Stereolab take the stage to a ripple of applause, a muted welcome that belies the band’s perennial success. It makes me reflect on how many years Stereolab have been creating music and how they are still playing to medium-sized audiences, why they aren’t filling a stadium by now? It also makes me wonder why so many people apparently come to see a band play a gig and spend half the night having loud conversations, as an almost-constant murmur threatens to drown out the quieter passages of music. Despite my pensive mood the audience’s reception to Stereolab’s songs is completely positive, particularly when some of the older tracks are played. Continue Reading

Mobile phone operator O2 has announced a £22.5m deal with music promoters Live Nation to sponsor 11 music venues across the UK including the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

The five year deal will see Academy-branded music venues in Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Oxford, Sheffield and Leeds rebranded as O2 Academy.

A number of the venues, which will be rebranded from January 1, have previously been sponsored by Carling.

This deal with Live Nation certain increases 02’s association with live music, coming off the back of their rebranding of the Millennium Dome and the Wirless Festival in Hyde Park.

The company will use the Academy deal as a vehicle to extend its successful priority tickets service for customers attending events at The 02 to venues across the UK.

O2 is today launching a £6m ad campaign highlighting the advantages of the service for gigs.

“Our customers tell us that they really value having priority access to tickets at The O2 so we want to bring this benefit to even more customers,” said Ronan Dunne, the chief executive of Telefonica O2 UK.

“The O2 Academy venues are a hugely important part of the UK’s music scene,” Dunne added.

Hmmmmm… good news for the live music scene? Or another corporatisation of an already dying scene?

To celebrate the release of the Eels’ Blinking Lights and Other Revelations 4 LP deluxe vinyl limited edition the band is giving away a 4 song EP download for one week.

The free EP contains songs from the exclusive Manchester 2005 album, which is only available on vinyl as part of the Blinking Lights deluxe edition, but you can download the EP regardless of ordering the cash-in. Anyone who wants the EP can have it! Simply enter a valid email address and follow the link from the email for easy download. The MP3s will play on any iPod, MP3 player or computer. The live album is only available on vinyl as part of this limited edition. It will not be released in any other formats.

Download the free EELS MANCHESTER 2005 EP here.

Well, what better to dismiss the Monday morning gloom that to give away free stuff!

We’ve got a pair of tickets to see TLOBF favs Metronomy at London’s ULU on the 31st October.

If you’ve not seen our review, pop along to here to see what you’re missing out on.

Anyway, all you have to do is send an email to mailshot@thelineofbestfit.com with “I Want A Night Out With Metronomy” in the subject line, and we’ll pick one person at random.

The competition will close on Friday!

And, don’t worry, if you’re not a fan of Metronomy, we’ve got a pair of tickets for Okkervil River to give away next week!

Photos by Valerio Berdini

Majestic. Triumphant. Brilliant. Words that are repeatedly misused by the Broadsheets when describing mediocre acts on a good night. When these words are then needed to describe music that is so wonderful, so entertaining and sometimes moving, their effect is diluted, dimmed by their overuse. Elbow deserve all these accolades and more. Here is a band riding the crest of a wave. Fresh from winning, a much deserved, Mercury Music Prize, the first night of their full UK tour is a resounding success. Guy Garvey could possibly be one of the best front men in modern music - a humble man with an understated voice and the skill to write some of the best one-liners around.
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