Artist: Alberta Cross
SUPPORT:
VENUE, TOWN: Bush Hall, Shepherd's Bush, London
DATE: 17 November 2009
RATING: 5/5
Bush Hall has been an Edwardian dance hall, soup kitchen and snooker club in previous lives, though nowadays it poses as a tasteful and atmospheric venue with chandeliers, subtle red lighting and a piano in the corner – a perfect setting for the night's soulful headliner act.
After impressing RHV with their record 'The Broken Side Of Time', Alberta Cross take their music to a new level in the live environment. With such a selection of incredible songs, it's impossible for a band like Alberta Cross to go wrong. The new single 'Taking Control' was executed to perfection with flair and style as Petter Stakee and co, in just over an hour, put on a performance that was probably one of the best the lucky 300 fans are likely to see this year.
Rocky number 'ATX' managed to move an otherwise static crowd and inspire middle aged men to crowd surf and jump around like they were 16 again, while 'Rise From The Shadows' created a mood so sombre that had they lost power, you would have been able to hear a pin drop.
Apparently everyone with long blonde hair and is in a band is trying to be Kurt Cobain, and a lot of people are saying this about front man Petter Stakee, but don't be fooled by the fools because if you watch Alberta Cross for yourself, you'll struggle to compare their unique blues, folk, country and classic rock inspired wall of sound to anything you've ever heard before.
I originally wrote this for Red Hot Velvet
Alberta Cross Live @ Bush Hall 17.11.2009
Mandelson is a real piece of shit
If the government gets its way, anyone caught downloading music will have their internet connections either strangled or cut completely.
Our friend at Gravy Train Central [parliament] Lord Mandelson is behind this initiative saying: "Downloading somebody's work without paying for it – whether it be music, film or computer games – is not a victimless act. It poses a genuine threat to our creative industries and to the livelihoods of talented, hard-working people striving to get a foothold in them." Anyone remotely sane would agree with him; most people don't work for free and nobody expects them to.
The fact that stealing is wrong is not the issue at hand – anyone with any love for music wouldn't condone stealing it on a massive scale and not contributing to the industry. What Mandy needs to ask himself however is 'why people steal?' Here's a clue: it's because they're poor, desperate and addicted. It's a shame he's too stupid to see that this addiction is ultimately beneficial to the industry because eventually these illegal downloaders will spend money; I mean a night out to a gig is hardly a cheap affair now is it? A ticket can cost anything between £5 and £100, a t-shirt £15 to £25, £5 on a travel-card, £5 on food… the list goes on.
Further to that, it is possible to legally stream almost everything anyway. YouTube and Spotify allow users to legally stream music and music videos because they pay for licences, which are in turn paid for by advertising and subscriptions (as is the case with Spotify). A simple Ad-Blocker, which anyone with more than 2 brains cells has, will quickly deal with the adverts and the industry is back to square one – well, except this time it's not illegal. Not really a solution to the problem after all.
All cutting off and demonising music stealers will do is piss them off and make them resentful. First rule of business: never alienate your market. If the industry continues as it is, people will lose interest in music. Anyone who's not completely devoid of common sense can see that
The issue has been in the spotlight for so long now that even fossils such as Elton John and Gary Kemp have stuck their noses in, not to mention a couple of artists who are actually relevant [albeit rubbish] such as Lily Allen and James Blunt. But what they all have in common is that they're on the other side of the fence, have money and have all sold a bucket load regardless. Whether or not they support the proposals, their opinions are disproportionately valuable. Chances are, they probably get sent music for free anyway. It's all very similar to America's stance on Iran's nuclear programme: do as we say not as we do, huh?
I originally wrote this article for Fame Online
Fuck touts
Ticket touts bother me to the point where I actually feel violent. You know the type; they hang around tube stations and pace up and down the queue outside the venue shouting “Any tickets for tonight? Buy or sell”
Why the government do nothing to stop these toothless, cousin bothering, immoral, greedy scumbags is beyond me. I can only assume that it’s because touts remind them so much of themselves.
There is nothing like the thrill of live music. Your favourite band, live and in the flesh, diving into your cranium and rattling your ribs is a fantastic feeling. Thousands of sweaty bodies dancing together like crazed banshees, all your mates with you and a couple of overpriced pints of warm beer – lovely! So it’s no surprise that the gig-going population get so upset about ticket touts.
A quick Google search brings up tales of fans who try to buy tickets the instant they go on sale, only to find they’ve sold out, yet appear on Ebay shortly after with 300% mark-ups. How can this be fair? How dare they profit from the fruits of someone else creative ability? How dare they hold tickets ransom? How dare they get in the way of an individual and the simple pleasures in life?
The popularity of the internet has made it even easier for touts too, so not only are they greedy parasites, they are greedy parasites and cowards who don’t have to look their victims in the eye while relieving them of a week’s wages for something that should only cost £20.
Touts are organised gangs of criminals. Make no mistake. If you buy from them, you are funding their criminal activity. Do you think this is their only source of income? Do you think they have real jobs? No.
They are petty crooks and dole-ites who get away with it because people still buy from them and the government do nothing to stop them. For anyone who’s ever complained about touts – don’t buy from them, don’t fund their trade and tells your friends to do the same.
I often hear many counter arguments in favour of these touts and they’re complete nonsense. Here are a couple of them:
They provide a valuable service for people who can’t get tickets.
Well, that’s because touts bought them all. Touts work in gangs and when tickets go on sale, packs of them will call ticket lines at the same time and purposely attempt to crash websites, making it difficult for the genuine fan to get hold of tickets.
People who have spares can sell them more easily.
People who have spares can just as easily sell them at face value to genuine fans on the night, but are generally unable to because touts intimidate and bully people who attempt to attempt to bypass them. They are thugs who will do anything for money. I read a story about a man who had a spare ticket for Iron Maiden a couple of years ago. The tout offered him £5 for it but was selling them on for £100. The man declined to sell and waited around for a genuine fan and then sold it to the genuine fan for £5, only to then be threatened by the tout and his nasty tout mates. Go figure.
It’s easy money.
So is beating a pensioner to within an inch of death and robbing them, but it doesn’t mean you should do it.
We live in a capitalist society – simple economics baby.
Yes, and look where that got us: millions unemployed, record bankruptcies and families losing their homes across the country. Go team capitalism!
It’s not just gigs either. Sporting events, theatre and comedy also suffer this plague. Let’s hope that one day the government does something to save the entertainment industry and that the stupid cash rich, time poor fools stop handing over big wads of cash to these snivelling criminals.
CKY Live @ The Barfly 6.11.2009
ARTIST: CKY
SUPPORT: Outcry Collective
VENUE, TOWN: Barfly, Camden, London
DATE: 6 November 2009
RATING: 5/5
It's CKY's second visit to our humble island in 2009, and after their short stint earlier in the year, this time it's an intimate club tour. Announced with less than a week's notice, CKY graced the stage to their hardcore and loyal fans and repaid their patience, and then some.
The Barfly holds only 200 people, though the heat and intensity of the band made it feel tenfold. Uncomplicated and unpretentious, CKY blew the doors off with an outstanding set which included 'Flesh Into Gear', '96 Quite Bitter Beings' and 'Attached At The Hip' from their classic records, 'Tripled Manic State' from 'An Answer Can be Found' and a couple of new ones in the shape of 'The Boardwalk Body' and 'A# Roller Rager'.
Confidently dominating the stage, frontman Deron Miller commanded total respect from the wild crowd and it was more of a party and request show than a conventional gig.
It's a glorious return for CKY, a band who many thought were finished after a 4-year hiatus, but they're back and better than they ever were. CKY are a real fan's band too, hanging around the bar before and after the show to meet and greet, you really can't ask for much more! 
Taken from Red Hot Velvet