My most memorable concert in Brisbane was most definitely Muse who played at the Riverstage. When I heard they were coming to perform in London again, I definitely had to see them and booked tickets for this Thursday just gone, way back in August. The venue for the night was Wembley Arena, a large, well lit modern looking building that looks dwarfish compared to the towering Wembley Stadium it stands next to.

I found Wembley Arena on par with the way that Earl’s Court is set up for concerts, with a wide rectangular standing area surrounded by seating on all sides. We had tickets for seats to the right of the stage, but as expected, no many people were sitting down once Muse started playing.

Thursday’s performance was impressive, though I cannot say it outshone their performance in Brisbane. Their set drew upon a lot from their new album, Black Holes and Revelations, and included many popular ones from their previous albums. Their dark, electro rock easily filled the venue and band front man, Matthew Bellamy, really stood out on stage wearing a bright red suit. I found the visuals and lights spectacular, the videos perfectly timed and the balance between their heavier and lighter, but still as spine tingling songs was well maintained.

It was a great evening, made even by the fact that getting home from Wembley ended up a lot faster than I thought it was going to be.

TheKua.com Rating: 7.5 out of 10

In November 2004 the lead singer of The Vines (Craig Nicholls) announced he had Asperger’s Syndrome (a form of autism). Many music sources believed that it would be a while until they did any touring, if at all. I feel especially fortunate then that they have started once again, and that I bought some tickets for their London gig on Tuesday night.

They performed at The Forum in Kentish Town, a very appropriate setting to see any rock band perform. The Forum is a decently sized venue with two floors (the second with seating), but the best part is downstairs where it is easy to get a good view of the stage.

The Vines played a great number of songs from both of their albums, Highly Evolved and Winning Days, and a handful of songs from their soon-to-be-released album, all of which the audience completely lapped up. We stood downstairs, close to the front and right on the edge of the frenzied crowd that moshed almost all night long. A huge number of people even got into the crowd surfing, and though I didn’t count exactly how many people security lifted and escorted out, it would have been easily over 30! I thought The Vines performed extremely well and I was thoroughly impressed in the encore when they got the entire crowd singing with them to their cover of Outkast’s Ms Jackson song.

TheKua.com Rating: 7 out of 10

The number of bands that come and perform in London still really impresses me, and even though it is sometimes difficult to get ticket, the shows are always worth it. Last night I managed to catch yet another impressive performance by the John Butler Trio. Their support act was very impressive and really got the crowd involved in their rootsy-rock songs, but I unfortunately did not catch their name.

It wasn’t long before the John Butler Trio graced the stage and performed a set that easily went on for at least two hours. A large contingent of fans obviously came along that night, singing along with their well known songs, and the excellent number of solos and improvised versions of their songs resulted in several standing ovations through the night. One fan was so overwhelmed that he even lept on stage at the end of the night to shake hands with the band before security promptly separated him from a recoiling John Butler.

They played a large number of songs from their now classic album, Sunrise Over Sea and performed several from a newer album soon to be released. The quality of each performer really shone, with John Butler himself an excellent example, managing to perform a percussion and guitar duet all alone by wielding several parts of his guitar at the same time.

The Kua.com Rating: 8 out of 10

With four sold out concerts in a row at one of the biggest venues inside Central London, I knew the Red Hot Chilli Peppers would be performing one great show. The tickets for Monday night were not cheap – in fact, were by far the most expensive concerts tickets I’ve paid so far, but managing to score standing tickets was completely worth the money, with a solid performance lasting just over two hours.

Anyone who has been to a concert at Earl’s Court will tell you how different the experience would be if you are standing (in effectively this case, one big giant mosh pit), or sitting where you get an overall better but more removed view of the stage. I’m not sure how many people were in the standing section, but certainly the waves of people trying to squeeze into every available space made it a little claustrophobic at times, but at least the cool air pumped into the crowd helped to bring some relief.

The set was a good mix of songs from their current amazing double album, Stadium Arcadium, and a brief selection from a number of their other albums. Some came from some of their early albums and helped to whip all their long term fans into quite a frenzied audience. The band even performed a small cover of the Bee Gee’s “How Deep Is Your Love” that the audience surprisingly lapped up.

The visuals for the night centred around four screens that moved around in various configurations, a set of six or seven hubs of lights that looked like mini UFOs and a set of horizontal bar lights covering the entire back of the stage that then reached across most of the standing audience. The screens played some awesome animations and merged at times to form one giant widescreen to show some of the incredible guitar duets or solos played throughout the night.

I have no idea what it is, but the ability of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to continue to produce quality rock music over so many years is a testament to their talent and I found their live performance easily matched anything you could find on their album.

The Kua.com Rating: 8 out of 10

One of the great things about London is that sometimes good things from back home come over to visit, such as Lior. Last night was the third time that I’d seen this Sydney-based song writer and artist, and it was great to see that his popularity reaches across the globe (okay, well with many other Aussies who happen to be living across the other side of the world). The event was held at The Spitz, one of the smallest venues I’ve been to so far, but was a great atmosphere easily filled with 200-300 of his fans as well as new listeners of his amazing vocals and music.

He started with his two most popular songs, Autumn Flow and Daniel and interweaved a number of newer songs with a number of his very popular songs from his album. Lior enjoys interacting with the crowd, and last night was no exception with a number of close tales and jokes shared along the way. I think everyone was very impressed by his performance, all amazingly acoustic and stunned by the vocal range he achieves when he performs. He even tried to get the crowd involved with his Superficial song but I think failed to evaluate the (lack of) talent in the crowd – after all, we are there to listen to him. He finished the night off with his hauntingly stunning song, Grey Ocean and finished off with a Hebrew prayer.

TheKua.com Rating: 8 out of 10

I just got back from watching Pete Murray perhaps at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Out of the number of venues I have been to in London so far, this is one of my most favourite since it is relatively intimate and close to where I live. Pete Murray’s concert was announced a while back and sold out quite quickly. He soon announced another one, to which I fortunately got tickets to go and see.

I remember when Ben invited me to see Pete Murray at The Rev, a much smaller and even more intimate venue in Brisbane. I was impressed with his tunes back then, and it was just before he got really big. The next time I saw him play was two months later where he played for a massive crowd at Splendour in the Grass after which his then album, Feeler, rocketed through the charts.

His latest album, See the Sun, has seen the same success as his previous, and as of this writing, currently one of the top ten albums in Australian charts. This album is filled with the same husky vocals and acoustic guitar sounds as his previous album but the tunes and lyrics tend to take a more summery and brighter feel.

Tonight’s concert was a good mix of good and old, starting with a classic and finishing with a classic all backed by another awesome band, The Stonemason’s. The venue was completely packed out with a good mix of English, Canadian and other antipodean people all taken by the set lasting for almost an hour and a half. Pete himself seems fairly timid, unlike your typically flamboyant rock star, but he still manages to play a mean song.

Definitely one of the best gigs I’ve been to this year!