The Heavy Heavy & Native Harrow - The Blues Kitchen, Manchester (17/5/23)

Native Harrow open their set with laid back bluesy folk, with gently strummed guitars and vocals reminiscent of The Last Internationale. Some songs have a dusty Californian feel similar to Neil Young. Singer Devin Tuel has a strong voice which, when she really opens up and reaches the top of her range reminds me of Joanna Newsome but generally this is too singularly paced and bland.

The Heavy Heavy opens with 'All My Dreams' which has some gorgeous three part harmonies reminiscent of The Mamas And The Papas. Their Californian sounding psych rock sounds heavier live and is jammed out much more than on record. 'Man Of The Hills' has a Joplin feel which showcases Georgia Fuller's impressive voice. The excellent 'Go Down River' is warm sunkissed Cali vibes with some luxurious harmonies. 'Why Don't You Call?' has a Monkees feel and some excellent Hammond organ lines but the harmonies are still king. The vocals harmonies elevate all these songs into something special. Some of the new tracks showcase different elements. One new song has a bluesy feel whilst another is a terrific Shadows style instrumental which sounds like a sped up 'Apache'. They even verge on 'Rumours' era Fleetwood Mac at times. 'Sleeping On Grassy Ground' is more Mamas And Papas worship and is terrific.The vocal workout in the mid section is incredible. Absolutely fantastic.

The Heavy Heavy *****

Native Harrow **

Eurovision Grand Final Jury Show - M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool (12/5/23)

Eurovision is an important part of my relationship with my wife. It is our main common interest.

On our first date, we were getting to know each other and Marie asked me if I liked Eurovision. I said that I did and she was really impressed. The common interests helped me to get a second date. No mean feat because we are pretty different too.

The first contest where we were a couple was 2009. We didn't actually watch it together because Marie was away at a christening although we did watch the semi finals together. We did text each other constantly during the final. Alexander Rybak won the contest with the classic 'Fairytale' which meant that the following years contest would be held in Oslo.

The 2010 contest will always be a special one to us because we were there. It wasn't a vintage year but we had a great time and there were still some great songs. We got married later that year and we had that years Icelandic entry, 'Je Ne Sais Quoi' by Hera Bjork, as our second dance.

This year's final kicks off with a video package of last year's winners Kalush Orchestra performing their winning song 'Stefania' which is then carried over into the arena live.

The flag parade of all the competing nations follows and it also features performances from various Ukranian Eurovision legends such as Jamala, Go_A and my personal favourite Verka Seduchka.

Austria kick off the show and it is a great opener. The crowd goes wild for the 'Poe Poe Poe' chorus.

Portugal's uptempo cabaret follows and is another crowd pleaser.

Switzerland's entry is a poignant anti-war ballad. The vocals are good and the pyrotechnics look much more effective live than on TV.

Poland's cheesy pop sounds much better live than it does on record. The staging looks dated and naff though.

The driving electronics of Serbia's Luke Black are cool. The vocals aren't great but the staging is futuristic.

France's sophisticated disco is spectacular. The vocals are awesome and it looks amazing. La Zarra comes across as an utter star.

Cyprus' entry is a good power ballad with great vocals and some impressive high notes.

Spain's daring flamenco pop is mesmerising and affecting.

Swedish legend Loreen is an utter powerhouse.

Albania's ethnic pop is a real family affair and the vocals are very good.

Italy's entry is a great touching ballad with excellent vocals from their charismatic singer Marco Mengoni.

Estonia is another ballad with strong vocals.

Finland's Käärijä absolutely blows the fucking roof off the arena. The crowd goes crazy for 'Cha Cha Cha'.

Czechia's entry is great empowering female pop with effective staging.

Australia's Voyager provide the heftiest moments of the show. The bass sounds so heavy and the vocals are great.

Belgium's Gustaph provides camp house goodness. The vocals, particularly that of the backing singers, are excellent. Props to the voguer too.

Armenia's Brunette sings a delicate ballad which picks up when she starts to rap.

Moldova's pounding pagan pop is pretty pleasing.

Ukraine's R&B goes down well.

Norway's rousing folk EDM goes down a storm.

The crowd are responsive to virtually everything. Even Lord Of The Lost's industrial metal goes down well for Germany.

Lithuania's Monika Linkyte showcases more strong vocals.

Israel's entry is contemporary pop like Ariana Grande and it is very very slick.

Slovenia's Jokers Out are next and their Franz Ferdinand style art rock is pretty good.

Croatia's entry is absolutely bonkers. It makes my eyes bleed but the crowd love it.

Our home entry, Mae Muller's 'I Wrote A Song' is great Mediterranean/Iberian influenced pop. Mae sings it the best I've heard her sing it and the crowd go nuts.

The interval sees a number of live performances including one by Sam Ryder. His rendition of new single 'Mountain' sounds more powerful than the last time I heard it live.

The show ends with a fake round of voting which sees the UK win.

Even though I'd seen most of the acts live earlier this week, everything sounds better and is elevated from what it was before. An absolutely fantastic show.

Overall *****

Eurovision Semi Final 1 Rehearsal Show - M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool

Tonight is the first show of this year's Eurovision Song Contest. It would traditionally be the jury show but this year there aren't any juries for the semi-finals so it is just a dress rehearsal instead.

The show opens with one of this year's hosts, Ukranian singer Julia Sanina, performing with a large number of dancers.

Norway kick off the contest with Alessandra singing 'Queen Of Kings', a folk metal melody played by an EDM act. A great energetic start.

Malta are much more fun than I expected. Their Sunstroke Project style sax pop is performed with lots of energy, is very colourful and contains a few moments which will look great on TV.

Serbia's powerful electronics sounds immense live and there are great visuals too.

Latvia's entry is stadium rock but it fails to fill the arena. It's a more intimate set up than anything we've seen so far but it isn't anything special.

Portugal's Mimicat plays upbeat cabaret. It's great fun and the crowd seem to really enjoy it. 

Ireland's Wild Youth (a real misnomer) get a predictably great reaction from the crowd for their bland stadium rock.

Croatia's performance pop is bonkers. Gloriously Eurovision.

Switzerland's entry is a nice song with some poignant visuals representing shellfire and war.

Israel's Noa Kirel is a a big star in her homeland. Her performance has everything. Hot dancing, pyro, cool effects, contemporary pop and powerful vocals.

Moldova's pagan folk pop is most notable for the flute player.

Swedish Eurovision legend Loreen justifies the position of pre-tournament favourite with powerful trance pop.

Azerbaijan are a bit bland. The crowd create a nice moment by waving their torches around though.

Czechia has some excellent hairography.

Netherlands puts forward a simple performance but the vocals don't seem good enough.

Finland's Käärijä is just brilliant and he gets the biggest reaction from the crowd too.

The interval sees Rebecca Ferguson and Ukraine's Alyosha covering Duran Duran's 'Ordinary World'. The song is secondary to the performance though, a powerful piece about the war.

Rita Ora performed a selection of her songs with a ton of dancers. I was stood near the choreographer who was barking instruction into a mic which was obviously connected to the earpieces and I found this much more interesting than the music.

We also get three performances from three of the big five (the nations who automatically qualify for the final).

It takes a little while for France's Last Zarra to get going vocally but when she does she is stunning.

German rockers Lord Of The Lost have LOTS of pyro.

Italy have a charismatic singer in Marco Mengoni and a poignant story of two men telling off a staircase onto a trampoline over and over. Better than it sounds.

At the end of the night, they run through a false set of results (which funnily enough, sees Sweden and Finland not qualifying). 

Overall ****

KEiiNO - Lush Lounge, Liverpool (8/5/23)

This was a bit unexpected. I was in Liverpool for the Eurovision Song Contest and my wife wanted to go to the Wiwi Lounge (hosted by Eurovision fan site, Wiwibloggs) for an appearance by Belgian singer Gustaph. Whilst we were deciding what to do next, I looked on my phone to see if there were any other notable appearances due. I noticed that the 2019 Norwegian entrants KEiiNO were appearing there shortly so decided to stick around.

KEiiNO do a short interview with the site before appearing for a short acoustic set. They open with 'Monuments' and it is immediately apparent that all the singers are great, particularly Alexandra who hits some impressive high notes. The stripped back versions showcase their material as great pop songs rather than their usual EDM . They play a great cover of Emmilie De Forest's 2013 Eurovision winner 'Only Teardrops'.  Fred really connects with the audience, whether it's during his joik routine (think Freddie Mercury's 'deyo' routine but in the Sámi language) or during his parts in the excellent 'Spirit In The Sky'. The latter closes out the set and is a real fan favourite. An unexpected treat.

KEiiNO ****

Otoboke Beaver & Drinking Boys And Girls Choir - Club Academy, Manchester (4/5/23)

I first heard of Otoboke Beaver a few years ago at work. One morning a colleague turned up to work in a Melt Banana shirt and I got very excited because I love that band. I love talking about music so I approached him and started talking about Melt Banana and music and other stuff (we hadn't really spoke much before but it seemed we had quite a few things in common such as a love of Studio Ghibli). He said that if I liked them I should check out Otoboke Beaver. I ended up going to see them live and absolutely loved them.

Drinking Boys And Girls Choir, an indie punk band from Korea, open up tonight. They start off with '77 style melodic punk in the vein of The Buzzcocks or The Briefs with some really cool bass runs. When the band play at breakneck speed (which they frequently do), it all gets a bit chaotic and falls apart. The band is at its best when they show their more melodic side with indie punk pop reminiscent of Kenickie or Helen Love. 'Keep Drinking' has a gritty pop punk feel a la  Leatherface. Not bad.

Otoboke Beaver are one short blast of raging noise after another. Melt Banana's hyper noise pop is an obvious reference point but mixed with The 5.6.7.8's aesthetics. There are hints of garage rock and surf rock too. 'Dirty Old Fart Is Waiting For My Reaction' starts off as Melvins style sludgy noise before accelerating into more familiar Melt Banana territory. It does get a bit samey and repetitive after a while though. There doesn't seem to be enough variety to sustain an hour long set. I also found some of the crowd to be a bit disrepectful. It seems like lots of people fancy themselves as comedians these days and can't resist yelling things which they think are hilarious. Singer Accorinrin seemed to be getting a bit pissed off with this too, especially as she struggled to understand some of the heckles. Unfortunately, nowhere as good as last time around.

Otoboke Beaver ***

Drinking Boys And Girls Choir ***

The Flaming Lips - Apollo, Manchester (29/4/23)

I first heard of The Flaming Lips back in 1990. I read a review in Metal Hammer magazine of their new album 'In A Priest Driven Ambulance'. I didn't check the record out at the time (and I never have) as it sounded too weird for me. However, the name of the band and the record stuck in my memory. As a side note, it amazes me how different metal magazines were in the 80s and early 90s, covering acts which they wouldn't touch now such as The Flaming Lips, Prince, Peter Gabriel and Tori Amos.

I didn't actually hear them until some time later. When they released 'The Soft Bulletin' in 1999, the music press went just crazy for it and it was crowned album of the year by many magazines. I always buy the end of year music magazines for the end of year lists to see what I've missed and what is worth listening to. After all the adulation it was getting, I knew that I had to buy it. As soon as I heard the opening track 'Race For The Prize', I knew that I made the right choice. It is an utterly glorious piece of uplifting orchestral psych pop. It is truly life affirming and is one of my favourite tracks of all time. The rest of the album wasn't as immediate and took time to grow on me but it is certainly a masterpiece.

Tonights show sees the band playing the follow up 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots' in full. This is an album which I didn't own for a number of years. I bought it at the time but rather than keeping it, I gave it as a gift to my girlfriend at the time. It was an album that I only really listened to at Jayne's and I still associate the album with her.

The Flaming Lips definitely seem more high tech than the last time I saw them. The usual confetti cannons, balloons and zorb balls are present but this time are accompanied by a huge LED screen and four giant inflatable pink robots.  Encased in his zorb bubble, Wayne Coyne's vocals seem weak during the opener 'Fight Test' although they do improve greatly for the excellent and emotional psych ballad 'One More Robot/Sympathy 3000-21'. 'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt 1' is an obvious early highlight. The robots periodically inflate and deflate, meaning that the stage is rather cluttered so the band just stick to set positions without moving. 'Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell's lush melodies are hugely affecting, as is the whole album. I'd forgotten how emotional the 'Yoshimi' album is. 'Do You Realize??' sees Wayne singing beneath a giant inflatable rainbow and the technicolor, life affirming psych pop balladry is glorious. 'All We Have Is Now' is crushingly sad yet uplifting at the same time.

The band return to the stage after a short break for an additional set, and kick off with the stupid yet fun 'She Don't Use Jelly' whilst a number of giant balloons bounce around the audience. The excellent 'How??' sees Coyne wearing a Wonder Woman cloak. 'Assassins Of Youth' has a pounding beat, although I'm not sure they need two drummers and it never quite sounds like two anyway. Madonna's 'Borderline' is transformed into 60s psychedelia with a slight garage edge, although everything sounds uniquely Flaming Lips. The final three numbers of the encore sees them mining 'The Soft Bulletin'. 'Feeling Yourself Disintegrate' is heartbreaking, yet the lush symphonic pop manages to make it strangely uplifting. Seeing all the lyrics on the LED screen makes me appreciate what a great lyricist Wayne Coyne is. The beauty and tone of the words does make me feel a little sad throughout though. The woozy psych pop of 'A Spoonful Weighs A Ton' is incredible whilst 'Race For The Prize' is so good it makes me weep. Wayne even pulls out a giant balloon which reads Fuck Yeah Manchester which is cool. It feel like more than a concert though. It is a poignant, profound experience which stayed with me for days afterwards and I still can't shake.

The Flaming Lips ****