Citizens should have lessons in copyright morals and ethics

MP for Hove Actually Mark Weatherley, who somehow has been entrusted with advising David Cameron on matters relating to intellectual property, wants kids to be taught copyright morality in schools:

In a 51-page report that was just released Weatherley stresses the importance of copyright awareness and education, especially for the younger generation. This is needed as respect for copyright has declined in recent years and some even believe that sharing copyrighted material without permission is not a big deal.

“There is … a certain level of tolerance for the idea that IP infringements could be considered legitimate. Some believe that illegal activity online is a social norm, with no moral implications,” Weatherley writes.

“We are at risk of an entire generation growing up with different levels of respect for IP and copyright in particular. Should this social contract disappear, there could be longer-term consequences beyond the immediate, short-term negative impacts experienced by the creative sector,” he adds.

We would quote some chunks of his report, but, hey, let's respect the guy's right to be wrong in private, yes?

The idea of schools having honest education about the morality and ethics of the copyright industry isn't all bad - getting teenagers to explore the reasons why copyright used to expire after a sensible period, and debating the consistent push back of that expiration as MPs like Weatherley do the bidding of multinational corporations could make for lively lessons and an aware populace.

However, what Weatherley is actually suggesting isn't that the ethics and morality of the copyright industry be taught at all; he just wants lessons based on that awful thing they make you watch at the start of DVDs.

Sidenote: Mike Weatherley, besides being an MP, has found time in his busy routine to be director of a bunch of companies associated with MPLC, a company that exists to "help" people with copyright licences. You might think that this exciting hinterland means that Weatherley is something of an expert in the field, which he is sharing with the rest of the coalition. Equally, though, you might wonder if this means he might not have started his report with the most open of minds.

Listen with No Rock: Tweeter's Tales

If you've ever been seized with a desire to want to know what I sound like, and don't have the sort of unfettered access to people's phones only available to News International journalists and the Met Police, good news: I've been given the honour of featuring in an episode of Tweeter's Tales, in which Rick and I swap tales of Tony Hadley, Alan McGee, and - inevitably - Bono.

Kim Gordon: Coming next year

Kim Gordon's Girl In A Band Memoir. Taking preorders; publishing February next year.

Crystal Castles split. Maybe.

So it's all over for Crystal Castles, then:

I am leaving Crystal Castles.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

My art and my self-expression in any form has always been an attempt towards sincerity, honesty, and empathy for others.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

For a multitude of reasons both professional and personal I no longer feel that this is possible within CC.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

Although this is the end of the band, I hope my fans will embrace me as a solo artist in the same way they have embraced Crystal Castles.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

The band last played together on October 5th, 2013, so it's almost as if Glass has invoked some sort of 'if you're on the run for a year and a day you're a free person' clause.

It's too bad they've split; what's worse is that Crystal Castles might struggle on without Alice:

Speaking to NME the duo's manager commented: "There will be twists and turns ahead for Crystal Castles, I wouldn't bury the dead just yet!"

Glass' comments don't sound like she's biddable for a return; the management's line seems to be that she's replaceable. Which probably tells you as much as you need to know about the split.

Man doesn't know who Jay-Z is; MTV literally can't believe it

Beyonce and Jay-Z are in Paris and are surrounded by a hullabaloo. The hullabaloo has, in turn, attracted its own hullabaloo, in the midst of which was someone interested, but not sure what he was witnessing.

MTV's Maurice Bobb just doesn't believe this:

Free life lesson: if you’re going to film Jay Z and Beyoncé taking daughter Blue Ivy on a private tour of The Louvre in Paris, you should at least know who they are.

I suppose that's sort-of true; but it's not true if all you're doing is filming a hubbub, you might only need to know there's a hubbub.

A tourist-turned-wannabe paparazzo made a major faux pas when he tried to get footage of the On The Run Tour headliners making their way into the historic French museum.

Pleasetellmehedidn'tcallBeyonceKelly. Pleasetellmehedidn'tcallBeyonceKelly. Pleasetellmehedidn'tcallBeyonceKelly. Pleasetellmehedidn'tcallBeyonceKelly.

Oh, hang on, he didn't. As his "major faux pas" was "not recognising some people":

“Who is he?” the cameraman asked about the world-renowned rapper from Brooklyn.

There's something happening. Asking what's happening doesn't seem to be a faux pas; it seems to be a sensible thing to do. It's not like recognising Jay-Z is - yet - taught to every school child on the planet.

The Magna Carta… Holy Grail MC then gave the best response ever as he walked by with his daughter in his arms and his super-famous wife — who was busy taking photos of her own — trailing behind.

Hold on. The best response ever? I'm really hoping this will be "I'm Solange Knowles' brother-in-law", or maybe "I dunno, the nurses told me, like, six times this morning, but it just won't stick", or "I'm Elvis, but don't tell anyone, they get over-excited", or "are you the only person who doesn't watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians?" But, hey, I'm an amateur. Jay-Z is a professional. Let's hear this zinging comeback - a comeback which, according to MTV's Maurice Bobb - outstrips anything Churchill, Parker or Wilde ever came up.

“Who are you?” he retorted with the steeliest gaze this side of Marcy Projects.

Oh.

I suppose to be fair, he is on holiday.

The uninformed videographer tried to laugh it off, but come on. Has this guy literally never seen or heard about hip-hop’s royal family?

It's hard to say, Maurice, but it's quite possible he's heard of Beyonce and Jay-Z, but not been interested enough to look at any photos.

Has he even heard of the Internet?

Maurice, not everyone has Beyonce.com as the homepage on their laptops. Obviously, those AOL free sign-up CDs installed a rolling Jay-Z ticker on top of your Internet Explorer 4, but since they stopped shipping it has been possible to go online, often for minutes at a time, without ever once looking at anything to do with Beyonce.

Morrissey: Still ill

Morrissey's tours are, commonly, disrupted by poor health; the latest disruption is, however, slightly different as his European tour has suddenly been overshadowed by his announcement of cancerous tissue:

The ex-Smiths star has recently battled bouts of ill health but revealed the cancer news during an email interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

"I have had four cancer-scrapings, but so what. If I die, I die," he wrote. "If I don't, then I don't. As I sit here today I feel very well."

The singer started his latest European tour in Lisbon, Portugal, on Monday.

In the exchange with journalist Javier Blanquez, he wrote: "I know I look quite bad on recent photographs, but I am afraid this is what illness does to the overall countenance. I will save relaxation for when I'm dead."

There has been no further elaboration, but there is one oddity about this announcement.

Seasoned Morrissey watchers will know that the great man's main channel of communication is via True To You; but on that site, the news page hasn't been updated since September 25th, and then with a piece about an online shop, and DVD chart positions. It's a bit like the Vatican Bollettino not bothering to run a piece that day the Pope resigned.

Live Nation about to snaffle Lollapalooza

As if the last decade or so hasn't been enough to remove any sense of anything countercultural at all about Lollapalooza, Live Nation are about to take a controlling stake in its parent company, C3.

Yeah. Ticketmaster will soon be bringing you the 'Looza.

Geoff Tate thinks he's great

“@MarkStormSCW: @geofftate Not including yourself who is your favor vocalist?” Still me

— Geoff Tate (@geofftate) October 4, 2014

Yes, Geoff Tate is so brilliant, even if you explicitly exclude him from a list of best singers, he's still on the list.

Rockobit: Paul Revere

Paul Revere, 60s teen idol, has died.

I'd always assumed that Paul Revere was a cheesy stage name, but it turns out it was only half that - he'd been born Paul Revere Dick, and you can see why you might run the risk of adopting the name of a legend of your nation's history rather than going on under a "Paul Dick" banner.

Oddly, Revere was the titular hero of Paul Revere And The Raiders, despite being the organist rather than the singer. Vocals were provided by Mark Lindsay.

Lindsay had been a baker; Revere ran a few restaurants; it was hamburger baps that brought them together.

The band was successful, but not always a happy one - there was a painful split in the mid-60s; when one of the escapees, Drake Levin, returned he was punished. Although Levin had gone to serve in the National Guard, Revere believed he was responsible for other members quitting; when the band were booked to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, Levin was sidelined, and made to teach his replacement, Freddy Weller, the music.

Paul Revere and a form of the Raiders were still playing music - a tour had been booked for next month. Revere was 76; he died October 4th.

While the band were quite a big deal in the States, for kids growing up in the UK, they'd be best known for their dodgy political endorsements:

Glastonbury tickets sell out "in record time"

The story everywhere about Glastonbury tickets selling out "in record time" actually should read "Glastonbury ticket sale more robust than previously". Doesn't look like the servers melted down in quite the traditional way - which is a step forward - although there are a number of complaints from people who somehow went from having tickets to not having tickets in the time it took them to enter their credit card numbers.

Annually, I ask this: why do Glastonbury turn what is already an increasingly elitist event into one which rewards people with the most resilient internet connections and highest number of devices? Why fetishise the 'ooh, we sold out in x minutes' when they could have an actual lottery.

This week just gone

The most-read stories published in October 2009 - five years ago now - were:

1. RIP: Taylor Mitchell
2. Glastonbury ticket sale, when the system collapses
3. RIP: Stephen Gately
4. XX Remix Florence And The Machine
5. Susan Boyle releases an album
6. Eric Clapton's gallstones
7. Air France remix Saint Etienne
8. Stephen Gately's death used for Jan Moir's bile
9. Mates of State download
10. Them Crooked Vultures hope to end people bringing cameras to gigs forever

This was interesting and released this week:


The Marmozets - The Weird And Wonderful...

Download The Weird And Wonderful...



Lucinda Williams - Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Download Down Where The Spirit...



Marianne Faithfull - Give My Love To London

Download Give My Love...



Kathryn Tickell & The Side - Kathryn Tickell and the Side

Download Kathryn Tickell and the Side



Tove Lo - Queen Of The Clouds

Good news! You can stop hiding your iTunes folder when the cops come round

Did you know that it was still, technically, illegal to copy a CD you had bought onto your computer as recently as... jesus, up until last Tuesday.

But now, you are free to take a CD or a DVD and rip it to your digital device.

Providing you're not going to share it with someone else.

And providing you'd paid for that disc in the first place, of course.

And by bought, that's a proper, manufactured copy - not if you slipped Slippery Jake two quid for a CD with "ALL THE BEETLESBEATLES ALBUMS" scrawled on it with a Sharpie.

You might want to hold on to the receipts, in other words.

Watch with No Rock: Johnny Marr

If you're feeling a bit underwhelmed by the what-is-it-now-sixth-or- seventh coming of Johnny Marr, you can cheer yourself up with him doing There Is A Light The Never Goes Out on Sara Cox's show yesterday morning on Radio 2.

Is there an extra level of enjoyment? Why, yes, because inexplicably, Brian Cox and Genesis are sat in front of the camera while Marr plays, with mixed levels of awkwardness. It's very much how I picture Eurovision voting panels to look like.

One Direction literally own 5 Seconds Of Summer

It's like the way BT owns Plusnet, and makes money from people thinking they're sticking it to BT by going to the "alternative": Each member of One Direction has a direct financial stake in 5 Seconds Of Summer.

So those people wondering if One Direction are about to be eclipsed by the Australians, worry not. They're not a challenge; just a subsidiary.

It's not clear if One Direction are attempting to own all bands whose names start with numbers, but Rocky Erickson is currently watching a powerpoint presentation being delivered by a man with a haircut.

Venue bars singer's dog; nobody seems to mind very much

Nell Bryden played Komedia in Brighton the other night. She was going to have her dog - a cockapoo, if you're making notes - backstage, but the venue has a policy of not allowing dogs. So her husband took the dog elsewhere.

Somehow, the Argus has made a story out of this, despite it even barely qualifying as an anecdote.

But fans said she did not let it spoil her performance.

Yes. Not like that time Bono's labradoodle was barred from Wembley Arena and he forgot all the words to With Or Without You, and ran offstage after four songs crying "I can't do it, not knowing that my dog isn't backstage."

Glastonbury sells out

Alright, not completely, but the first tranche of tickets did (notice each year it's ever more like a share offering - by 2018 there's going to be a Glastonbury Tickets Pathfinder Prospectus...)

They were the the tickets bundled with coach travel; these have to be sold a few days early as the coach stops so bloody far from the festival site you'd be best off setting out now in order to arrive in the decent campsites before anyone else gets there.

The traditional ticket scramble is due for Sunday. It's not clear if they've improved the system for purchase this year, but Twitter say they're confident they can cope with the upswing in complaining tweets from people who get frustrated by the process.

Anita Baker: How debts mount up

Earlier this year, a Detroit company claimed that Anita Baker owed it USD15,000 in unpaid home improvement work bills.

A lawyer, Jamal Hamood, stepped forward to defend Baker's good name.

He's now suing her for USD150,000, claiming unpaid bills.

I'm not sure she'd be able to afford to defend herself here, as it appears that intervention just increases the bill tenfold.

Who sells the most vinyl?

Amazon. Obviously.

But before we move on from the question, it's interesting to note who else sells vinyl in quantities in the US:

1. Amazon 12.3% of US retail vinyl market
2. Urban Outfitters 8.1%
3. Hastings Entertainment 2.8%
4. Hot Topic 2.4%
5. Trans World Entertainment 2.2%

Yes, there's two clothes shops on that list. (I know Hot Topic would claim they're some sort of alternative lifestyle shop, but they're a clothes shop with a record rack.)

Black Sabbath have one last album left in them

There's going to be one last Black Sabbath album, according to Ozzy:

"So we're going to do one more album, and a final tour. Once the dust settled after the last tour we started discussing the idea, because we were getting asked about it all the time. I said to Sharon 'What's going on? Because if there's no more Sabbath I want to get on with my own thing again' and she came back and said 'Let me look into it'.

"Three weeks later I asked her about it again, and she said 'Oh, I still have to talk to so and so...' and I said 'Sharon, I ain't f**king 21 any more, if we're going to do it I want to do it before I'm 70!'

As you can tell, this will be a vital work of art which is going to happen because of the creative impetus and not, in any way, just happening because Sharon Osborne wants to see if she can get all the members in the same place at the same time, like some sort of metal equivalent of one of these:

Thom Yorke on the internets

It's lovely of Thom Yorke to to release a new record, but the format is a little odd.

Bittorrent bundles? That feels no less hipster-friendly embrace of a shall-we-say-specialised technology than Cassette Store Day.

This was supposed to be the year that BitTorrent Bundles went mainstream, but - although there's some interesting things going on there - the platform still feels very much like a small pool, albeit one that now has a killer whale languishing there. The Yorke album is probably the one chance Bundles has to break through and become a mass product, although there's two challenges here.

The first is whether enough people care about Yorke's solo work to go to the trouble of installing the software and getting past their nerves about things they may have heard about torrenting. It's not entirely clear that Yorke has that heft.

Secondly, even if people do embrace the idea of torrents-you-pay-for, it's going to always be a hard sell to the major labels, who might not unreasonably think that encouraging the take-up and normalisation of torrenting might encourage experimentation beyond the licenced part of the service. Viewed from Sony HQ, selling records through Bittorrent might seem a bit like suggesting that drug dealers also carry aspirin and Calpol - you can see the advantages, but the risks might outweigh them.

Mutya without money

Mutya Buena has been declared bankrupt, apparently due to unpaid taxes.

BBC News tries to cheer her up by suggesting that it's quite the thing these days:

Mutya Buena is the latest in a line of pop stars who have struggled financially.

Blue band members Duncan James, Simon Webbe, Antony Costa have all filed for bankruptcy as have Westlife singer Shane Filan, S Club 7 singers Jo O'Meara and Paul Cattermole and Fazer from N-Dubz.

Kerry Katona from Atomic Kitten has been declared bankrupt twice.

It's like a guest list from a Liberty X gig, isn't it?

This week just gone

Most-read September stories:

1. Apple dump U2 into your iTunes
2. Bono makes it worse
3. Paloma Faith doesn't quite grasp iCloud breach implications
4. RIP Throb
5. Bono inventing a new format to save the album
6. Robin Thicke too out of it to remember writing his rape song
7. RIP Peter Gutteridge
8. Nicki Minaj not welcome back at school
9. Neil McCormick, who knows Bono, on the U2 album
10. Tom Clarke isn't a hobbit

This week's interesting releases:


Laetitia Sadier - Something Shines

Download Something Shines



She Keeps Bees - Eight Houses

Download Eight Houses



St Christopher - Forevermore Starts Here

Download Forevermore Starts Here



Perfume Genius - Too Bright

Download Too Bright



The Drums - Encyclopedia

Download Encyclopedia



Aphex Twin - Syro

Download Syro



Erasure - The Violet Flame

Download The Violet Flame

Bookmarks: Lush

While the Manics busily rush to sneak in a 20th anniversary Holy Bible event before the 20th anniversary year passes by, there's some other albums turning 20 this year. Including Lush's Split. Marking the occasion, Ghost Life Ghost Life has spoken to the surviving members of the band. Yes, a Lush interview in 2014. I bloody love the internet. It's in depth:

MIKI ‘Split’ was a bit of a rite of passage, I suppose. The band’s three main supports – Howard Gough (manager), Ivo (head of 4AD) and Tim Carr (Warners A&R) – were each having their private crises, and we were left to navigate our way through choppy waters without their previously constant guidance. There were so many opinions and interferences, producers, mixers, UK record label, US record label, video directors, marketing strategies, etc. Expectations were high but every plan sounded as valid as the next and we didn’t know which direction to turn. I​ guess we survived, a bit battered and bruised, and ultimately became a much better band, both on record and live. It left its scars though, and we lost our innocence.

There's also praise for Loz, the drummer from Ride; a link with Nigella Lawson and some warm words for Steve.

Mirror struggles with naked pictures not of Liam Payne

The picture of a bloke who might look a bit like Liam Payne if you squint a bit has confused the poor Daily Mirror.

First, they struggled with the idea that the picture wasn't of him:

If the photo is genuine, Liam will not be the first celebrity to have images leaked of him against his will.

That's not, to be fair, untrue, but you might as well observe that if Liam Payne gave up music and became a vicar, he wouldn't be the first celebrity to shun fame in favour of holy orders. True, but pretty irrelevant, having ascertained that the photo, clearly, isn't genuine.

They're still confused now:

The photos did not appear on 4chan or Reddit and are thought to be unrelated to the recent hacking scandal sweeping Hollywood and Britain.

Let's just leave a second to process that the Mirror appears to suggest that appearing on 4Chan and Reddit somehow proves the veracity of a nude photo.

And, yes, it would be thought that the existence of a grainy lookalike shot had nothing to do with people's Apple accounts being hacked, because it's a totally different thing entirely, apart from being connected to photos and computers.

On which basis, tomorrow, the Mirror will be speculating that there's no evidence that this event is in any way connected to Lolcats.

Ed Sheeran cuts prices

It goes against the very grain of every fibre of my existence to say something nice about Ed Sheeran, but... doing a tour of Australia where the ticket prices are designed to be affordable rather than gouging the fans is a Nice Thing To Do:

ED Sheeran has announced an Australian arena tour on his lonesome and on a budget.

Sheeran will charge only $99 for tickets for all concerts on his April/May tour next year, with none of the usual VIP packages or premium seating charges.

Although that is still the equivalent of fifty-three British pounds for a ticket, so it's a rather stretchy definition of "affordable" (roughly a full day's work at Australian minimum wage levels, for example).

And given that it's just him and a guitar and no band, the costs are pretty low to start with.

But - even with those points in mind, and somewhat grudgingly - the excising of 'even more expensive tickets' is a welcome move. Everyone's being a bit overcharged, but everyone's being a bit overcharged by the same amount.

Take That split, a bit

It's turned out that Jason Orange is leaving Take That, the tax-avoidance scheme created by Gary Barlow and some accountants.

Orange issued a statement earlier today revealing that he found out he didn't really exist, and that he was created by Barlow "in order to claim child benefit. In light of this discovery, I must leave the band."

Talking to the media, Barlow was effusive in his farewell to Orange, praising what he'd brought to the band - "without Jeremy... Jason, Jason, we'd have... uh... oh, yeah, when we did that advert for Marks And Spencers, we'd not have been able to show off quite so many suits at the same time. And... well, we'd not have been able to call our album The Eight Legged Groove Machine. Although that wasn't us. But if it had have been, that wouldn't have been possible without James. Jeremy. Jason." Barlow concluded the statement by getting all present to sign a form allowing him to recoup the cost of providing Luncheon Vouchers for all of them.

Here's the actual statements:

‘I want to start by saying how proud I am of what we have achieved together over the years. However, at a band meeting last week I confirmed to Mark, Gary and Howard that I do not wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album. I have spent some of the best years of my life with Take That and I’d like to thank everyone who has been a part of my journey, including my band mates, who I feel are like brothers to me. Most especially my gratitude goes to all of the good and kind, beautiful and ever-loyal fans of the band, without whom none of this could have been possible.Thank you.’

‘At the end of The Progress Tour I began to question whether it might be the right time for me to not continue on with Take That. At the start of this year and with my full knowledge and blessing the guys began writing new material. There have been no fallings out, only a decision on my part that I no longer wish to do this. I know how much Mark, Gary and Howard enjoy writing and making music, and they know that they have my full support and encouragement to continue on with what is to be another chapter for the band.’ - Jason Orange

‘This is a sad day for us. Jason leaving is a huge loss both professionally and even more so personally. We first became aware of Jason’s reservations a couple of years ago but had hoped that by giving him the desired time and space he may begin to feel differently. This has not been the case and we now have to accept and fully respect his decision which we know hasn’t been an easy one. Jason’s energy and belief in what this band could achieve has made it what it is today, and we’ll forever be grateful for his enthusiasm, dedication and inspiration over the years.’ - Mark, Gary and Howard

Before popping that in the fax machine, Gary rang Mark and asked "are we sure that we've got the right one who's going, and it's not meant to be Jason commenting on Howard's departure?"

Full Bible. No apocrypha.

Joining the 'playing an album in full to celebrate its 20th anniversary, thereby making you feel both giddily excited and incredibly ancient' gang: the Manics, doing The Holy Bible.

Venuewatch: MelloMello

Bad news from Liverpool: MelloMello has been forced out of business as rents on Slater Street become untenable. Here's their farewell statement:

To our wonderful community,

It is with great sadness that we must announce that as of Monday 22nd September 2014, MelloMello CIC closes it’s doors and ceases to trade from it’s Slater Street home.

Despite our best efforts we have been unable to meet the huge increase in business rates imposed on us two years ago, and have battled the financial difficulties that several burglaries and the ever-evolving fabric of the city centre have incurred. We are deeply saddened to be closing our doors, but also truly proud of what has been achieved within these walls.

MelloMello began life in 2007 as a completely volunteer-led organisation, in a derelict space, and has grown organically through the hard work of it’s staff and the community into a catalytic creative hub, a grassroots cultural monument, and a welcoming and warm environment, brimming and buzzing with energy, passion, art, music, dance, comedy, food, drink, laughter and love.

We thank our amazing staff, for everything they do, their talents and eccentricities, the wonderful support network they have built up, and the welcoming environment they provide. We thank every single creative individual who has walked through our doors and given us beautiful, raucous and thought-provoking art and performances. And we thank you, the community of Liverpool, for whom we endeavoured to provide such a place, for your fantastic support, the contribution of your own creativity and many wonderful characters over the years. You have all helped to create something truly unique.

As for the future…… watch this space.

With all our love, MelloMello

The cycle of enthusiasts taking over a derelict space, improving it, sparking a revitalisation of the area, attracting other tenants, pushing up rents and getting pushed out by the new high rents is an over-familiar one in Liverpool.

There's a slate of planned gigs which, presumably, won't happen now; the optimistic "watch this space" (or, presumably, watch another space as the Slater Street site gets transformed into a generic bar or trouser shop) holds out some hope.

[In 2012, the council nearly sank the venture

The misfiring reappearance of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill's trying a comeback, and started in Brixton.

Now, her live performances have sometimes been a bit mixed, but anyone who buys a ticket for Hill in 2014 is pricing in that the event could be erratic-bordering-on-inexplicable, right?

But a late start, angry tweets and poor reviews marred her first sell-out gig at the Brixton Academy in London.

Oh.

The 39-year-old singer, famous for her 1998 album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", arrived on stage with a five-piece band and three backing singers at 9:58 p.m. on Saturday.

The show, with tickets selling for 55 pounds ($90), had been advertised to start at 9 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m.

Okay, so an hour late. That's not a good start, but it's a Saturday night. We're all okay staying up a bit late on a Saturday, right. Especially for a great gig.

It was great, right?

When she arrived, Hill spent 80 minutes performing a combination of re-worked hits from her debut album, the only solo studio album she has made, and delving into pop and rock territory.

Songs from "The Score", another award-winning album Hill recorded as part of the Fugees in 1996, were left largely untouched, along with a number of tracks from her 2002 MTV Unplugged 2.0 album.

Hill also performed covers of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" by Nancy Sinatra, The Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes for You" and a few Bob Marley classics, including "Soul Rebel", "Jammin'" and "Is This Love".

To me, that sounds okay - if I'm a big enough fan to go and see her, that she does some solo stuff and a few classic seems a good mix.

Yuichi Miyama, a 31-year-old paralegal from London, said on Twitter: "Lauryn Hill is the most disappointing concert I have ever been to. That's heart-breaking."

He explained to Reuters at the concert that he didn't recognize a lot of the songs Hill performed.

"The bottom line is Lauryn Hill is a singer and there are a lot of songs on that album that she sings certain things in such a beautiful way," he said.

Wow. You admire Lauryn Hill as a singer, and yet think that she has chosen to sing things in the wrong way. I can see why you might be disappointed. I can't see why you didn't know this would happen, and didn't choose instead to stay at home and listen to the album. Because the album always sounds like the album, and Lauryn Hill live - when she turns up - never sounds like the album.

This week just gone

Popular this week:

1. Video: Maud-Elisa Mandeau
2. U2 manager doesn't care about the charts, but they prove that album disaster wasn't a disaster
3. Robin Thicke says he was too drugged to know he was writing his rape song
4. Video: Breeders on MTV, NYE 1993 (now again with video)
5. Bono is going to invent a new format
6. RIP: Peter Gutteridge
7. Bono is very proud of that terrible album that everyone wants to delete
8. Yeah, this one is about the U2 album, too
9. Tony Hadley rushed to hospital (8 years ago)
10. What does SXSW do for Austin?

These were the interesting releases:


Shellac - Dude Incredible



Fripp & Eno - Live In Paris



My Brightest Diamond - This Is My Hand

Download This Is My Hand