Articles by Michael Barron

The number of biographies and autobiographies of artists is colossal, but what makes Sound within Sound unique is the largely unknown contributions of the ten twentieth-century artists Kate Molleson has featured. The one thing all […]

This twenty-first-anniversary edition of Know Your Enemy doesn’t feature the LP in its original track order. Instead, the first set of songs under the title of Door to the River feature, to use laypeople’s terms, […]

The Divine Comedy’s five-night residency at the Barbican was initially billed for October 2020 to celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary. The Irish chamber pop band would chronologically play their first ten LPs back to back. […]

All Points East opened with Gorillaz headlining. Eight days in XS Noize caught up with The National, who were joined on stage by Fleet Foxes frontman Robin Pecknold. XS Noize also returned with headliners Nick […]

All Points East only started in 2018, and in less than five years, it has become a ten-day festival catering to 40,000 music lovers daily. The first-day headliner was Gorillaz, where Alina Salihbekova captured some […]

This ninth Muse offering makes a departure from their previous venture, Simulation Theory, where the rock trio stepped into a metaverse. Now, Muse confronts the tumultuous global reality on Will of the People. Whilst Muse […]

If there ever was a gig that reminded you of the time and the place a gig was played, this Flogging Molly gig was one of them. Despite the record-breaking scorching summer heatwave, gig goers […]

The Rolling Stones couldn’t cut it as a six-piece, yet this sextet’s debut album Deep Down Happy entered number two in the album chart and was nominated for the 2020 Mercury Music Prize. For this […]

Midnight Oil go back a long way, with a career spanning just shy of five decades. The Australian rock band played many London venues that are no more, including ZIG Zag Club, which closed its […]

Following a six year hiatus, Kula Shaker returned this year with their sixth album, 1st Congregational Church Of Eternal Love And Free Hugs, which is probably their best to date and fuelled excitement amongst fans […]

2022 is a year of poignant anniversaries for the Rolling Stones. This Hyde Park gig, their second of 2022, occurred exactly 53 years after the Rolling Stones founder and guitarist Brian Jones died, and July […]

When Tom Jones kicked off the 2022 Live at Chelsea festival at the Grade, I listed Royal Hospital Chelsea, the weather couldn’t have been more idyllic for the series of open-air concerts in the courtyard. […]

As late as 2018, when Porcupine Tree frontman and founder Steven Wilson was asked about the band’s chances of reunion, he responded, “Honestly, I would say zero… I’m proud of the catalogue; it’s there, it […]

When Tom Jones opened the first of 2022 Live at Chelsea in the open-air courtyard concerts, he had perfect weather where all eyes could be on the stage instead of up in the sky out […]

In 2019 XS Noize was invited to Meltdown, the world’s longest-running artist-curated festival. A series of live events, including Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Johnny Marr and Mystery Jets, was curated by Nile Rogers. Grace Jones […]

The Grade I listed Royal Hospital Chelsea has now been the home of the Chelsea Pensioners for 330 years. The hospital receives funding from a grant-in-aid from the government; it needs to make up annual […]

From the introduction, the listener transports to the fictional 1st Congregational Church Of Eternal Love And Free Hugs, supposedly set in Little Sodbury, 14 miles from Bath, where Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills used to […]

The four-piece pub rock and punk rock band Amyl and the Sniffers not only came all the way from Melbourne, Australia, they also brought New South Wales band Pist Idiots along as the opening support […]