Category: Live Reviews
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Review/Gallery: Alcopopacruiser – The Thames, 29/10/2021
“This is your safety briefing: I don’t know anything about safety. This doesn’t seem very safe, it seems like something Jack organised”, Frauds greet us aboard the Alcopopacruiser, an unexpected addition to the lineup (I can’t be the only one who was expecting to hear The Subways Billy Lunn…) but a welcome one. It’s the…
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Review: Colchester Fringe Festival 2021
Inspired by the legendary Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, a format that’s often repeated around the world, Colchester Fringe Festival is a new festival of the arts, bringing together theatre, comedy, dance, spoken word and more across multiple venues. Accessibility and promoting under-represented voices is a key part of their program. Originally planned for 2019 the…
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Stream Review: The Armed – Ultrapop Live at The Masonic
I wish this review could have been slightly different. The Armed, one of the most fascinating bands around at the moment, were meant to be in the UK/Europe last week and I was incredibly excited to see them playing London’s Moth Club. Unfortunately it was not to be, with travel at the minute a bit…
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FOL, She’s In Parties, Daniel Stephen Turner – Three Wise Monkeys, 25/06/2021
When the government announced nearly a fortnight ago that they’d be extending the June re-opening date to July it looked like fully live music was out the window again. With venues already suffering financially from the last year and a half all of a sudden countless events had to be rescheduled into already busy diaries…
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Review: Jotnarr, Mezzotint, White Noise Winter – Colchester Arts Centre – 18/06/2021
It’s been 469 days since I last watched an actual gig with a crowd and bands playing loudly. It’s been a very long 469 days. Colchester Arts Centre have apparently been making good use of that time, this test event an occasion to try out the fancy new lights and PA system and to ease…
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Live Review: Ghosts of Men, Shooty and the Bang Bang, Killatrix – Independent Venue Week – Three Wise Monkeys, 1/2/2020
We’ve lost so many excellent venues across the UK in the last decade or so, mostly because people keep buying new built flats with thin walls and then crying about the sound from already established venues. Independent Venue Week was set up as a celebration of everything great about small, independently ran, venues across the…
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Review: Frank Turner – Nick Alexander Memorial Trust Show – Colchester Arts Centre, 26/01/2020
It’s been a long time since Frank Turner came to Colchester – he can’t recall exactly when he last came to town during his set but his informative archive of shows informs me that the only time he’s played here was show number 332, at the long defunct The Twist back in 2007. Given that…
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Live Review: Sleep Token, Poisonous Birds – Colchester Arts Centre, 24/01/2020
I’m pleasantly surprised by how busy things are when I arrive at the Arts Center – it’s hard to judge just how popular bands are locally but certainly there’s no shortage of Sleep Token fans in the local area. Their logo seems to a be a popular presence on people’s arms too, with more than…
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Off The Beaten Track – Rubber Jaw, Tibetan Night Terrors, Tundra, Goldblume – Coda, Colchester
Let’s start by saying this is a very good idea for a tour. Taking one band from Cambridgeshire, one from Norfolk, one from Suffolk and one from Essex and then playing a show in each county (plus London), the Off The Beaten Track tour is certainly onto a winner. The caliber of performers from each…
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Charli XCX – Astra Kulturhaus, 09/11/2019
With the release of her most recent album, Charli, it feels as though Charli XCX has pushed the boundaries of what you can do with pop music. The album itself mixes songs which take a more straight forward approach to the genre with songs which are genuinely quite out there. I was curious to see…
Paper Champion 