This post appeared originally on the brilliant Four Oh Five, and is one in our continuing series of guest blogs from their capable team of authors.

Last night’s Reading Fest warm-up show was probably the last chance anybody here in England will have had to see MGMT in a relatively small venue before they return in November for a full tour, and my God was it worth the trek. Oxford’s recently converted and renovated Carling Academy is on nothing like the scale of their other venues (Brixton etc.), and the benefits of brand new sound and technical equipment are incredible. I only found out about this show at the last minute, and after getting exam results yesterday morning, I am definitely glad I made the effort.

I had total faith that MGMT’s performance would be impressive to say the least, but one thing I was slightly speculative about before the show was how exactly they were going to fill a full set with just one forty-minute album. Their lack of material was easily noticeable during the gig but they covered it well - not just playing but performing the entire album with an epic blend of instrumentals, along with two or three new songs towards the end, and a collaboration with the tremendously dreadful support band (I still don’t know what they were called because they were too drunk to remember to tell us..).

I thought I’d seen some bad warm-up acts before, and I’m usually pretty difficult to please unless I’m already a fan, but these guys were the crème de la crème of shittiness - I would have been less surprised to hear that they’d been dragged from the streets ten minutes in advance than that they’d actually been CHOSEN by somebody purposefully. Think homeless alcoholic tramps mixed with wannabe-rockstar dads and you’re about there. Still, they made MGMT seem even better.

It was nice to see MGMT look so thrilled at the reception they were getting from the crowd, which was made up of an unusual concoction of fans, from fourteen year-olds to forty-somethings, but they worked hard for it and easily deserved it. It was nice to see a band play around with their music for once, rather than just playing it exactly how it was recorded, and this really proved that MGMT are real musicians who know how to make music. And my oh my did they make it well - this show was explosive!

Both photos are taken from Pupkin’s flickr stream under the creative commons license. The top one can be found here and the side one here.

A half –full Zodiac at the Oxford Academy played host to up-and-comers Royworld last night as they embark on their debut full UK tour ahead of their album release next month.

Support came in the form of Oxford based band Cand Electric who were obviously nervous, having clearly just landed the biggest gig of their lives. Perfectly competent, they just lacked any oomph – they could play, but no personality or songs that grab you by the neck and say “LISTEN TO ME”. Quickly followed up by The Rushes who were much more capable of the supporting roll, dispatching hecklers with one-line put downs, and having tunes that with a bit of tweaking may get a couple of plays on late night XFM.

However, 9:15 and the main event soon rolled around, and Royworld unassumingly took to the stage. Opening up with recent single Elasticity they hammered their way through 45 minutes of material from their upcoming debut album. Usually, throwing in their new single and their old single in the first three songs would be a recipe for people walking out, having heard what they wanted. However, not tonight. Oh no. As the four of them get into their stride a bit more, it became clear that their singles are just the beginning of the road for these lads..

Smoke machines and extensive strobe lights gave the night a feel of a (slightly dodgy) 80’s pop video, however this more than complimented their rather unique brand of music – a sense of yearning for times gone by is immediately made clear, listening to their lyrics.

“Man in the Machine” was the last of the trio of songs that most of the audience had wanted to hear, before they closed with the duo of songs of “Tinman” and “Brakes”, showing off that Royworld are no one-trick ponies.

After the jump: Photos

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Sometimes when you go and see a band you have the mis/fortune of seeing a support act who are actually just as good as the band you’ve paid out to see – tonight at Oxford’s Carling Academy was just that, when Alphabeat eclipsed Palladium’s headlining set.

My first night back at the Carling Academy since its costly refurb, I was impressed at just how nice it had turned out – no more whiffs of the loo if you’re near the front of the stage. Still, the nicer surroundings didn’t help the first band up sound any better, The Anydays. Sounding like a reasonably competent Battle of the Bands winner, they were reasonably strong, however had a sensation of going through the motions, and frankly, not that memorable.

Next up were a band I’d been waiting to see for a considerable length of time, Alphabeat. The Danes who I profiled at the weekend didn’t disappoint, putting in a fine showing, even though the crowd was rather meagre. Performing as if their lives depended on it, what they lacked in words they more than made up for with their enthusiasm. Rattling through the majority of their self-titled debut album, they managed to get everyone humming along, even the drunk guy behind me conceeded at the end that “they’re pretty f***ing good”. Indeed they were Rory, indeed they were.

Finally came the big moment, Palladium. I’d previously seen them support the Thrills last summer, and had a series of brilliant songs, which still are brilliant. However, the rest of their album material does sound very much like filler to go between such pop-greats as “High 5″, “Happy Hour” and “White Woman”. Peter Pepper was distinctly untalkative, and the rest of the band seemed a bit hurt at the low attendance, but if we’re honest, it’s a Monday night in January - is it really going to be packed? Ending with a new song wasn’t their brightest idea, instead penultimate “Happy Hour” was my personal highlight, and one that almost got the whole crowd going. Well, some people take some warming up, others were so drunk they danced all the way through.

They’re certainly ones to watch, but after tonight Alphabeat are a better bet for me.

After the jump: More photos.

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Oxford lads Supergrass have been announced as playing a special one-off home town gig to help launch the shiny new Oxford Academy, formerly the Oxford Zodiac.

One of my favourite venues, the zodiac was what every venue should be - dark, dingy, sticky floored and in a questionable location. For all of its faults you couldn’t help but love it. Since it was bought by AMG earlier this year they have announced a complete overhaul with an increase to 1,350 total capacity for the whole venue, which means some bigger bands will be coming its way. There’s an interesting debate about it over on Drowned in Sound.

Tickets for Supergrass’ show go on sale on Monday (22nd July) at 11am, and more shows are to be announced shortly.

Photo of Supergrass taken from Groovehouse’ flickr stream.

Tomorrow morning at 9am is the place to be to get your tickets for Alexisonfire at Brixton Academy. They’ll be bringing their turbulent and explosive dynamics and intricate guitar melodies to the capital on Tuesday 13th November.

Tickets will be available from here from 9am tomorrow, Wednesday 6th June.

Personally not my sort of thing, however I know that alot of people are massive fans, so thought I’d stick it up here. Plus the “tickets” category is by far my most viewed, so thought I’d give you what you like… if you like what you see please feel free to click on an advert or something to help fund the site.

Photo take from Spacehindu’s flickr stream

I thought I’d done a post about this Road To V Band that are destined for big things, but a quick search through the archives shows that I was very wrong!

The Outside Royalty are finalists in the competition, and are set to play the Islington Academy on Thursday night.

They are one of those bands that are unlikely to win the competition because they’re a bit too “out there” for most peoples liking, however deserve to go onto big things. Sounding like a more together Arcade Fire they combine epic songs with great storytelling about normal day-to day things. Hailing from Pittsburgh and relocating to London, the band are clearly on a mission, and look set to strike a chord with Londoners with their sharp dress sense and chaotic shows.

“Falling, Part 2″ is intricate, delicate and memorable. Just like music should be. Adam’s vocals fit the songs perfectly, along with their cast of more than able musicians. Their cover of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby is the stuff of legends, amazingly epic, and brings a new dimension to the Beatles. Similar to what Scissor Sisters did for Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, this could be one of the covers of the year.

If nothing else you should check them out before they (hopefully) get massive later this year once they’re signed.

“Tonight is all about something that doesn’t happen enough these days – Musicians helping each other” announced Tom McRae last night as the Hotel Café tour rolled into London after a year long tour of the USA. The feeling was great: a series of artists who are all too small on their own to undertake a full UK tour, but altogether they have the ability to sell out a venue in days.

Taking a revue style to the evening, Tom opened proceedings at 8:30, and we then witnessed an amazing 2 hours and 40 minutes of non stop music. No lengthy change over’s with houselights up, we’re talking one person walks off as the next comes on, with different people joining in on different tracks when they felt the urge to, before “we start to bump each to each other, drop guitars, and generally run headlong into chaos until someone makes us leave the stage”.

First song, Hawaii and the sound goes halfway through. No problem: he just keeps on strumming and talks to the crowd, explaining the tour and how the evening is going to work. One more song and he’s off, to be replaced by Steve Reynolds, who has a voice that sounds like he’s lived in a musty back-street pub for most of his life. Two songs from Steve, and he’s quickly replaced by Joe Purdy, who has, quite frankly, legendary facial hair (which leads to a comment from Tom that he “shaves once a month and if Joe doesn’t for an hour he ends up like this….”). Joe Purdy managed to be a skilled guitarist and harmonica player, a genius if ever there was one. Next up was Cary Brothers, who was one of the main reasons I had been to see the evening: his two songs “Ride” and “Blue Eyes” are some of the best around. He played “Ride” first then “Honestly”, both from his forthcoming album next year.

Then we had a very nice surprise: Aqualung. In the spirit of the real Hotel Café in LA, bands are quite welcome to turn up and play a few songs, or just sit around and get trashed with the other artists. Aqualung came and played a new song and then “Brighter than Sunshine” – just fab, and they stuck around to play keys on “Blue Eyes” later in the evening.

After this point things got a bit blurry: the artists came back on, joined each other, did different songs, until about 10:50 when Tom came back, did “Silent Boulevard”, “Boy with the Bubblegum” and “My Vampire Heart”. By this point everyone was in very high spirits, and things were getting a bit more ragged, but still very coherent, and had everyone in the crowd in exceptionally high spirits not seen since the Pipettes swept through the capital.

All in all an excellent evening of entertainment, well worth the money: not many bands this year put on 2 hours 40 minutes of non stop music: they’re playing at Kings College Student Union next week, so go and see Tom and the artistes of the Hotel Café: it’s well worth the money, and you will have one of the best evenings of the year.

Wednesday evening saw the return to the UK of Death Cab For Cutie, the American Indie superstar rockers who have struck a chord with millions of teenagers worldwide. They played at Brixton Academy in London to 5,000 adoring fans who queued from early in the day in blazing heat to catch their show.

Support came in the capable hands of Viva Voce, the Portland based husband and wife duo who managed to warm the crowd up suitably, though their screeching guitars did grate a bit after a while. Kevin on the drums was simply sublime: managing to hold the whole thing together whilst wife Anita Robinson’s vocals left a lot to be desired.

9pm rapidly rolled round, and Death Cab came on, playing “Passenger Seat” first up, the perfect beginning, chilled and enthralling the whole audience from the start. The heat of the Academy was forgotten, everyone straining to get a view. “Passenger Seat” soon merged into “The New Year”, which sounded perfect. As the set progressed so did the temperatures, but it was certainly worth it. “What Sarah Says” was a definite highlight, though the security guys at the front seemed thoroughly bemused when 5,000 people sang “So who’s going to watch you die?” – I never thought I’d find humour in that song, but it did provide a bit of a highlight.

They then surprised everyone by playing some oldies that some of the younger OC fans hadn’t heard before – namely “President of What?”, “Company Calls” and “Epilogue”, which brought huge smiles to the faces of the older fans, and were some of the highlights of the set.

Throughout the band were quite quiet, preferring to let the music do the talking, though Ben did joke at one point that Wednesday was the last time they’d be playing as Death Cab. This worried everyone, until he joked that they’d be joining Babyshambles “…because you don’t have to turn up all the time”.

Then, to mix things up a bit Death Cab played their usual encore songs “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” and “Transatlanticism” towards the end of the main set, getting many members of the audience worried that they weren’t going to do an encore. “Follow you into the Dark” was a brilliant sing-along, with everyone knowing the words and providing a moment of pure beauty with everyone joining in.

Shortly after the end of “Transatlanticism” the crowd went mad for more, and whilst Death Cab went to change T-Shirts everyone was chanting for more, whilst wondering what the hell they could play if they’d already played their traditional encores. Thus they came back, and burst into an enthusiastic trio of “Marching Bands of Manhattan”, “Expo ‘86″ and a raucous “Sound of Settling”.

Set list: Brixton Academy, 28th June 2006.
Note: Not 100% sure about the order in the middle of the set

Passengers
The new year
Soul Meets Body
Different Names for the same thing
Title and Registration
What Sarah Said
Your Heart is an Empty Room
President of What?
Company Calls
Epilogue
Crooked Teeth
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
We Looked Like Giants
Transatlanticism
———————–
Marching bands of Manhattan
Expo 86
Sound of settling