Live Reviews

Maps and Atlases / Tall Ships @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 09.10.10
Ready that dead horse for a fierce beating, because this show was an odd one. Without getting too bogged down in some polemical preamble, let’s just say that it’s easy to see when a genre – as a scene or a community or a trend or whatever – is in trouble.
Posted on Oct 12th, 2010
Hope & Social @ The Luminaire, London 23.09.10
A warm and sizable venue whose inscribed walls certainly don’t hold back from reminding you to shut the fuck up whilst the bands are playing... an excellent support set by Arthur Rigby and the Baskervylles leads us into the main act of the night...
Posted on Oct 6th, 2010
Offset Festival @ Hainault Forest, London 04-05.09.10
Set in the rural grounds of Hainault Forest, Offset Festival brings the best in indie, electronic, and post-punk music to round off the great British summer. As an Offset virgin, Bearded is pleasantly pleased to have it's cherry popped over this inebriated weekend. Fortunately, one's memory serves well enough to tell you the highs and lows of London’s glorified boutique festival. On entrance, it immediately features one of the best ideas for a festival ever – a car park NEXT to the camp site NEXT to the arena. Fucking genius!
Posted on Sep 20th, 2010
Plants and Animals @ the Old Blue Last, Hoxton 09.09.10
It’s cosy and friendly upstairs at Hoxton’s Old Blue Last. Impressive Norwegian openers Moddi’s warm, cinematic post-rock goes down a storm - lovely stuff. The Pattern Theory’s competent but unexciting update on mid-70s Pink Floyd is nothing special, but it’s Plants and Animals most of us have come to see.
Posted on Sep 15th, 2010
Allo Darlin’ @ Proud Galleries, Camden 25.08.10
Feeling tired and sick Bearded drags itself across London, into the hazy red-lit fug of the Proud Gallery, Camden, and takes it's place in front of the stage. After a short delay and some geek-based banter from Elizabeth and Bill, Allo Darlin’ launch into their opener 'If Loneliness Was Art'. As the opening chords and bouncing base washes over me, entwined with the lyrics ‘If loneliness was art, I could hang you from the wall’, suddenly the fug of smoke and the heady scent of Red wine isn’t too much. It is just enough to support the weight of the energetic Indie melodies that resonate through the audience.
Posted on Sep 1st, 2010
Green Man 20-22.08.10
The best music festivals in life do themselves an injustice by labelling themselves in such narrow terms. The best music festivals combine it all under one beautiful term: ‘culture’. You could probably call it a vibe, but that would sound a tad too hippyish for an event that essentially poured more rainwater into your lungs than African woodbine.
Posted on Sep 1st, 2010
Housse de Racket @ The Lexington, London 12.08.10
Tonight at the stylishly independent Lexington, Housse de Racket’s exclusive show in London before the UK release of their brilliant debut album Forty Love.
Posted on Aug 17th, 2010
A Hawk And A Hacksaw @ The Harley, Sheffield 05.08.10
As a virgin to the Harley, it proves to be a pleasant joint with an old, tattered Hammond organ in the corner of the bar - with their slogan of being “A Non-Profit Disorganisation” proudly slapped up on the doorway.
Posted on Aug 17th, 2010
Civet @ Camden Underworld 09.08.10
Topping the bill in place of Orange County’s punk outfit Agent Orange, Civet waste no time in staking their claim to the stage. With names like Suzi Homewrecker, Liza Graves, Jacqui Valentine and Roxie Darling, they clearly adopt a no-holds-barred approach to their style, cultivating the audio to match the hardline image, complete with guttural snarls and roaring riffs.
Posted on Aug 14th, 2010
2000 Trees Festival 16-17.07.10
The UK market is currently saturated with medium size festivals all booking similar artists teetering on the brink of stardom. What is so refreshing about Cheltenham’s 2000 Trees festival is not only its compactness, but the awesomely daring line up.
Posted on Aug 3rd, 2010
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