Tag Archives: Mumford &Sons

Mumford & Sons, Ben Howard + Haim at Barclays Center

Posted on February 13, 2013 | 1 Comment

Mumford & Sons

It was a moment of music magic: Mumford & Sons ended their set at the Barclays Center tonight with Haim and Ben Howard, the band’s opening acts, who joined in for a rendition of The Weight, in tribute to the late Levon Helm. It’s the same tribute the group was part of at the Grammys this past weekend – only this time the song was performed a lot more relaxed and free-flowing.

Fresh from their big Album of the Year win on Sunday, Mumford & Sons took to the stage of the Barclays Center to perform the second of their two sold-out shows at the Brooklyn venue. Lead singer Marcus Mumford (or as I now like to call him, Mrs Carey Mulligan) looked a bit lost for a moment before Little Lion Man, offering this explanation: “Sorry, we’re a little dazed. We had a mental weekend.” Tiredness aside, the band played their spirited, banjo-driven hearts out, with Marcus’ vocals soaring to the heights of Jay-Z’s venue, which had been turned into a giant back garden of sorts, complete with hanging fairy lights from the ceiling.

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For their encore, the band popped up at the back of the arena to surprise the audience by doing “a quiet one”, which would’ve worked had some members of said audience not been totally intoxicated, shouting out “we can’t hear you” and “louder!” as the band tried to turn the giant venue into an intimate campfire. 

Opening acts Ben Howard and Haim did their best to try win over a crowd that was clearly there for the Sons. But a nice word from Marcus, telling the audience that Haim is “the best band in the world right now” and to go buy Ben’s record should set those not-yet-fans on the path to redemption.

Find the set list here. 

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And the 55th Grammy Nominees are…

Posted on December 6, 2012 | Leave a comment

 

The period between the 1st of October 2011 and the 30th of September 2012 seems to have been a good year for male artists and a good one for rock music too. 6 of the top nominees, with 6 nods each, are men, and 4 out of the 5 albums up for Album of the Year are from acts considered to be rock. Here, then, are some of the nominees competing for honours in February 2013…plus a special one for South Africa at the end!
Super thrilled for Alabama Shakes scoring a Best New Artist nod too!

Album of the Year:
El Camino — The Black Keys
Some Nights — FUN.
Babel — Mumford & Sons
Channel Orange — Frank Ocean
Blunderbuss — Jack White

Record of the Year:
“Lonely Boy” — The Black Keys
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” — Kelly Clarkson
“We Are Young” — FUN. Featuring Janelle Monáe
“Somebody That I Used To Know” — Gotye Featuring Kimbra
“Thinkin Bout You” — Frank Ocean
“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” — Taylor Swift

Best New Artist:
Alabama Shakes
FUN.
Hunter Hayes
The Lumineers
Frank Ocean

Song of the Year:
“The A Team” — Ed Sheeran, songwriter (Ed Sheeran)
“Adorn” — Miguel Pimentel, songwriter (Miguel)
“Call Me Maybe” — Tavish Crowe, Carly Rae Jepsen & Josh Ramsay, songwriters (Carly Rae Jepsen)
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” — Jörgen Elofsson, David Gamson, Greg Kurstin & Ali Tamposi, songwriters (Kelly Clarkson)
“We Are Young” — Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost & Nate Ruess, songwriters (FUN. Featuring Janelle Monáe)

Best Pop Solo Performance:
“Set Fire To The Rain (Live)” — Adele
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” — Kelly Clarkson
“Call Me Maybe” — Carly Rae Jepsen
“Wide Awake” — Katy Perry
“Where Have You Been” — Rihanna

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance:
“Shake It Out” — Florence & The Machine
“We Are Young” — FUN. Featuring Janelle Monáe
“Somebody That I Used To Know” — Gotye Featuring Kimbra
“Sexy and I Know It” — LMFAO
“Payphone” — Maroon 5 & Wiz Khalifa

Best Dance/Electronica Album:
Wonderland — Steve Aoki
Don’t Think — The Chemical Brothers
> Album Title Goes Here < — Deadmau5
Fire & Ice — Kaskade
Bangarang — Skrillex

Best Rock Performance:
“Hold On” — Alabama Shakes
“Lonely Boy” — The Black Keys
“Charlie Brown” — Coldplay
“I Will Wait” — Mumford & Sons
“We Take Care of Our Own” — Bruce Springsteen

Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance:
“I’m Alive” — Anthrax
“Love Bites (So Do I)” — Halestorm
“Blood Brothers”— Iron Maiden
“Ghost Walking” — Lamb Of God
“No Reflection”— Marilyn Manson
“Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)” — Megadeth

Best Rock Album:
El Camino — The Black Keys
Mylo Xyloto — Coldplay
The 2nd Law — Muse
Wrecking Ball — Bruce Springsteen
Blunderbuss — Jack White

Best Alternative Music Album:
The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do — Fiona Apple
Biophilia — Björk
Making Mirrors — Gotye
Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming — M83
Bad as Me — Tom Waits

Best R&B Performance:
“Thank You” — Estelle
“Gonna Be Alright (F.T.B.)” — Robert Glasper Experiment Featuring Ledisi
“I Want You” — Luke James
“Adorn” — Miguel
“Climax” — Usher

Best Urban Contemporary Album
Fortune — Chris Brown
Kaleidoscope Dream — Miguel
Channel Orange — Frank Ocean

Best R&B Album:
Black Radio — Robert Glasper Experiment
Back to Love — Anthony Hamilton
Write Me Back — R. Kelly
Beautiful Surprise — Tamia
Open Invitation — Tyrese

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration:
“Wild Ones” — Flo Rida Featuring Sia
“No Church in the Wild” — Jay-Z & Kanye West Featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream
“Tonight (Best You Ever Had)” — John Legend Featuring Ludacris
“Cherry Wine” — Nas Featuring Amy Winehouse
“Talk That Talk” — Rihanna Feautring Jay-Z

Best Rap Performance:
“HYFR (Hell Ya F***ing Right)” — Drake Featuring Lil Wayne
“N****s In Paris” — Jay-Z & Kanye West
“Daughters” — Nas
“Mercy” — Kanye West Featuring Big Sean, Pusha T & 2 Chainz
“I Do” — Young Jeezy Featuring Jay-Z & André 3000

Best Rap Album:
Take Care — Drake
Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1 — Lupe Fiasco
Life Is Good — Nas
Undun — The Roots
God Forgives, I Don’t — Rick Ross
Based on a T.R.U. Story — 2 Chainz

Best World Music Album:
Folila – Amadou & Mariam
On A Gentle Island Breeze – Daniel Ho
Jabulani – Hugh Masekela
The Living Room Sessions Part 1 - Ravi Shankar
Traveller – Anoushka Shankar

For the complete list, head on over to grammy.com

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Entertainment Express: The Lone Ranger, Solange Knowles, Mumford & Sons, Punk in Africa, David Blaine

Posted on October 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

 
* The first teaser trailer for the big-budget flick The Lone Ranger has arrived – featuring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and Helena Bonham-Carter.

* Solange Knowles shot her latest music video, for the track Losing You, in Cape Town, South Africa, in which she hops into a taxi, dances with Sapeurs and amuses a gogo (granny).

* Mumford & Sons’ follow-up album, Babel, has scooped the biggest coup on the Billboard charts so far this year – debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200, with 600 000 copies sold in its first week. That puts the British banjo-rockers’ album ahead of Justin Bieber’s Believe, which up until now had the largest debut of the year in the US.

* David Blaine will attempt his latest stunt in New York on Friday when he plans to stand on a 20-foot-high platform for 72 hours without food amid an artificial lightning storm. It’s best not to ask why.

* Punk in Africa, a documentary about the music genre in South Africa, from the time of the Soweto Uprising and beyond, Zimbabwe and Mozambique premieres at the New York Film Festival tonight.

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In Search of Grammy Glory

Posted on February 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Drake. Justin Bieber. Florence&the Machine. Mumford&Sons. Esperneza Spalding. These are the artists vying for one of the most coveted awards at this year’s ceremony: Best New Artist. Some have better odds than others (keyword here: he’s recently taken to wearing purple glasses) but I am rooting for Flo or the Sons of Mumford…not sure the rooting’s going to go very far!

I am also rooting for another set of musicians. While South Africa might not have anything to look forward to at the Oscars, this year’s Grammys hold the possible chance of glory for Soweto Gospel Choir, already a two-time Grammy-winning group. Their latest album, Grace, is up for Best Traditional World Music Album. It’s competing against Pure Sounds from Gyuto Monks Of Tibet; I Speak Fula by Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba; Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté’s Ali And Toumani and  Tango Universal by Vayo. The choir’s strongest competition, I would say, comes from Ali and Toumani as the album is the second and last one that features the pairing of the late guitarist with the kora player and it has been incredibly well-received.

With some of the choir members after their win in March ’08           Pic: Neil McCartney

The choir is one of the artists listed in LA Weekly’s blog of Top 10 Under-the-Radar Grammy Artists You Should Know. Although, having collaborated with everyone from Bono to Peter Gabriel and Robert Plant (and everyone who performed at the World Cup Kickoff Concert last year!), together with numerous world tours, I think they’re a lot more known across the seas than imagined.

Longtime choir member Shimmy Jiyane and co-producers Zwai Bala and Robin Hogarth will be representing South Africa at the ceremony.

The Grammys take place this Sunday the 13th of February in Los Angeles. Co-incedentally, so too do the Baftas – only they’re in London.

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