David Vass
249 articles
Franz Ferdinand
There was very little messing about, charging through song after song, so that when the band departed after an hour, having knocked seven bells out of the drumkit, it felt like only half that time had passed.
Ray O'Leary - Laughter? I Hardly Know Her
Ray O'Leary, is fair to say, has a distinctive way about him. Wild, curly hair. Beer belly out and proud. A face only a mother could love. And that suit. It's a look that says he knows exactly what he’s doing and that he does it very well.
Mogwai
I entered the LCR ready and willing to worship at the altar of their magnificence. Sadly, it didn't quite work out that way. At times this felt less about composition and more akin to ritual.
Kaiser Chiefs
As Everyday is followed by I predict a Riot, Modern Way and Na Na Na Na Naa, it's a shocker to be reminded that noughties post-Britpop happened a long time ago.
Eliza Delf and the Wilderness
There's an evident energy to the band's performance that informs how they sound – to my mind with a rockier, edgy intensity I've not heard from them before. Whether it was born of enthusiasm having hibernated over winter, the intimacy of performing inches from their audience, or simply the room's acoustics, they have never sounded better.
Dear England
This play about football was not really about football at all. It was a play about male bonding, humanity, mutual respect, facing your demons, and about meeting with triumph and disaster, and treating those two impostors just the same.
The Anglia Comedy All Stars
On another night, any one of the line-up could have reasonably headlined a comedy night — Ed Gamble, Rachel Parris, and Paul Sinha on the same bill felt almost like overkill. All Stars indeed.
2:22 A Ghost Story
This is a ghost story, not a horror story, with an uneasy atmosphere of impending doom. The play is handsomely staged, with subtle but effective use of sound and lighting. Along the way we get red herrings, misdirection and tension-busting humour. Robins even lobs in class-conscious social commentary into the mix.
Tom Robinson
The warmth that bounced back and forth between performers and audience – in the moment, as Robinson put it – was, in these troubled times, something to behold and treasured.
12 Beans of Christmas - Adam Riches
What seemed clear from the outset was how much fun Adam Riches was having, and how effortlessly that good humour infected everything that went on.
Doctor Feelgood
Whatever purists may think, this is the Feelgood we've got, keeping a uniquely British form of RnB alive in an age of autotune. It's literally what Lee Brilleaux wanted - who are we to argue with that?
Gary Numan
Gary Numan put his all into his performance, prowling around the stage with an intensity I'd not seen before. Flanked by the impossibly tall, cassock wearing baldies, Tim Slade and Steve Harris, they only served to emphasise Numan's modest stature. What he lacked in height, however, he more than made up for in stage presence