I’ve been beaten to writing about it by this review, but Jarvis Cocker opened his new UK tour at the Carling academy last night to an appreciative hometown crowd.
As well as playing a mix of new material and songs from his debut album, he also ‘lectured’ the crowd using a selection of slides, many of which depicted Sheffield sights.
We saw a photo of a gleaming Roxy/Fiesta development, now of course the Carling academy and Odeon cinema, and also a picture of a slide built in to a hill in a playground. He described this as the slide at Endcliffe park, but if I’m not mistaken, surely he was referring to the slide at Forge dam?
After two encores he popped up in the DJ booth and treated fans to an hour-long disco, playing a eclectic range of stuff, including MC Hammer’s U can’t touch this.
A list of concerts at the stadium from 1993 to 2006 - with videos
A previous post that mentioned getting more live music at Don Valley stadium caused me to search* the internet for some videos of shows at the venue.
Some of the clips I found are from the height of summer which seems a long way off following the dark and foggy weather Sheffield has had over the last couple of days.
So think back to summers gone by and the artists that have played at Don Valley stadium - although I seem to recall that it threw it down when the Stones played back in 2006.
* by the way, I didn’t search that hard for Celine Dion clips
Def Leppard
6 June 1993
Rocket
Let’s get rocked
Bon Jovi
28 June 1995
Rolling Stones
9 July 1995
Michael Jackson
9 July 1997
(I did find a video of Scream/They don’t care about us from this show but it has since been removed from YouTube)
Another band that I have to confess I don’t know loads about, except that their eponymous debut album is rather good in an early-90s-indie kind-of way and their single Planet love was - and still is - a fine slice of guitar pop:
According to discogs.com, it sounds like there there was a bit of a buzz about them prior to signing to Beggars Banquet, but after some strong singles and release of their debut long-player, there were multiple line-up reshuffles and people lost interest.
The dance-music-with-guitars sound seems a little dated now, but The Dylans certainly deserve to be remembered in the pantheon of Sheffield pop history.
Since I have drafted this post, this rather fine music blog has also covered the band. It is good to see that there are some other Dylans fans still out there.
The magazine is dead; long live sandmanmagazine.co.uk
Sandman is a bit of an institution in Sheffield music circles. For over six years it has been providing music fans in the city with reviews, features and listings about hundreds of bands and artists - and most importantly, the inclination to go and see them live.
Its influence shouldn’t be underestimated: many people agree that the fact that we have seen a major resurgence in the Sheffield music scene within Sandman’s lifetime is no coincidence.
However, as a free paper magazine, Sandman is coming to an end. The editorial in the current, final issue explains that they have thrown off the shackles of expensive print, with all its limitations, in favour of concentrating on revamping their website, sandmanmagazine.co.uk.
I’ll miss the aesthetic quality of the paper edition and not being able to read it on the bus (unless of course I now upgrade my mobile handset) but overall I think they have done the right thing. As well as offering an almost infinite amount of space for more depth and breadth, being on the web offers far more potential for immediacy, interactivity and rich-media content, which for a music offering is surely key.
At the moment, the site does seem to have quite a basic, web 1.0 feel about it, but hopefully with all energies being channelled into the digital version of Sandman, this will improve.
A plug for the one-day festival and Nat’s debut single
I previously wrote about Sheffield band Monkey Swallows the Universe disbanding and singer Nat Johnson going solo.
Since the split, Nat has been playing on her own at various acoustic nights but now has announced her first full band show at the Carling Academy. It will take place on Saturday 27 September to tie in with the release of her debut single Dirty Rotten Soul on Sheffield independent label Thee SPC. The video to the song was filmed at various locations in and around the city:
The gig at the Academy is going to be an all-day event, with nine other bands appearing throughout the afternoon and evening, including David Thomas Broughton, I Concur, The Kabeedies, Champion Kickboxer, Smokers Die Younger, The Yell, Urgent Talk, Mayor McCa, Rory McVicar, Laura Groves, Stereo Horizo and The Bon Bon Club.
Nat’s acoustic shows, which you can see a taster of below, have so far been a treat so it will be great to see her playing with a full band. And ten bands for ten quid is good value for money.
It is great when the buzz builds around a local band and they come crashing into the top 20 with a brilliant breakthrough single. That was what happened with Blameless in 1996, but unfortunately the Sheffield band never managed to build on this initial success.
The breakthrough song in question was Breathe (a little deeper), an atmospheric-yet-melodic three-chord guitar anthem released in March 1996 and playlisted on Radio 1 at the time:
Debut album, The signs are all there, followed in September that year and if I recall correctly, Town clowns, Don’t say you’re sorry and Signs were all lifted from it as singles. But they would fail to trouble the top 75 again and the story of what happened to the band now seems to have been lost. I would be interested to hear when the band split and whether they continued to make music post-Blameless.
The video for the Signs single can be seen on this video from the Chart show in 1996. Signs starts from 0:48:
If you enjoyed that, the YouTube user that uploaded this indie chart has lots more Chart show top 10s online.
A visit to one of the north’s biggest multicultural festivals
Yesterday we paid a visit to Music in the sun for music, food and drinks as the sun set over Don Valley.
Who did we see there? I’d heard Steve Lamacq mention Hiem a few times before but never watched them live. They appeared in the main arena and were good, quite electronic but more melodic and poppy than I was expecting. This is Electricity from 2004:
And following them was Steve Edwards, who I didn’t realise wrote and provided vocals for Bob Sinclar’s 2006 hit World, hold on (children of the sky):
Bob Sinclar also released Love generation, which Steve Edwards also performed live on Saturday.
There were several other arenas with other performers and DJs playing, as well as graffiti artists, food, drink, retail stalls and fairground rides.
The festival continues today from 1pm. If you do go down, also don’t miss the tasty African/Caribbean food from Broomhill’s UK Mama.
Four performance that I will be keeping an eye on during Sheffield’s upcoming music festival
So the Music in the sun website has gone live, along with the usual MySpace plus Facebook fan and event pages. A few of the acts have caught my eye, and at just £9.50 for a two-day advance ticket, it seems good value.
However, it is frustrating that the line-up doesn’t specify when many of the bands are actually playing over the weekend. The arena performers seem to be better mapped out, but being more of an indie fan, it would be helpful to have a proper running order for the main stage on each day, too. Perhaps nearer the time this information will be made available.
It is good to see some local acts represented on bill. Here are some of the performers I will be looking out for:
Kings Have Long Arms
Described by Wikipedia as ‘rocktronica’, this Sheffield-based act has been around for a few years and collaborated with several well-known musicians including Phil Oakey (the Human League), Mira (Ladytron), Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce (former Smiths), Denise Johnson (A Certain Ratio) and Ray Dorset (Mungo Jerry). The excellent single Big umbrella (featuring Candie Payne) was released at the beginning of the year:
Tiny Dancers
Another Sheffield-based group, this indie-country-rock band signed to Parlophone in 2006 and last summer released their debut album, Free school milk. Their singles have had some airplay and entered the top 40 but they are yet to have a major breakthrough hit. This is the catchy and upbeat I will wait for you:
Levi Roots If you watch Dragon’s Den, the you will know about Levi Roots’ (real name Keith) appearance in the last series of the show, where he was awarded money to produce Reggae Reggae Sauce. By the looks of things, he was a musician prior to this so he should definitely be considered more than just a novelty at Music in the sun. And if his performance successfully captures any of the charm and charisma that came across on television then we should be in for a treat. This is Reggae reggae sauce (the song) on Dragon’s Den:
Artery
If you listened to the recent BBC Radio 2 documentary in which Jarvis Cocker took listeners on a tour of Sheffield (still available to listen to here) then you would have heard 70s/80s post-punk band Artery being mentioned, as the former Pulp frontman was a big fan. Although they didn’t have any big hits, the band are seen as one of the big influential Sheffield bands from the time and reformed in 2007. This is John Peel’s favourite song, and by far their most well-known track, Into the garden:
The Artery and Tiny Dancers MySpace pages say that they are each playing on 2 August, so hedge your bets it will be the Saturday for those two bands.
Part two of the post that collects together a list of ideas to improve Sheffield (parts one to five)
Address the spiralling cost of public transport Ever before the price of petrol started going up, the bus fares in Sheffield were unreasonably high. In London, you can hop on a bus for 90p using an Oyster card. Sheffield may not be as big as the capital but is the city not of a sufficient size to apply the same economic principals? It is a far cry from the 2p single bus fares I used to pay when I was a child. Obviously we can’t return to the heavily subsidised days of the 1980s but if fares are lower in other big cities then there must be something First can learn from these revenue models. The least they can promise a pricing consultation and review.
Further develop Sheffield’s gay scene
It was good to see a successful South Yorkshire Pride taking place earlier this month. I’m not an expert on Sheffield’s gay scene, but it seems that over the years the city has struggled to maintain momentum when trying to establish decent venues that appeal to a LGBT crowd. Other places like Manchester and London have streets that are home to many gay bars and venues. I’m not sure whether this is the way to go for Sheffield - and perhaps these areas should develop organically - but a start would be for venue owners to realise that working together to establish a cluster of gay-friendly venues (in the city centre, not tucked out in Attercliffe) may benefit their business more than competing against each other until none are left. Or is Sheffield ironically too-friendly a city to support a gay scene?
Build a landmark building that will make the city’s skyline distinctive
So we are resigned to losing the cooling towers, but why not be brave and create a high-quality, distinctive and tall building in Sheffield that would sit proudly on the city’s horizon and be recognisable the world over? I sometimes think our town planners are overly-cautious with what they allow, perhaps due to mistakes in the past, but imagine if we had our own London Eye, CN Tower or Opera House? It wouldn’t have to be on such a grand scale, but a distinctive and tasteful development along these lines that compliments the existing skyline could be spectacular.
Promote more live music at Don Valley Stadium
The organisation that runs Sheffield International Venues recently announced a record annual turnover of £21m, but I would like to see more live music taking place at Don Valley Stadium. My memory, and some internet research, recalls ten stadium gigs at Don Valley since it opened in 1990, which averages at around one every two years. Surely we can do better than that. The Arctic Monkeys played Lancashire CCC ground last summer; would a homecoming gig at Don Valley have been more fitting?
Get both Wednesday and United back in the Premiership
Easier said than done, but this would be worth millions to the city in terms of raising its profile across the world, while making a lot of Sheffield football fans very happy. Obviously we can’t wave a magic wand to make this happen but the Blades are a well-run club, perfectly capable of mounting a promotion challenge this coming season and if Wednesday’s imminent takeover actually happens then it may not be such a pipe dream after all.
Part one of a two part post, identifying ways that the city can be improved. Here are numbers one to five (not in any order)
Sort out the traffic congestion Is traffic congestion in Sheffield really that bad? According to this report Sheffield traffic is in the top 10 slowest-moving in the UK. If South Yorkshire is looking to further develop its economy by attracting business investment on an international level and also ensuring that its potential as a tourist destination is fulfilled, the road infrastructure must improve. As part of this, the problem of car access around the station must also be addressed, as the good impression visitors get from Sheaf square is soon forgotten once you are embroiled in the gridlock on the way out.
Focus on the city’s digital strategy
City leaders are recognising the importance of developing Sheffield’s digital and creative industries with the development of the Digital Campus, but the strategy needs to be more wide-ranging than this. We need to work further to encourage residents, businesses and community groups to embrace the technologies on offer in order to create a digitally-literate population. In Birmingham, a Get into digital festival took place in June as part of the Digital Birmingham initiative, aiming to “help make the transition from an industrial city to a digital one by driving forward the use of these technologies in order to increase prosperity, knowledge and quality of life of its citizens.” This is definitely something to Sheffield to consider…can we afford not to?
Grow the city centre as an after-work destination
The council has been working hard at promoting Wednesday night live in the city centre. It has recognised a need for the city centre to become a viable option for post-work and evening recreation. For too long, Sheffield has become a ghost town after the shoppers and workers have gone home, with people not feeling compelled to stay in the city centre. There is potential for expanding the after-work economy, but it needs the support of Sheffield citizens, not just the local authority and businesses.
Attract more quality restaurants to the city centre
Every week in the Sheffield Telegraph I enjoy seeing what the interviewee in the Food For Thought Q&A column says in answer to the ‘What do you think of Sheffield as a place to eat out?’ question. The most positive answer seems to be that Sheffield’s restaurant scene is improving but few people have much to shout about. There are good restaurants across the region but many of these in the suburbs or out in Derbyshire, and for every highly-rated one that opens, another closes. A limited number of chain restaurants is acceptable, but Sheffield also needs more high quality restaurants in the city centre, particularly ones that stay open late to cater, for example, for the post-theatre/gig/concert crowds. Which brings me onto…
Introduce a night bus services on key routes If the evening/night economy were to expand then would it be worth trialling a night bus service? Currently, many routes finish around 11pm, and with town pubs now generally open later than this, I think there would be a demand for buses every half hour on key services out of the city throughout the night. The impact on Sheffield taxi drivers would need to be carefully assessed, but it would certainly help the queues and scramble for cabs in the early hours of the morning when demand outstrips supply.
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