Artists I liked

Xenia Pestova, British Sea Power x4, The Blinders, Sorry (previously Fish), Phobophobes, Peluché, Harpo Smith, Nadine Shah, Seán McGowan, Pumarosa, Novella, Average Sex, Thurston Moore, Hand Habits

Artists that were okay

Shawn James, Blue House, Sophie Hutchings, Arthur Lea, Lorenzo Masotto, Rose Elinor Dougall, Vinyl Staircase, Sam Rabin, Ten Tonnes, Karen Elson, Maxïmo Park, Dhrala, Amber Arcades, Sugar Candy Mountain

Artists I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Britain

Best Gig

British Sea Power took me on a mini tour of the UK. As always, they were excellent. Nadine Shah returned with a fantastic new sound. My highlight though, was the excellent Pumarosa at the Oval Space.

Best new band

There was no outstanding new band this month.

Albums of the Month

• Rock N Roll Consciousness – Thurston Moore

Best photo

I didn’t catch the name of their first support act. He seemed to be doing some kind of performance art rather than playing music. Sadly it didn’t work for me.

Peluché were up next. They had a jazzy sound with two vocalists. One I thought worked the other seemed to be a bit bland. They kept me interested but I wouldn’t rust out to see them again

Pumarosa closed the evening with a great show. The lead singer has a great voice and is very elegant in her movement around the stage. I think she used to be a dancer. But unlike the opening act. The music came first. The performance merely supplemented the music

As it turns out, there’s two theatres at the Globe. This gig wasn’t at the more famous ‘Shakespeare’s Globe’ but at a smaller theatre inside the visitor centre, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. The theatre is modelled on a 16th century theatre and is really lovely. It’s a tiny candlelit theatre with wooden stalls and somebody who comes around during the interval to change the candles!

One of the other reasons to go to this gig was for a chance to catch Pumarosa. A bad I’d been trying to catch for a few months.

The evening started with Pix. I really wasn’t sure at first, but after a few songs, I was quiet enjoying her performance. A bit poppy for my usual taste. But enjoyable.

Pumarosa were up next. I was really impressed by them. Some great songs with a dance psychedelic sound and an excellent performance by the lead singer, full of energy, whirling around the stage like an indie whirling dervish.

Gwenno closed the evening. Her vocals as always were lovely. The songs, which work so well on record, still lack live. My issue is that Gwenno spends the entire gig behind the keyboard. I really thinks she needs to give those duties to somebody else so that she can concentrate on the performance.