Copy: The National 19/12/11 >> Yes, yes, Coldplay’s date in Manchester was right at the start of December. I know. However, I was covering it for The National, as Chris Martin’s band are playing in Abu Dhabi on New Year’s Eve, and they’ve only just published the...

Copy: The National 17/11/2011 >> It’s one of the perks of the job – sometimes you come across really talented people who seem on the very cusp of greatness. That’s how it felt when I met RNCM pianist Arsha Kaviani in Manchester this week. In his final year at the...

Copy: The National 9/11/11 >> The Britney Spears’ gig in Manchester last weekend was a really curious experience. Armed with a notebook – she plays in Abu Dhabi in Friday so I was writing a primer for The National – I was sure that the assembled crowd (and there...

Copy: The National, 27/10/11 >> When Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon broke up last week, there were plenty of distraught fans worried that it might signal the end of the band. No more songs like Sugar Kane (my favourite as a teenager – and yes, I know it’s...

The Booker eh? So yesterday. The next ridiculous prize to get het up about is the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall Of Fame. Still, like Julian Barnes’ Booker win, there’s actually an act on the shortlist who have been nominated multiple times before but never won: The Beastie Boys....

As a former editor of MP3 Magazine (yes, it did exist) it felt right to muse on Steve Jobs’ death in The National. If the iPod had come out a year earlier, perhaps we might have been given a stay of execution. Instead, we were trying to tell readers they really should fork out on digital...

As Noel Gallagher’s album is released – and widely expected to do better than his brother’s – I wonder whether Liam is better off concentrating on his clothes shops. I went in Pretty Green in Manchester recently and was quite impressed… all of which reminded me of...

There was an interesting news story in Variety recently suggesting classical CD sales were on the up in the States. Is this part of a wider trend? Is classical music cool all of a sudden? I spoke to the Halle orchestra, who have their own record label to find out. “You don’t have...