Final Reading and Leeds Headliner Announced

So there we have it, the third and final headliner has been announced. After months of speculation of who it could be, the Libertines are headlining the festival!

Also announced to play at Reading & Leeds were Limp Bizkit, Boy Better Know, Bring Me the Horizon, Azealia Banks, All Time Low, Alvvays, American Football, Circa Waves, Cancer Bats, Darlia, Django Django, Frank Turner, Gorgon City, Kendrick Lamar, Knife Party, Lethal Bizzle, Lonely the Brave, Neck Deep, Peace, Rat Boy, Slaves, Swim Deep, Wombats, Maccabees and MANY MANY MORE

The announcement was made earlier tonight on Zane Lowe's Radio One show, the Libertines will join fellow headliners; Metallica and Mumford and Sons.

Expectations were high after T in the Park announced such an amazing line up on Thursday and the Yorkshire/Berkshire festival certainly lived up to it.

Expect hundreds more acts at the festival and don't worry too much if the main stage acts aren't to your taste. Last year, I only attended the main stage five times - for You Me At Six, Blink 182, Peace, Jake Bugg and Arctic Monkeys!

Apparently Leeds Festival hasn't sold out for years so I wouldn't worry too much about 2015 being the year that it does and you miss out!

NME Awards Tour Review

NME Awards Tour - O2 Academy, Newcastle (21/2/15)

Callum Thornhill

After the Amazing Snakeheads dropped out, the NME Awards Tour added the Wytches to the already impressive line up.

Sadly, due to travel issues, I missed the Wytches' performance in Newcastle and only managed to get there halfway through Slaves' set. All I can say about them is that they're not my cup of tea.

That's just me, the rest of the O2 Academy were loving Slaves, throwing themselves around to every note the band played. It was magical to see such energy for a band that weren't even headlining the event.

I can tell just by the sheer admiration of Slaves that they'll be a massive act in years to come and I'll be glad to have seen them in 2015.

Also on the bill were Fat White Family. Typically bringing their loud instrumentation and bizarre stage presence to Newcastle, the plan for the NME Awards tour this year was clearly to get the loudest and most atmospheric bands as possible.

Admittedly, I should've done my homework and learned a few Fat White Family songs before seeing them. Nonetheless, still an amazing act and exceeded my expectations.

The main reason I (and presumably many others) attended the NME Awards tour was to see Palma Violets.

After catching them in Stockton on Tees (I still don't know why they played there) and at Leeds Festival, it is clear that these are the best live band I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.

Opening with the magnificent Rattlesnake Highway, Palma Violets were certainly playing for the crowd rather than to showcase their upcoming album.

Plenty more from debut album 180 were played and the packed Newcastle crowd were loving every second. How could they not though? Rock n roll instrumentation combined with lyrical wit - a true world class band.

Palma Violets rattled through fan favourites We Found Love, Last Of The Summer Wine and Tom The Drum. Strangely though, latest release Danger In The Club was left off the set list. Considering it is less than a week old, you'd expect it to be blasted over PA systems up and down the country.

The set was finished off with the euphoric 14, the audience holding each other up, serenading one another and recovering from one hell of a battering after the Wytches, Slaves, Fat White Family and Palma Violets.

It certainly isn't a Palma Violets gig without the inclusion of Best Of Friends. As always being played with Chicken Dippers, these two tracks finished off a mind blowing evening at the NME Awards in Newcastle's O2 Academy.

If the NME Awards Tour is coming to your local venue soon I strongly advise getting yourself there.

Hopefully all four bands will be back on the road soon!

Peace - Live Review (HMV Instore)

 

Peace - HMV, Arndale, Manchester (11/2/15)

Callum Thornhill

A 300 capacity crowd stormed the store in the Arndale Centre after the band announced on their Twitter they were adding in-store performances to their J'adore tour.

Alongside performances, fans had the chance to chat to the band and get their copy of Happy People signed.

Lacking bassist Samuel Koisser and guitarist Douglas Castle, Peace stripped back their usual buoyant sound to simply being front man Harrison Koisser and drummer (and self confessed rock rep) Dominic Boyce.

Performing acoustically, Peace performed new tracks in the form of title track Happy People, Someday and I'm a Girl. As well as these, Peace performed classics Wraith, Float Forever and Lovesick.

As part of the HMV reward scheme, Sam Carson was able to get to the front as well as receiving a free Happy People CD. He was the first to meet Harrison and Dominic and told me me how Harrison revealed that Peace will be playing Reading & Leeds Festival again this year.

The HMV signing is prior to a string of Manchester gigs for Peace in March, it will certainly be devastating for fans who haven't got tickets to the March tour after the performance given by Koisser and Boyce.

Before the release of Happy People, there was an option from Peace's official website for fans to order exclusive signed copies of the album, both on vinyl and CD. This is an easy way for bands to show fans that they still care for them.

Bearing in mind that vinyl copies of In Love are now going for £80 upwards, signed copies of Happy People may be a tidy investment. Don't let the cost fool you though, Peace are certainly no massive headline festival band, they're a chirpy bunch of friends from Birmingham. Maybe 2015 is the year for them though..

Listen here to the acoustic Lovesick here:

Peace - Happy People finally came

Peace - Happy People

Hi all, it would appear that Peace's highly anticipated second album has finally reached me. After waiting in all day yesterday and not receiving it, the postman put in a great shift and brought it today.

I am massively impressed by it, both physically and musically. Having ordered the standard vinyl with my ticket to the March tour (Newcastle 5th and 7th March if anyone wants to say hello) I decided to order the deluxe version too.

The standard version comes on a yellow vinyl, the same colour as the sleeve. The deluxe include this record as well as a 'bonus' blue vinyl featuring eight more songs. Both are signed by the band, there may still be some signed ones available at their official store..

So, musically? As brilliant yet fun indie pop as you'd expect from Peace. The way that the band dripped different songs such as Money, World Pleasure, Lost On Me, I'm A Girl, Fur, Flirting USA (and Someday on Zane Lowe's show last week) to fans was a clever way of reassuring them that they are taking the follow up to In Love seriously.

Stand out tracks after listening are Under the Moon - this feels like the Happy People equivalent of California Daze in the sense it is very mellow but could still be a crowd pleaser at live shows. Another favourite of mine is Perfect Skin. I'm not sure about anyone else but this has a Strokes kind of feel to it, something I am a huge fan of.

Being under two minutes long is no problem for Love Me. The kind of song that would be played before the band leave the stage before an encore, a very interesting track and incorporates Peace's fun element fantastically. Someday is a beautifully written track, are we all assuming that it is about Billie Porter? I certainly think so.

I waited so long for this album and avoiding temptation of downloading the leak, same as when the Balcony (Catfish and the Bottlemen) was leaked back in September. It did not fail to deliver.

If you haven't heard Happy People yet you're missing out.

What are your thoughts on the album? Do you prefer In Love? Have you seen any tracks live yet? Let me know on Twitter.

Triple J - Live a Version

Incredible live performances

I have put together just 5 of my favourite Like a Version covers together. The list could have been endless but I wanted it to be concise.

Check out all of Triple J's Like a Version videos and make sure to subscribe to their YouTube page!

~

My favourite band, would be rude not to include Catfish and the Bottlemen:

An interesting cover of one of my favourite Blink 182 songs, by Cloud Control: 

Everyone loves Tame Impala, this is certainly one cover that stands out:

Wow, just wow. Kasabian never fail to impress:

A very chilled out Tame Impala cover by Alex Turner:

A cold February morning

Middlesbrough - home to some great potential photographs

Reading and Leeds Second Announcement

Mumford and Sons join Metallica as festival headliners

Tonight has seen 11 more acts announced for Reading and Leeds Festival.

The second headliner was revealed as Mumford and Sons, as I guessed in my last article, it was NOT the Libertines. They however were 'crowned' as T in the Park's first headliner.

Alongside the folk headliners, Bastille and Deadmau5, in my opinion two bands that will probably be high up in one of the tents, will play at the festival.

The two 'breakthrough' bands of 2014, Catfish & the Bottlemen and Royal Blood will be at Reading and Leeds. After a slot at the Festival Republic stage last year, I can guarantee that Catfish & the Bottlemen will be playing at least the NME/Radio 1 tent. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if Royal Blood get a slot on the main stage!

Others announced by Zane Lowe are Wolf Alice, Years & Years, Hannah Wants, Jack Garratt, and Pretty Vicious.

With the previously announced bands included, it is becoming a lovely mixture of acts to grace the festival.

I am missing Wolf Alice in March as it is the same night as the Vaccines so I'm glad that they've been announced at Reading and Leeds. They'll be one to watch in 2015.

There is still one (or two if they repeat a joint headliner line up again) headline slot available, who will it be?

Libertines? The Prodigy? Someone else?

It is very hard to tell but even if the band announced don't take your fancy, there are hundreds of other slots left to fill. There will always be something for everyone there.

I look forward to hearing who else is playing, I'm sure you are as well!