. So, after two weeks of Olympic madness in Rio Team GB have achieved what many could only ever have dreamt of and actually beat Team China (and Team Russia, boo hiss) and made it to second place on the medal board winning an impressive 27 Gold Medals along with 23 Silver and 17 Bronze taking their total to 67 medals, probably the highest it’s ever been. I could not feel more proud of Team GB if you could ask me to be. Congratulations Team GB, you did us proud in Rio. Congratulations to all of Team GB including Nicola Adams, Jade Jones, Chris Mears, Jack Laugher, Mo Farrah, Greg Rutherford, the Brownlee Brothers, Joe Joyce, Mark Cavendish, Louis Smith, Adam Peaty, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Joanna Roswell-Shand, Tom Daley, Laura Trott and Jason Kenny; you did us proud

GO TEAM GB!!!!!