Foals: Brighton Dome 8/11/10

Math-Rockers Foals brought their Mercury award nominated album Total Life Forever to Brighton this November. A combination of debut album Antidotes and the new record itself, led to a gig of thorough intensity, theatrics and a prime example of new musical genius.

As the band walk on stage, there is no acknowledgment of the crowd and calmly the band members don their instruments and it begins. Opener ‘Blue Blood’ is a relatively melancholic start to the night, this song, built on crescendo, acts as a prelude to the highlights of the rest of the evening. The hip-hop drums of ‘Miami’ come next offering up some energy to the crowd and the titular track ‘Total Life Forever’ another boost for the audience. A small offering of greeting comes from frontman Yannis, but nothing more for the rest of the night. A small breath for air is half-grabbed before we are plummeted into a combo of Antidotes favourites ‘Cassius’ and ‘Balloons’ and finally everything is calm, as what comes next is the pinnacle of the evening and of Foals discography, ‘Spanish Sahara’. This slow building epic acts as a centre-piece for the set, what begins as a few varied notes entwined with timid vocals gradually becomes an uncontrollable tornado of sound, an incredible feat, the crowd in awe.

The band return for an encore climaxing in the theatrical event of the season. During the finale - and early Foals classic - ‘Two Steps Twice’, Yannis not only climbs an amp, he then takes to the upper tier of the venue, guitar still in hand. Cool and collected he strolls around the upper level, still playing, and finally returning to the stage for a triumphant ending. An incredible live show, but the possible exclusion of lead single ‘This Orient’ a slight disappoint, otherwise it was remarkable.

Mumford and Sons: Brighton Dome 4/10/10

The crown kings of new-folk descended upon the south coast for a royal spectacular this week. The 'Gentlemen of the Road' is the name of the current tour, and the four men of Mumford and Sons were gentlemen indeed. As well as treating the audience to an incredible show, the four men showed just how polite they are too, asking if it 'would be ok to play a new song?' - of course it would Marcus - and later retracing the venues they've played in Brighton as if everyone was sitting up there with them, just having a chat.

The band began with familiar opener Sigh no More, four spotlights shine as the four, tweed-clad gents sing as one, as if they are singing a choral hymn. The audience is entranced, that is until that banjo comes in, and the Dome erupts with life. It is followed by favourite Roll away your stone and then we're introduced to 'the waltz' of Winter Winds which goes down well - although nobody really finds a partner for this waltz in this ballroom. A small while into the set and we reach my personal highlight of the night Timshel, it had never been one of my favourites on the album, but it is brought to life in concert. Again only four lights shine upon the men, their attention so intense, it feels like the band are making eye contact with everyone in the crowd, we dare not move, we dare not utter a single word as to ruin the spectacle.

A sigh, as everyone stops holding their breath, and slowly we are back into the fast paced, folk that we know and love. Small strings of light bulbs have been hanging from the ceiling, un-lit for the duration so far, that is until Little Lion Man. The light bulbs, the house lights, the stage lights, flash on. The audience looks at each other, new-born babies, basking in the light of the world for the first time, then plunged back into the darkness and the floor is alive. A new song, Lover of the Light follows, it's a lot more 'rocked' up from previous work, just as good, and I dare say, not a banjo in sight.

Before the obligatory encore, Dustbowl Dance brings a slow burning, wailing guitar-filled, short lived end to the show, before the band return for I Gave you All and the one we had all been waiting for, the ever so Mumford-y The Cave, all the classic instruments return for this compilation of everything we love about new-folk.

As well as being an incredible live band, I'm pleased that the band are just so polite; and i'm thankful for this, as the new-folk style has brought the band into the limelight like no other (A mercury prize nomination, countless festivals, ticket re-sale prices at £95), and it's still like they're playing in a pub, as if they don't even realise the scale of their success. We just have to hope that they never do.

Radiohead: Format error.

Before i start this small article, i would like to point out that Radiohead are the best band in the world. Period. But even i've had enough of bands trying to think of the new big idea, that doesn't involve the progress of their own music. In an essay for 'Index on Censorship' Colin Greenwood has written "We have just finished another group of songs," he wrote. "And have begun to wonder about how to release them in a digital landscape that has changed again.".

The band are incredibly talented and create some of the most intelligent, inventive and intriguing music ever made, but there's no need to take that ideal into the distribution of music. Sure, with the release of 'In Rainbows' in 2007, Radiohead made headlines with a pay what you like scheme for the album's release. It was clever, and no doubt got them more fans (as i'm sure for some it was pay nothing at all) . But, Thom Yorke and the rest of the Radiohead's need to stop thinking about how to be more foreward-thinking; and how to fast track the 'synergy' of music distribution. Just stop. The clever part is the music, let it speak for itself. Maybe i'm cynical about it, maybe i just don't do enough blue-sky thinking to see why the world needs one band to release an album, in a different format to everyone else, i like iTunes and cd's (yes i'm 17 and reminiscing about iTunes). But, i think the underlying issue is maybe, just maybe, Radiohead are scared. Perhaps they think the next album is not going to be as well received as everything before it (i pray it's not so), so they need something big, inventive and ever so Radiohead-y just to get in those reviews.

But, i'm a cynic, and i hope i'm wrong.

Itunes Festival: Biffy Clyro and Pulled Apart by Horses

In early May me and 3 friends got on a train headed for London Victoria, from there we were to get the tube to Hammersmith and that night witness 'The Biff' in all their glory. But, it was not the case, as upon reaching Gatwick airport we heard those immortal words: 'everyone, i left the tickets at the station'. It's not all bad though, i made the culprit buy me some dinner.

Still, that is quite annoying, so naturally, when i was at Glastonbury and heard the rumour that Biffy were to play a special guest slot on The Park stage on saturday night, i just had to get there, and thankfully they weren't just rumours (Chemical Brothers at the Stonebridge Bar, was a strong one. Somehow). What followed was a sweaty, injury filled 7 song set filled with some of the band's biggest hits, but it only left me wanting more. So when Itunes announced that Biffy Clyro were due to play the finale of their festival season at the roundhouse i knew i had to be there. After losing out on tickets for any of the gigs, every week, my chances were running low, but as that last glimmer of hope, Biffy started posting competitions for the last sets of tickets for the gig, and thankfully - to UK Under Current - i won tickets, and with the support turning out to be the much hyped Pulled Apart by Horses, i was just in the best of luck.

'Surely the greatest live band in Britain' says The Observer about Pulled Apart by Horses, so i was pretty hopeful about them. The Observer was not wrong. Maybe not the greatest live band in the UK, but these guys sure can play. Both lead singer/guitar Tom Hudson and lead guitar James Brown jump into the crowd at various occasions during the set, they similarly share a love for standing on top of 5ft amps and whipping out a hypnotic guitar solo. Favourites 'High Five, Swan Dive, Nose Dive' (preceded by high-fiving your neighbour, naturally), 'I punched a Lion in the Throat' and 'Hey Buddy' go down a storm, and when these guys leave the stage an air of awe lingers around the crowd as they haven't just played a gig, they have played a show.

As Zane Lowe put at the end of the original broadcast of Biffy's 'That Golden Rule': 'Terrifying!, is that what you wanted, Biffy Clyro fans, is that what you've been hoping for all week all day'. And it was everything i'd been hoping for, at Glastonbury it was still light and too hot and there was no real light show, but here, under a roof, with a light system and a relatively cool room, 'That Golden Rule' was absolutely astonishing. Followed by the light/sound-synchronized 'Living is a Problem' this opening duo of belters set the mood for the night, this crowd was definitely in store for something incredible. Highlights from 2007 album 'Puzzle' includes a monumental '9/15ths', a crowd pleasing 'Who's got a match' and my personal highlight of the night, an emotional solo acoustic version of 'Machines' from lead singer Simon Neill. 'Mountains' the song that got Biffy into the top 10 in the summer of 2008 brings a strong sing along as does 2009 album 'Only Revolutions' single 'Many of Horror'. Not to be outdone by their support band, members of the band lept down stage to see the fans, as well as facing the death defying amp-climb solo. Closing with an encore of 'Cloud of Stink' and the gigantic 'The Captain', these 3 boys from Kilmarnock leave us with torn shirts, trampled feet but most of all, the need to see them do it all again.

Definitely two of the most exciting bands in Great Britain, it's no surprise that Biffy Clyro have sold out arena dates in the winter. As for Pulled Apart by Horses, they're live shows will be picking up so much buzz you won't be able to miss them.