Tuesday, July 08, 2008

It's been rather busy on the gig front (for once)

Which means I've been living the rock'n'roll lifestyle once again, so please forgive the lack of updates. Last weekend was the Wireless festival in Hyde Park, which is always a pleasure to attend. When I worked for Xfm, we were instrumental in the launch process for Wireless (we were one of the launch partners, and it was I who announced the festival to the press at a photocall in the Islington Academy). I was the first DJ to go onstage an announce one of the bands (the Rakes, on the main stage, IIRC) so there's always a place in my heart for Wireless. It was great to be back there as part of a new, confident, forward-thinking radio team, but slightly sad to meet some of my old work mates and see how things have fallen away at Xfm. Here's a station which, from it's position as sole broadcaster from the site, was now relegated to selectively highlighting parts of the festival, and no longer had a dedicated "stage" either. I still hope that any new management structure will sweep away the last vestiges of the idiotic middle management cronies from GWR who placed Xfm in such a parlous state.
The actual gigs? Well, I saw......fragments of bands, as I was somewhat occupied in clebrating the end of a truly successfull week at NME Radio. Here's to many, many more. However, I would say: turn it up a bit. Fatboy Slim was WAY too quiet. Pah.

Last night saw the completely welcome return of Lowgold to London, for another Islington show. They dedicated "Let Me Into Yours" to me, which flabbergasted me; though not as much as the actual song itself, which was the best i've ever seen them play it. I was left, just like last time, with a tear in my eye. They're still the best band of the last 10 years for me, and in an ideal world, they'd be much bigger than they currently are.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lowgold to London? never heard of them myself, unfortunatelyy this seems to be a recurring theme in the world of music. my current favourite band are the young knives and i've only seen a little bit of them in festivals and dedicated music sections on tv but it seems that the 'musical acts' which makes the most noise not necessarily the best noise seems to get the attention, 9 times out of 10 undeserved. the beta band, who are my favourite band of all time, basically gave up as even with critical acclaim, couldn't grab the attention of the masses. this is something i really hate about music. ah well...

off topic: nice to hear the voices of yesteryear on nme!

Anonymous said...

Actually, what does 'Westway' mean?
I am intrigued...