By Khilen Mehta

Although Kylie Minogue is a likeable personality, she has never been to everyone’s taste. Her career has often seemed a series of attempts to expand on this basic likeability. But in her two decade career, the tiny Aussie wonder has dominated the charts by providing non-stop fun in her performances.

Throughout her battle with breast cancer, everyone’s favourite pop princess was constantly thanking her followers for their loving support, and judging by the success of her most recent comeback performances, her fans couldn´t be more pleased in seeing her back on the stage. Her huge grin, her flamboyant costumes and the over-excited crowd are everything that makes a Kylie gig so memorable.

Throughout her career, Kylie has won countless awards, and had plenty of top tensingles. In the 2008 Brit Awards, she won Best International Female Artist and she also received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008, which is France’s highest cultural honour. With a tally of over thirty top ten singles, Kylie is the second most succesful woman in British chart history after Madonna. Kylie’s biggest single was “Can’t get you out of my head”, which reached number one in over twenty countries and sold more than four million copies worldwide.

It was reported that every ticket scheduled for her UK tour was snapped up in an unbelievable thirty minutes after going on sale. Tickets are likely to go fast for her performance in Madrid as well, so make sure you snap yours up nice and early!

Here is an example of what you could be missing out on…

Long live the Pop Princess!

by Martin Brown

Tim Booth appeared on stage on crutches for this show. There was a muffled explanation in Spanish from one of his bandmates, but I didn’t catch it. So he sat for most of the show. This must have been very, very difficult for one normally so active! Known for his spasmodic whirling and spinning, he cut a different figure here. He has also shaved his head since I last saw him play.

I really like James, so this is not really a very objective review. I had not seen them play live for more than 10 years. Of course, they were inactive during most of that time, with all kinds of reported bust ups. Let’s just all be grateful that the issues have now been resolved. With a new album out last month, and based on the fanatical crowd at this show, the future looks good again!

I could feel Booth’s pain as he sang Born of Frustration, he wanted to be on his feet, not in a chair! The voice is the same, pure, unique sound as ever and the band seemed very happy to be there. Andy Diagram, resplendent in a spotted dress, blew his trumpet and compensated for Booth’s immobility by running all over the place throughout the show. There is not just one front man in this band, that’s for sure. Maybe that was the problem before?

Running through material from their 20+ year career, each song was greeted with screams for the 1500 or so people in attendance. It’s always amazing to me that, whilst most Spanish people seem reluctant to learn English, they are happy, and very able to sing the words to every song of their favorite performers!

Towards the end of the almost two hour set, Booth said, “We said we were not going to play this song for a year, but we are going to sing it for you tonight, because I am sitting down!” The crowd went nuts and sang along with the band.

The band looked genuinely surprised by the length and passion of the responses to the songs, especially after Sometimes, when the crowd continued, a capella, long after the band had stopped playing.
This was a lot of fun, for the crowd and the band, the perfect scenario for any concert.

by Maja Gojkovic

Chambao are the hottest Spanish acts around, with their continuing success and more coverage, the band are making their way further into the mainstream music scene.

If you are thinking, “I have never heard of Chambao”, not to worry, my predictions tell me we will be hearing and seeing a lot more of the band in the future.

In terms of genre the band would categorize itself as Flamenco-Electronic. Their flamenco chill sound fuses the flamenco and palos (a musical form) with electronic music.

The name of the band comes from an improvised wind-breaker that is used on the beach to provide shade (and stop the wind, of course).

The band is made up of a trio from Malaga El Mari, Edi and Dani. The group were discovered by the Dutch musician Henrik Takkenberg. Together three of them featured as part of a double CD by various artists that was released by Sony under the title “Flamenco Chill” in (2002). On the CD Chambao recorded eight songs and sold 90,000 copies and led the record label to release subsequent instalments, this time without Chambao.In 2003, the band’s first record on their own, “Endorfinas en la mente”, came out. It was released in more than twenty countries, sold over 80,000 copies and won the Premio Ondas (Ondas Award) for the Best Musical Creation in 2003. After their song release “Pokito a poko” in 2005, Dani left the band, but La Mari and El Edi continued to create the original sounds that make the band so eclectic and fresh.

European Vibe will be meeting Chambao to get the lowdown on  the latest from the band, as well as an exclusive interview. The interview will be featured in the June edition of European Vibe Magazine.  

For those of you who cannot wait until June and if the sound of Chambao tickles your musical tastebuds then you can find out more about the band on their Myspace page www.myspace.com/chambao. The band will also be playing at Palacio de Deportes on Friday 11^th April.

by Khilen Mehta

Ian Brown, the former lead singer of hit band The Stone Roses, will be performing solo this Friday at Joy Eslava. Even through an rollercoaster career, public spats with celebrities and a jail sentence for air rage, Brown still remains one of the most influential artists of his generation. Since the band’s acrimonious and prolonged break up in 1996, Brown has released five solo albums. He has appeared on several club tours and has performed at the Glastonbury festival three times since 1998 and this will be his first performance in Madrid.

Ian Brown was born in Warrington, Manchester in 1963 and his active music interests were inspired by the great Manchester bands of the time, such as Slaughter and the Dogs, and of course Joy Division. He shared his interests with his friend John Squire, who later become another infamous member of the Stone Roses. Brown joined Squire’s band The Patrol on tour as a bassist before they grouped together to form the Stone Roses. This decision was influenced by a meeting with Geno Washington, a soul legend and a personal hero of Brown’s, who told him, “You’re a star. You’re an actor. Be a singer.”

Life hasn’t always been plain sailing for Brown. Brown has had no contact with his former song writing partner and childhood best friend John Squire since the band broke up in 1996. Brown’s key reason for the band not reforming is his lack of contact with Squire along with Squire’s cocaine abuse and their differing musical tastes. In September 2005, Ian appeared to rule out a Stone Roses reunion saying “there’s more chance of me reforming the Happy Mondays than the Roses” and in June 2007 John Squire said he wouldn’t reform the Roses even if Ian Brown phoned him up personally. Brown has also had many run-ins with the law. In 1998, he was sentenced to 4 months in jail after threatening to cut off an air stewardess hands with plastic cutlery on a flight.

One thing cannot be denied, though, and that is Ian Brown still attracts the crowds. He undertook a sell out UK tour in 2005, even managing to sell out the 16,000 capacity Manchester Evening News Arena and this gig in Madrid is guaranteed to be huge.

Ignore the hype, the publicity and the rumours… It is his delivery of lyrics, his charisma and presence on stage that make him stand out. as one of the greatest artists of his generation.