Richard Swan

Soft Machine

The Astor Theatre, Deal Saturday, 17th March 2022 What a treat to see Soft Machine on their 2022 tour, particularly in the delightful Astor Theatre in Deal, a seaside town on the Kent Coast that’s almost as far east in…

Caravan

The Booking Hall, Dover Sunday, 20th March 2022 I seem to be on a roll of attending Canterbury Scene gigs recently, and my journey continues with Caravan at The Booking Hall in Dover, Kent’s newest independent music and arts venue,…

Fusion 3.5 Festival 2022

The Civic, Stourport on Severn Friday 4th March to Sunday 6th March 2022 Finally, the Fusion Festival, first planned for late March 2020 and postponed twice, returned triumphantly to this excellent venue in the Midlands after the two year pandemic…

Kaprekar’s Constant – The Murder Wall

Right then, grab yourself a coffee, or a glass of your favourite tipple, ’cause this is going to be a long one… This has to be my most hotly anticipated album for 2022, following Kaprekar’s Constant’s exceptional musical work of…

Big Big Train – Journey Of The Passengers

Hot on the heels of the release of Big Big Train’s 2021 album Common Ground, a new independently produced film documentary, centred on their most avid fans (affectionately known as ‘Passengers’), is released (starting) on 20th August 2021. I say…

Big Big Train – Common Ground

Big Big Train don’t really need reviews any more to sell records, such has been their trajectory in recent years, all down to their enormous hard work and dedication. Whenever they produce anything new, it flies off the shelves. It…

The Emerald Dawn - photo by Graham Stead

The Emerald Dawn / Spitdust

The 1865, Southampton Sunday, 18th July 2021 Gigs are back in all their former glory! Well, not quite… With the lifting of all Covid-19 restrictions in England on 19th July 2021, attending a gig at The 1865 in Southampton on…

Solstice

The Craufurd Arms, Milton Keynes Sunday, 27th June 2021 Just when bands could see the light at the end of the tunnel with the planned lifting of restrictions on 21st June, the light was dimmed until 19th July. At the time…

Nad Sylvan – Spiritus Mundi

In the real world, most good things come to an end. Fortunately, many of those good things are replaced by better things, or at least as good as they were previously. A couple of years back, Nad Sylvan released the…

Caligonaut – Magnified As Giants

There has a been a steady stream of quite excellent Norwegian releases in recent months, including new work from 35 Tapes and Professor Tip Top, as well as hugely popular re-releases of Airbag’s discography on super-duper vinyl. The Norwegians are…

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Author: Richard Swan