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Ian Gittins

Ian Gittins

Ian Gittins began writing for Melody Maker in 1985, soon after leaving university, initially as their regional correspondent in Birmingham. After moving to London, he worked at MM in the halcyon late '80s/early '90s period that many regard as the paper's best ever years. In 1992 he took a detour away from music when a love affair led him to Novosibirsk, Siberia, from where he contributed articles to Moscow Times, The Daily Telegraph and The New York Times.

He returned to London, and Melody Maker, in 1993 and also wrote for The Independent, Time Out and MTV before being deputy editor of a classy but sadly short-lived arts and lifestyle magazine, Ikon.

After a severely misguided spell editing a south-east Asia music industry trade magazine, he became senior music editor at Virgin Books, where he commissioned and edited major biographies of David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Blur, Manic Street Preachers, The Charlatans, Bush and Creation Records, and survived a week in the company of Ike Turner.

He returned to freelancing in 2000, and now writes features and reviews for The Guardian as well as contributing to a host of national and international magazines and websites. He is the co-author with Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe of the New York Times bestseller The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star (MTV Books, 2007) and also penned Top of the Pops: Mishaps, Miming and Music (BBC Books, 2007), an official yet profoundly flippant history of the long-running TV music show.

277 articles

List of articles in the library

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The Chameleons: Strange Times

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 20 September 1986

HOW DO YOU handle the restrictions of being a straight rock band? You avoid perpetrating the obvious, divert energies down peculiar and radical directions, deviate ...

The Chameleons: Strange Days

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 25 October 1986

"THE THING is, you can always get upset about things which you are physically incapable of doing anything about. So if you think about yourself, ...

Swing Out Sister: Panacea Pop

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 23 May 1987

SWING OUT SISTER have made an album of pretty pop trifles. Ian Gittins asks if this is enough. ...

Happy Mondays — Funk Disc Location

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 28 November 1987

UNTAMED AND UNRELENTING, Happy Mondays have still managed to carve out splinters of ordered funk from their fractured pop chaos. Ian Gittins struggles through a ...

My Bloody Valentine: The Excellence of Ecstasy

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 30 January 1988

WHERE SHALL WE BEGIN? "When we first started we had this image thing, right, all Sixties haircuts and really setting out to do the pop ...

Stump: The Chaos Chorus

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 20 February 1988

IT'S BEEN 12 MONTHS SINCE STUMP LAST RIDDLED THE WORLD WITH RIDICULE, AND THIS WEEK HERALDS THE RETURN OF THE BARED TORSO AND THEIR OFF-THE-BEAM ...

Was (Not Was): Freakshow

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 26 March 1988

"BOBBY Maggot was a big attorney/Through the courtroom down to hell he'd journey/Baldheaded piece of garbage that he was/He'll defend you if your money's honest/Do ...

The Jesus & Mary Chain: Jesus & Mary Chain: Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 7 May 1988

APOCALYPSE NOW! ...

The Shamen: Mind Over Matter

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 7 May 1988

GETTING INTO A LATHER OVER THEIR LAGER (OR IS IT VICE VERSA?), THE SHAMEN ARE SETTING NEW STANDARDS IN PSYCHEDELIA. IAN GITTINS SCRATCHED THEIR IRRITATION. ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Electric Ballroom, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 28 May 1988

AS SIMON Reynolds said last time they tripped over here, The Red Hot Chili Peppers are totally WRONG. This alone makes them great. The mix ...

Sinead O'Connor: Dominion Theatre, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 11 June 1988

PRIVATE CONFLICTS ...

Throbbing Gristle: Astoria Theatre, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 11 June 1988

NEVER GO back. So why is he doing this, the inspired maniac? Just to show there's still air in his lungs? Chris & Cosey are ...

Cindy Lee Berryhill, Living Colour: Living Colour, Cindy Lee Berryhill: The Marquee, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 16 July 1988

LUST FOR LIFE ...

Salt 'N' Pepa: Sat 'N' Pepa: The Showstoppers

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 5 November 1988

'To Know Us Is To Love Us' claim Salt 'n' Pepa, one of rap's most unlikely success stories, whose A Salt With A Deadly Pepa ...

Fishbone: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 14 January 1989

SCALING HEIGHTS ...

Big Country: Talk About The Passion

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 21 January 1989

Big Country are on tour again, playing to more people in bigger places, taking Peace In Our Time to the masses. Ian Gittins catches up ...

The Shamen: In Gorbachev We Trust (Demon)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 4 February 1989

THE SHAMEN may indeed, as Steve Sutherland said, be a band whose time has come. For over three years now they've been drilling away, obsessed ...

Nasty Rox, Inc., Pop Will Eat Itself: Pop Will Eat Itself/Nasty Rox Inc: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 11 February 1989

NASTY ROX INC look like slobs but have a beat which cuts it. Their rock/hip hop amalgam makes all the right moves, yet never manages ...

Happy Mondays, Kit: University of London Union, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 18 February 1989

LAUGHING MAD ...

The Darling Buds: Confetti Junction

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 18 February 1989

Saturday11:20 IT'S SATURDAY MORNING kiddie time, and The Darling Buds are shining out of the telly. After Bruno Brookes and the Red Arrows display team, ...

Crazyhead: Travel Writers

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 25 February 1989

AFTER SUPPORTING IGGY POP AND SPENDING ALMOST A YEAR ON THE ROAD, THE GREBO GURUS TELL IAN GITTINS HOW A DIRTY, SCRUFFY BUNCH OF ROCK'N'ROLLERS ...

Gaye Bykers On Acid: Stewed To The Gills (Virgin)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 25 February 1989

STEWED TO The Gills is not a total pile of doggy-doo. This comes as a shock. You expect a mess, somehow, from the Bykers, with ...

Deacon Blue: The Reluctant Tourist

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 8 April 1989

AFTER THE SUCCESS OF THEIR DEBUT ALBUM, RAINTOWN, AND A STRING OF HIT SINGLES INCLUDING THE RECENT 'WAGES DAY', RICKY ROSS AND HIS BAND LOOK ...

Happy Mondays: Madcap Laughs

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 15 April 1989

IAN GITTINS JOINS THE MANCHESTER REPROBATES ON THEIR TOUR OF IRELAND AND WITNESSES MAYHEM, MADNESS AND BAFFLING BRILLIANCE. ...

Fishbone: The Panic Picnic

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 22 April 1989

IAN GITTINS JOINED L.A.'S GANGLAND WARRIORS ON THE ROAD IN THE UK AND FOUND THAT BEHIND THE RAUCOUS SOUND AND WRECKLESS ATTITUDE LIES A GROUP ...

The Wedding Present: From Russia With Love

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 22 April 1989

How have four normal people from Leeds become the most successful indie band of the late-eighties? Why have the trusty punksters just released an album ...

Simple Minds: Street Fighting Years (Virgin)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 6 May 1989

THE HIGHER GROUND ...

The The: Mind Bomb (Epic)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 20 May 1989

MIND BLOWING ...

The Shamen: The Pleasure Principle

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 3 June 1989

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS OFTHEIR LAST ALBUM, IN GORBACHEV WE TRUST, THE EXPLOSIVE PSYCHEDELIC EXPLORERS HOPE TO EXPAND THEIR HORIZONS WITH THEIR NEW MINI-LP, PHORWARD. IAN ...

Birdland: Power Glide

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 17 June 1989

TOURING THE COUNTRY, TEARING 'EM APART, BIRDLAND ARE FULFILLING THE POTENTIAL MM NOTICED IN THEM EARLIER THIS YEAR. IAN GITTINS JOINS THE YEAR'S MOST HYPERACTIVE TOUR AND ...

Edie Brickell: Bohemian Rhapsodies

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 17 June 1989

SINCE THE RELEASE OF THEIR DEBUT ALBUM SHOOTING RUBBER BANDS AT THE STARS LAST YEAR, EDIE AND HER BAND HAVE SHOT TO FAME IN THE ...

Pussy Galore: Sex Kittens

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 17 June 1989

IS THEIR NEW ALBUM 'DIAL M FOR MOTHERF***ER' THE LAST WORD IN ROCK, A MOVE TOWARDS THE MAINSTREAM OR A SICK JOKE? IAN GITTINS SPEAKS ...

Soul II Soul: Songs In The Key Of Life

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 16 December 1989

WITH A STRING OF SUCCESSFUL SINGLES AND A STUNNING DEBUT ALBUM, SOUL II SOUL HAVE SPEARHEADED THE DANCE REVIVAL OF THE LATE-EIGHTIES AND LOOK LIKE ...

The Fall: Funfair For The Common Man

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 3 March 1990

IN A CHEAP INDIAN RESTAURANT IN LONDON'S BRICK LANE Mark Smith's eyes begin to glint. His bony figure leans forward and stiffens. From deep in ...

Lenny Kravitz: All You Need Is Love

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 19 May 1990

Lenny Kravitz is well on his way to becoming an international rock superstar. But is he really anything more than a hippy throwback with a ...

Metallica: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 2 June 1990

METAL FATIGUE ...

Pussy Galore: Kittens of Distinction

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 2 June 1990

THEIR NEW ALBUM, HISTORIA DE LA MUSICA ROCK, CONTAINS SONGS LIKE THE QUAINTLY-NAMED 'ERIC CLAPTON MUST DIE' AND PROVES THAT PUSSY GALORE ARE STILL THE ...

Tad: Portsmouth Polytechnic

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 23 June 1990

WEIGHT WATCHING ...

New Kids On The Block: Step By Step (CBS)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 30 June 1990

WHAT IS SO odious about New Kids On The Block? Why are they so uniquely dislikeable? Is it the disturbingly cynical way they blunted rap's ...

Concrete Blonde: Bloodletting

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 14 July 1990

HOW TOUGH is Johnette Napolitano? Maybe here's a clue. Bloodletting, as Mat Smith noted, is an intensely personal LP, cruelly close to her, but for ...

The Waterboys: That Sinking Feeling: The Waterboys: Room To Roam (Ensign)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 15 September 1990

OH DEAR. Let's establish this from the start. This is not The Waterboys' record we've been waiting for. This is not the way we wanted ...

Slayer: I Talked With A Zombie

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 29 September 1990

As Britain trembles with anticipation of the "Clash Of The Titans" tour, Ian Gittins meets the metal monsters and hears tales of death, despair and ...

The Pixies Facing The Fire Squad

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 3 November 1990

The pixies are the best band on the planet. Discuss. ...

Tanita Tikaram: Say Halo Wave Goodbye

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 9 February 1991

AS EVERY HAIRDRESSER worth their shears will tell you, a radical change of hairstyle usually heralds an equally radical shift of persona. Tanita Tikaram's new ...

Adrian Sherwood, On-U Sound System: On-U Sound: Circus Attractions

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 13 April 1991

This week, the On-U Sound takes its show on the road with 36 acts and five hours of murderous rhythm every night. IAN GITTINS joined ...

MC Hammer: NEC, Birmingham

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 11 May 1991

GOD OF THE HAMMERS ...

All About Eve: Camden Underworld, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 7 September 1991

EVE ANGELICAL ...

Babes In Toyland: The Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 11 January 1992

IF WE'RE TO have anger in rock, then let it boil like this. Babes In Toyland's fury is intimidating. They were never more than a ...

Ian McCulloch: Africa Centre, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 8 February 1992

SO MAC'S BACK. Again. ...

Bomb The Bass, Brand New Heavies: Waterfront, Norwich

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 16 May 1992

THE FIRST live appearance by Bomb The Bass since the Gulf War temporarily rendered theirs the least diplomatic and commercially astute moniker extant is delayed ...

Michael Brook: Zoo Aquarium, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 13 June 1992

MICHAEL BROOK is a Canadian music theorist with an impressive list of past collaborators. He's worked with Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, U2 and Sinead O'Connor, ...

Radiohead: Powerhaus, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 13 June 1992

THEY'RE ALL elbows and angst, are Radiohead. They want to gouge their mark so deep into us yet don't truly know How To Do It. ...

Neneh Cherry: Homebrew (Circa)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 24 October 1992

CHERRY BOMB ...

Radiohead, Strangelove, Superstar: Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 15 May 1993

BAD RECEPTION ...

Moose, Stereolab: Stereolab, Moose: Conway Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 29 May 1993

TONIGHT'S A Nicaraguan Solidarity Benefit and the vibe is definitively mid-Eighties. I haven't stood beneath a poster of Che Guevara while eating falafel out of ...

D:Ream: The Area, Paisley; Tunnel Club, Glasgow

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 4 September 1993

D:REAM HAVE released two singles to date. Both have penetrated, if you'll pardon my French, high into the Top 20. It seems Britain's club kids ...

Jamiroquai: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 11 December 1993

THE CAT IN THE HAT ...

The Verve: Verve: Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 8 January 1994

VERVE ARE stoned immaculate. Yeah, we have to talk drugs here. It's stupid not to; as stupid as people who've never taken E chucking in ...

Afghan Whigs, Kim Salmon and the Surrealists: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 22 January 1994

IN THE week that Melody Maker celebrates the seductive nature of the dance beast, Kim Salmon And The Surrealists remind me exactly why rock is ...

D:Ream: Day D:Ream Believer

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 22 January 1994

It's fitting that club champions D:REAM stand proudly at the top of the singles chart in the week that Melody Maker celebrates the power and ...

The Fall, Inspiral Carpets: Insprial Carpets and Mark E. Smith: Manchester United

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 26 February 1994

Inspiral Carpets team-up with Mark E. Smith! For a one-off collaboration called ‘I Want You’! Psychedelic optimism meets psychedelic miserabilism! ...

M People: People Get Ready!

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 5 March 1994

M PEOPLE are the darlings of hip clubbers and pop kids alike, recent Brits winners, and THE crossover band from club culture who can simply ...

Shed Seven: Taking The Peseta? Shed Seven: Change Giver (Polydor 5236152/4/1 11 tks/47 mins/FP)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 3 September 1994

So, are Shed Seven just four loud-mouthed lads with a terminal Mozzer fixation, a bunch of chancers from York hellbent on giving Oasis a run ...

Sleeper: Wener Takes All

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 14 January 1995

1995 is set to be SLEEPER's year. The latest leading lights in the ongoing resurgence of Britpop brightened up last year with a string of ...

Moby: Whale Of The Century

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 25 March 1995

MOBY's epically eclectic new album, Everything Is Wrong, is more than just a dance album — it's a dance album which wants to Change The ...

The Orb: O Is For Orb

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 25 March 1995

THE ORB, the first band since Pink Floyd to transfer ambient noodling and stunning visuals from clubs to stadia, return this week with a new ...

Spring Heel Jack: Versions (Trade 2, 7tks/48 mins)

Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 14 September 1996

VERSIONS Comprises Spring Heel Jack's crafty reworkings of the mechanical masterpieces which made up their godlike recent 68 Million Shades... album. It marks the point ...

Faithless: Faith, Hope And Clarity

Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 3 May 1997

FAITHLESS are successfully grafting poetry, intelligence and stoner philosophy onto their floor-filling euphoric dance. Dare you follow?                                                        * ...

David McAlmont: What The Butler Didn't See!

Interview by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 2 August 1997

Victimised as a child, DAVID McALMONT took years before realising he could sing. Then when he met his musical match, former Suede guru, Bernard Butler, ...

No Doubt, Symposium: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Melody Maker, 4 October 1997

A DEAD CERTAINTY ...

Marilyn Manson: Mechanical Animals (NOTHING) ****

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, November 1998

Return of the Thin White Berk. ...

Beck: Mutations (Geffen) ****

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, December 1998

New album which isn't the new album, but which still has a certain genius. ...

Beck: The Town Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Q, March 1999

He's released an odd new album. Oddly, he's only going to play it once. ...

Cast: Magic Hour (Polydor S47176-2) **

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, June 1999

They aim. They shoot. They miss. Bugger. ...

The Chemical Brothers: Quantum Leaping — The Chemical Brothers: Surrender (Virgin XDUSTCD4)

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, July 1999

It may not have been broken, but they've certainly fixed it. ...

Q-Tip: Quality Control: Q-Tip: Amplified (Arista) ****

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, February 2000

No slacking then from implausibly busy NY rapper. ...

Magazine: Magazine... (Where The Power Is)/…Magazine (Maybe It's Right To Be Nervous Now)

Review by Ian Gittins, Q, October 2000

IF PUNK ROCK was anti-pretension, somebody forgot to tell Magazine's Howard Devoto. ...

Morcheeba: Barrowland, Glasgow

Live Review by Ian Gittins, Q, December 2000

Moving On Up: bumper sales crop turns sleepy trip-hoppers into the new M People. No! ...

David Byrne: "Therapy is like a lobotomy. Who wants to have all their edges shaved off?"

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 April 2001

HE'S ACCEPTED NOW, at last, that he'll always be known for one thing: the Big Suit. In 1984, David Byrne, the voice of New York ...

Catatonia, Cerys Matthews: Cerys Matthews: "I'll end up a spinster, like my role model Anne Widdecombe"

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 July 2001

A year ago, after a rumoured nervous breakdown, a rift within the band and a cancelled tour, the music press had consigned Cerys Matthews and ...

Usher: From Usher With Love

Interview by Ian Gittins, Q, August 2001

He was discovered at 14 by Puff Daddy, wants to move like Fred Astaire, sing like Michael Jackson and talk like the Fonz. He sold ...

Alicia Keys: "I love Chopin… He's my dawg": Alicia Keys

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 November 2001

Stevie loves her, Oprah's after her and Prince is always on the phone. As Alicia Keys prepares to storm the UK charts, Ian Gittins meets ...

Slipknot: Meet'n'Greet in Glasgow: Slipknot

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, February 2002

IT'S VALENTINE'S SAY afternoon in Glasgow and a strange kind of love is afoot. Outside the city’s Virgin Megastore, a tearful 13-year-old boy is gasping ...

Ozzy Osbourne: Meet the Osbournes

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, June 2002

YOU KNOW THAT embarrassing scenario where you go round to visit a married couple and they end up having an unholy ruck in front of ...

Paul Oakenfold

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, June 2002

TWO YEARS AGO, Paul Oakenfold was getting profoundly bored. The original post-acid house superstar DJ, known to friends and relatives as ‘Oakey’ and to the ...

Shaggy: It Was Him: Shaggy

Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, October 2002

THE WESTIN RIO MAR hotel in Puerto Rico is a textbook playground of the rich and famous. Way beyond merely luxurious, the baroque décor is ...

Queens Of The Stone Age: Monarchs of Rock: Queens of the Stone Age

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, October 2002

"I’VE BEEN CHASING my tail trying to have a good time on this tour," grumbles Josh Homme, the towering 6’ 4" frontman of Queens Of ...

Busted: You Are So Busted!

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, May 2003

THE WORDS ARE TALL, luridly colourful and carefully stitched onto a bed sheet, and the sentiment is unambiguous. As Busted guitarist Matt Jay’s eyes alight ...

Radiohead: The Story Of Tchocky

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Q, Summer 2003

ON FEBRUARY 27, 2002, Radiohead designer Stanley Donwood mounted the stage at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, to receive a Grammy for "Best Recording Package" ...

Elton John: How Sir Elton Recovered His Cool

Comment by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2004

WHEN THE VERY first psychedelic rock star, William Blake, declared that the fool who persists in his folly shall become wise, he hit on a ...

Robbie Williams: Q Icons: Robbie Williams

Profile by Ian Gittins, Q, 2004

EVERY BRITISH comprehensive school class has its in-house clown. Tirelessly hyperactive and compulsively subversive, he (and it always is a he) leaves at 16 in ...

Soft Cell: The Tainted Life of Soft Cell

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Gittins, Q, 2004

IN 1973 A 16-YEAR-OLD Marc Almond travelled from his hometown of Southport to Liverpool to see David Bowie on his Aladdin Sane tour. Having suffered ...

Supergrass: Watching the 'Grass grow

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 April 2004

A decade in the music business hasn't hurt Supergrass. In fact, they're quite happy with their status as Britain's fifth favourite band, finds Ian Gittins. ...

Pere Ubu, Spiritualized: Spiritualized/Pere Ubu: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 August 2004

THIRTY YEARS INTO their career, Cleveland art-punks Pere Ubu remain engaging mavericks. ...

Mötley Crüe's Titty-Cam

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, May 2005

I HAVE JUST SPENT two weeks on the road with Mötley Crüe. Our sweep through Canada and the US Midwest took in Edmonton, Des Moines, ...

Baxter Dury: Barfly, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 July 2005

HIS MUSIC MAY bear scant resemblance to Ian's, but Baxter Dury seems to have inherited his father's grooming regime. Tousled, dog-eared and sporting a few ...

The Bravery: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 December 2005

ABSURDLY SKINNY New York electro-poppers the Bravery have polarised music fans from the outset. For every acolyte lauding their self-titled debut album earlier this year, ...

Death Cab for Cutie: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 March 2006

AFTER A NEAR-DECADE loitering on the college rock margins, Seattle four-piece Death Cab for Cutie saw an appearance on US teen soap The OC power ...

New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: 'Before Us, There Was Nothing'

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 July 2006

Punk pioneers the New York Dolls imploded in a haze of heroin three decades ago. Now they're back – and this time, finds Ian Gittins, ...

Roberta Flack: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 July 2006

SHE'S WELL INTO her 68th year but Roberta Flack remains a strikingly prepossessing figure. A riot of comedic quips and acerbic asides beneath a leonine ...

Rehab: The Funky Check-In

Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 September 2006

What do Pete Doherty, Justin Hawkins and Keane's Tom Chaplin have in common? All have been in rehab recently, some for the first time. But ...

Sting: LSO St Luke's, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 6 October 2006

STING'S LATEST artistic venture, despite being pregnant with pratfall potential, is a remarkable triumph. ...

Katie Melua: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 December 2006

"JEFF BUCKLEY USED TO SING THIS SONG," says an earnest KatieMelua, crouched over her acoustic guitar. "It's called 'Lilac Wine'." As she begins to croon ...

David Bowie: Bowie In America 1972/73

Retrospective by Ian Gittins, MOJO, January 2007

MORE THAN 30 years after the event, Ziggy Stardust remains one of the most inventive and flamboyant productions in rock history. Yet when Bowie took ...

David Bowie: Bowie in Berlin

Retrospective by Ian Gittins, MOJO, January 2007

BY THE END of recording Station To Station in Los Angeles in 1975, David Bowie was in meltdown. Strung-out, paranoid and at war with his ...

How To Beat The Difficult Second Album Syndrome

Comment by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 26 January 2007

SOPHOMORE SLUMP Or Comeback Of The Year? asked Fall Out Boy in a brilliantly prescient track on their 2005 album From Under the Cork Tree, ...

Madeleine Peyroux: 'It's OK To Be Dark'

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 April 2007

Madeleine Peyroux made it big with intense reworkings of other people's tunes. Isn't it time she struck out alone? ...

William Orbit: 'People Will See My Heart And Soul'

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 23 May 2007

POP MUSIC has been good to William Orbit. Two decades at the top of his game as one of dance music's leading producers and remixers ...

Al Green: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 June 2007

AL GREEN IS the last of the American southern soul giants of the 1960s and 70s, a survivor where Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Sam ...

The Go! Team: Elektrowerkz, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 July 2007

"IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK IN LONDON," says Ninja, the Go! Team's pocket dynamo frontwoman. "We've just been playing in China, so it's nice to ...

Ani DiFranco: Bush Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 8 October 2007

ANI DIFRANCO MAY HAVE EMERGED in the grunge era but she is no slacker. Rejecting all major label blandishments, the politicised US singer-songwriter has self-released ...

Mötley Crüe: Ban this Sixx filth!

Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 October 2007

Thought Mötley Crüe's biog The Dirt was the ultimate rock read? Pah! Ian Gittins helped bassist Nikki Sixx write his gruesome journals. Those of a ...

Patrick Wolf: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 December 2007

SOMEHOW, WHILE NOBODY WAS LOOKING, Patrick Wolf has become a singular pop star. In his dreams, this gangly 24-year-old is a dazzling, chart-friendly hybrid of ...

Carbon/Silicon: Inn on the Green, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 January 2008

IT IS HUGELY IRONIC that Mick Jones was fired from the Clash for "betraying the spirit of punk" as, three decades on, he has stayed ...

Crystal Castles: Astoria 2, London ***

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 18 February 2008

TORONTO DUO Crystal Castles appear intent on being the most cryptic band imaginable. Eschewing interviews and declining to divulge their ages, producer/keyboardist Ethan Kath and ...

Jane Birkin: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 March 2008

A CAREER as a muse comes with no promise of great longevity, yet 17 years to the weekend after the death of her infamous artistic ...

Kristin Hersh: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 March 2008

KRISTIN HERSH HAD A TRAUMATIC 1980S. She formed a band, US indie-rock icons Throwing Muses, when she was just 14, and thereafter had to deal ...

Was (Not Was): Islington Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 May 2008

IT'S CLOSE ON 20 years since Was (Not Was) last played in the UK, and Don Was is feeling nostalgic. "Is anybody here old enough ...

Diva is Served

Report by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 12 May 2008

Madonna demands 25 cases of Kabbalah water backstage at her gigs, not to mention 12 dozen boxes of strawberries and Yorkshire tea. But what absurd ...

Spiritualized's Jason Pierce

Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, The National (UAE), 23 May 2008

JASON PIERCE is the great unsung hero of British rock music. As the singer, songwriter and philosophical pulse of his epic rock band, Spiritualized, he ...

Spiritualized: Take Aurally

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 24 May 2008

Jason Pierce of Spiritualized gives Ian Gittins his perfect pop prescription ...

Dirty Pretty Things: Astoria, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 31 May 2008

EVER SINCE THE Libertines split in 2004, Carl Barât has been regarded as the more responsible of their two co-vocalists. ...

Kimya Dawson: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 17 September 2008

KIMYA DAWSON has always traded in the infantile, and never more than now. The former Moldy Peaches singer, whose solo material tends towards the coy ...

The Streets: Everything Is Borrowed

Review by Ian Gittins, The Quietus, 18 September 2008

MIKE SKINNER'S artistic forte has always been his quicksilver, meticulous eye for detail. He has chronicled his life like a roguish, Ecstasy-generation Pepys. ...

Jenny Lewis: Koko, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 October 2008

JENNY LEWIS IS A MISTRESS OF REINVENTION. Originally a child actor, with a string of bit-part roles in Roseanne, Baywatch and The Golden Girls, she ...

The Killers: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 November 2008

THE KILLERS have sold 12m albums worldwide yet still find themselves at a crossroads. ...

Franz Ferdinand: Heaven, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 January 2009

FRANZ FERDINAND are back, but their advance publicity has been distinctly misleading. ...

The Gaslight Anthem: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 February 2009

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM are doomed to be forever compared with Bruce Springsteen. Similarly hailing from New Jersey, this raw four-piece play muscular, taut rock'n'roll songs ...

Single Vision: Fierce Panda Records

Retrospective and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 February 2009

THE NEW WAVE OF NEW WAVE was never really much cop. It was an early 1990s music press-concocted punk revival scene based around a handful ...

Diamanda Galás: "My performance is catharsis"

Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 April 2009

Death, disease, loss and exile — Diamanda Galás covers it all. Ian Gittins meets an extraordinary singer who is still fighting injustice ...

Spinal Tap: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 July 2009

NO MATTER how witty they may be, few satires or novelty songs repay repeated listening. So how come a packed Wembley is rocking to the ...

Florence and the Machine: Academy, Birmingham ****

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 September 2009

FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE'S musical ascent has been remarkably precipitous. ...

Dizzee Rascal: Dizzee Heights or The Year Of The Rascal

Interview by Ian Gittins, Wonderland, November 2009

"I wake up, every day is a daydream/Everything in my life ain't what it seems..."– 'Bonkers', Dizzee Rascal ...

Florence and The Machine: Mental Machine Music

Interview by Ian Gittins, Wonderland, November 2009

POP SHOULD ALWAYS be poetic, not prosaic. ...

The Kills: Jamie Hince

Interview by Ian Gittins, Man About Town, Spring 2009

THE QUIET Primrose Hill pub is tucked away down a discreet side street, and that is just the way Jamie Hince likes it. It looks ...

Marina and the Diamonds: Dingwalls, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 January 2010

AS 2009 DAWNED, the critical consensus held that female-fronted art-pop would dominate the year's musical landscape. This prediction proved remarkably ­prescient, with Florence and the ...

Air: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 February 2010

WHEN Air first appeared with their 1998 debut album, Moon Safari, the French duo seemed to define the musical zeitgeist. ...

Ellie Goulding: Lights

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 1 March 2010

ELLIE GOULDING tripped into the public consciousness two weeks ago, as she stood knock-kneed and tongue-tied between Fearne Cotton, Geri Halliwell and Courtney Love at ...

Tinie Tempah: Koko, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 7 April 2010

THE 21-YEAR-OLD south London grime MC and rapper Tinie Tempah spent two weeks at No. 1 last month with his abrasive single 'Pass Out', and ...

Paolo Nutini: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 April 2010

PAOLO NUTINI has quietly become a commercial A-lister. His second album, Sunny Side Up, made the Paisley singer-songwriter the bestselling British male artist of last ...

The Antlers: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 23 May 2010

WITH THE BLANCHED, haunting Hospice, New York trio the Antlers made one of the most devastating albums of last year. Written by 23-year-old singer and ...

Christina Aguilera: Bi-On-Ic

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, June 2010

CHRISTINA AGUILERA'S first album in four years finds the former golden girl of US pop re-emerging into a musical world where Lady GaGa has set ...

Miley Cyrus: Can't Be Tamed *

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, June 2010

Smiley Virus bumps along on autopilot ...

Rage Against the Machine: Finsbury Park, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 7 June 2010

LAST CHRISTMAS a Facebook campaign powered Californian rap-metal veterans Rage Against the Machine to the top of the singles chart, pipping The X Factor victor ...

Grizzly Bear: Hyde Park, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 29 June 2010

NOW IN ITS SECOND YEAR, the Serpentine Sessions festival is the absolute obverse of Glastonbury's sprawling eclecticism. With audience numbers capped firmly at 3,000, this ...

Katy Perry: Teenage Dream ***

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, August 2010

What Katy did next — world domination! ...

Kelis

Interview by Ian Gittins, Wonderland, September 2010

THE SINGER ON BALANCING MUSIC, MOTHERHOOD, CLUBBING AND COOKING ...

Caitlin Rose: Slaughtered Lamb, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 September 2010

"THERE SURE ARE A LOT OF YOU HERE TONIGHT," observes Caitlin Rose, gazing out at the packed cellar-bar of this London folk club. There's a ...

Hurts: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 October 2010

WITH GEORGE OSBORNE channelling the economic policies of Geoffrey Howe, Manchester duo Hurts appear equally enamoured of the ways of the early 1980s. Their fixation ...

Kanye West : My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, November 2010

AFTER THE disappointing reviews and sales of his autotune-laden 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a magnificent return to form ...

Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, November 2010

THE LEVELS OF anticipation surrounding Nicki Minaj's debut album have been so delirious that you almost expect Pink Friday not to be delivered by digital ...

Die Antwoord: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 November 2010

IF DIE Antwoord are a joke, they're a painfully acute one. This over-the-top South African rap-rave trio, comprising rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser and a ...

Plan B: 'Strickland Banks may be soul, but it's still real life': Plan B

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 December 2010

THE INTERNATIONAL lingua franca of Christmas TV is fromage and France's leading commercial channel, TF1, is no exception. Having arrived in Paris on a lunchtime ...

Ke$ha: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London ****

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 17 December 2010

IT'S EASY TO dismiss Ke$ha as a Primark take on Lady Gaga, but such an appraisal disregards the fact that 23-year-old Kesha Sebert this year ...

N.E.R.D., Pharrell Williams: Pharrell Williams: Neptune Rising

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, Man About Town, Winter 2010

PHARRELL Vs THE FASHIONISTAS ...

Drake: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 January 2011

DRAKE was one of 2010's more singular success stories. ...

All About Eve, Cardiacs, Levitation, The Magic Numbers: Cardiacs tribute album to raise money for paralysed singer Tim Smith

Report and Interview by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 February 2011

Cardiacs singer Tim Smith suffered a heart attack and a paralysing stroke two years ago, and musicians are now flocking to cover his strange, unique ...

Bright Eyes: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 15 February 2011

IT'S THE DAY before Conor Oberst's 31st birthday but a spontaneous audience rendition of 'Happy Birthday' has left the Nebraska singer-songwriter grimacing. "Well, it's one ...

Foo Fighters, CeeLo Green: Foo Fighters/Cee Lo Green: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 February 2011

ONE-OFF shows throw up some bizarre juxtapositions, and at this NME-sponsored Big Gig, CeeLo Green was painfully aware he was not the support act that ...

Chase and Status: Chase & Status: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 13 March 2011

IN THE LATE 1980S, Wimbledon FC became known as the least aesthetic but most effective of football teams. Eschewing all nuance or subtlety, they played ...

Kylie Minogue: Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 March 2011

KYLIE MINOGUE's Aphrodite – Les Folies tour, which arrived in Britain with two dates in Cardiff last weekend before taking up a five-night residency at ...

Foo Fighters: Dave Grohl

Interview by Ian Gittins, Man About Town, April 2011

IT'S NIGH ON IMPOSSIBLE to imagine being a member of the biggest, most iconic rock band of your generation then having it snatched away from ...

Chipmunk: Proud, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 26 April 2011

THE SUPPOSEDLY marginal, insular London grime scene keeps throwing up mainstream pop stars. In the wake of Dizzee Rascal and Tinie Tempah, 20-year-old Tottenham rapper ...

Ladytron: Forum, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 June 2011

NAMED AFTER A ROXY MUSIC SONG and enthusiastically endorsed by Brian Eno, Ladytron's art-rock credentials are impeccable. However, 12 years into their career, and with ...

Toto: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 June 2011

LAST YEAR saw veteran American soft-rockers Journey enjoy an Indian summer with their 1980 hit 'Don't Stop Believin''. A full three decades after its initial ...

OK Go: Koko, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 June 2011

IT SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE that OK Go shows are studiedly eccentric affairs. The US band's emergence in 2006 was fuelled not by their music but by ...

Justin Townes Earle: Boogaloo, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 29 July 2011

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE has some serious musical heritage to live up to. The 29-year-old singer-songwriter is not only the son of multi-Grammy-winning US country singer, ...

Ed Sheeran: +

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 12 September 2011

HAVING SEEN his debut single, the haunting picture of a teenage drug-addict prostitute that was 'The A Team', hit number three earlier this year, Sheeran ...

Kasabian: Velociraptor!

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 19 September 2011

KASABIAN HAVE loudly proclaimed their fourth studio album to be a classic. This is no surprise: they always do. ...

Rizzle Kicks: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 December 2011

RIZZLE KICKS'S MUSIC is not a place to search for hidden depths. The Brighton duo of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule went top ...

The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson: The Strife Of Brian

Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, Man About Town, Spring 2011

IN THE 1991 Steve Martin movie L.A. Story, which dates from the days when he was still spasmodically funny, Martin played Harris K. Telemacher, a ...

No Age

Interview by Ian Gittins, Man About Town, Spring 2011

WHAT DOES the face of Los Angeles music look like? Back in the day, when Guns N' Roses and Mötley Crüe stalked the earth (which, ...

Ani DiFranco: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 January 2012

MARRIAGE AND MOTHERHOOD have impacted on Ani DiFranco's productivity. Having released 18 albums in as many years, the prodigiously driven and prolific US singer-songwriter has ...

Plaid: Koko, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 15 January 2012

IT'S 2AM on Sunday morning in this club night, but Plaid are here to move minds, not feet. ...

Enter Shikari: Borderline, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 17 January 2012

IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE a less appealing musical template than sixth-form politics and bludgeoning metal riffs welded to cack-handed Skrillex-style electronic beats. It is therefore ...

Emeli Sandé: Our Version of Events

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 13 February 2012

SHE IS SET to be one of the pop faces of 2012 but Emeli Sandé is not yet the finished article. This doesn't mean she ...

Labrinth: Jazz Cafe, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 15 February 2012

POP STARS become producers, but producers rarely become pop stars. Mark Ronson, for one, has unintentionally demonstrated the pitfalls awaiting studio wizards who step from ...

Django Django: XOYO, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 February 2012

THE WORD OF MOUTH about Django Django is growing deafening. As the London-via-Edinburgh quartet head towards the end of their first UK tour, the venue ...

Madonna: MDNA

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, March 2012

THIRTY YEARS INTO her career yet still at the apex of the pop world, Madonna is a victim of her own success in that she ...

Florence and the Machine: MTV Unplugged

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 10 April 2012

WHEN YOU REMOVE the noise and bluster from Florence + The Machine songs, what is actually left? ...

Bow Wow Wow: Islington Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 1 May 2012

THE SEX PISTOLS were not Malcolm McLaren's only situationist prank. After the demise of the Pistols, McLaren managed an early incarnation of Adam & the Ants; he then ...

Jay Z, Kanye West: Jay-Z and Kanye West: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 May 2012

JAY-Z AND Kanye West are hip-hop's current two main players, and they are pathologically keen to celebrate the fact. ...

Beach House: Village Underground, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 May 2012

THE EARLY 1990S SHOEGAZE SCENE is not widely regarded as British music's finest moment. Peopled by bands such as Lush and Slowdive — who crafted ...

Justin Bieber: Believe ***

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, June 2012

This time around, Justin Bieber wants us to know that he is all grown up. He is a man. ...

The Hives: Lex Hives

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 4 June 2012

WHEN THE HIVES broke through here in 2002 with their top 10 compilation album Your New Favourite Band, they appeared exciting and irresistible. ...

M. Ward: Koko, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 July 2012

MATTHEW WARD is set to bid farewell to his cult status. After a decade spent forging a solo career in the cosy backwater of the ...

Plan B: 100 Club, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 31 July 2012

PLAN B'S THIRD album, Ill Manors, went straight into the album chart at No. 1 this week, despite being a spectacular musical contrast to the ...

Green Day: Uno!

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, September 2012

A FULL QUARTER of a century into their career, the Californian pop-punks should really be churning out tired, formulaic albums or, more likely, contemplating splitting. ...

Ultravox: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 September 2012

REFORMED BANDS almost always find it nigh-on impossible to recapture the musical glories they routinely summoned up in their pomp. Ultravox may be a unique ...

Taylor Swift: Red ****

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, October 2012

IT'S VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE to believe that Taylor Swift is still only 22. ...

Ellie Goulding: Halcyon

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 8 October 2012

ELLIE GOULDING has been letting it be known that this follow-up to her three-million-selling debut album, Lights, is a far darker and more troubled record, ...

Dead Can Dance: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 October 2012

IN THE LATE 1980S, effusive music journalists were in the habit of eulogising spectacularly ornate or baroque pieces of arthouse music — particularly on the 4AD ...

Robbie Williams: Take The Crown

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 5 November 2012

"I THINK everything about Robbie Williams is fantastic," Morrissey once declared, "except the voice and the songs." ...

Bon Iver: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 November 2012

IT STARTED IN a log cabin and it has led to Wembley. When little-known singer-songwriter Justin Vernon retreated to his father's Wisconsin woodland hideaway late ...

Elbow: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 December 2012

ELBOW HAVE BEEN describing this end-of-year arena tour as their "farewell party", and the reason for their sabbatical is a curious one. Frontman Guy Garvey ...

ABC: Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 19 December 2012

ABC WERE ALWAYS a band with a manifesto. Three decades ago, the Sheffield group emerged equally in thrall to the debonair allure of Bryan Ferry ...

Caravan: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 January 2013

PUNK'S SCORCHED-EARTH policy towards the past has brought many a musical career to a premature halt. It's no coincidence that veteran progressive rockers Caravan originally ...

A$AP Rocky: Long.Live.A$AP

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 14 January 2013

NEW YORK rapper A$AP Rocky's debut has been a long time in the making. Originally scheduled for release last September, it was then mysteriously delayed ...

Aimee Mann: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 29 January 2013

"WOW, THERE ARE people in here all of the way to the back!" marvels Aimee Mann two songs in, shielding her eyes to gaze deep ...

John Grant: Heaven, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 March 2013

IT'S FAIR TO say John Grant takes the art of the confessional singer-songwriter to a whole new plane. Despite obviously being painfully thin-skinned, this quixotic ...

Peace interview: Are they the saviours of indie?

Interview by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 19 March 2013

Is indie rock poised for a comeback? For two years or so now, the charts have been dominated by tinny, Autotune-heavy rave-pop and sensitive acoustic ...

The Strokes: Comedown Machine

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 25 March 2013

THE STROKES WILL never remotely equal the zeitgeist-straddling stature of their emergence around the millennium, when the five attitudinal New Yorkers were hailed as the ...

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, May 2013

DAFT PUNK'S FORTE has always been their sleek, glistening futurism, the sense of mischievous glee they take in the very textures of electronic sound. ...

The National: Trouble Will Find Me

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 20 May 2013

IN THE EARLY '90s, Britain's hippest TV show was an imported American drama series named thirtysomething. The series told the stories of a group of ...

Disclosure: Settle

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 3 June 2013

CLUBLAND HAS been polarised between two dispiriting extremes for close on a decade now. If the DJ isn't playing twitchy, edgy, introspective grime or dubstep, ...

Queens Of The Stone Age: …Like Clockwork

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 3 June 2013

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE occasionally get called a metal band. This is rather like calling Picasso a house painter. The veteran Californian band may ...

The National: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 June 2013

"WE PLAYED THE Barfly a few years ago," reminisces the National's singer Matt Berninger, making affectionate reference to the long-standing, archetypal indie sweatbox just down ...

Jay Z: Jay-Z: Magna Carta Holy Grail

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, July 2013

WHAT DO YOU do when you are a multi-millionaire businessman who hangs out with the Obamas but still wants to be a gangsta? ...

Robin Thicke: Blurred Lines ***

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, July 2013

It's difficult not to view Robin Thicke as definitive proof of the age-old adage that sex sells. ...

Iggy Azalea: "I haven't got daddy issues!"

Interview by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 10 July 2013

IN 2004, A 14-year-old Australian white girl named Amethyst Kelly heard Tupac Shakur for the first time. Blown away by his poetic intensity, she resolved ...

Robin Thicke: Who is Robin Thicke?

Comment by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 25 July 2013

WHATEVER YOUR thoughts on its icky sexist video of gyrating, semi-naked models, it is impossible to deny that the lascivious R&B throb of Robin Thicke's ...

Arctic Monkeys: AM

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, September 2013

Arctic Monkeys now routinely operate at such a rarefied pitch that it is easy to take their excellence for granted. ...

Kings Of Leon: Mechanical Bull

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, September 2013

THREE YEARS AGO, things were looking distinctly bleak for the arena-filling Nashville rockers. Following a sub-par fifth album, Come Around Sundown, that singer Caleb Followill ...

Drake: Nothing Was The Same

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 23 September 2013

HIS LAST ALBUM, Take Care, was a multi-platinum-selling number one around the globe, but if anything this has plunged hip hop's most angst-ridden player into ...

Miley Cyrus: Bangerz Track-By-Track Review

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, October 2013

PROVOCATIVE. That seems to be the word we are contractually obliged to use in relation to Miley Cyrus nowadays. Her provocative new musical direction. Provocative ...

Katy B: XOYO, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 October 2013

London's dance-music doyenne unveils a euphoric new set that sounds exactly the way a great night out clubbing can feel. ...

Miley Cyrus: Bangerz

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 7 October 2013

BRITNEY, JUSTIN T, XTINA… Miley Cyrus is not the first former Disney starlet to chafe at her anodyne past and yearn to show us her ...

Katy Perry: Prism ***

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 21 October 2013

KATY PERRY, the frivolous, hard-partying pop starlet, has an unfortunate Achilles heel – she wants to be taken seriously.  ...

Jake Bugg: Shangri La

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, November 2013

IT IS JAKE BUGG'S misfortune to be recording in a cynical, over-mediated age. ...

Tinie Tempah: Demonstration

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 4 November 2013

Rappers are arguably more vulnerable than any other artists to difficult second album syndrome. ...

Celine Dion: "I am having my wild moment!"

Interview by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 8 November 2013

YOU DON'T GET to be the most successful female singer in history, selling more than 200 million albums, without looking after your voice. Thirty minutes ...

Blood Orange: Cupid Deluxe

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 18 November 2013

WHEN DEV HYNES emerged almost a decade ago as one-third of slapstick punk deconstructionists Test Icicles, there was little reason to suspect he was an ...

Robbie Williams: Swings Both Ways

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 18 November 2013

WHAT IS THE point of Robbie Williams in 2013? It is a question worth asking, as Robbie nowadays finds himself in a career mid-life crisis. ...

Britney Spears: Britney Jean

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 2 December 2013

RARE IS THE A-list artist today who doesn't launch their new album by breathlessly proclaiming it their most honest, intimate, confessional magnum opus to date. ...

Bruce Springsteen: High Hopes

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 13 January 2014

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN albums are often statements, whether 2002's The Rising's heartfelt response to 9/11, or 2012's Wrecking Ball's vitriolic condemnation of the fat-cat bankers behind ...

Foals: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 February 2014

The once-spindly art-rockers have made a full transformation to a thrillingly spontaneous pop group capable of reigning over arenas. ...

Beck: Morning Phase

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 24 February 2014

A MAVERICK musical magpie, Beck has over his 20-year career veered off into nu-folk, Mississippi blues, hip-hop, country, funk and electro-hued pop noir. He never ...

Beck's back: A new album from pop's coolest chameleon

Profile and Interview by Ian Gittins, Daily Telegraph, 1 March 2014

The singer-songwriter Beck talks about his new album, Morning Phase, the latest turn on a zig-zag career. ...

Paloma Faith: A Perfect Contradiction

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 10 March 2014

THE BIG-LUNGED Hackney soul siren is tremendous fun, a deeply entertaining live performer and raconteur, and her burlesque-inspired raids on the dressing-up box frequently yield ...

Iggy Azalea: The New Classic

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 21 April 2014

AZALEA IS certainly one of the most singular pop success stories of recent years. ...

Lily Allen: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 28 April 2014

FIVE YEARS AGO Lily Allen retreated to the Cotswolds to get married and to start a family, and proclaimed that she was retiring from music. ...

Beverley Martyn: Bush Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 April 2014

BEVERLEY MARTYN has quite the folk backstory. A teenage paramour of Bert Jansch, who taught her to play guitar, she recorded and toured America with ...

Coldplay: Ghost Stories

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, May 2014

HEARING GHOST STORIES, it is unclear whether you are listening to a new pop album or intruding on devastating personal grief. ...

Lily Allen: Sheezus

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 5 May 2014

HAVING ANNOUNCED her "retirement" when she retreated to the countryside to start a family five years ago, Lily Allen affects to be nervous of her ...

Lykke Li: I Never Learn

Review by Ian Gittins, Virgin Media Music, 5 May 2014

ON HER TWO previous albums, Youth Novels and Wounded Rhymes, Li perfected a strain of forensically intense Scandi-pop that majored in brooding atmospherics, glacial synths ...

tUnE-yArDs: Village Underground, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 May 2014

Merrill Garbus orchestrates a joyous performance that is simultaneously metropolitan and tribal ...

Slowdive: Village Underground, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 May 2014

IT'S DIFFICULT TO recollect a more maligned musical movement than the early '90s shoegaze scene. ...

Coldplay: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 July 2014

A GREAT BREAK-UP album can be a thing of wonder. From Bob Dylan's red-raw Blood on the Tracks to Marvin Gaye's self-lacerating Here, My Dear ...

Jungle, Pharrell Williams: Pharrell Williams/Jungle: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 September 2014

He looks dapper, and he opens the show with a brilliant blast of robot funk, but the R&B pioneer is a bit too reserved on ...

Lauryn Hill: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 September 2014

The one-time leading light of 90s R&B ditched neo-soul subtleties in favour of ear-splitting hip-hop on the first date of her short UK tour ...

Tanya Donnelly, Throwing Muses: Throwing Muses/Tanya Donelly: Islington Assembly Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 26 September 2014

Donelly was in strident, declamatory form alongside stepsister Kristin Hersh and the rest of her former alt-rock cohorts. ...

Vashti Bunyan: St Pancras Old Church, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 9 October 2014

BUNYAN REMAINS a bashful presence live, her forte a strain of bucolic dream-folk in which nothing much happens, very prettily. ...

Jake Bugg: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 October 2014

JAKE BUGG'S ASCENT to fame may have been precipitous, but his idea of showmanship remains remarkably minimalist. ...

Young Fathers: XOYO, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 December 2014

The Edinburgh hip-hop trio weave disparate influences together to generate a jaw-droppingly synchronised anarchy ...

Chris Spedding: 100 Club, London 

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 12 January 2015

CHRIS SPEDDING is a rare creature: both semi-legendary and utterly anonymous. One of the most prolific session musicians of all time, this virtuoso guitarist's 50-year ...

Steve Aoki: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 10 February 2015

EDM's poster boy indulges in bone-headed gimmicks that range from hurling cakes at the front row to crowd-surfing in a rubber boat. ...

The War on Drugs: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 3 March 2015

Adam Granduciel's fractured, soul-spilling songs move beyond ragged-glory Americana into rhythmic, sparky epics tonight.   ...

Lianne La Havas: Wilton's Music Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 20 May 2015

WILTON'S IS AN EXQUISITE THROWBACK, the oldest grand music hall in Britain, and Lianne La Havas knows all about curious venues. Just over a year ...

Earl Sweatshirt: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 June 2015

Disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm from the crowd, the tetchy 21-year-old is entirely true to the restless agitation of his music ...

Amanda Palmer: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 June 2015

SHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN an open book, and now Amanda Palmer has written one. Tonight's gig is largely to promote The Art of Asking, the ...

Black Grape: Forum, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 30 June 2015

BLACK GRAPE hit No 1 with their debut album in 1995, yet never truly felt part of the Britpop circus. For obvious reasons, you were ...

U2: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 26 October 2015

The cathartic nature of the band's 13th studio album, Songs of Innocence, is sensitively reflected in this tour, which melds the personal and the political. ...

Hudson Mohawke: Roundhouse, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 December 2015

With synths that screech like air brakes and crushing, abrasive beats, a night of Mohawke's musical maximalism is both exhilarating and wearying ...

Saint Etienne: Fairfield Halls, Croydon

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 13 December 2015

SAINT ETIENNE are frequently sublime, but they can also be ridiculous. It is surely beyond the ability even of Pete Wiggs and Bob Stanley to ...

Loyle Carner: Garage, London ★★★★☆


Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 February 2016

Soul-Searching Hip-Hop With Charged Intensity The fresh-faced British rapper's unsentimental candour is coupled with a thrilling love for language and J Dilla-inspired beats ...

Margo Price: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 September 2016

Price is a country traditionalist who turns the hard-luck stories of her life into irresistibly vivid and vibrant music. ...

Michael Kiwanuka: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 12 October 2016

MICHAEL KIWANUKA is a mass of contradictions and all the better for it. He's a self-doubting soul man whose second album, Love & Hate, recently ...

Seasick Steve: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Observer, 16 October 2016

The artist may have been a session musician rather than a hobo, but only a harsh critic would deny that he has the blues. ...

Craig David: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 October 2016

The likable pop-soul veteran hasn't lost his sentimental side, but he reveals a slightly harder edge with stage-prowling antics and tongue-tying raps. ...

Craig David: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 21 October 2016

The likable pop-soul veteran hasn't lost his sentimental side, but he reveals a slightly harder edge with stage-prowling antics and tongue-tying raps. ...

Skepta: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 December 2016

RECEIVED WISDOM has long held that grime, the attitudinal amalgam of garage, jungle, rap and electro that ripped out of east London's sink estates at ...

The 1975: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 December 2016

Matt Healy lounge-lizards across the stage as his band charm the first of two sellout O2 crowds with sharp-edged, irresistible songs. ...

Busted: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 February 2017

Wall-to-wall screaming greets the trio's return, but 13 years on their infectiously exuberant punk-pop has been replaced by cloying, synth-heavy soft rock ...

Busted: Hammersmith Apollo, London — all grown up and not so much fun

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 February 2017

Wall-to-wall screaming greets the trio's return, but 13 years on their infectiously exuberant punk-pop has been replaced by cloying, synth-heavy soft rock. ...

Ed Sheeran: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 May 2017

His rapping may be workmanlike, his music sentimental, and his wardrobe straight outta Oxfam, but Sheeran's phenomenal rise is justified: he's great live ...

Linkin Park, Stormzy: Linkin Park: O2, London — nu-metal escapees move beyond teen angst

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 4 July 2017

Pop-R&B smashes and an appearance from Stormzy underline just how far the band have come since the dark days of Limp Bizkit ...

Pond (Australia): Pond: Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 29 August 2017

IT IS POND'S FATE forever to be discussed in relation to Tame Impala, and it is hardly surprising. This band from Perth, Western Australia, began ...

Carla Bruni: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 11 December 2017

Playing unusual covers of AC/DC, Depeche Mode and Willie Nelson alongside strong self-penned material, Bruni performs with poise and catwalk swagger. ...

Architects: Alexandra Palace, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 5 February 2018

EIGHTEEN MONTHS after their guitarist's death, the Brighton metal band turn a ferocious evening into a poignant homage Architects receive an ovation simply for walking on ...

James Bay: Electric Brixton, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 16 March 2018

JAMES BAY'S ASCENT to pop stardom has appeared effortless. Having scooped the Brits Critics' Choice award in 2015, the Hitchin-born singer-songwriter duly saw his debut ...

Frank Turner: Roundhouse, London — big-hearted anthems and love songs to America

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 May 2018

The provocative singer-songwriter balances the profane and the polite with a set that triggers a joyous mass sing-along ...

The The: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 6 June 2018

Performing for the first time in 16 years only days after his father’s death, 1980s indie hero Matt Johnson retains a gravel-voiced gravitas ...

Suede: Eventim Apollo, London — more stellar than ever in a tremendous primal celebration

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 14 October 2018

Brooding menace and quasi-paganism replace urban sleaze as a feral Brett Anderson gives it his all in a staggering performance ...

Snow Patrol: O2 Arena, London – drifting along in a clinical quest for love

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 January 2019

SNOW PATROL HAVE BEEN AWAY but absence has not dimmed their mass appeal. This first tour for seven years, in support of last year's moderately ...

Tricky: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 27 October 2019

After a year of tragedy, the spotlight-shy producer stays in the shadows during this erratic yet utterly mesmerising set. ...

Chuck Berry, Lulu, Ronnie Wood: Ronnie Wood: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 22 November 2019

Lulu and Imelda May bring powerhouse guest vocals but the Rolling Stone can't match up in this mediocre homage. ...

The Psychedelic Furs: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 6 April 2022

Frontman Richard Butler is now 65, but his nicotine rasp remains a thing of wonder and the band's pop smarts mean they have aged well ...

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