lost prophets
Providing bouncy, catchy but slick fun, the Welsh rockers are on tour again and promise to provide a sizzling performance at London’s The Forum on 22nd October.
The good looking crew have been playing since 1997 with their first album Thefakesoundofprogress being released in less than two weeks for the princely sum of £4,000 and put them firmly on the map as an alt-rock band with nu-metal and grunge credentials.
The band takes many influences from 80s pop culture and pay homage to bands like Duran, Duran and New Order. A second album, Start Something sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. Liberation Transmission released in 2006 saw the band adopt a more contemporary sound and since then the boys have tantalised fans with hints about the anticipated fourth album, Betrayal, due for release in January 2010. Vocalist Ian Watkins promises that it will be “nastier” and “darker” than other albums and describes it as “classy rock, sorta heavy without sounding like bad metal but catchy as feck and also a little more grown up.”
With a hectic schedule of appearances at rock festivals including Download, Reading and the V festival, Lostprophets are famed for their awesome live performances headed by energetic front man, Ian who co-ordinates the crowd into a frenzy of moshing.
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Newton Faulkner
The soulful, bluesy performer, Newton Faulkner is embarking on a tour of various venues in the UK and tickets can be obtained now.
The 23-year- old performer has had a meteoric rise to fame, with his first EP Full Fat soaring to the top of the singles charts in 2006 without any of the usual hype generated by record labels – in fact without any promotion at all.
Since then Newton Faulkner has become an unstoppable tour de force. With his handmade, acoustic guitar, his own dextrous technique of percussive playing, or “tapping”as he calls it, combined with a husky voice that makes your spine tingle and sporting the most impressive dreadlocks since James the Just, he can tame a restless audience with one flick of his wrist. Opening for Paulo Nutini during the World Cup, his cover of Massive Attack’s Teardrop stole the show, mesmerizing the crowd in their seats.
Out on tour, appearing at festivals like Glastonbury, the Cambridge Folk Festival and Secret Garden, Newton was getting massive audience and standing ovations, so much so that when his album, Hand Built By Robots was released, it went on to sell over 500,000 copies and spent two weeks at the number one slot in the album charts. The single Dream Catch Me co-written with Crispin Hunt, rose to number seven and secured him a nomination for Best Male Artist at the Brits.
Newton has said that he is at his most comfortable in front of an audience and he is a relaxed and entertaining performer with storytelling forming a compelling part of his sets, but it’s the songs themselves that will reach out and suck you in; one man and one guitar, singing from his heart it’s electrifying stuff!
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Pet Shop Boys
Tickets have now been released for four UK concerts by the 80s pop icons, the Pet Shop Boys, who are appearing at the SECC, Glasgow, Birmingham NIA and MEN Arena Manchester and the O2, London.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have become one of the most successful recording duos in British pop history, writing music and lyrics for London theatre productions and continuing to perform at venues up and down the country.
The pioneering electronic dance music duo have sold more than 100 million records worldwide with 42 Top 30 singles tucked under their belts, 22 Top 10 hits in the UK and four number ones – West End Girls, It’s a Sin, Always On My Mind and Heart. In 1987 they received both BRIT and Ivor Novello Awards for West End Girls. What Have I Done to Deserve This. The latter featured Dusty Springfield on vocals, resurrecting the singer’s languishing career. More recently the Pet Shop Boys wrote the musical Closer to Heaven that opened at the Arts Theatre in London, 2001, backed by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group.
In 2009, the 20-year career of the Pet Shop Boys was covered in a documentary entitled Pet Shop Boys – A Life in Pop when the pop due retraced their historic journey up the ladder of fame. A recent album entitled Yes was launched in March, 2009 and the huge contribution made to musical history by the duo was recognised at The British Phonographic Industry’s when they received the industry’s most prestigious award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
The concerts represent a chance to see them showcase songs from their recently released album as well as those from their legendary back catalogue, plus an opportunity to hear songs not previously performed such as Two Divided by Zero and Why Don’t We Live Together?
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Paolo Nutini
The smouldering performer, Paolo Nutini is performing in concerts at selected venues all over the UK ranging from Blackpool to London.
His million selling 2006 debut album, These Streets, established him as in the forefront of singer-songwriters and his self-penned follow up Sunny Side Up is a richly diverse mix of ragtime, ballads, soul and folk.
“Musically where I’m at, I don’t really have a genre or style that I feel a part of,” explains Paolo. “I skip from Djhango Reinhart to Cab Calloway to Canned Heat. It’s a bit of a random mish mash. I honestly wanted it all to come out, and not harness it, not manipulate it. I just wanted it to be organic, and so immediate it’s in your face and you can’t help but take it all in.”
The Scottish singer/songwriter of Italian descent, spent three years learning the music business from inside out, performing live whenever possible with friends or as a solo artist. Regular gigs at The Bedford pub in Balham, radio appearances, spots at The Hardrock Cafe and gigs supporting Amy Winehouse and KT Tunstall brought him to prominence and by 2006 his concerts were selling out across the UK. Stints supporting the Rolling Stones in Vienna, appearances at the V Festival and Radio 1’s Big Weekend consolidated his reputation even further and in 2007 he played on the famous Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. His songs are frequently used in TV programmes and movies.
Live performances are a concoction of raspy, sexy vocals with bare instrumentation drawing from roots of jazz, reggae, blues and rock and roll. Add to these old favourites like Jenny Don’t Be Hasty and Last Request and the concerts should have all the ingredients of an unforgettable night.
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