Apple’s iTunes festival is now in its third year, each outing seeing it attracting bigger names at better venues. This year, they’ve filled 31 nights at the Roundhouse, and I caught the fifteenth night, with Friendly Fires and Magistrates. The best bit about the gigs? All the tickets are given away to competition winners, which makes everyone even more up for it than normal.

Magistrates, fresh from playing the NME Radar tour in May, opened things up, playing a captivating set that had everyone dancing and the first crowd surfers of the evening going over. After a short break, Friendly Fires came to a smoke filled set, blasting through their entire debut album and new single “Kiss of Life”.

Lead singer Ed Macfarlane was dripping in sweat from the first song, as he gave his best dad-dancing to the packed Roundhouse. However, they were clearly aware of the carnage in the pit, asking everyone to “just dance, none of this moshing” that had seen 20 crowd surfers flung over. Sounding as fresh as they did when I first saw them last August, it’s surprising considering just how hard they’ve been touring of late (and partying, if you believe The Sun).

Closing out with the customary extended version of “Ex-Lover”, all too soon they were done, and it was time to go, watching some very drunk Camden-ites air-drumming the finale.

After the jump: setlist and photos.
Read the rest of this entry »

“Fresh, cutting edge and unashamedly sexual” is how indie pop quartet, Magistrates, initially describe themselves on their MySpace page biography. Forming back in 2007, the band’s music mainly consists of falsetto vocals, funky bass lines and super retro synths. Indeed, they are one big bundle of groovyness who musically count David Bowie, Prince, Talking Heads and 80s hip hop troupe, A Tribe Called Quest, as just some of their influences. They sound like an odd mixture of these vintage selections, while also echoing the beats of modern-day artists such as Klaxons, Golden Silvers and The Virgins. Add to that a splash of Magistrates own individual, soulful sound, and you prolly have a decent idea of how these guys roll (er…mind you…reading some fans’ comments on them, they’ve been likened to everyone from Take That to Placebo…).

Magistrates have already toured with the likes of La Roux and The Chapman Family. They are currently on the road, however, with fellow Essex band, Blur – a support slot many artists would willingly kill for. Checking out their Twitter page, Magistrates seem to be having fun with the recent reunionists, boasting how they look foward to “thrashing Damon at table tennis”. Rock and roll.

If you fancy hearing more from Magistrates, why not check out the video to the band’s single, ‘Heartbreak’, below:

And while you’re here, why not also hit their MySpace page.

It seems you can’t go anywhere these days without La Roux being played or someone proclaiming their love for the duo, or better known to many as simply 21 year old frontwoman Elly Jackson. Catchy, 80’s synth laden mega hits abound – but live can she hack it? She’s currently touring the UK with The Chapman Family, Magistrates and Heartbreak as part of the NME Radar tour.

Sadly we missed the hotly tipped Chapman Family after not getting our heads around the idea of doors at 6:30 and finishing work at 5… Still, the half filled Oxford Academy 2 were well up for Magistrates who ambled on a few minutes after we arrived.

Like Klaxons but fronted by a guy who looked suspiciously like Dr Chase of ‘House’ fame, only the singer really seemed into it – the bassist, drummer and guitarist either need to losen up or get off of whatever fabulous substance they’re on. Producing a brand of perfectly acceptable first album electro pop but nothing amazing, in the long run they may possibly be 2009’s Palladium – some good songs but on balance really rather rubbish.

Next up was European duo Heartbreaks – Freddie Mercury and Mick Hucknell lookalikes, we immediately hated the look of this trio, however they quickly had us coming round with their thumping drums, and amazingly crazy frontman, the Freddie styled, romanian vampire esque Sebastian Muravchix. Struggling at first to get everyone going with their lack of hooks, everyone came around their Justice-lite european charms, resulting in more arms in the air than Magistrates managed. Things are looking good for La Roux if this is what the support bands can do.

She ambled on at 9:20 and did not disappoint. Plunging straight into quicksand it was easy to see that she isn’t jaded yet – still relishing every moment on stage. When someone throws underwear on stage (“and not a boy’s!” she gasped), Elly turns it into a recurring theme of the night, showing that she’s able to hold the crowd in the palm of her hand after so few shows. We were treated to a number of new songs from her forthcoming self titled album, with plenty of between song banter from Elly.

Quite honestly, her hair was amazing. Something that Shockwaves would be in awe at, it fitted in perfectly with Elly’s “budget trousers made for me by a friend”, which were pretty amazing. Asking for the lighters out for “As if by Magic” (“don’t worry, I’ll only take major offence if you don’t have a lighter!), by the halfway mark of the show everyone was in love with La Roux’ anthems. Closing out with the amazing Bulletproof, there was never any question of there being an encore – leaving out “In for the Kill” was just not going to be possible, such was the noise.

There’s no denying that La Roux is going to be a huge star this year, but if you have some spare time definately check out Magistrates and Heartbreak.

After the jump: La Roux’s setlist and photos.
Read the rest of this entry »

Two of the bands that we first previewed here at TGTF, La Roux and The Chapman Family, have announced that they’ll be going off on the NME Radar tour in late April and early May. They’ll be joined by Magistrates and Heartbreak.

La Roux, who we first introduced here, is headlining the annual NME hunt for new talent, whilst The Chapman Family, who we introduced here, look set to be second on.

Tickets go on sale at 9am tomorrow morning, Wednesday 4th March.

Catch the bands at:

Wednesday 29th April 2009 – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
Thursday 30th April 2009 – Bristol Thekla
Friday 1st May 2009 – Wrexham Central Station
Saturday 2nd May 2009 – Oxford O2 Academy
Wednesday 6th May 2009 – Manchester Academy 3
Thursday 7th May 2009 – Leeds Cockpit
Friday 8th May 2009 – Preston 53 Degrees
Sunday 10th May 2009 – Glasgow King Tuts
Wednesday 13th May 2009 – Birmingham Academy 2
Thursday 14th May 2009 – Portsmouth Wedgwood Rooms
Sunday 17th May 2009 – Stoke Sugarmill
Monday 18th May 2009 – Norwich Waterfront
Tuesday 19th May 2009 – London KOKO

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

MTV’s Gonzo has announced it’s annual round of birthday shows for October as they stop off at a series of Barfly venues over two weekends.

Tickets for the below dates go on sale on Friday (12th September) at 9am.

Friday 10th October – The Automatic and Iglu And Hartly at Liverpool Barfly
Saturday 11th October – Mystery Jets, Noah And The Whale at Birmingham Barfly
Sunday 12th October – Kaiser Chiefs and Late Of The Pier at London ULU
Friday 17th October – Foals, Esser at York Fibbers
Saturday 18th October – Glasvegas, Friendly Fires at Aberdeen Moshulu
Sunday 19th October – Bloc Party, Magistrates at Glasgow Barfly