LIVE: Stornoway at New Theatre Oxford (12/03/17)

I shared a post about Friday's Stornoway London gig a couple of days ago which took the blog over thirty thousand all time views (yikes!) A couple of days later I caught the band's final farewell show in Oxford, the place where the band met and started playing together, had their biggest breaks and played to some of the biggest venues, including being the first non-classical act to play a concert at The Sheldonian. I was only introduced to their music in my first year of university after meeting bassist Oli Steadman through Sofar Sounds Oxford, but the band have been making music in the city for just over a decade. Since then I've seen the band a few times and their music has become pretty special to me - so it's a huge shame to see them part (difficult to play down just how much crying was done at the two shows...) but they did so in a hugely triumphant manner, playing to a 2000 strong London crowd and to Oxford's largest theatre, the 1800 capacity New Theatre. 

As Oli and the band's trumpet (and axe?) player Tom Hodgson self-promoted the Oxford show via Tigmus, I was incredibly lucky to get to be at the venue from the afternoon, sorting out guest lists, meeting the rest of the band, watching them soundcheck from the stage and generally hanging around backstage. It's worth pointing out that the entire band and crew are some of the kindest, friendliest people I've had the pleasure of meeting! 

After rushing off for a meal with friends, I got back to the venue once the doors had opened and the previously empty theatre was full of people, many local but also many who had travelled far and wide to catch the final show, and the room was full of anticipation - it was also lovely spotting so many people from the local music scene, all there to send off one of the city's most beloved bands. I took my seat in the furthest corner of the room to catch the support band Brasstronaut play again, however compared to Friday night when I had been at the barrier, I didn't feel quite as connected with the set but enjoyed it just as much, and have since been listening to their recent self titled record on repeat - Raveshadow (official video here) is such a tune!

Similarly, being so far from Stornoway once they took to the stage I felt a little less part of the show but it was lovely to watch how much the music meant to the rest of the audience, who clapped, sang, mexican waved and even stage invaded their way through the performance. While I'm gutted I didn't get to hear The Ones We Hurt The Most live, it's probably for the best as there were enough tears without it... although the set was a wonderfully organised mix of joyous and sad tracks, and it felt like  each time I felt sad the crowd were uplifted with a track like I Saw You Blink or You Take Me As I Am - Tom's energy on stage was also pretty contagious! 

A highlight of the show, again, was an unplugged section in the middle, the same tracks as Friday (a solo November Song from Briggs followed by Get Low and Josephine) and just as beautiful. A little later during the set, lead singer Brian Briggs gave a heartfelt note of thanks to the crowd and the local music scene, saying that "we never dreamed we'd achieve what we've achieved [...] it gives us so much pride and happiness that our music has found its way into your lives [...] thank you for the memories, which we will treasure forever." If I wasn't crying before this point this definitely set me off, but soon after the band were playing their hugely fun cover of Don't You (Forget About Me) and it was a party again! Leaving the crowd with the hit Zorbing, the band responded to the raucous applause with a second encore, performing a track I hadn't heard until the soundcheck, The Old Blind Man, and ended on We Are The Battery Human with a pretty crazy stage invasion (for Stornoway, at least - and especially considering the several foot drop at the front of the stage!)

Once the performance finished I was ushered along with to the venue's back exit with the rest of the crowd, and (rather excitingly) came back into the venue, witnessing the moments after the band came off stage into the green room. Emotions (and champagne) were flowing and it was such a beautiful moment to share with the band, who then attended a signing session, meeting fans and saying some really heartfelt goodbyes which were also pretty beautiful and emotional to witness as I became a sort of unofficial photographer for fans before getting my own photo with 3/4 of the band. 

After the meet and greet, we took to the afterparty, where it was lovely to catch up with some friends, admittedly mostly from Sofar Sounds Oxford - a lovely bunch of people! Taking a taxi home with the Steadmans, Oli and Rob's parents, was somehow the most fitting way to end what was honestly one of the coolest days of my life, a show which I'm really proud to have been just a small part of. Being my first farewell shows I'm fairly surprised by just how much they moved me, isn't music a magical and wonderful thing?! A quick adjustment back to reality now as I carry on with dissertation rewriting before next Friday's deadline...

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at St Ebbe's Primary School (24/2/17)

Set up back in 2012 by Oli Steadman (who's band Stornoway head out on their farewell tour tomorrow - last tickets here), Sofar Sounds Oxford celebrated it's 50th show on Friday evening with a show at a local primary school, St Ebbe's. I just worked out that I've been to 16 of those shows, experiencing a huge range of artists of various genres in unique spaces including cafes, a cinema, The Ashmolean Museum and a living room. At Friday's show, as well as birthday cake, we were treated to sets from OUTLYA, Evarose, Vas Leon and Martin Luke Brown, and I took my camera along for the first time in a few months... I'll embed some photos in the post but you can see a full album here!

First up were OUTLYA, who you might know as Port Isla, who I caught at Bushstock a couple of years ago and enjoyed! They were a lot of fun on Friday and got some great crowd participation going on The Light, their debut single which they've released recently - there's a Facebook Live video I recorded of that one here. They're heading out on tour with Frances in April (tickets here) and they are performing at Barn On The Farm festival too.

Next up and from down the road in Banbury, four piece rock-pop girl band Evarose performed what I gathered for them was incredibly stripped back, telling the audience that they probably play a couple of acoustic shows a year. Their debut record Invisible Monsters is out now... there's a taster below with the track Provoke Me. They're back in town next Saturday with a proper rock show headlining the O2 Academy 2 Oxford on the first date of a UK tour, tickets for Oxford here!

Next up was Vas Leon with something completely different... you'll probably grasp from the music I post about that rap isn't high on my list of favourite genres to listen to, but part of the charm of Sofar Sounds is bringing an audience together to experience new things, and a rapper performing in a primary school is certainly a new one. Hear his track My Life below...

Finishing up the night and returning for his third Sofar Sounds Oxford, London's Martin Luke Brown treated us to a beautiful set including the tracks Shadow & Light (another Facebook Live video with some brilliant crowd participation here), Take Out Of Me and Scars On Scars, as well as a cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

The next Sofar Sounds Oxford is on 8th March for International Women's Day and has been sold out for a while but you can grab the last few tickets to the show on 27th March here. If you're reading this and you're not in Oxford, Sofar exists in most cities around the UK as well as worldwide, check out the main website for local shows. I'd really recommend checking out a show, it's a really interesting and unique way of experiencing live music in a different environment and you never know what you might discover!

LIVE: Bel Esprit at The Bullingdon (28/2/16)

Enjoyed another gig at Oxford's The Bullingdon last night - but firstly, I want to extend a massive thanks to anyone reading this (particularly if you read my posts regularly, the idea of which is pretty insane), I just reached 200 likes on the Facebook page for the blog (find it here) which you can like to stay up to date when I write a post. Last night was my 15th gig of the year, with Southampton lads Bel Esprit playing a headline gig with support from Elixir, homeplanetearth and Haze.

First up were Haze, who might need some pointers in choosing a setlist to fit 30 minutes as half way through, they noted that they'd played most of their set. They had quite a nice vibe to open the show with, and, noting down some thoughts on my phone during the set to feel like a proper music-journo, I look back now to find little more than 'dancy', which, while it isn't really a word and doesn't help me in writing about their set - does provide a nice summary of their music and the audience's response. Adding in a track to fill up the extra time, which I'm sure was called Bent, I felt a real Arctic Monkeys sound coming through - you can listen to some of their tunes here on Soundcloud, and catch them supporting ALXNDR at the O2 in Oxford on 16th April with the second support from last night, homeplanetearth.

Haze

Having been introduced to homeplanetearth through my placement at Tigmus, who they've played shows for, I was really keen to see them play live. I'd only heard the track Phat Phil (which I love and wrote about here) so I didn't really know what to expect from the set but any expectations I did have were totally surpassed, with Josephine singing some stunning lead vocals (usually takes a lot for female artists to impress me so that's probably quite a compliment!) Following on the trend Haze had set with slowing down time, they also found some extra time in their set for Josephine's brother Thomas to surprise the rest of the band with a track they hadn't planned to play. The track was a chance to hear Thomas's vocals more clearly as it opened with just his guitar and vocals, before the rest of the band joined later, and featured some beautiful harmonies with Josephine (his sister). The show's crowd were mostly friends of the four bands, and there was definitely a lot of love for homeplanetearth during their set! 

homeplanetearth

homeplanetearth

The third support set came from Elixir, who kicked off their set as they meant to go on - loudly. It was interspersed with some nice guitar solos and while the style wasn't really for me, I can't knock the confidence that was oozing off stage! 

 

Last up, and headlining the show, were Bel Esprit. I'd seen them before at one of the first shows I went to after starting university, when I was on the door for a venue at Oxjam Festival in Oxford at the end of 2014. Since then I've been to over 80 shows so couldn't really remember what the band's sound were like (and didn't get a chance to listen to them before the show) but I really enjoyed their set! Their performance was pretty tight and the crowd were loving it, singing back the choruses to tracks such as Island, Detox and Nowhere (available to listen to through Spotify on the Lose My Mind EP.) Compared to the shows I attended at the same venue last week, the crowd was pretty small, but this didn't phase the band who performed, in my opinion, just as they might to a sold out crowd - and the audience were loving every minute, dancing in the way I usually dance in my room but couldn't bring myself to do in public. They definitely brought some fun to Oxford on a school night - a great night of music!

Bel Esprit

Bel Esprit

If you like the shots I've embedded within the post, there's some more from the evening on my Flickr here.

LIVE: Roberto y Juan EP launch at Art Jericho (5/2/16)

Since coming back to Oxford I've already been to some great gigs and last night was no exception. Roberto y Juan (side project of Robin and Jonny of Balloon Ascents) have just released a new EP entitled Monster Love, which you can listen to above and buy digitally through their Bandcamp here for a mere £3 - last night they played a launch show at Art Jericho in Oxford, with Stornoway's Oli Steadman supporting under the moniker of Count Drachma. I'd really been looking forward to seeing Oli perform as Count Drachma, a band which usually consists of his brother too; born and raised in South Africa, they play traditional South African music as well as other tracks translated into Zulu, bringing a refreshing and new style of music to an English audience (you can listen to some of their demos here.)

Count Drachma (Oli Steadman)

Roberto y Juan

The audience was pretty mesmerised for Oli's set, and by the time Robin and Jonny (joined by George of Homeplanetearth, whose single I recently posted about) took to the stage, the room was packed - there was a really nice communal atmosphere with members of various Oxford bands, family and friends waiting in anticipation, a few who I knew already (predominantly through Sofar Sounds Oxford shows), and others who I met for the first time and were all lovely folk! The guys played a fantastic set to showcase their new EP Monster Love, which I am enjoying an awful lot - it is some of the best new music I've heard so far this year! Below is a video of them performing I Used To Relax, from which I've had the "Where did you go?" "I don't know.." refrain stuck in my head for days.

I took my camera along to the show, take a look at more of my photos here.

LIVE: Sofar Sounds Oxford at The Hatch (16/11/15)

With exams and the Christmas break approaching, I went to my last Sofar Sounds show in Oxford for a couple of months last night. It was at a quirky space run by 3Space, a converted Barclays bank which is now used as office space for charities, start-ups etc. The line-up this time included three local acts I'd previously seen: Esther Joy Lane, Liu Bei (Richard Walters solo set) and Little Brother Eli, alongside London based Lowpines. 

Jo has made a handy playlist below with a track from each of the acts who all played brilliant sets. One of my favourite things about Sofar shows is how they can bring together music fans who have come with no idea what they're going to hear, and the line-ups can be pretty varied in terms of genre, but they always seem to come together really well. A particular favourite for me was Liu Bei's Richard Walters, who performed a beautiful solo set and had a great, comical rapport with the audience. Little Brother Eli, who I recently saw play alongside Esther Joy Lane, supporting local band Balloon Ascents, played a more stripped back set, down two members, but frontman Alex retained his charisma and energy, with the band also showcasing some pretty nice harmonies. Esther Joy Lane is creating somewhat of a buzz in the local music scene, with a recent two page feature in Nightshift, Oxford's music magazine. Playing her fairly unique electronic music, in theory, her set should've stuck out like a sore thumb among three acoustic sets, but it worked! Her music isn't what I'd usually listen to, but having seen her twice now, I've enjoyed both sets - take a listen to her track Travelling Light in the playlist below. Opening the night was Lowpines, playing fully unplugged - an idea which he admitted had sounded pretty daunting as he'd miss reverb... but reverb-less guitar aside,  and the fact that it was so quiet I felt guilty taking photos, I loved his set, and definitely approved of the cassettes he was selling at the merch stall - very retro.

It is weird to think it's been a year since I first contacted the Sofar Oxford guys and started taking photos at the shows, I've seen some great live music in really interesting venues and met a bunch of lovely guys - here's to getting along to more shows in 2016! I'm really happy with the shots I got at the show last night, here are a few of them, and a couple more are up on my Flickr here.

Lowpines

Esther Joy Lane

Liu Bei (Richard Walters solo)

Little Brother Eli

LIVE: The Hoosiers at Huntingdon Hall, Worcester (14/11/15)

Saturday night saw me go to my 57th gig of the year (crikey), seeing my favourite band, The Hoosiers, for the 10th time, at Huntingdon Hall in Worcester. The show was particularly special as it was an acoustic gig, with a really respectful, quiet crowd, meaning the sound of the performance carried so well around the venue. I've been wanting to see the guys play an acoustic show for years now, and I saw about it a few months back and noted it was close to Oxford, where I'm at university, and recently decided fairly spontaneously to book a hotel and train tickets (which turned out to be a pretty great decision!)

As the venue was like a theatre, they had a no phones/photos rule, but the band had told the venue that I was coming to take photos, and I was told I could go in the balcony by myself (rather than lingering near the front, as if people saw me taking photos that would encourage them to take photos too). Sadly, I didn't have a lens that was cut out for shooting at that distance but got a few decent, if a tad unclear, photos - I've put some of the best up on my Flickr here.

As the seat I'd been allocated originally was 13 rows back, I was grateful for the superb and clear view that I got of the guys from the balcony, as well as the fact I was up there by myself for most of the set and could sing along to my heart's content! The set itself was stunning, it was certainly worth the wait to see them play acoustically, with them performing a 15 track set including all the hits alongside a few tracks from their latest album, The Secret Service, which they released independently just over a month ago. 

Being in the balcony also meant I could film some of the set - but of course I made an effort to look beyond my phone and enjoy the performance in the moment, simply filming so I'd have the footage to watch back as tokens of the night. The set was actually fairly emotional, with me really happy to finally be seeing the guys play acoustic coupled with the fact I was surprised with a few tracks I hadn't expected to hear, a few of which made me cry quite a bit... but happy tears! The setlist was a little different to usual shows, with the band playing some tracks that they barely get to in the full band, electric set up. A highlight of the new tracks, for me, was (Don't Make) Eye Contact, the first ever live performance of this acoustic track. This was performed just after first album track, A Sadness Runs Through Him, the first time I've seen them perform this track live, and once again - worth the wait entirely. 

A little later in the set, they played another first album track which rarely makes it onto the setlist, Money To Be Made, with Irwin unplugging his guitar and stepping in front of the microphone - a truly live, acoustic, and stunning performance. Returning to the stage following a foot stomping demand for an encore from the audience, Irwin took to the stage alone and began to play my favourite song of the band's, Everything Goes Dark. I'd heard the track a couple of years ago performed electrically, then last month on the band's tour, performed acoustic (but naturally there's a difference between a show of this sort and a show where the crowd are rowdy and anxious for the band to play Goodbye Mr A...) With Sam and Al each joining Irwin on stage separately, the performance gradually built up and was, in short, as superb as I could've hoped for.

Overall (if you haven't guessed so far!) I had such a brilliant night and I'm feeling really lucky to have been there for this really special evening. As always it was lovely to chat to the guys afterwards, they're genuinely some of the nicest guys I know and I can't encourage you enough to go and take a listen of the latest record, and then buy it, of course, to support independent music. And for the record - it wasn't all doom and gloom with me weeping in the balcony... here's a snippet of the outro to Unlikely Hero, with the audience all clapping along, a lot of fun!

For more info on the latest album, The Secret Service, and to purchase it on various formats, look at The Hoosiers official website here. 

LIVE: Fred Abbott at The Borderline and The Sea & I at 100 Club (31/7/15)

Fred Abbott at The Borderline.

On Friday I went to London again to see Noah & The Whale guitarist and keyboard player Fred Abbott play his album launch show at The Borderline. During the day I realised that one of my favourite new bands, The Sea & I, were playing a support set at another venue a short walk away. A couple of tweets later and Irwin had put me onto the list for the sold out show as I was sure I could fit both sets in.

Though a bit of a rush between the two venues I'm really glad I caught both sets and seeing The Sea & I last minute was a great surprise. They put in as great an effort in this support set as in their residency headline shows at The Islington that I attended in June. A talented bunch of individuals, they blend together to make a really big, beautiful and unique sound. At recent shows they've been playing some new tracks (those not on their two EPs, one self titled and The Great I Am), and I'm particularly enjoying this track, Harpies. 

After their set I dashed around the corner and got to The Borderline with time to spare before Fred's set. True to the album it was the launch show for, the set was pure rock and roll music at its best, rammed full of guitar solos. I was intrigued to see how Fred would take to the role of frontman, and he seemed incredibly comfortable in front of the packed out hometown crowd. Fred jokingly  said that he doesn't "condone the schoolboy humour" of his backing band's chosen name, The Windbreakers, but their performance was anything but a joke - each helping to bring the album tracks to life to a great (and loud!) degree. Considering it was their first show together under this moniker, and in the absence of Fred's Noah bandmates who played on the record, the band played a really fun set which left the crowd wanting more.

I recorded this video of one of my favourite tracks from the record, Awake, and also took some photos at the show, which I have uploaded to my Flickr here.

You can get Fred's record Serious Poke in most music shops and online now - read my review of the record here.

LIVE: King Charles at Bush Hall (29/7/15)

Yesterday I ventured to London for my first gig in just over a month - and what a gig, seeing one of my favourite artists King Charles play an intimate show at Bush Hall. With a setlist spanning the hits such as Bam Bam, Loveblood, Lady Percy interspersed with tracks from the upcoming second record, and a great crowd singing at the top of their lungs, the show was superb. Then add the fact that producer of the second album, Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, and Tom Hobden of Noah & The Whale played alongside the band for the whole set, and you've got a pretty epic show. Support came from Londoners Hidden Charms, whose music I hadn't had chance to listen to before the show but I was really impressed by their energy (and scared the stage might break) and found elements of The Black Keys in their live sound. 

A couple of weeks ago I had actually tweeted saying I hoped that Marcus and Tom would perform at the show (called it!), and these additions, as well as how much the band and crowd were enjoying the show, made it my favourite King Charles show and one of the best gigs I've been to. A particular highlight was the closing track, Lady Of The River. A 'new' song, the track really has it roots back when Charles was touring the US with Mumford, and seeing them perform it together was a great experience. 

A new version of old track Tomorrow's Fool was another highlight of the show for me, as well as a beautiful Charles and Marcus duet of Beating Hearts, performing the slower version of the track that features in some Youtube sessions (such as this) compared to the more upbeat album version. I had heard all but one of the new tracks on his recent 28 show February tour, and they were as great as I remember, with Bright Thing certainly standing out. The calibre of the new material is really high and with Marcus producing the record I only have high hopes and can't wait for it to be released, most likely some time at the beginning of next year. 

Overall the gig was fantastic and it was great to see everyone again, with Charles' band and team being some of the most welcoming people I know - and also to meet a lot of his fans who I know through social media. Always love chatting to Charles, and especially lovely meeting Marcus Mumford to top off a great evening!

LIVE: Matt Owens & The DVP at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen (18/6/15)

On Thursday I went to London for the day with my mum (for my birthday which was yesterday), mostly to see the superb Matt Owens and his band The Delusional Vanity Project. The show was the launch of Matt's solo record, Songs For An Empty Room, a slight departure from his work as a  founding member of Noah & The Whale, but brilliant in its own right - read my review of the record here.

The show was at Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen and after walking in the opposite direction to the venue for a while we were lucky to get there just in time for opening act Tom Figgins, who played solo and also plays as part of Matt's band. Playing to a fairly small offering of people, most of whom made up Matt's band, Tom put in a lively performance regardless, and really won me over with his solo tracks. Check out this performance of his track Let Your Roots Grow.

The second support set was from Stratford-upon-Avon band My Grey Horse. I had taken a listen to their latest EP online before the show and had enjoyed it. Whilst I can't remember much about the set apart from that there was a lot of clapping, it was great and I certainly remember liking it enough to take a punt on the band's album I Still Don't Understand at the merch stall. Having since listened to it a couple of times I'm loving the record and would recommend it (sadly no idea what to compare it to!) You can order physical copies of the album here on the band's store.

The bar's gig room having filled up, it was time for Matt's set. As with the other times I've seen the band play lately, the performance was highly fuelled and a showcase of the talents of the individual members of the ensemble. For instance, the band features Matt's Noah bandmate Fred Abbott on keys, who is also working on a solo record, Serious Poke, out late July. Above is a video I got of the band performing one of my favourite tracks of the record, Jack Does Hollywood, which is a sort of rough rock track about channelling Jack the Ripper and going on a killing spree in Hollywood... It was a really fun evening, by the end of the set a mass of the crowd had broke into dance, which culminated in this vine!

To gain more experience shooting gigs I took my camera along, I got the below shot when trying out  the settings from the crowd, and you can view some more of my photos of Matt's set here.

Playing a UK tour of sorts and constantly booking new shows to promote the record, you can catch Matt at various shows in London, as well as in Leeds, Manchester and Brighton. All dates and ticket/RSVP info on his website here.

LIVE: The Sea & I at The Islington (11/6/15)

On Thursday evening I saw The Sea & I live at The Islington in London... after spending the day in London with a friend from home being complete tourists and walking around far too much. Arriving at the venue fashionably early it was nice to hear a snippet of the bands sound-checking, and to grab a quick chat with Irwin and Paul from the band, before waiting around for doors to open.

The first support was a guy going by the name Privacy, who played a cracking set that reminded me of Fryars. Standing on stage with his keyboard and prone-to-rebooting-halfway-through-a-song MacBook, his stage banter made the set a great open to the evening. This glitchy, slow-paced set was followed by the loud rock tunes of Harry Mundy & The Mules, who oozed energy throughout their set. 

As expected, the headliners, The Sea & I, were superb. Having seen them previously at the same venue backed up by London Contemporary Voices and London Chamber Brass, you might expect the sound to feel small in comparison; the truth is anything but. It's honestly such an honour to see them playing live, being one of my favourite bands at the minute, making some of the best (in my opinion) music around currently. Their two EPs (find them on iTunes/soundcloud or buy them both on a CD through the band's store here) contain some of my favourite tracks, and retain their charm and brilliance when performed live. It's particularly nice to see that Stephanie O'Brien is performing violin with the band, as the strings on the EPs are certainly a highlight for me. 

I took some photos at the show, but my camera struggled to cope with the low/red lighting of the venue, so they all turned out quite blurry, but I've salvaged a few and put them on my Flickr here. 

I also recorded the band performing the title track from their latest EP, The Great I Am, which they recently released an official video for. Aside from train delays after a frantic rush to the station after the gig, it was all in all a superb evening and I highly recommend getting along to the band's next gig at The Islington on 25th June (tickets here.) 

LIVE: The Hoosiers at MK11 (4/6/15)

A few days ago I went to my first gig since being home from university - and who better than my favourite band, The Hoosiers, in a bar seemingly in the middle of nowhere just outside the centre of Milton Keynes. If you're not familiar with the band's new music then you'll probably know of their hits Goodbye Mr A, Cops & Robbers and Worried About Ray. They've been my favourite band for a while now, and they were my first proper gig just over 4 years ago. I've been thinking lately about how much the band has had an impact on my life, it's pretty cliché but true.. I've made a lot of friends and connections through the band, and at that first gig of theirs that I went to, Sam Beeton was supporting, through whom I've had many great experiences and met a bunch of great people. As the first band that I was ever really passionate about, they've probably had an effect on my aspirations to work in music too, which is pretty cool to think about. 

One member down, the band put on a great performance regardless, with the keys player Sam Swallow playing the bass parts through his keyboard. Naturally the dynamic of the band felt lacking to an extent as Irwin Sparkes (lead vocals and guitar) and Martin Skarendahl (bass) often play and bounce off one another, but the performance certainly wasn't lacking in energy, with Irwin getting into the crowd for the end of track Made To Measure (video.) Being just over a year since I'd last saw the band, when they were touring their latest, self-released record, The News From Nowhere, it was interesting to see how some of the newer tracks had developed live. Sadly though, the set was incredibly short and thus mostly featured the hit tracks from the band's first record. Nevertheless it was a great night and it was fantastic to chat to the band afterwards, and with a new album supposedly in the pipeline for later in the year, hopefully it won't be too long before I get to see the band again - and to post about new music on here!

As I'm getting into photography again and trying to gain experience taking photos at gigs, I snapped up the opportunity to take my camera along to the gig and shoot my favourite band, a couple of the shots, including one of the support band, The Sons, are below, with some more on my Flickr account here. 

Source: Megan Seekings

Source: Megan Seekings

LIVE: Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project at Notting Hill Arts Club (20/5/15)

I'd apologise for the large outburst of Matt Owens related posts lately... but he's one of my best recent musical discoveries and I'm pretty excited about sharing his music with you. A few days ago I had my final exam of the semester and finished my first year of uni, so I decided to spend my last evening before moving home in London seeing Matt and his band The Delusional Vanity Project again. I love Matt's record Songs For An Empty Room (which I recently reviewed here) for its diversity in style, brilliant lyrics and true to live sound, as it was recorded over a couple of days - and this all comes across in their live shows, where the fact that the band is comprised of incredibly experienced musicians is also prevalent. Being a relatively new project and having played a limited number of gigs as TDVP, the band are tight and sounding brilliant. Having seen them four times in a month in various different venues around London, with a slightly different line-up each time, I can reliably say that this post-Noah & The Whale project is superb and I can't urge you enough to go along to one of the upcoming shows, with various London and Ireland dates (many of which are free - what excuse do you need?!) on Matt's site here.

The set on Wednesday evening felt slightly stripped back as a four piece band, but it remained energetic and comprised of tracks from the album, including particular favourites of mine, The Harbour In Kinsale (live video from another gig) and Get Me Back To Austin, and was ended with an encore cover of the The Band track, The Weight, which I recorded below.

I took my camera along to the show to get more experience of shooting in a small venue, and got the shot below which I'm pretty chuffed with. My other shots from the evening are in an album on Flickr here.

Source: Megan Seekings

WATCH: Balloon Ascents - 'Cutout'

Check out this new video from Balloon Ascents for their track Cutout. It's a pretty nice track with a really brilliant bassline, from the talented local band who are causing quite a stir already in both the local and national music scenes, with the Oxford Times labelling them as 'terrifyingly talented'. I saw them play at a Sofar Sounds gig earlier in the year, as well as an impressive stripped back set at Truck Store recently. Last week I saw them play a set at the O2 Academy Oxford on May Day, where I had my first ever photo pass for a 'proper' gig. The lighting at the gig wasn't that helpful, but I managed to salvage some shots and put a few up on my Flickr here. 

The band's self-titled four track EP released earlier this year is available on iTunes and features Cutout as well as a personal favourite, The Only One. 

LIVE: Sofar Sounds at 3Space Oxford (17/4/15)

Source: Megan Seekings

Very cool to have had my photos from the last Sofar Sounds show shared by the venue which hosted us on their blog here: http://3spaceoxford.tumblr.com/post/11717895981. We had a brilliant evening of live music from Rex Domino, Bellatrix, Dizraeli and The Slow Show.

LIVE: Communion New Faces tour (24/4/15)

Source: Megan Seekings

I’ve recently rediscovered my love for photography, and have been taking photos at the local Sofar Sounds shows. I am keen to gain more experience with gig photography so I took my camera along to the Communion New Faces show in Oxford on Friday evening. It was a brilliant evening seeing a range of new talent in the form of Frances, Tenterhook, Charlotte OC and Freddie Dickson - an indicator of the calibre of these nights is that the last tour had Amber Run, Kimberly Anne, Fyfe and Pixel Fix on the bill, who are all now going from strength to strength with tours, albums and the like. I’m pretty chuffed with how my shots from the evening turned out, and you can see them all in an album on my Flickr here.

LIVE: Sofar Sounds at Art Jericho (21/2/15)

Source: Megan Seekings

I recently started taking photos for Sofar Sounds shows in Oxford, and went to one last month at Art Jericho gallery. It was a brilliant evening with sets from Monument Valley, Benedict Benjamin (who wins on name alone..), Twin Hidden, Tom Terrell and Rachel Sermanni. What I love about Sofar is the interesting and unique choices of venues, having been to three of their shows now in an art gallery, a museum, and a university common room. It mimics no other live experience out there and the audience are always particualrly respectful to the performers, even if the music might not all be their cup of tea. On the evening I was particularly impressed by Tom and Rachel who performed together for a few songs and had beautiful harmonies! I definitely reccommend having a look at the Sofar website to see if they have shows in your city!

LIVE: Dry The River at Truck Store (11/10/14)

Source: Megan Seekings

My photo of Dry The River playing an acoustic set at Truck Record Store in Oxford before their show at O2 Academy last week!