The lights were dimmed and three men walked dutifully on to the stage. For a minute, I thought Years & Years was a moniker for a solo artist, as it wasn’t until the frontman, Olly Alexander stepped out that the room erupted into all pitch of screams. Observing the crazy crowd and all the girls waving about their hands, declaring their love for Olly, I quietly congratulated myself for escaping the death trap of the pit and opting for the balcony. Without acknowledging the audi

For those of you who are not familiar with Sofar Sounds, it’s a live music discovery community started in a tiny flat in London. The community offers a refreshing change to the usual dark, sweaty and crowded live music venues, hosting free, intimate and secret gigs in living rooms in 86 cities all over the world, and luckily, they have finally come to Nottingham. The gig was all secretive. It took place in a cosy and super adorable house near Lenton, but the address wasn’t gi

Public Service Broadcasting (PSB), is the brainchild of the ridiculously regally named duo from South London, J. Willgoose, Esq. and Wrigglesworth. The band basically takes samples of archive footage broadcasts and old public information films, and then re frames it with modern-day music. As nerdy as this may sound, I can assure you they are anything but an academic wheeze. ‘The Race for Space’ moves away from the post-war Brit propaganda used in PSB’s debut album, Inform-Edu

There’s a tendency to arrive fashionably late to gigs. Understandable. Local gigs in Nottingham seem to start and finish early and it’s not always particularly convenient to try to get to town for 6:45. Frankly basing it on a history of going to gigs, it isn’t always worth it. Tonight was a gentle reminder of how rewarding it can be to make the effort to arrive early. LTNT walked onto the stage and tore through an impressive set of intelligent and impressive hard rock. The pe

Energetic Newcastle twin duo Gallery Circus kicked off the gig, setting the mood for the velvet clad cavalier King Charles to take to the stage. Charles played almost exclusively from the 2012 ‘LoveBlood’ album to a horde of dedicated fans, but thankfully some new material made an appearance in anticipation for the forthcoming second album. The new stuff still contains aspects of signature sweetheart lyrics, and upbeat tempo apparent in The King’s other works, but with a more

For indie rock warriors, The Cribs, the time after the long anticipated wait for new material to emerge was finally here. Touring round the quirkiest venues around the country, started off in Nottingham’s very own Rescue Rooms. Despite limited material being put online, after my interview later in the afternoon with Gary here, I had much more of an idea of what to expect from the Northern lads that night. From mixed up setlists, to the vast age range in the crowd, I stood the

You won’t see pyro or a fancy light shows tonight. There won’t be the costume changes you might expect at a Taylor Swift show. Tonight will not involve Alice Cooper style theatrics, because that isn’t what a Gnarwolves’ show is about. Gnarwolves shows consist of two things: meaningful passionate punk music and fun, and tonight certainly delivered these expectations. The second I opened the door to Rescue Rooms, the atmosphere hit me. It was a buzzing gig in a packed out club

Twee-pop still remains an under-appreciated genre. How many times have you heard the adjective ‘twee’ used as a pejorative? Probably more times than as a genre tag I’d wager. And yet twee-pop (or indie-pop as it was known then) was and remains a crucial stepping stone between Punk Rock and Indie Rock in Rock n’ Roll history. Still not convinced? If it’s good enough for Kurt Cobain, you can bet it’s good enough for you. Alvvays may have a minimal resemblance to Belle & Sebasti

Eez-eh! eez-eh! The crowd bellowed at any opportune moment throughout the Kasabian gig at the Capital FM Arena last week. For the entire duration of the set, the band succeeded in what few acts can achieve: creating an environment of escapism where the crowd could feed off the bravado lyrics and tongue-in-cheek attitude of the Les-tah four piece. The band introduced themselves with Bumblebee stirring up a frenzy, which was aided by the excitement over Sergio’s salad cream t-s

I knew from the start, that this gig would be a test of endurance, both in its length, and in its brutal and constant assault on the audience’s ear drums. And yet still, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked into Rescue Rooms on Monday, on what must have been the coldest night of the year. Reading John Calvert’s exquisite review of Swans back in 2012, I looked forward to the show with a kind of nervous excitement, particularly when I saw that they were being supported by

Every once in a while you get an artist with a critically acclaimed, award nominated album who still manages to surpass all rational expectations with their live performances. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to Nick Mulvey. The Halloween gig kicked off with support from ‘Sivu’, fresh from his 2014 debut album, who set the mood perfectly for Nick Mulvey as the venue started to slowly fill up. Everyone who walked in the doors at Rescue Rooms was instantly aware of

I came into the depths of Rock City, wondering whether or not after 5 years of his last album, I’d just be surrounded by a bunch of hipsters who knew only the lyrics to ‘Zombie’. In a sold-out gig I was quite surprised how big his fanbase had grown; the seemingly forgotten London lad was back again for good. I found the other day the ‘Kings & Queens’ CD I begged to my dad for my 16th birthday, to burn it to a mix for the car. Well worth going over the good times I guess. By t