Maximo Park have been around for a few years now, and have released three studio albums during that time. The band are currently on a UK tour to support their new album, Quicken The Heart, and I went to see them live at the Manchester Academy on May 23.

I’ve seen Maximo Park play live on three different occasions, once after they’ve just released each album. It’s very interesting, to me at least, to chart their progress in that time. A lot has changed in the space of four years.

The first was in Leeds on an NME tour after A Certain Trigger debuted, when they were the middle act of a bill which included The Cribs and saw Kaiser Chiefs headlining. The second was in Manchester just after Our Earthly Pleasures was released, and this time makes three.

The biggest change I’ve noted is how much the fans have changed. They began as young, hip fans who align themselves to the latest NME band but are now a fair bit older and, it has to be said, a fair bit more raucous.

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Booking tickets for an Amy Winehouse gig is becoming increasingly like playing the lottery. You pay your money, get your little slip of paper, and then anxiously wait to see the outcome. Unfortunately these days you’ll likely to be bitterly disappointed.

There’s a very real chance Winehouse will either pull the gig or not turn up. And even if she does manage to find her way to the venue she could then give a performance which leaves you and the rest of the crowd mystified and miffed.

Winehouse has had some time away from the spotlight recently, having a break from gigging to spend some time in her new adopted home of St. Lucia. But she’s due to start touring again very soon and would seem to need rehearsal time.

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Art Brut are one of those bands that remain an obscure secret to many people. When I told friends I was going to the band’s gig at Manchester Academy 3 tonight (April 27) I was mostly met with shrugs of the shoulders and the arching of eyebrows.

Once you hear of Art Brut and listen to a few of their tunes, they then become one of those bands you either love or hate - there’s no middle-ground whatsoever. Luckily, for someone who paid to go and see them play live, I’m in the former camp.

I first heard of Art Brut way back in 2004 when Formed a Band was released and the group were mentioned in the NME. But it wasn’t until I saw them support Maximo Park in 2007 that I fell in love with them. And this from a man who usually hates support acts.

Since then, Art Brut have released two further albums to follow up their debut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll. I reviewed It’s a Bit Complicated in the early days of Brit Music Scene and plan to review new album, Art Brut vs. Satan, soon.

Tonight saw them play Manchester Academy 3 as part of their current UK tour. This was the first time I’d seen them as the main band and they did not disappoint. They played a raucous 70-minute set which included many gems from their back catalog as well as many from Art Brut vs. Satan.

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Lily Allen has never been backwards at coming forwards. A certain amount of it is definitely for show, with her sometimes controversial comments clearly getting her press coverage she otherwise wouldn’t get. But most of it is what she actually believes, and actually has a ring of truth about it.

Allen has recently invoked controversy and a certain amount of vitriol aimed in her direction due to comments she recently made concerning drugs and people who use drugs.

In an interview with The Word magazine, she said:

“The only [newspaper] story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you - I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem. But we never hear that side of the story.”

Now personally I don’t find that comment very offensive. She isn’t defending drug use, or promoting it in any way, but merely pointing out that there’s another side to the story than the one blithely reported by the national newspapers.

But as The NME reports, that didn’t stop groups such as the National Drugs Prevention Alliance and Addaction getting on her case and arguing that the comments are unhelpful and misguided.

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Reforming is obviously the thing to do now. We’ve already seen Take That make a successful comeback, The Spice Girls a less successful one, and The Police reforming and then splitting up again. We’ve also seen Boyzone reform even though no-one asked them to, and Led Zeppelin announce plans to tour and release new material even though Robert Plant won’t be involved.

Then, more recently we learned about The Faces making plans, and just last week, Blur announced they were reforming after Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon put their differences aside to work together again. So, who is next? Could it be the time for The Smiths and The Stone Roses to get back together?

Both these bands fell apart due to creative differences, otherwise known as big arguments between at least two members of the group. And ever since they split, fans have been calling for them to get back together for one last hurrah to see if the magic is still there.

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It’s been a long time coming but at last Blur are back, having officially reformed with all four original members. Okay, so it isn’t like The Beatles reforming (which they’d have a job doing now anyway) but it’s still a brilliant moment for British music and one I want to celebrate.

Talk of a Blur reunion began last October when the four original members met up for lunch and a bit of a catch-up. But that was it, nothing else happened for almost a year before the petty squabbling seemed to raise its ugly head once again. Damon Albarn was reported to have said “Blur is over,” and Graham Coxon responded with a lengthy rant.

By November, the chances of a reunion were looking better, with Albarn stating how it was very possible he’d rejoin the group once again. By the end of November the band were rehearsing with each other as a four piece again for the first time since 2000, but no further plans were announced.

Now, on December 9, 2008, Blur are officially back. Damaon Albarn and Graham Coxon have apparently patched up the differences that lead to the split in the first place, and Alex James and Dave Rowntree are also along for the ride.

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Noel Gallagher has never been short of a thing or two to say, some of which are intelligent, well-meaning things, and others which aren’t quite as sensible. On this occasion, what he’s said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine has to be filed in the latter section.

As part of an interview discussing topics as diverse as Ryan Adams, the Toronto attack, and drugs, Gallagher claimed that Oasis are now as big as The Rolling Stones, a British band known and respected the world over, and who can still sell out massive stadiums, despite all being over the age of 60.

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The road to Blur reforming has been a long one, with many bumps on the way. But it looks as if it’s finally set to happen, although the reunion is only initially going to take the form of rehearsals.

As far back as October 2007, there was talk of a Blur reunion, but that ended up being just a lunch meeting, with all four former members once again going their separate ways straight afterwards. Fast forward a year, and the old arguments resurfaced, with Damon Albarn claiming “Blur is over.”

But November has brought good news, with Damon Albarn starting the month by stating that he could rejoin Blur at some stage in the future. Now he’s added detail to that in a pre-show chat with DJ Janice Long on BBC Radio 2.

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Many people would like to see Paul McCartney’s head on a platter for the atrocious solo material he’s put out since The Beatles split up almost 40 years ago, but I doubt many expected to see it end up in a train station bin. But that is where a homeless man found it, and he’s been given a £2,000 reward for his trouble.

Last week saw Paul McCartney’s waxwork head left on a train by someone who was supposed to be giving it safe passage to London to be sold at auction. Joby Carter lost the wax head, which had been on display at Louis Tussauds museum in Great Yarmouth, on Thursday, and offered a reward for its safe return.

That safe return has now been secured, with the NME reporting that a homeless man by the name of Anthony Silva returned the head to its rightful owner after finding it in a bin at Reading train station.

He claimed the £2,000 reward for returning it, which for a homeless man has got to be an absolute fortune (that’s a lot of bottles of whiskey).

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Top Of The Pops was an iconic music show that was broadcast weekly for 42 years between 1964 and 2006 before being cancelled.

It was one of the few music shows around that played chart music and broke new bands. So is there a case for it to be brought back?

One band thinks so, with The Ting Tings telling Absolute Radio (via NME) that they were big fans of the show and want it brought back, just so they can appear on it. Jules De Martino said:

“Bring back TOTP and let us be the first band to play on it.”

While it may have been a decent show in its heyday, recent years saw the quality of the programme and the viewing figures fall quite dramatically. That’s because the sheer amount of cable channels and the Internet give viewers more choice than ever before, so we hardly need to sit in on a Thursday night waiting for the BBC to deliver half an hour of music to us.

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