2023
Sparks are a phenomenon. One of a kind. Or, to be precise, two of a kind. Russell and Ron, the Mael brothers, are still going strong with a combined age of 151.
On a sunny day in 1976 I joined 150,000 other people in Knebworth Park to see The Rolling Stones. The line-up that day included Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, 10CC, Hot Tuna and, immediately before the headliners, Lynyrd Skynyrd.
There are some guitarists, only a handful, whose playing – whose tone – appeals so much that I can listen to almost anything by them, just to hear them play. Thurston Moore is one of those.
I first came across Heather Woods Broderick when she was playing keyboards for Sharon Van Etten at Cargo in Shoreditch, back in 2012. It was the first time I had seen Shaz, who was promoting her third album Tramp and would go on to become my favourite singer.