Mildlife at Patterns / Brighton next Monday 
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Saw Phoenix last night at the inaugural night of Primavera Sound (a standalone event which costs 10€ as opposed to circa 250 for the rest…) Not too sure what I expected of Phoenix - I remembered liking one or two bits about 20-25 years ago in the post-Touch haze (+ Coco used to cane everything is everything on the blue room) but it felt strangely flat. I felt like one of the oldest there. Everyone seemed in their early 30s, though vibe wasn’t as as touristy as the stereotype. Even though entry was very cheap not sure I can handle corporate festies on concrete anymore with massive drinks queues and jostling and 15€ burgers and all the rest. Maybe some gear would’ve helped but wasn’t that kind of night. We were probably a bit deflated too as my missus lost her job literally an hour beforehand and debated whether to even go. But I guess you have to maximise everything.
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I had no idea, might try and sneak it in
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They played Patterns two years ago, was a great set. Be good to say hello if you make it
Some decent free stuff coming up in Hyde Park including Norman Jay and Spirit of Sundaze
BST Hyde Park | Open House (bst-hydepark.com)
Some way off but Necks European tour confirmed in Nov 
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If anyone up North fancies seeing Grace Jones at the Piece Hall in Halifax. Tickets are available from TravelZoo for £25, which is a lot less than the £72 I paid 
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Good tip. Do they often have discounted deals on concert tickets? never come across that site before
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Its a stunning venue, one of the best I’ve been too.
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Yeah it is an amazing venue. Sound is always good and it is pretty stunning when the sun goes down over the hills behind the stage. I’ve got tickets for Grace, Air and Underworld this summer.
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Looking forward to this
Moritz Von Oswald Trio - The Jazz Cafe (thejazzcafelondon.com)
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That sounds like a Documentary The day Grace Jones came to Halifax
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In town that weekend so probably this 
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Grace Jones in Stockport. Near enough.
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I wonder if she plans on popping into the indoor market next door
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I went to see Devonte Hynes at the Sydney Opera House. Here’s a review I wrote
Producer, performer, and polymath Devonte Hynes first graced Australian shores in 2011 as indie darling Lightspeed Champion. Further tours under his electronic R&B moniker Blood Orange were cancelled in 2017 and again in 2023, so the announcement of Dev’s inclusion on the lineup for Vivid 2024 was met with great enthusiasm by fans of the East London-born artist. Upon arrival at the Opera House, it was evident that the crowd consisted heavily of Dev-otees who were there to take whatever journey Hynes had in store for us.
In recent years, Hynes has turned his genius to the world of classical composition, both for film and for orchestral performance. A series of concerts with master minimalist Phillip Glass and scoring the film Palo Alto were Hynes’ first forays into composing, which has seen him on a journey that the Sydney audience became a part of tonight. Emerging to rapturous applause, the shy, humble Hynes sat quietly to introduce the crowd to the evening with a gentle composition that quieted the Opera House’s main hall to near complete silence.
As his piano was rolled off into the wings, with Hynes accompanying, we were introduced to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the guidance of charismatic conductor Matthew Lynch, who then performed the lengthy but enthralling Naked Blue, a piece filled with grace and tension. As I listened to the dynamics and undulating melodies, I could hear snatches of Hynes’ methodologies under his previous guises in a new form.
After an interval that was spent out on the Opera House courtyard, taking in the brilliant lights of Vivid, we took our seats for the first duet with Hynes’ friend and collaborator, Adam Tendler. Tendler bounded onto the stage with a huge smile and jubilant energy before taking his seat at a second piano that faced Hynes. As the two began performing The Longest Ride, a piece Hynes wrote for the 2020 coming-of-age drama television miniseries We Are Who We Are, I couldn’t take my eyes off Adam Tendler’s physicality while playing. His was the robust foil for Hynes’ hypnotic circular motifs, with Tendler rising from his seat at times to give extra emotional energy to his enthusiastic performance. Enveloped in the piece, switching from ecstatic joy to deep-seated reverence, Tendler and Hynes kept a telepathic communication open throughout via acknowledgement, encouragement, and respect. It was a joy to witness.
Hynes exited once again, allowing Adam Tendler to take center stage accompanied by the SSO for Happenings, another display of physicality by Adam with a section spent under the piano lid, strumming and striking strings, banging and knocking on wood panels, before he emerges triumphant at the finale to rapturous applause.
Hynes walks back onto the stage and, sans mic, asks, “Can you all hear me?” He thanks the audience for taking the journey with him via music previously unheard on Australian soil, an acknowledgement signaling that he is aware that the majority of the crowd has arrived knowing his pop productions and not his classical leanings. I get the sense that everybody in attendance is completely on board with anything Hynes has to offer, aware that we are witnessing yet another stage in the remarkable evolution of a truly unique 21st-century artist.
We are treated to one more piece of music performed by Hynes and Tendler, a work written by misaligned, misunderstood queer black composer Julius Eastman, handled with tenderness and poignancy by the two musicians, and a perfect way to end a night of music that was a privilege to experience.
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Here are a few more bits of video I took from that Art of Noise gig last weekend, seeing as there was some love for the “Buffalo Gals” clip I posted.
Paranoimia, Moments in Love, Close to the Edit, Beat Box… oh, and Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik joining in for Owner of a Lonely Heart and Kiss… a very special gig!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4UM4sl1O4c5OGpJhqtG714MbKSx_WA9-
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