Headliners 2016

[Wooderson]

3 hours ago, strummer77 said:

Yeah actually was listening to 'Be My wife' the other day and thought how Blur-esque it sounded

Damon has often professed his love of "Low". He's a huge Bowie fan.

[Wooderson]

1 hour ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

There's a song on blur that's a total lift of boys keep swinging. Can't remember the title. 

 

 

[stuartbert two hats]

5 hours ago, HoTWire said:

Not to rant, because it achieves little, but seeing as this has been said.  I'll preface by saying I love Modern Life Is Rubbish.

Whilst Albarn et al are clearly influenced by Bowie's work at certain points I'm not sure how much Bowie would appreciate Albarn's work and his looking backwards for inspiration*.  If anything Bowie only ever looked forward (until The Next Day), choosing to reflect the present rather than slip into some kind of nostalgia for an age passed.  It is the thing that always bothers me when people say they are influenced by Bowie, and then go and make an album that sounds like the stuff Bowie would have made twenty or more year's ago.  That kind of wasn't the point.

Maybe the Brits tribute should be acts that would have excited him, new music, new sounds.  Of course this is very much not what the Brits is about (unless they are Brit school graduate)

 

 

*I could be very wrong and he'd love to have Coldplay and Blur collaborate on a rendition of Ziggy Stardust....

I'm going to start by saying that Bowie is the superior talent here, but I think you've got this wrong on two fronts. Firstly in understating how much of Bowie's output was a product of his influences and also I don't think you're giving Albarn enough credit.

Bowie would take direct influences from other acts+ genres then put his spin on it. Think of his Bolanesque singing on his earlier albums, the 50's tinged Drive In Saturday and the drum'n'bass sounds of the 90's.

Damon also tries to take influences from various places and to combine them into something new. Think of Mali Music where he put his own spin on the music from Mali, as Bowie did his take on soul music. Nowhere has this mashing of influences been more successful (to my ears) than on the last two Gorillaz albums. If anyone else can find me some indie-pop-rap-classical music without relying on R'nB tropes, I'd genuinely like to hear it. And they both wrote musicals - well Bowie tried, but didn't normally get them off the ground.

OK, Damon has directly ripped artists off in his songwriting more thing Bowie himself did, but it's probably pretty close if you note that Albarn does far fewer covers. I can't think of anyone else whose output is as similar in spirit to Bowie than Albarn. Obviously, nobody really comes close, but he's the next best I can think of.

[Lord Rooster]

2 hours ago, brettredmayne said:

Reading and Leeds announcing on Thursday so we may get a few more clues then. Always have a few exclusives in the line up.

Hoping that they announce Muse as a headliner to rule them out of Glasto but I'm guessing it'll just be the inevitable Foals headline/co-headline announcement with a few other acts?

[FloorFiller]

1 minute ago, Lord Rooster said:

Hoping that they announce Muse as a headliner to rule them out of Glasto but I'm guessing it'll just be the inevitable Foals headline/co-headline announcement with a few other acts?

think the general thought is that Foals will be the last headliner announced as they have their own shows to sell and are obviously the weaker of the headliners that could be announced (although nobody really seems to have an idea on who the headliner could be). it being Muse would be such a weight lifted, but i don't think it will be

[thewayiam]

13 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

think the general thought is that Foals will be the last headliner announced as they have their own shows to sell and are obviously the weaker of the headliners that could be announced (although nobody really seems to have an idea on who the headliner could be). it being Muse would be such a weight lifted, but i don't think it will be

You're not following Convoy on the Kanye shout then? It's not a lie that there is probably 2 years in about 7 I think just by thought that a Glasto header hasn't appeared at R&L the following year, 1 being just as it didn't happen and another Glasto had a fallow year but I would like to think and I reckon it would have been Foo's hands down should it have all gone to plan. It's probable that they have had RHCP for a long time booked, and I think they have turned down or chose not to have another bigger but cheaper act for a smaller combo in aid of getting something big. I agree with you on Muse, I don't think they'll be there and I think it'll be a big money option to justify them last two, which if we're honest now and I use Foals as I'm not sure what Discloure's seat sales were like, shouldn't really be doing that spot and aren't selling the tickets to prove it. Come on, they still have both seating sections to sell out and it's a 12.5k capacity venue. 

[Wooderson]

57 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

I can't think of anyone else whose output is as similar in spirit to Bowie than Albarn. Obviously, nobody really comes close, but he's the next best I can think of.

Great shout. Kate Bush another that comes to mind.

[FloorFiller]

could well be Kanye - new album out so i'm sure he'll want to promote it somewhere, and Reading seems like the only place he could really fit in. would make a hell of a lot more sense than Biffy anyway (although that then puts a question mark over what this 'handful' of festivals they'll be playing are)

[Amy Lawn]

Would go down to Leeds for the day if Kanye's there and there's no Manchester tour date. Might be getting myself into a crowd full of little shits though.

[FloorFiller]

Just now, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Would go down to Leeds for the day if Kanye's there and there's no Manchester tour date. Might be getting myself into a crowd full of little shits though.

would almost definitely be the case, although i saw him at Wireless where nobody in the crowd seemed to know any of the songs bar the stuff from College Dropout/Late Registration so i'd rather a crowd of shits who know the stuff rather than a crowd of bores waiting for the Gold Digger that never came

[Woffy]

5 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

Great shout. Kate Bush another that comes to mind.

Africa Express also deserves a mention in Stu's juxtaposition.

[Martin Ashford]

On 25/01/2016 at 9:23 PM, Will-2609 said:

Aren't you forgetting a certain female solo artist, Martin?

She is never far from my thoughts but I have to be realistic. My gut tells me they will offer her anything including free milk for life to play.

[dentalplan]

4 minutes ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Would go down to Leeds for the day if Kanye's there and there's no Manchester tour date. Might be getting myself into a crowd full of little shits though.

I would probably wait for tour dates or not bother at all tbh. With Kanye you get so many people there with little interest in the music and more interest in the man and what shit he'll get up to. Come to think of it, I want Muse to be announced to salvage the headline trio at Glastonbury, somewhat.

[Amy Lawn]

Just now, FloorFiller said:

would almost definitely be the case, although i saw him at Wireless where nobody in the crowd seemed to know any of the songs bar the stuff from College Dropout/Late Registration so i'd rather a crowd of shits who know the stuff rather than a crowd of bores waiting for the Gold Digger that never came

To be fair, I thought the pissed teenagers I got stuck with at Glastonbury were going to be nightmares, then they ended up being the sort of crowd that makes gigs great. Knew all the words (even the Cruel Summer stuff), danced the entire way though, very personable kids.

[Woffy]

5 minutes ago, Martin Ashford said:

She is never far from my thoughts but I have to be realistic. My gut tells me they will offer her anything including free milk for life to play.

She doesn't need it after appearing in the Got Milk ad campaign surely?*

 

 

 

 

*Why the fuck do I know this?***

 

 

 

 

 

***Just Googled the ad and watched the YouTube vid. In answer to my own question: The reason I remembered this advert is certainly NOT for any of the reasons the perverts among you might suggest. 

Edited January 26, 2016 by Woffy

[stuartbert two hats]

26 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

Great shout. Kate Bush another that comes to mind.

Fuck yeah. In fact you could argue that she's a more singular, less derivative artist than Bowie. Or maybe I'm just less familiar with her influences. By the way, I'm increasingly convinced that's why contemporary artists always seem less original than older ones, because we're more likely to have heard the records that inspired them.

[Purple aki squat]

6 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

He'd get Kate Moss to watch it for him.

I would

[Matt42]

Hypothetical suggestion

biffy are playing a handful of festivals

butt they aren't headlining them

[Gucci Piggy]

7 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Hypothetical suggestion

biffy are playing a handful of festivals

butt they aren't headlining them

Already been hypothetical-ed by people, but it 99% won't be the case. If R&L gave Blink a headline slot again in 2014 they'll still be giving Biffy headline slots. Even if they don't want them this year they wouldn't take sub slots and ruin their headline status there.

[eFestivals]

13 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

There's a song on blur that's a total lift of boys keep swinging. Can't remember the title. 

there's a song on 13 ('coffee & tv', is it?) which is a total lift of a Brian Eno track.

Do they have any original material?

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Now now then.  The most blatant Bowie larceny in recent years is clearly by LCD Soundsystem.

[stuartbert two hats]

56 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

That's the fellow.

Drunk Girls by LCD is also pretty similar.

Although to be fair, Boys Keep Swinging probably wouldn't have happened without this song:

 

 

Edited January 27, 2016 by stuartbert two hats

[HoTWire]

10 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

OK, Damon has directly ripped artists off in his songwriting more thing Bowie himself did, but it's probably pretty close if you note that Albarn does far fewer covers. I can't think of anyone else whose output is as similar in spirit to Bowie than Albarn. Obviously, nobody really comes close, but he's the next best I can think of.

That is a very well reasoned response.  Perhaps Albarn's greatest asset is what worked well for Bowie, picking people to work with that make you look as good as you can.  Of course Bowie also has his ability to pick up fashion and art movements pretty early which was part of his appeal as well.

Not to get on a "who is the spiritual successor to Bowie" divergence, because otherwise we'd be interupting the thrill a minute debates about biffy/muse/coldplay.  I'd suggest Beck was perhaps closer to the spirit of Bowie in terms of his approach, his experimentalism and his constant re-invention.  Also the quality of his output (both artists have variable output).

[sisco]

6 hours ago, Matt42 said:

Hypothetical suggestion

biffy are playing a handful of festivals

butt they aren't headlining them

Personally I don't think they should or will accept lower than headline spots, especially before the new album is out BUT the statement he has made does seem to contradict it! Not sure how they can be playing a handful of UK fests and headlining them all! 

IOW - Haven't booked their Saturday yet

V - They wouldn't would they?

R&L - Too soon?

Glastonbury - Didn't someone say they aren't deemed to be a headline band there

T - again too soon?? 

I suppose depending on the definition of a festival he could be meaning things such as Hyde Park (not sure why they would leave it so late) and Calling fest (NGHFB headlined it last year so could be a possibility).  Latitude and Bestival too maybe??  

Well that's cleared it up........

[stuartbert two hats]

19 minutes ago, HoTWire said:

That is a very well reasoned response.  Perhaps Albarn's greatest asset is what worked well for Bowie, picking people to work with that make you look as good as you can.  Of course Bowie also has his ability to pick up fashion and art movements pretty early which was part of his appeal as well.

Not to get on a "who is the spiritual successor to Bowie" divergence, because otherwise we'd be interupting the thrill a minute debates about biffy/muse/coldplay.  I'd suggest Beck was perhaps closer to the spirit of Bowie in terms of his approach, his experimentalism and his constant re-invention.  Also the quality of his output (both artists have variable output).

Yeah, l had also thought about Beck, but I've never found his stuff to have the same melodic strength as Bowie or Albarn.  The key thing that links the three is that their creativity primarily stems from combining existing styles rather than pushing a genre in a wholly new direction or creating a new one.  

Thinking about it, that's probably how virtually all innovation occurs - can anyone think of a counter-example? Not an artist without influences (impossible, I'd say), but where they're doing something other than simply combining styles? Kraftwerk maybe?

Edited January 27, 2016 by stuartbert two hats