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With a BANG
Oh Edinburgh, you’re really spoiling us. As if the early revelation that Primal Scream were headlining the Hogmanay festivities wasn’t enough, the fun hasn’t stopped coming in recent weeks with Bombay Bicycle Club, fresh from their European tour, The Vaccines, Friendly Fires and Wild Beasts also confirmed as part of Edinburgh’s stellar Hogmanay 2012. Other artists joining the bill include Mark Ronson (DJ set), Peatbog Faeries, Capercaillie, Jaymo & Andy George (DJ set) and Kassidy. Lest we forget, The Cuban Brothers, Frisky & Mannish and The Great Calverto.
Around and about the aural delights to be found at this year’s Hogmanay, there is plenty of additional festive cheer going begging. The Torchlight Procession and Son Et Lumiere Finale on 30 Dec is expected to attract the flocks in their thousands. While the Candlelit Concert in St Giles’ Cathedral on 31 Dec offers some classical respite and reflection for those looking for a little more serenity on New Year’s Eve. Ding dong. ■ See edinburghshogmanay.org for more
O P I N I O N Thorn in my side
As the Stone Roses are announced as headliners for next year’s T in the Park, Malcolm Jack ponders their third coming
I am not in favour of The Resurrection, I’ll be honest about that. Like all bands of yesteryear that matter to me – and The Stone Roses were a staple of my teens – I believe they should be remembered as they were in their prime.
I was too young to ever see the Roses live, but I have seen Ian Brown solo on several occasions and each time his diminishing voice has increasingly resembled that of a confused drunk shouting at himself in an underpass. John Squire has completely abandoned his post-Roses musical pursuits – thank Christ – to concentrate on painting, while Reni has barely banged a drum live in a decade and a half, leaving ex-Primal Scream bassist Mani as the only member to get pass marks as a touring musician these last 15 years. Doesn’t augur well does it? Yet, I would hesitate to knock anyone who wishfully believes this reunion is what the world is waiting for, and I’ll admit that seeing the four bandmates side-by-side again has positively shifted my impressions of why they’ve finally decided to stage a comeback.
Money is undoubtedly a factor – when you consider their reunion’s incredible bankability (at least £12.1 million in the 68 minutes alone it took to sell all 220,000 tickets to their Manchester shows at Heaton Park) how could it not be? But for me there was something genuine in the verbal and body language at that press conference and in those Pennie Smith photographs that suggested there’s something more vital than flat-lining bank balances at work here. More than just the Roses’ songwriting team, Brown and Squire were childhood best mates who took on the world, until those old chestnuts drugs and cash came between them, shattering the band and leaving the remnants to spiral towards burnout at that infamous final Reading debacle in 1996. If I’m able to stand at T in the Park next July and feel confident that I’m witnessing a celebration of friends patching-up their differences to have a fucking blast together again, then the Third Coming’s fine by me. Morrissey and Marr – just don’t go getting any ideas.
ReviewofReviews
NOEL GALLAGHER’S FLYING BIRDS LIVE REVIEW
10 THE LIST 17 Nov–15 Dec 2011
WHAT WE SAID: ‘Noel looks more comfortable than he has in years, the calmer tempo suiting his delivery, but there are moments when you miss the verve and danger of Liam’s presence.’ THE LIST
WHAT THEY SAID: ‘What Noel lacks in his brother’s electrifying stage presence, he more than makes up for in sheer class and musicianship.’ HERALD
‘Not as good as Oasis’s heyday then, but a modest career reinvention which took the best of what has gone before and reinvigorated it simply by flushing away the stagnancy which afflicted the group’s later years.’ THE INDEPENDENT ‘Gallagher may lack the experimental gene but he knows how to write tunes – well, choruses – that make absolute sense in this environment . . . for now Gallagher is very carefully building his power base.’ THE ARTS DESK