This week of gigs in London is dominated by the looming presence of the ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror event that takes place from Friday to Sunday at Alexandra Palace. It promises to be another excellent weekend, with particularly strong line ups on Saturday and Sunday.
The bill on Saturday is curated by Scottish post-rock titans Mogwai, and sees Stuart Braithwaite and co. headline with their only UK appearance of 2012. One of the best live bands on the planet (well, at least in this hack’s humble opinion) Dirty Three will take to the stage just before them to play from excellent current album Toward The Low Sun. The line-up also features the warmly-received return of Codeine alongside an appearance from Chavez and perennial ATP favourites Mudhoney. On the second stage Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat will play from last year’s beautiful Everything’s Getting Older album.
The following day sees a headline appearance from The Afghan Whigs, while it also marks the return of The Make-Up after several years away. Elsewhere, lower down the bill there’s a slew of smaller acts that should not be missed – Forest Swords, Demdike Stare and Blanck Mass in particular. It all starts on Friday with Slayer playing their Reign In Blood album in full with support from Melvins and Sleep.
Meanwhile, if at the end of 2012, Bloom by Beach House appears towards the top of several end of year album lists we won’t be surprised. It sees the band build on the progression offered with each of their previous three albums, merging their many qualities into what could prove to be their best yet. They play a show at Village Underground on Thursday. As expected, it sold out in minutes, but don’t worry – if you weren’t quick enough to claim tickets they’ll be back later this year for a date at the Roundhouse.
Gravenhurst are another band to have received acclaim this year for their The Ghost In Daylight album and they’ll be appearing at the Lexington on Tuesday. On the same night, just down the road the Scala welcomes sometime-Raconteur Brendan Benson to promote new album What Kind Of World. As if there isn’t enough appealing gigs taking place in that particular part of north London on Tuesday, CAMP Basement hosts a show by Japandroids.
There’s plenty happening on Wednesday, too. The Magentic North play from their debut album at Wilton’s Music Hall, Exitmusic promote latest album Passage at CAMP Basement with Halls supporting, and Mairi Morrison and Alasdair Roberts appear at the Slaughtered Lamb in support of Urstan.
Finally, two shows taking place on Sunday are worthy of attention. Husband and wife duo The Handsome Family play a show at the 100 Club while just a short distance away at the Borderline ex-Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble plays a solo show.
Other gigs taking place this week:
Monday
Gallon Drunk - Rough Trade East
Malcolm Middleton - Cargo
Choir Of Young Believers - Birthdays
Tuesday
Pond - Cargo
White Denim - Forum
Wednesday
Jonquil - Cargo
Elvis Costello - Royal Albert Hall
Thursday
Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Rough Trade East
Elvis Costello - Royal Albert Hall
Chris Abrahams - Cafe Oto
Friday
Gaz Coombes - Bush Hall
Saturday
Orcas, Rafael Anton Irisarri & Benoit Pioluard - Cafe Oto
Just announced:
This week saw the first announcement of the iTunes festival that will take place at the Roundhosue in September. Jack White and Norah Jones are amongst the first set of acts named to appear. More details here.
There was also another announcement from the organisers of the London Jazz Festival. Jim Hall, Esperanza Spalding, Neil Cowley Trio and the legend that is Mulatu Astakte will all play shows in London in November. Find out more here.
Other new gigs announced this week are listed below:
Doldrums - Birthdays - 1st June
Left Of Manila - Proud Galleries, Camden - 5th June
Dawes - Scala - 11th July
Ultravox - Hammersmith Apollo - 27th September
