It seems a tad pointless mentioning our top tip for November seeing as this show sold out in under 60 seconds. However, if you can or did manage to get your mitts on tickets for Royal Blood at the Cambridge Junction on the 8th then you’re in for a treat as the duo’s primal rock ’n’ roll thrill is one hell of a live show.
November seems to be the month of sold-out shows with Robert Plant and his new band The Sensational Space Shifters’ gig at the Corn Exchange on the 20th and Sam Smith on the 3rd at the same venue both selling out months ago. Intrigue is at the heart of Marika Hackman’s music but there’s something gloriously attainable about her as an artist and her commitment to touring and meeting with a receptive audience who are searching for the very same antidotes to the challenges of modern life. After releasing a series of hugely revered singles and EPs over the last year, Marika Hackman releases her debut full-length album, We Slept At Last, in February 2015. However before then Hackman undertakes her biggest headline tour yet this November, including a return to The Portland Arms on the 19th.
The rearranged Grandmaster Flash show at Cambridge Junction takes place on 7 November, whilst psychedelic pop wonders and Cambridge locals Violet Woods release their debut LP and play an album launch at The Portland on the same day. Violet Woods formed in Cambridge in 2011, stemming from the desire to explore sounds of 60s London psychedelia and Nuggets compilations.
Formed in 1975 in Dublin, The Boomtown Rats played their first UK shows with the Ramones and Talking Heads and fought the punk wars alongside the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam and The Stranglers. They made history as the first Irish band to have a UK number one hit with Rat Trap, and play Cambridge Junction on 3 November.
Indie pop royalty The Lovely Eggs at The Portland on the 20th is definitely a highlight this month. The Lovely Eggs are a pop band from Lancaster – husband and wife Holly Ross and David Blackwell (Ross was formerly the lead singer and guitarist in the girl band Angelica). The duo’s style takes in the tweest of 80s twee-pop and merges it with their warped take on indie.
Always popular in Cambridge, Simone Felice plays The Portland Arms on the 22nd. Simone Felice is a founding member (lyricist, vocalist, drummer and guitarist) of internationally acclaimed artists The Felice Brothers and The Duke & The King. In the past he has toured and worked with the likes of The Band’s Levon Helm, Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, Rick Rubin, The Avett Brothers and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Manchester legends James kick off their latest UK tour in Cambridge at the Corn Exchange on the 11th. James are behind some of the biggest hits of the last 30 years and have sold over 12 million albums worldwide. Their latest album La Petite Mort came out in June bringing with it more hits to add to the collection.
The Kooks released their eagerly anticipated new album Listen in September and now the band are hitting the road, including a show here at the Corn Exchange on the 18th. And having released their fourth album and headlined the second stage at the Reading festival earlier this year, Courteeners return to Cambridge Junction on the 18th.
Jordan Worland from local music website Slate the Disco rounds up his top gigs for October
October is a colossus month for live music in Cambridge, featuring critically acclaimed names, breakthrough acts of the year, returning favourites and a very special home town show. Our first tip for October is a mysterious duo whose Mercury Prize nominated album was one of the year’s most anticipated debut records. Jungle is based around a core musical duo of lifelong friends known simply as J and T, who expand to a thrilling seven-piece live, and make mesmeric, kaleidoscopic modern soul that’s unmistakably born in the UK but has true global appeal (their Platoon video has already racked up more than four million views). The album was met with widespread critical acclaim when released in the summer and Jungle’s show at the Cambridge Junction on 28 October is not to be missed.
New Jersey’s hazy indie rockers Real Estate play the J2 at Cambridge Junction on the 20th. Earlier this year Real Estate released their third album, Atlas. The most collaborative Real Estate record to date and one of the most acclaimed albums of the year, Atlas was written while cruising through the Arizona desert, during a press conference in Madrid, in a practice room in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and in an attic in the band’s home town of Ridgewood, New Jersey. The Real Estate show on the 20th is given extra appeal by Canadian fuzz-pop quintet Alvvays being confirmed as the support act.
Electronically inclined art-pop quartet Hundred Waters have announced their return to European shores with a 20-date headline tour this autumn. The UK leg of the tour includes a show here in Cambridge, at The Portland Arms on 21 October. The band released their sophomore record earlier this year and it was a triumph which featured increased attention to complex rhythms and lush textures buoyed by Nicole Miglis’s breathtaking, virtuosic vocals.
Also on the 21st, living legend and creator of some of the greatest guitar riffs of all time, Johnny Marr, returns to Cambridge. Marr’s Corn Exchange show coincides with the release of his second solo album Playland earlier in the month. October also sees the return of The Subways to Cambridge. Welwyn Garden City’s finest play The Portland Arms on the 29th.
The band has recently completed work on their fourth album, so expect some new ones to be road-tested alongside their better-known tracks. West Country folk singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seth Lakeman returns to Cambridge to play the Corn Exchange on 22 October. Lakeman is touring his latest album, Word of Mouth, an album on which he unearthed hidden histories and unsung heroes to commemorate in song from in and around his native Devon and Cornwall.
Nick Mulvey plays a home town show this month, and he has much to celebrate on his return to Cambridge Junction on the 17th. 2014 has seen Mulvey’s mesmerising debut album met with widespread acclaim and a Mercury Prize nomination, and this summer has seen him filling festival tents to bursting point, commanding huge audiences everywhere from Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage to Green Man and Bestival.
Finally, we end with a mention for this year’s Oxjam event. Taking place on Saturday 18 October, Oxjam Cambridge has a whole host of local acts covering a wide variety of different genres playing across five venues along Hills Road and Regent Street in the heart of town, with all profits from the event going to Oxfam.
Jordan Worland from local music website Slate the Disco rounds up his top gigs for September
It’s a busy month for live music in Cambridge, and we start with the news that Frank Turner – a man who has almost certainly played every music venue in Cambridge over the years – performs at the Corn Exchange on the 16th. A singer/songwriter from Winchester, Turner has released five EPs and five studio albums, including his latest, the critically acclaimed Tape Deck Heart. To date he has played over 1500 solo shows across the world, including a sold-out gig at Wembley Arena and the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony.
On the same date, Tom Hickox, who is considered one of the best original lyricists this country has produced in recent years, brings his sombre, elegant melodies to The Portland Arms.
Tenebrous Liar bring their heavy stoner rock instrumentals with tortured lyricism to Cambridge this month, playing St Philip’s Church on the 6th. The band is led by Steve Gullick who is known for his music photography, and is returning to Cambridge after his last visit in 2012. Also on the bill are indie-shoegaze gems Holden Girls; it’ll be their first Cambridge show in over a year and they will undoubtedly be bringing some new material. Completing the night are the swirling, dreamy pop outfit Seeds and Bones.
Singer-songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Ben Montague plays the Cambridge Junction J2 on the 6th. Montague is in his second spell as performer, having originally not been o ffered a record deal despite numerous radio plays with singles Haunted and Broken in 2010. A chance encounter in a petrol station led to Montague getting a second chance at music; expect accessible songs with a pop-rock crossover.
Once dismissed around their native Nottingham as ‘two skip rats with a laptop’, Sleaford Mods (pictured) have knocked all their detractors clear out of the way over the last 12 months. The mounting hysteria surrounding their 2013 album Austerity Dogs spread like wildfire and saw them topping many ‘end of year’ lists worldwide. Now Sleaford Mods mark the release of their follow-up LP, Divide And Exit, with a series of shows around the country, including one at The Portland Arms on 11 September.
Remember The Magic Numbers? After a bit of a break the four-piece band are back with a new album. Alias is the Mercury Prize nominees’ fourth album to date and is fi lled with the band’s signature vocal harmonies but with a darker, electrifying atmosphere that captures on record the infectious energy of their live performances. The band bring said infectious energy to the Cambridge Junction on 20 September.
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