LTW newsletter 38

Greeting warriors!

Sorry about delay in the newsletter - have been on travels this week representing Louder Than War in far off climes - a music showcase festival in Slovenia. Whilst there we were hanging out with Laibach and hearing about their upcoming new album concept which is pretty mind blowing even by their own standards! We also caught a whole host of fascinating upcoming new bands from mainly the east of Europe that is continuing to be productive and ground breaking despite all the tensions and problems in these sadly war like times.

Back in the UK we are in the mad festival season of sunburn and trench foot and alighting from the train in Manchester yesterday I saw a city awash with thousands of gig goers - it must have been some kind of record with every stadium and arena and park in the city heaving hand ho-ing to an estimate of up to 400 000 people on the streets heading towards a series of big festivals and concerts.

The Pistol TV series has been suitably controversial - could it have been any other way! Mr. Rotten has loudly belched his disapproval in its direction as expected and after the trailer everyone sat back and looked mightily unimpressed. Of course all the mainstream media reviews were bad but we decided to watch it and found it really good and took a stand against the negative reviews and it seems now that the tide has turned and after watching the miniseries that filth and gob encrusted tide has turned into sea of positivity...we explain how good it is here...

The former Pistols frontman has been doing a TV whirlwind tour pouring scorn on the Pistol series which he is yet to actually watch so it was relief to watch him get back to his day-job with Pil starting their UK tour in Manchester. The problem with PiL is that their early period set the barré so high that its almost impossible to match. Those first 4 albums were astonishing and ground breaking and turned music inside out. After that there were of course moments to thrill and of course Lydon is a compelling frontman - so where does that leave the 2022 PiL?

Speaking of old guard - the Rolling Stones played at Anfield and according to our reviewer came away with a rare away win in the football fortress. There is something now quite remarkable about Mick Jagger and the way he still manages to strut his stuff. Most people even in middle age let along nearly 80 find the shuffle from the settee to the fridge a big challenge and the octogenarian octopus Rolling Stones frontman seems indestructible as he still perhaps seeks satisfaction...

Chris Packham is back on our screens with Springwatch one of the few Tv programmes we break out of our gig schedule to watch. Chris is, of course, famously punk rock in his tastes and a couple of years ago he gave us his top 10 favourite punk gigs from his own wild youth....

Of course punk is not always a museum piece and the scene remains vibrant and fervent and a whole clutch of ground breaking band like Bob Vylan have been finding new life in its spectacular corpse. Another angry 2002 take on the old form are Benefits whose visceral take on modern UK life has been thrilling us since they popped up last year.

Amyl And The Sniffers enthralling garage punk rush has been exploding on their current tour and the band are now selling out big venues. They are very much the fast rising band of the moment and at a recent live gig we explain why we love them so much and how their wild and effervescent energy is so captivating.

Flaming Lips long and strange trip continues and the band were recently over for some more lysergic adventures.

Crowded House are dusty old name from the past - we'd sort of forgotten that they somehow still existed but those songs are woven into the tapestry of modern life and their recent gig was a reminder of just how much part of the pop cupboard they really are.

If Blur v Oasis was the defining moment of British pop culture in the nineties then Noel v Liam was the undercard. It seem like our kid junior has won that intercine uncivil war and become the Rod Stewart of his generation and his recent Manchester show was mobbed by mini me teenagers in what must be the youngest crowd for an older star ever.