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POP HEBS LIVE + LOUD Hampden Park, Glasgow, Sun 27 Jul
Looking closely at (Channel) Five’s coverage of Party in the Park, there was definitely a section of the crowd that nodded off during Gareth Gates' interminable rendition of ‘Unchained Melody'. Such was the apathy of his audience that anyone could spin cartwheels in the gaps between stoic revellers, if they were so inclined. Which they weren’t. The lethargy was telling on two counts: firstly, London audiences are about as motivated as Shane MacGowan on diazepam. Secondly, the acts who can pen a half decent tune tear strips off their reconstituted peers.
And that’s why HEBS Live & Loud has the potential to be so much better. It may not have Beyoncé’s seismic, bootie-shakus performance, but it does boast fans who are resolutely up-fir-it, and a good smattering of acts capable of nurturing the next generation of concert- goers.
Pure pop concerts have their place in the grand scheme of things. Take That's reign in the 905 proved that the music didn’t have to rate for the concert to kick
Awaiting the Hampden Roar are (from left clockwise) Busted, Mis-Teeq, Sug
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ass. Nowadays, as long as there’s a David Sneddon for every Gareth, a Busted for every Blue, and Mis-Teeq for Girls Aloud, then the quality quota should at least be fair to middling. What’s more interesting, again, is that the S Club wage debacle has given the processed pop debate real teeth. The fact that Busted could out-buy the S Clubbers and their bastard progeny several times over has made the packaged act image more flimsy than ever. Add plummeting record sales to the mix and it's the musical few who emerge sweetly and financially triumphant.
That said, Gareth and 14 other reality TV exports will be in attendance. Subtract Liberty X (based on their PitP chair-mounting performance and Richard X collaboration), plus songwriting compatriots David Sneddon and Darius, and the irk-o-meter takes a nose dive. Sugababes augment the skulking factor, Dannii the plasticity rating, while Big Brovaz up the vocal ante. Moreover, take solace in the knowledge that movement within the arena is unrestricted, so only the lobotomised need endure Blazin' Squad.
30,000 screaming fans, six hours of unadulterated pop music - Hampden hasn't heard a roar quite like it. (Maureen Ellis)
ababes, Liberty X and Gareth Gates
Montreux and all that jazz
Braithwaite
most niche events. has stretched well beyond its original remit and even though there were plenty of traditional bands playing all over the town. the main attractions over the course were Radiohead. King Crimson and Yes. The Montreux Prog Festival might have been more appropriate.
here are many times in the life I of a band when the thought ‘How the fuck did we get here?‘ leaps to mind. Situations. places. conversations and scenarios creep up on you and confront you when you least expect it. Paying people to herd you about like weans on a school trip is one of the reasons for our permanent state of gormlessness. as is being drunk all the time. but that's a different story. One of these Kodak moments of accentuated surprise came last Friday at a garden party atop a Swiss mountain as guests of Claude Nobbs (stop laughing at the back). the creatOr of the Montreux Jazz Festival. which we were playing later that
evening. Aside from the shock of getting invited to the promoter's swish party (they won't usually let you onto other stages to watch bands. never mind their family abode). the fact that we'd been asked to play a prestigious jazz festival was equally perplexing, given the non-jazz like simplicity of Our music.
His house was incredibly opulent with an inbuilt cinema in which you could watch any performance from the festival. We've always held the masturbatOry excess of jazz to be more of a guide of what not to do than any kind of ideal. To be honest. the only jazz connection to Our performance was that we played in the Miles Davis Hall. The festival, like
The line-up of our night was completed by Yo La Tengo and Tricky. Yo La Tengo were tremendous. the highlight being their Sun Ra cover ‘Nuclear War'. Tricky. on the other hand. has abandoned his trademark moody beat poetry in fav0ur of turgid metal jams With questionable re3ults.
We have just over a week off before we play the mother of all festivals: Fuji Rock in Japan. This year's line up includes Bjc‘jrk. Primal Scream. Bob Log Ill, Pole and Iggy Pop. Expect tales of polite debauchery and me being of average height.
Get well soon Jack White. Scotland is hot and all is well in the world.
Surface Noise
All the biology. ecology and modern technology in the wonderful world of mUSIC
BEING THE KIND OF
people who don't like to embrace this modern technology lark at all. we at The List were a bit sniffy when told of the latest gimmickry but we couldn‘t resist a quick paddle down the seashore of modernity just this once. Mr Scruff, everyone's favourite jazz- fish-hop expert has released a series of downloadable ringtones available from www.ninjatune.net/ ringtones/ which is all the rage apparently. His new mix album Keeping it Solid Steel is out in October, and we like compilations. You can get them on vinyl and compact cassette, a bit more in keeping with our satisfyineg antiquated habits.
llIIS lNllItNI l IHINl‘i sounds right handy. Beats that BBC MICK) lll‘,‘ Uncle Jack had all those years ago anyway. and. if further evulence I", needed of its continuing popularity. then here you go. lhose of you who were suitably blown away by tiiplych earlier llllf) year can relive seine of the highlights thanks; to Glasgow's own onlirie radio station Radio Magnetic Front August. the station V‘JIII broadcast highlights from this; year's festival starting With Marlena Shaw's; excelient set on Sunday 6 August at 2pm. It continues With Boom Bio. Four Tet «picturedi l ittie Roy. Big Youth and many more once a fodnight until December Visit wmv.radiomagnetic.coin for more details.
SOMETHING A BIT MORE “our era' now. . . to complement the performances of The Ring Cycle at the Edinburgh International Festival in August, the Glasgow Film Theatre is screening Fritz Lang's classic silent film, Die Nibelungen, on Sunday 20 July at 5.30pm. Die Nibelungen, another adaptation of the same story, will be shown in its entirety (as opposed to in two parts) and kicks off a season of music movies that includes Milos Forman's Amadeus and the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera.
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