Throughout all of the troubles Amy Winehouse has had, and they’ve been plenty, I have always tried to see past the drugs, drink, and general wrongdoing in her private life because of the quality of her singing. Unfortunately, even my faith in that part of her life has now been shaken.
This weekend saw The V Festival taking place jointly in Chelmsford and Stafford. Unlike Glastonbury, V is very much a pop festival, and embraces a more diverse mix of artists – one of whom was Amy Winehouse, taking part in her penultimate gig before having an extended break from performing.
The …read more

After going to see The Feeling at the beginning of March, and loving it so much, me and my friends were on the lookout for the next big gig to buy tickets for and attend.
A quick search on GigsandTours.com later, and we decided to purchase tickets for the Sugababes at the Manchester Apollo on the 2nd of April.

Even though the tickets had been on sale for months, there were a few remaining, and we struck lucky.
I approached the gig with part excitement, part trepidation, as it was to be the most “Pop” concert I’ve ever been to. In fact, …read more

A few of us here on the b5 music channel have decided to get together and talk about our favourite gigs. I’ve been to far too many to list them all, so instead, I’ll focus on my experiences of the last year.
I have quite a broad taste in music, loving everything from Bjork and Joanna Newsome, through the Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party, up to Megadeth and The Hives, so my gig history is kind of fragmented.

My first gig was the Stereophonics back in the day (when they were good, or at least better than they are at the moment), …read more

The Feeling are a band who are never going to be cool, never going to get on the cover of NME, and never going to be the next big thing.
But you know what? None of that matters, as they put out some incredibly well written, and well composed pop songs, and after seeing them live, I know they’re fantastic in the flesh too. I’d even go as far to say they push Muse for title of Best Live Band in the UK right now.
This is actually the second time I’ve seen The Feeling live, the first being in the …read more

Yesterday saw Amy Winehouse win five Grammy awards, to become the most successful artist at this, the 50th annual Grammies. She also sang a two song medley of Rehab and You Know I’m No Good from a London studio, after having her application for a Visa turned down until it was too late for her to make the trip.
Here, in case anyone missed it, is her performance…

She’s definitely looking better than she has for the last year or so, clean, sober, and drug free. In fact, the only thing she looks high on is the enthusiasm for being on stage, …read more

Last June saw Muse play a weekend of massive back to back shows at the newly opened Wembley stadium. Now, to the delight of the many thousands of fans who couldn’t secure tickets for one of the shows (me included), the band are planning to release a live CD and DVD of the shows.

The twin pack will be entitled HAARP, and include a DVD featuring footage from the second night, as well as extras such as behind the scenes shorts, and a photo gallery.
The CD is a recording of the first night at the stadium, and features 13 of their …read more

The Spice Girls are currently on a huge world tour, which they have spectacularly managed to sell out everywhere.
But despite the hundreds of thousands of people paying a fortune to see the reformed girl group, if you believe Geri Halliwell’s latest claim, the girls won’t make a penny from it.
The widespread belief up to now has been that the girls were offered, and accepted, millions of pounds each to get back together and embark on one last tour as a fivesome.
It’s no surprise that the girls haven’t always got on that well, so I would imagine any less …read more

No, I wasn’t there… unfortunately, but I’ve read all I can on the fans and critics reviews, and need to give my report on how the much anticipated reunion concert went.
It’s London, it’s December 10th 2007, and it’s freezing cold, but no-one cares because the remaining members of Led Zeppelin are about to take to the stage.
It’s a dream come true for the thousands of fans who beat the odds and secured one of the hard fought tickets for the one off gig.
A Led Zeppelin reunion was once said to be less likely than a Beatles one, and that …read more

The Carling brand has become synonymous in recent years with live music, the academy clubs up and down the country, and the Reading and Leeds festivals, which they have sponsored for nine years.
Today it was announced that that partnership would be ending, with both parties ending it gracefully by mutual consent.
In a statement, Festival Republic’s Melvin Benn said:
“This marks a happy turning point in the festival’s history with Reading Festival reclaiming its name after the Carling Weekend association.”
This seems a shame because Carling, rightly or wrongly, have been responsible for a definite upsurge in popularity of live gigs, and …read more