Journalism
Laura Marling - The Bosun's Locker Tour with King Charles, Noah and The Whale at The Adelphi, Leeds - Sunday, 30th September 2007
Question: How do you go from being on tour with a load of blokes in a van to appearing on the BBC’s Later ... with Jools Holland? Answer: Easy! When you’ve got talent oozing out of every pore and your name just happens to be Laura Marling!
The Bosun’s Locker, being the tour in question, came about after a group of people, musicians all, met in the said hostelry, sadly now closed, and decided to make music together. A question of I’ll be in your band if you’ll be in mine, so to speak, as that’s literally how this tour, which tonight calls in at The Adelphi, Leeds, is working.
After a brief warm up by nearly all except Laura, King Charles, bedecked in shorts and boots, gets the evening off to a right royal – excuse the pun - folk rocking start. Great accented vocals, eastern sounding guitar, not to mention the balancing act, brought great cheers from the ever growing crowd. He even reminded me, at times, of That Fucking Tank and It Takes Bridges. ‘Time of Eternity’ was the stand out track for me. Compelling stuff!
Noah and The Whale were next up and this was a more relaxed affair but equally as wonderful. At first a little disorientated with the set out of the room – the audience being out front as well as stage left - Noah, the lead singer, had them in the palm of his hand in next to no time. Two songs stood out for me here, the very ‘Sorrow’ sounding ‘Mary’, but with a kind of skiffle twist towards the end, and the new single, ‘5 Years Time’, in the shops now, and both with delightfully sounding backing vocals from a certain Miss Marling. Go listen to them on their myspace NOW and you’ll see what I mean.
After a short break, Laura takes to the stage and begins with the hauntingly beautiful ‘My Manic and Me’ and the audience are immediately transfixed and in her power. ‘Your Only Doll’ follows and is a great one to check out on YouTube, which equally shows off what an amazingly diverse songwriter she is too.
As we learn a little later on in her set, Miss Marling had to cancel the previous nights gig in York due to illness, though, as she was pleased to hear, some had made the journey and would have gone home with a warm glow.
After delivering another couple of gems in ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Old Stone’ – oh, and not forgetting that Laura Marling sweets are available on the merchandising table for just 50 pence – we get to her final song of the evening in ‘New Romantic’ – which she loathes! That’s a bit like Steeleye Span when they talk about ‘All Around My Hat.’ But they do it anyway – and so, happily, does Laura. Well it is on the E.P., after all, and, in fact, does get the loudest cheer of the evening. Even if she was on paracetamol, she still gave her all, and that’s more than good enough for this respectful audience, who remained so throughout the evening. Nice one!
This new kid on the block has it all and belies all of her 17 years a thousand fold. Her wonderful, thoughtful songs and stunning voice should take her all the way to the top and, if there’s any justice in this world, then that is exactly what will happen.
Laura’s ‘Later’ performance was on BBC2 at 11:35 pm on Friday, November 2nd, alongside Siouxsie Sioux and Richard Hawley. She can also be seen supporting Devendra Banhart during November.
Kevin Petch
Leeds Festival 2007 Preview
Once again the Leeds Carling Festival is upon us – has it really been a year since my ebay account was hi-jacked whilst attending Day One? – and, to my eyes, it looks a cracking 3 days. Just a shame that some of the bands will overlap, so it just becomes a question of choosing who you’d like to see most and, in the coming months, about whom you’re going to be kicking yourself for NOT seeing. Anyway, here’s my pick from this years bunch.
Wintermute play the Carling Stage at 11:30 am on Friday - be there!
Day One
The opening day sees the return of The Smashing Pumpkins, who will be headlining the Main Stage. Well, some of them will be, anyway, though I would have been a little worried if a certain Billy Corgan’s name wasn’t present amongst the line-up. The new album, their sixth, entitled Zeitgeist, is a true return to form and, if they pick the right songs from their back catalogue, this should be one of the highlights.
American industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails will hopefully be performing at least some, if not all of their sixth studio offering in Year Zero, a concept album set some 15 years into the future, and – I’m speculating here - should promise to be quite a spectacular set, musically and visually, though it might be an idea to see them at one of their own gigs to get the full effect.
LOSTPROPHETS, for me, are a great band and their last 2 albums, Start Something and Liberation Transmission sit proudly in my music collection. Other’s of note on the Main Stage include Fall Out Boy, Funeral For A Friend and, if my daughter had anything to do with this, Gym Class Heroes, whose Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast In America features Fall Out Boy Patrick Stump - who we might very well see an early glimpse of here – though, for me, I wouldn’t complain if Roger Hodgson took to the stage too.
Klaxons headline the NME/Radio 1 Stage on Day One and they have a right to be there as they’re a great live band. Their album Myths of the Near Future has so far featured 3 singles in Magick, Golden Skans and, most recently, It's Not Over Yet. Further down the line-up you’ll find the amazing Devendra Banhart, Cold War Kids, whose album Robbers & Cowards is certainly worth a listen, and The Sunshine Underground, who need no introduction, in these parts.
Pick of the Carling Stage just has to go to The Hold Steady, who seem to have been everywhere this year and even blew the Glastonbury crowd away - you can expect much of the same reaction here. Also, at the start of the day on this stage, we have the winners of this years Futuresound competition in Wintermute, who beat 29 fantastic bands into the bargain to claim the top prize. They’ve already had a great year, being one of the 15 bands chosen by Leeds City Council for Bright Young Things, a scheme which gives young musicians a leg up in the music world, so this is the icing on the cake really. Just a word of warning though! They’re on at 11:30 am!! Yes, that’s right, 11:30 am!!! So please, please, please, get out of those tents early and go give them a cheer. They’re brilliant.
Day Two
Razorlight headline the Main Stage on the second night. After a busy year and a number 1 single (America), taken from their self titled album, we’ve also seen them play at Live Earth, T in the Park and Radio 1’s Big Weekend, alongside our very own Kaiser Chiefs. Maybe it won’t be too long before they’re troubling the higher reaches of the singles chart once more.
Kings of Leon, with 3 albums under their belts already and another in the making, should prove to be an interesting set. Just wondering, though, how much of the new material the lads will dare throw at the Leeds crowd.
But it’s American indie-rockers Interpol and Maximo Park who, for me, are the highlights of day 2 on the Main Stage, closely followed by Gogol Bordello, who are jumping ship, well stages really, as they are promoted from last years brilliant NME/Radio 1 tent. Little Man Tate also deserve a listen. Check out their latest video for European Lover, directed by Paul Morricone, if you’ve got a spare 3 minutes or so. It’s a lovely piece of work.
The second day also sees another great day on the NME/Radio 1 stage, with Ash, from Northen Ireland, headlining and being supported earlier by The Subways, the fabulously energetic, indie rock threesome with great, great songs, Enter Shakira, The Enemy and The Horrors, all well worth seeing.
Also worth a mention, this time on the Carling Stage, is Albert Hammond Jr. – yes, him from The Strokes – who’ll no doubt be performing tracks from his 2006 solo album Yours to Keep – and Patrick Wolf, the London born multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter.
Day Three
The final day sees the Red Hot Chili Peppers in action on the Main Stage, ably supported by Arcade Fire from Canada, who, probably thanks to the interest shown by a certain David Bowie, seem to have come from nowhere in a very short time. Their amazing albums, Funeral and Neon Bible, are already classics, and adorn many a cd collection, including mine, so this band, in my opinion, are a must see.
For me, though, the NME/Radio 1 stage is the place to be on Day Three. The View, with their catchy debut album Hats Off To The Buskers, which includes the top 3 single Same Jeans, have really earned their headline slot. We Are Scientists, the American indie-rockers are the main support and have to be seen live, as do The Pigeon Detectives, whose recent top 3 album Wait For Me, which includes 2 top twenty singles in Romantic Type and I’m Not Sorry, has seen them progress here for last years Carling Stage, which they made their own. Taker Her Back, their new single, is set for release on August 13th. Also worthy of note here are The Twang, The Young Knives and The Noisettes.
One word that springs to mind on the final day in the Carling tent ... Battles ... enough said!
Best of the Rest at Leeds Festival
Worthy of a mention here are Metronomy, who will be performing in the Dance Arena. They are great fun and put on a fantastic and humourous light show, which has to be experienced first hand. Also, check out Kate Nash in the Carling tent, who will probably be much higher up the bill when the final timings are published, plus Reverend and the Makers and Kubichek!
If it’s new music you’re after, then a visit to the Topman Unsigned Stage is a must. The ones definitely to look out for over the three days include New Vinyl, International Trust, The Debuts, Grammatics, The Scaramanga Six, who are here for the second time in as many years, as is Sky Larkin, and Piskie Sits, Middleman and Micky P Kerr & The Dudes – miss them at your peril.
And, if you’re there on the eve of the Festival, don’t forget to visit the Topman Unsigned Stage for the Welcome to Leeds 07 Party, featuring our very own iForward, Russia!, plus other bands from the Dance to the Radio roster, including Shut Your Eyes And You’ll Burst in Flames. Nice one, Whiskas!
Party On!
Kevin Petch
Question: How do you go from being on tour with a load of blokes in a van to appearing on the BBC’s Later ... with Jools Holland? Answer: Easy! When you’ve got talent oozing out of every pore and your name just happens to be Laura Marling!
The Bosun’s Locker, being the tour in question, came about after a group of people, musicians all, met in the said hostelry, sadly now closed, and decided to make music together. A question of I’ll be in your band if you’ll be in mine, so to speak, as that’s literally how this tour, which tonight calls in at The Adelphi, Leeds, is working.
After a brief warm up by nearly all except Laura, King Charles, bedecked in shorts and boots, gets the evening off to a right royal – excuse the pun - folk rocking start. Great accented vocals, eastern sounding guitar, not to mention the balancing act, brought great cheers from the ever growing crowd. He even reminded me, at times, of That Fucking Tank and It Takes Bridges. ‘Time of Eternity’ was the stand out track for me. Compelling stuff!
Noah and The Whale were next up and this was a more relaxed affair but equally as wonderful. At first a little disorientated with the set out of the room – the audience being out front as well as stage left - Noah, the lead singer, had them in the palm of his hand in next to no time. Two songs stood out for me here, the very ‘Sorrow’ sounding ‘Mary’, but with a kind of skiffle twist towards the end, and the new single, ‘5 Years Time’, in the shops now, and both with delightfully sounding backing vocals from a certain Miss Marling. Go listen to them on their myspace NOW and you’ll see what I mean.
After a short break, Laura takes to the stage and begins with the hauntingly beautiful ‘My Manic and Me’ and the audience are immediately transfixed and in her power. ‘Your Only Doll’ follows and is a great one to check out on YouTube, which equally shows off what an amazingly diverse songwriter she is too.
As we learn a little later on in her set, Miss Marling had to cancel the previous nights gig in York due to illness, though, as she was pleased to hear, some had made the journey and would have gone home with a warm glow.
After delivering another couple of gems in ‘Ghosts’ and ‘Old Stone’ – oh, and not forgetting that Laura Marling sweets are available on the merchandising table for just 50 pence – we get to her final song of the evening in ‘New Romantic’ – which she loathes! That’s a bit like Steeleye Span when they talk about ‘All Around My Hat.’ But they do it anyway – and so, happily, does Laura. Well it is on the E.P., after all, and, in fact, does get the loudest cheer of the evening. Even if she was on paracetamol, she still gave her all, and that’s more than good enough for this respectful audience, who remained so throughout the evening. Nice one!
This new kid on the block has it all and belies all of her 17 years a thousand fold. Her wonderful, thoughtful songs and stunning voice should take her all the way to the top and, if there’s any justice in this world, then that is exactly what will happen.
Laura’s ‘Later’ performance was on BBC2 at 11:35 pm on Friday, November 2nd, alongside Siouxsie Sioux and Richard Hawley. She can also be seen supporting Devendra Banhart during November.
Kevin Petch
Leeds Festival 2007 Preview
Once again the Leeds Carling Festival is upon us – has it really been a year since my ebay account was hi-jacked whilst attending Day One? – and, to my eyes, it looks a cracking 3 days. Just a shame that some of the bands will overlap, so it just becomes a question of choosing who you’d like to see most and, in the coming months, about whom you’re going to be kicking yourself for NOT seeing. Anyway, here’s my pick from this years bunch.
Wintermute play the Carling Stage at 11:30 am on Friday - be there!
Day One
The opening day sees the return of The Smashing Pumpkins, who will be headlining the Main Stage. Well, some of them will be, anyway, though I would have been a little worried if a certain Billy Corgan’s name wasn’t present amongst the line-up. The new album, their sixth, entitled Zeitgeist, is a true return to form and, if they pick the right songs from their back catalogue, this should be one of the highlights.
American industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails will hopefully be performing at least some, if not all of their sixth studio offering in Year Zero, a concept album set some 15 years into the future, and – I’m speculating here - should promise to be quite a spectacular set, musically and visually, though it might be an idea to see them at one of their own gigs to get the full effect.
LOSTPROPHETS, for me, are a great band and their last 2 albums, Start Something and Liberation Transmission sit proudly in my music collection. Other’s of note on the Main Stage include Fall Out Boy, Funeral For A Friend and, if my daughter had anything to do with this, Gym Class Heroes, whose Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast In America features Fall Out Boy Patrick Stump - who we might very well see an early glimpse of here – though, for me, I wouldn’t complain if Roger Hodgson took to the stage too.
Klaxons headline the NME/Radio 1 Stage on Day One and they have a right to be there as they’re a great live band. Their album Myths of the Near Future has so far featured 3 singles in Magick, Golden Skans and, most recently, It's Not Over Yet. Further down the line-up you’ll find the amazing Devendra Banhart, Cold War Kids, whose album Robbers & Cowards is certainly worth a listen, and The Sunshine Underground, who need no introduction, in these parts.
Pick of the Carling Stage just has to go to The Hold Steady, who seem to have been everywhere this year and even blew the Glastonbury crowd away - you can expect much of the same reaction here. Also, at the start of the day on this stage, we have the winners of this years Futuresound competition in Wintermute, who beat 29 fantastic bands into the bargain to claim the top prize. They’ve already had a great year, being one of the 15 bands chosen by Leeds City Council for Bright Young Things, a scheme which gives young musicians a leg up in the music world, so this is the icing on the cake really. Just a word of warning though! They’re on at 11:30 am!! Yes, that’s right, 11:30 am!!! So please, please, please, get out of those tents early and go give them a cheer. They’re brilliant.
Day Two
Razorlight headline the Main Stage on the second night. After a busy year and a number 1 single (America), taken from their self titled album, we’ve also seen them play at Live Earth, T in the Park and Radio 1’s Big Weekend, alongside our very own Kaiser Chiefs. Maybe it won’t be too long before they’re troubling the higher reaches of the singles chart once more.
Kings of Leon, with 3 albums under their belts already and another in the making, should prove to be an interesting set. Just wondering, though, how much of the new material the lads will dare throw at the Leeds crowd.
But it’s American indie-rockers Interpol and Maximo Park who, for me, are the highlights of day 2 on the Main Stage, closely followed by Gogol Bordello, who are jumping ship, well stages really, as they are promoted from last years brilliant NME/Radio 1 tent. Little Man Tate also deserve a listen. Check out their latest video for European Lover, directed by Paul Morricone, if you’ve got a spare 3 minutes or so. It’s a lovely piece of work.
The second day also sees another great day on the NME/Radio 1 stage, with Ash, from Northen Ireland, headlining and being supported earlier by The Subways, the fabulously energetic, indie rock threesome with great, great songs, Enter Shakira, The Enemy and The Horrors, all well worth seeing.
Also worth a mention, this time on the Carling Stage, is Albert Hammond Jr. – yes, him from The Strokes – who’ll no doubt be performing tracks from his 2006 solo album Yours to Keep – and Patrick Wolf, the London born multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter.
Day Three
The final day sees the Red Hot Chili Peppers in action on the Main Stage, ably supported by Arcade Fire from Canada, who, probably thanks to the interest shown by a certain David Bowie, seem to have come from nowhere in a very short time. Their amazing albums, Funeral and Neon Bible, are already classics, and adorn many a cd collection, including mine, so this band, in my opinion, are a must see.
For me, though, the NME/Radio 1 stage is the place to be on Day Three. The View, with their catchy debut album Hats Off To The Buskers, which includes the top 3 single Same Jeans, have really earned their headline slot. We Are Scientists, the American indie-rockers are the main support and have to be seen live, as do The Pigeon Detectives, whose recent top 3 album Wait For Me, which includes 2 top twenty singles in Romantic Type and I’m Not Sorry, has seen them progress here for last years Carling Stage, which they made their own. Taker Her Back, their new single, is set for release on August 13th. Also worthy of note here are The Twang, The Young Knives and The Noisettes.
One word that springs to mind on the final day in the Carling tent ... Battles ... enough said!
Best of the Rest at Leeds Festival
Worthy of a mention here are Metronomy, who will be performing in the Dance Arena. They are great fun and put on a fantastic and humourous light show, which has to be experienced first hand. Also, check out Kate Nash in the Carling tent, who will probably be much higher up the bill when the final timings are published, plus Reverend and the Makers and Kubichek!
If it’s new music you’re after, then a visit to the Topman Unsigned Stage is a must. The ones definitely to look out for over the three days include New Vinyl, International Trust, The Debuts, Grammatics, The Scaramanga Six, who are here for the second time in as many years, as is Sky Larkin, and Piskie Sits, Middleman and Micky P Kerr & The Dudes – miss them at your peril.
And, if you’re there on the eve of the Festival, don’t forget to visit the Topman Unsigned Stage for the Welcome to Leeds 07 Party, featuring our very own iForward, Russia!, plus other bands from the Dance to the Radio roster, including Shut Your Eyes And You’ll Burst in Flames. Nice one, Whiskas!
Party On!
Kevin Petch
