Muse Night on Radio 1

Phenomenal. They always have been, still are and hopefully always will be.

MUSE.

I was fortunate enough to be involved in the creation on the Muse at Ten documentary for the Muse Night on BBC Radio 1, Monday 7th September, celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the band's Showbiz album.

Radio 1 is currently playing 5 hours of Muse highlights from the past decade and celebrating Muse's career, right from the start. As well as playing a whole hour of live music from their homecoming gigs in Teignmouth on the 4th&5th September.

The Muse at Ten documentary takes listeners through Muse's new purpose-built studio by Lake Como in Italy as the band tell the story of their progression towards and the making of the new album The Resistance.

To find out more about Muse Night visit the Radio 1 website

Taking Back Sunday, 4th August 2009, Heaven

Sometimes it's nice to go to a gig knowing that you don't have to review it and therefore won't be distracted by words rolling around in your mind, whilst you're desperately trying to soak up the atmosphere of the evening.

That was the plan, but apparently I cannot escape the floating sentences that cling inside my head and therefore you're being subjected to an ad-lib review, hurrah.

A gay club in central London is not typically where you'd expect to witness New Yorker's Taking Back Sunday perform, however a rushed sell out of the Camden Barfly compelled the band to upgrade venues, to the delight of many ticket-less fans and to the dismay of several others, who were expecting a much more intimate affair.

Following the release of their fifth album, aptly titled New Again, TBS flew over to play a mere 7 shows in the UK, whilst also making an appearance at the Kerrang! Awards the evening before gracing Heaven - their 6th consecutive visit to the ceremony despite not being nominated for anything - a fact bassist Matt proudly announces to the adoring London crowd part-way through the five-piece's set.

Heaven is surprisingly dingy given it's angelic name. As TBS stroll through their set, beginning with What's It Feel Like To Be A Ghost and throwing out the classics between a plethora of new tracks, water runs down the walls of the cave-like venue and fans bop about accordingly at the front of the club's tunneled structure.

New found guitarist Matt Fazzi is TBS's latest accessory to an ever growing list of band members and he adds a much heavier, atmospheric build up and impressive vocal talent to songs both old and new. Adam's vocals drown a little beneath the pounding sound of bass but his ever quirky mannerisms and incessant crowd sing-a-longs somewhat mask this.

Bringing the gig to a close with new track Swing, (arguably the best track from the new album) and ending on Make Damn Sure from their previous release, Louder Now, Taking Back Sunday prove that despite criticism their fan base is as strong as ever and (dare I say it?) they're ready to be new again.