July 2009 Archives

Guest columnist and freelance journalist Mike Doherty gives his views on the first ever Summer Pops Indie Weekender.

A smoke machine wheezes out atomized glycols. The lights go down and the band starts. Welcome to the Liverpool Summer Pops Indie Weekender, where the definition of 'indie' has been reduced to 'bloke with a guitar'.

The Summer Pops organizers seem to have a 'build it and they will come' attitude, meaning if they squeeze 17 bands in to seven hours and give it a name that makes it sound like a cool festival, then because of its existence people will flock in their thousands, right? Right?

WHAT is it with great gigs? You wait ages for one to turn up and then three arrive at once.
Oh, wait, maybe that's buses, but it was certainly the case at this week's Summer Pops double header - The Pretenders and Squeeze, with a little bit of Peter Kay thrown in for good measure. The Bolton funnyman had turned up to see his favourite band, Squeeze, and ended up doing a quick turn - and a terrible cover of Tempted.

SHANE MacGowan didn't have a lot to live up to, after his last Liverpool gig. Anything short of getting arrested and spending the night in the cells at St Anne's would have been a positive bonus.
So to see one of the greatest songwriters of his generation presiding over a grand old hooley of a night was something special indeed.

THE search is on to find two musical acts to represent Liverpool's emerging young musical talent at Mathew Street Festival...

A WISE man once told me that if you can't whistle it, it's not music. He's not far wrong. But I must admit, I was surprised to find myself whistling It's a Sin all the way home from last night's gig.
For all their electro credentials, Pet Shop Boys have pop in their hearts and some cracking tunes in that brimming back catalogue.

LIFE must be tough when you get mobbed by hordes of teenage girls every time you open your front door, but the four cheeky McFly lads say they can't wait to get up close and personal with their fans when they come to Liverpool. "It's going to be wicked - we're getting so close they can smell us," grins Dougie Poynter, the spiky haired, chiselled cheekboned bassist.
"I'm really excited about coming to Liverpool this time. The more the crowd go for it the better. Liverpool is going to be great, because the girls are always really pretty, so I am particularly looking forward to looking at them," he grins in anticipation.

IN THE next in our series of Q&As with the best acts playing in Liverpool this Summer we have the fabulous Art Brut.
They're playing the Summer Pops Festival Indie Weekender at the 02 Academy on July 19, alongside King Creosote, Bens Brother, Cordelier Club, Steve Appleton and Glasslights.

I'VE been to gigs so good I was sure they'd lift the roof off. But an audience bouncing so much they threatened to put the floor through? That's a new one, I must say.
But that was what happened when Pele played the old Picket building...

The fabulous Liverpool acoustic duo rehearse the song Yesterday for Beatles Day. Bliss...

IT'S hard not to love a rags to riches story. And, if last night's crowd at the ECHO arena is anything to go by, it's hard not to love James Morrison.
His first Summer Pops gig three years ago has now passed into folklore - plucked from obscurity as a busker he got £50 and his bus fare home for supporting Corinne Bailey Rae. Now he's packing the arena and has two platinum albums under his belt. He's not quite Lord Mayor of London just yet, but he's certainly giving Dick Whittington a run for his money in the fairytale ending stakes.