The NME 1952 - 2015

The NME 1952-2015

As you know, the NME (New Musical Express) recently decided that their magazine should be available for free. With sales plummeting, general interest in the magazine declining and the usual suspects on the cover (I'm looking at you Alex Turner) a decision was made. It has given the magazine a chance to start afresh. Away from the days of endlessly assuring that Noel Gallagher must feature in every issue.

One good thing about it however which made it a desirable publication was the new bands section. Christened as the 'Radar' section, they did tip bands like Arctic Monkeys, The Vaccines, Oasis, Wolf Alice, Florence and The Yeah Yeah Yeah's for success early on in their careers and thus they haven't strayed too far from the magazines pages. However, when they got it wrong, they got it really wrong. Remember The Enemy? and The Pigeon Detectives? Even further back with the likes of Embrace, Shed 7 and Starsailor. When these bands failed to make the grade, the NME would shove them to the side with some crude remarks and a 5/10 album review (which in all honestly they probably deserved). 

Flicking through this new free NME, you just get a sinking feeling that the love of music has left the publication. And low and behold the first two pages of the first free NME are a tour poster advertising one of those bands they tipped for greatness The Libertines. A good start then. Looking at the contents nothing really grabs my attention, sure, the 'Radar' section is there but you're in for a nasty surprise when you reach it. Elsewhere we have a feature about The Big Bang Theory, an interview with Rihanna and a feature about Scottish trio Chvrches. A mixed bag then. They also have a feature entitled 'Things We Like' a mish mash of items that the people in the NME office apparently like. I doubt it. Why would you make a big deal of a magazine going free stating that "its packed full of things you want to read and - significantly - free" and then say oh yeah we really like these £90 trainers and we think you should go and buy them. They're missing the point a bit there. 

That nasty surprise about the 'Radar' section is that the NME of old would give new bands a chance to be heard. I remember they did a bumper edition of 'Radar' at the beginning of 2014 with big pieces on bands like Iceage and Eagulls. Now however 'Radar' is not about new bands its about "Best New Tracks, And when to drop them" on the title alone you know its not going to worth reading. Not a new band in sight. Eagles of Death Metal, Hurts and Carly Rae Jepsen are all in there with descriptions like "best for hip-shaking". It goes against what 'Radar' was all about. 

Who knows how long the NME will last now, twenty years down the line they might still be going strong and shifting lots of copies. There might be a journalism revolution by then and the NME could be completely re-branded again. Time will tell.

Rock Werchter Review: Part 4

Rock Werchter Review (Sunday)

As the sun peeks its head through the clouds, it bathes the festival site in sunlight and it's clear that the past three days have been one huge party. But there is still one day left and it turned out to be another day of superb sets. 

We begin with a stage change. British band The Vaccines are due on The Barn at half past three, but Jessie J cancelled her set on the main stage at the very last minute to the shock of some of the younger members of the audience. This meant that The Vaccines are now moved to the main stage. It's the second time the band are playing at Werchter and keen to impress once again, they begin with something new from their third album "English Graffiti". The song 'Handsome' is typical Vaccines, its fast paced, and simple setting up the set perfectly. Front-man Justin Young is another singer who puts on an accent when introducing his songs which some may not care about but it is rather irritating. Credit to him though as he is clearly a passionate front-man, regularly falling to his knees, showing emotion and walking around the stage so that both sides of the audience can see him. Their set is well polished but rarely shows signs of variety, Their songs have great live presence and they create a distinctly positive atmosphere among the audience. Songs like 'Wetsuit', 'If You Wanna' and 'Norgaard' all go down a treat as The Vaccines light up the main stage. 

It's a long wait for Kasabian who are the main support act for Muse's set when they headline later. They are the perfect warm up act and play a storming set albeit in front of a crowd who were there for Muse, but Kasabian are a sensational live band and this performance showed exactly that. After seventeen years of experience you would expect Kasabian to have mastered the art of live performance, and you'd be right. They also have such range in their songs, from the bombastic "Bumblebeee" to the nod back to the 90s rave scene "Treat" (a sound which Kasabian said inspired their recent album 48:13) and the song that gave them their unique and commanding sound "Club Foot". As well as their own songs, Kasabian couldn't resist throwing in a couple of covers including 'People Are Strange" by The Doors which they cleverly added in to then end of "Thick As Thieves" and before their final hurrah they dedicated "Praise You" by Fatboy Slim to the days headliners Muse which led them perfectly in to set closer "LSF". They did find it hard to get the crowd going but eventually they fell under their spell of bullish rhythms and began emulating front-man Tom Meighan's dancing on stage.