‘You know what? Best night of the motherfucking tour.’ This is what Jacoby Shaddix, vocalist for the Californian quartet, proclaimed during the encore of their sold out show at Rock City on Sunday night, and with good reason. Never having seen Papa Roach, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had, however, seen the support, Nothing More, back in 2015, and I was extremely excited to see them again. I interviewed Mark Vollelunga, Nothing More’s guitarist, earlier in the day, and he

Back at a sold-out Bodega again last night, this time to experience one of Aussie punks Amyl and The Sniffers’ reportedly manic live shows. Hailing from Melbourne, the band kicked off their European tour in what they called ‘Notting-ham’ ahead of the release of their debut album in May, which signals a move in a slightly more professional direction after their recent signing to Rough Trade. Only slightly, but then again that’s not saying much; their 2016 EP, ‘Giddy Up’, was w

Skarlett Riot headlined Ike Showcase week with the Nottingham leg of their ‘REGENERATE’ tour, celebrating the release of their 2017 album of the same name. For a rather underground band, there was an impressive audience in attendance, with several sporting the band’s merchandise, demonstrating that while they may not have the biggest fan base, it cannot be denied that they have a dedicated one. These fans sang along with frontwoman Chloe Drinkwater’s every word, and gave the

Easy Life are the latest band to emerge fresh and energetic from the East Midlands and their status is rapidly increasing, as evidenced on Wednesday evening when they played Rescue Rooms. The Leicester band is made up of former members of local bands By the Rivers and Park Bench Society and they arrived in Nottingham to cement their place as one of the UK’s most exciting young bands. In the lead up to the gig, the youthful crowd were kept entertained by the boisterous DJ Jack

On Saturday the 16th of March, myself and a few other Mic members were at electrifying new Brighton-based band Yonaka’s gig at the Bodega, here in Nottingham. The show was sold out, leading to the relatively intimate venue being packed with fans of all ages (well, 14+ at least). It was great to see such a variety of individuals keen to support these rising musicians, although with the band’s unique genre-bending sound it was inevitable that they’d attract rock fans of all gen

It’s been nearly 20 years since David Gray smashed into the UK charts with his superb ‘White Ladder’ album, yet there are still huge numbers of eager revelers who yearn to see him live. Indeed, the Manchester singer performed to an excitable Nottingham Royal Concert Hall on Saturday evening. My personal relationship with David Gray’s music is a nostalgic one. ‘White Ladder’ is an album I first remember vaguely hearing in my early childhood and it’s an album which has stuck wi

Online sensation Dodie, also known by her YouTube handle ‘Doddleoddle’, breaks the stigma and proves that YouTubers can have a successful career out of YouTube! As a fan since 2014, I was eager to see her as she came to Nottingham’s Rock City on March 20th in support of her new album ‘Human’. As soon as I arrived, the queue was already up the street and around the corner! Observing the crowd, I saw teenagers with hair of every colour, a lot of Doc Martens and flower crowns. N

After shooing the rest of their band out of the small backstage room filled with snacks, Jim and Dan from KAWALA sat down with me outside of their busy tour schedule supporting Dodie. We talked about their brand new EP, favourite venues, and an interesting pre-show ritual… How are you, is the tour going well? Jim: It is going very well! Dan: It is going better than we thought. We didn’t really have much time to prep pre-tour, but it’s just been mental. We’ve not really played

Three weeks after the release of their EP ‘Rose Tinted Soul’, The Half Eight hosted their EP release tour at Rough Trade with support from local singer Holly Fallon and pop-punk singer Bronnie. Firstly, as you walked into Rough Trade it was clear to see that The Half Eight had put a lot of time and effort into dressing the venue. For those that are familiar with the venue, you will already know that it is an intimate size with the stage down one end, cut off from the bar area

On 14/03/2019 I was lucky enough to go and see Emily Burns play at the Bodega in Nottingham. This was not my first encounter with Emily. In fact, I had been to school with her for several years and vividly remember her singing one of her first songs, “Plasters, Glitter and Glue”, in front of a crowd of adoring high school students at one of our yearly Christmas assemblies! Therefore, it came as a brilliant surprise to find out that she had got her very own UK tour- kicking

One of pop’s most recognised voices speaks about collaborations, her solo aims and the music industry ahead of her sold-out show at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms The pop industry can be a tough and, at times, horrible business to be involved in. An increasingly competitive industry flooded with young and talented artists who act as mirror images to thousands of singers with budding futures, the pop world is a fickle and infuriating beast, and Worcestershire artist Becky Hill know

Touring their 15th album ‘Living in Extraordinary Times’, indie veterans James brought their show to Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall. On the face of it, an all seater venue seemed a strange choice for the concert, and also one that perhaps reflected a crowd in which I felt like one of the youngest in the room, but it played into the first part of the gig perfectly. Instead of a traditional warm up act, James opted to open with an acoustic set instead, a sign of a band confide

I’d never seen upstairs at The Bodega as packed as just before indie-rockers Sports Team graced its intimate stage for a sold out show on the second night of their UK headline tour. But that’s not to say the crowd were all there purely for them; the first support, Chappaqua Wrestling, were greeted by a decent amount of people who came down early- some clearly straight from work- and rewarded us with a mellow set of seemingly effortless indie. Next up were Walt Disco, who inst

Punk is a style I find has become all too underrated, but on this particular Wednesday at Rock City, some us were lucky enough to see four members of punk’s political origins in Stiff Little Fingers. Having only previously listened to a few songs, it doesn’t take much for the band’s message of political anger to come through, and one I am always ready to listen to! Arriving at the venue, it was clear the crowd was slightly different to that of your modern punk audience, howev

This sold out show at Nottingham’s Motorpoint arena certainly did not disappoint. I’d been trying to get a ticket from the day that the tour was announced and by some miracle managed to get hold of one 3 hours before. Aside from a night of fab music, one thing I particularly loved about this tour was the use of personalised tickets in order to prevent resale and ticket scalping – a huge threat to the live music scene. Doors opened at 6:30 and I spent an hour making my way thr

It was clear walking into Rock City that a twenty-something university student is not The Stranglers’ target demographic. Despite bringing the average age down by twenty years and severely missing a band t-shirt, leather jacket and pint of ale, I made my way up to the main stage to experience some classic 70’s/80’s punk rock. Dr Feelgood opened the show up, treating the crowd to their usual feel good (goes without saying as it comes with the name), bluesy rock. Frontman Rober

Dodie the 23-year-old singer, songwriter and YouTuber from Epping, Essex is coming to Rock City on 20th March. Following the release of her new EP ‘Human’, Dodie is taking her new music around Europe and the UK and then in September, will start her North American tour. Her new album features Best Breakthrough Act at this year’s Brit Awards, Tom Walker, so with support from the likes of him, Dodie is one to watch and maybe this will suggest we’ll be seeing her at some award sh

On the 16th of March one of the UK’s brightest (or darkest?) new alt-pop bands will be performing a sold-out show at The Bodega Social Club in Nottingham. Yonaka only formed in 2015 but have already released several EPs and are selling out stages across the UK, not to mention having supported the legendary Bring Me The Horizon on their European ‘MANTRA’ tour. Running full speed alongside their rocketing success, 2019 promises big things for Yonaka, with their debut full leng

At no other point have the quaint, monochromatic walls of Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms become so elated with colour and spectacle as on Friday, 1st March, when Gus Dapperton took to their stage. Marking his first ever UK tour following his recent breakthrough onto the Season 2 soundtrack for Netflix’s popular series, ’13 Reasons Why’, Dapperton aspired to introduce his character with the greatest panache. Indeed, fans were not disappointed by the manifestation of 90s flair that

Playing to an electric sold-out Bodega, Nottingham’s own Do Nothing powered through a triumphant set of riotous post-punk and moody art rock in style. The homecoming show having been my first live experience of Do Nothing, I was immediately hit with a buzz as soon as I entered the packed-out upstairs room. An eclectic audience, young and old, shared one thing in common – style – and as soon as the band hit the stage (to roaring whoops and cheers), I understood why. Dressed in