Jack White - Vote 1: Rock Star of the Decade

All kids want to grow up to be Rock Stars.

I don’t care what people actually say about wanting to be pilots or archeologists, or doctors or lawyers. Deep down, everyone wants to grow up to be a Rock Star. And deep down plenty of people grow up and, like me, still wish they were a Rock Star. If you don’t believe me go and have a look at the sales figures for Guitar Hero (1 to 57) and the demographics of who are playing it.

Unfortunately very few of us actually get to do it and maybe this is the reason why we all worship the ones who make it. As Paul Simon once sang, ‘every generation throws a hero up the pop charts’ and it is true that almost every decade someone rises above the masses and asks that eternal question; Are you ready to Rock?

It’s hard to say exactly where it all started but it is easy to say who first personified it – the King. Elvis took being a Rock Star to a whole new level. Over the following decades we had the Beatles and the Stones, followed by Zeppelin and the Clash. The 80’s were tough for rock but you still had AC/DC and Guns n’ Roses. Then there was of course Nirvana and Pearl Jam. But who has been our Rock God over the past decade?

I will put my vote forward as the unimpeachable Mr. Jack White.

My Morning Jacket - 19 June 2012, Tivoli Utrecht

Is that a morning jacket, or actually a cape?

Have you been told of a million different ideas for how to get over jet lag? I sure have, but I am not sure that I ever truly believed any of them, that is until I stumbled across the idea of seeing a band (in this case My Morning Jacket) that I love, having a couple of beers with a good mate and then passing out to sleep.

Interview: The Hilltop Hoods

This week VP Music was lucky enough to talk to MC Pressure, one third of Aussie hip hop legends The Hilltop Hoods about their upcoming European tour, what it’s like to be on the road and what they have install for Amsterdam later this year!

Billy Bragg at Paradiso, 23 May 2012

I don’t want to change the world, I’m not looking for a New Amsterdam….

Numerous times I have heard Billy Bragg be described as a political singer song writer. After seeing Billy perform again, I have formed the opinion that he is not a political singer song writer but rather a man with a conscience and genuine desire for a better society. Ok, he does not shy away from giving his opinion, but it is at least an informed opinion based on a lot of real thought, and couple that with passionate emotive songs, and you have one hell of an entertaining show in the making.

 

Musical Debate: Can a band be greater than the sum of its parts?

Part II – the debate

Disclaimer - the following argument came out of the Bowerbirds show (see review here) that we recently attended, but has turned into something much bigger. Any examples using the Bowerbirds should not be held against them and the one show of theirs that I have seen, they just happened to spark the debate. And with that, on with the show....

As any proud Greek will tell, it was Aristotle who first came up with the idea that a whole could be greater than the sum of its parts. And while most of us have might not have looked at the study of metaphysics all that closely, we have probably come across similar concepts in high school economics or that intro to philosophy subject that seemed like such a great idea in fist year uni.

But can the same, or at least a similar idea work for music? And more specifically can a band be greater than the sum of its parts when performing live?

Eric Bibb - 27 April 2012, Amstelkerk

Eric Sang the Blues

When you have the opportunity to see a Blues Legend playing in a 17th Century European Church, you have a certain vision of the show in your mind. Let’s just say from the start, that the Amstelkerk was not quite what I was expecting.

Bowerbirds, Paradiso 9 May 2012

Part I – the review

When it rains it pours, or so the saying goes and over the past couple of weeks in Amsterdam this has been true both meteorologically and with the number of good lives bands on offer. However this week and next things have really dried up on the live music scene, although unfortunately the same can’t be said about the weather.

With this in mind we did what had to be done and picked the band that sounded most familiar and took the gamble to get our weekly dose of rock and roll action. Or in this case perhaps folk rock action.

The band was the Bowerbirds, and they were described on their 4 line Wikipedia page as a folk band from North Carolina (which is in the United States, as was thoughtfully clarified by the bands keyboarder during the show). It appeared to be an accurate description, as a 5 piece band took to the small stage at Paradiso with a revolving combination of guitar, keyboard, drums, piano-accordion, violin and cello.