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Previews: Kathryn Williams, Rod Stewart and Coldplay
30/ 6/2005
NO STRANGER to the Arena, Rod Stewart returns to Manchester
again next week after a series of recent appearances.
Not satisfied with playing two gigs there back in May, the man who
the word "veteran" was invented for can't keep away, and is coming
back for one more show.
As well as classic tracks like Maggie May and that one from The
Office, Rod will be performing songs from his new album Stardust -
The Great American Songbook Volume III.
The American Songbook series has already sold millions of copies
worldwide, with Rod's renditions of well-loved standards going down
a storm in the States. It's better than working for a living.
The latest instalment is out in October, and Arena audiences will
be treated to songs such as Blue Moon - as a cockney who used to
pretend to be Scottish he may not be aware of the local
significance - What A Wonderful World, and S'Wonderful.
Don't worry if you miss the show, he'll probably be back again in a
couple of days.
MEN Arena, Monday
FRESH from their headline appearance at Glastonbury, Coldplay
show no sign of wavering from their unlikely position as kings of
British rock 'n roll.
While Oasis, playing at another football stadium nearby, attempt to
carry on flying the flag for loutish bad behaviour, Chris Martin's
band have managed to get to the top by whingeing.
Coldplay recently became the third British band - after The Beatles
and The Spice Girls - to have a single enter the US Top 10 singles
chart, when Speed of Sound came in at number eight in May.
Despite the single getting held off from the number one slot in
Britain by the Crazy Frog, third album X and Y went straight to the
top of the charts in the UK and US - where it dislodged Mariah
Carey from the top spot - as well as 20 other charts around the
world. It's also the second fastest-selling album since records
began in the UK.
Oh yes, and Chris Martin is married to a Hollywood actress - he's
even got a daughter with a stupid name, just like stars' children
are supposed to have.
So it does make you wonder what he's got to be so miserable
about.
Never trust a rock star who admits to not drinking or smoking, or
who comes out with lines like: "Playing music is better than doing
coke off a hooker's back! Which we don't do!"
A lover of banging on about his committed anti capitalist stance,
he gave himself a firm pat on the back by not letting Diet Coke or
The Gap use his songs on their adverts.
And this stance is, of course, why he's signed to a small grass
roots indie label like EMI, and why he insisted they brought his
new album out at a special reduced rate, and why he wasn't bothered
in the slightest by everyone downloading it for free.
Reebok Arena, Monday and Tuesday.
KATHRYN Williams' brand of understated folk music has been
receiving attention ever since she was nominated for a prestigious
Mercury Music Prize.
Her Sunday afternoon performance at this weekend's Swap Festival
should form the perfect antidote to the legendary raucous behaviour
of Shane MacGowan, appearing on Saturday.
Kathryn admits her music career began after graduating from fine
art college in Newcastle and finding little call for someone who
painted pictures of dogs in embarrassing positions.
Following the family tradition - her father was a folk musician and
her granddad was an orchestra conductor - Liverpool-born Kathryn
decided music was the answer and spent a year on the dole, writing
songs in bed.
After playing songs to friends in her bedroom, they booked a gig
without her knowledge. It went down well, and she was eventually
playing regularly, deciding to stick a collection of songs onto
hand-painted CDs.
She released her debut album, Dog Leap Stairs in 1999.
Although it was released on her own Caw Records label, she had
already struck up a relationship with rocker PJ Harvey, who
co-produced the record.
The next year's album Little Black Numbers won even more attention,
critical praise and that all-important Mercury nomination, and this
was followed up with Old Low Light, named after a building in North
Shields near her North East home, which appeared in 2002.
Relations, her album of cover versions including re-workings of
Leonard Cohen songs, was not as well received, but Over Fly Over, a
rockier album released earlier this year, has again critical
praise.
Although her music has traditional roots, she has not been afraid
to experiment with some unusual collaborations over the years,
particularly with electronic acts like Indian-born duo Badmarsh and
Shri.
She also recorded the Demons In Cases single with the electronic
act Pedro.
And her habit of releasing singles - unusual for a folk artist -
has also thrown her in a pop direction and won comparisons with
bands like Turin Breaks and Belle And Sebastian.
Academy 3, Sunday
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