I Got Guest Listed…

• 1st Apr 2008

It’s a guest editorial this week from the London Office… It’s a fallacy to say that all southerners are pansies with nothing worth hearing.

Been a hectic week for Team Glasswerk, culminating in a massive Club Glasswerk show on Saturday night, with over 300 people cramming into the Purple Turtle. Excellent sets from The Foxes and guests, followed by some great tunes from the resident DJs til 3am.

Glasswerk was at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday to see REM, bizarrely supported by Foals, which was a welcome bonus. Great to see one of the greatest bands of the last three decades return to form with a ballsy rock album, a slight shame we only got a handful of older songs (Losing My Religion, Drive, Electrolite, Imitation of Life, The Great Beyond and Man on the Moon) – it was very much a new album plug, and understandably so I guess.

Tuesday saw the re-opening of the Purple Turtle after extensive refurbishment work over the Easter Period, putting it right up there with the best small venues in London. With a 6k sound rig, 6 brand new monitors, a stage double the size of what it was previously, and stairs onto the stage from the upstairs Dressing Rooms, it looks the business and sounds the business. Voodoo Six had the honour of playing the very first night and put on a great show, revelling in the improved set-up.

Finally, Friday took me back to my teenage Britpop days when I went to Shepherds Bush Empire to see Dodgy. Now in all truth, while I owned Free Peace Sweet like everyone else, I was never the biggest Dodgy fan. Not that I didn't like them, I just preferred Cast, Suede, Pulp, Elastica etc a little bit more. So it was great to realise how many Dodgy songs I actually knew. And for once I was oneof the youngest in the crowd, not the oldest.

Anyway, looking into the future, there are some great shows in the pipeline. The Conspirators play their first ever London gig on Friday April 4th at the Purple Turtle. The Lancashire Hotpots are one of the funniest bands you will ever see and are at the Purple Turtle on April 26th (Club Glasswerk) with The Blueskins. Fear Of Music breaking their childhood shackles in Derby, The Troubadours (you may have seen them supporting The Enemy and Paul Weller) in Manchester and Liverpool, Mark Morriss plugging his solo single, watch out for the album in the summer and on the first day of May Johnny Foreigner in Manchester. Fei Comodo on tour with support from Centiment (INME side project – London only), while a day later April 30th, Elle Milano and Untitled Musical Project plan to dismantle The Fly.

Plus loads more.. go look.