Chris Martin & Barry Gibb, Glastonbury 2016. Here’s the video footage of Bee Gees legend Barry Gibb onstage with Coldplay at Glastonbury just a few hours ago. There had been rumours Barry would be performing, but these had been quashed in the last couple of weeks. With Barry reportedly pulling out due to the ill-health…
Category: Artists: A-C
Whatever Happened To The Bee Gees In The 80s?
Bee Gees ESP album cover, 1987 For people in the Southern Hemisphere, last night was the longest night of the year. Never afraid of a slightly tenuous link if it means I can talk about the Bee Gees, I couldn’t resist sharing this beautiful song of the same name, The Longest Night. Where I live…
Bee Gees Way Favourite Photos – Redcliffe, Queensland 2016
Here are my favourite photos from Bee Gees Way in Redcliffe, about 30-minutes drive north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. I was there on Saturday night as part of travel writing trip for the New Zealand Herald, promoting tourism to southern Queensland and in particular, “Queensland Big Sky Country” self-drive adventures. You can see more…
2 Brilliant Non-Beatles Songs To Remember Sir George Martin By
Not just for the sake of being different, but mainly because it’s an another excuse to showcase two lesser-known songs I love, here’s my non-Beatles tribute to the great Sir George Martin. The man so frequently referred to as “the 5th Beatle” has died aged 90. As a producer it was Martin who suggested to…
Why David Bowie Did The Lord’s Prayer At The Freddie Mecury Concert In 1992
David Bowie reciting The Lord’s Prayer, Wembley Stadium, 1992. There’s been so much written about David Bowie in the week and a bit since he died, but this piece about him doing the Lord’s Prayer at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1992 is my favourite. For decades it’s been easier…
David Bowie’s Ineffable Cool – 3 Of The Best From One Of The Giants Of Pop
David Bowie always struck me as one of those people who could have never not been famous. There was a certain indefinable charisma, star-power and cool that surely rose beyond the mere audacity of talent. Not to mention all those other legend-hood requirements like luck, timing, smarts, hard work, knowing the right people and never…
Aretha Franklin Brings The House Down – And Obama To Tears – At Kennedy Centre Honours
Aretha Franklin at the Kennedy Centre Honours 2015. It’s all about the clutch purse. Aretha Franklin is so relaxed about delivering this ridiculously brilliant performance that she casually walks out to the piano with her purse. She plops it down, starts playing and blows everyone away. I can’t think of the last time a living…
Why Do We Only Hear The Same Christmas Songs Every Year? 3 Underrated Christmas Songs From Coldplay, The Band & Josh Groban
It seems strange to me that every Christmas we tend to hear pretty much just the same dozen or so Christmas songs on the radio. This year I even got requests from people wanting to enlighten me that “Stevie Nicks does a really good version of Silent Night.” No kidding – that’s one of the same…
Coldplay’s New Single ‘Adventure Of A Lifetime’ Reviewed
Here’s the brand new song from Coldplay, an upbeat though somehow still melancholy gem called Adventure Of A Lifetime. It’s a precursor to the band’s soon-to-be released seventh album A Head Full Of Dreams (out December 4) which is rumoured to be Chris Martin and co’s last. I don’t believe them. At least I don’t…
The Overlooked Genius Of The Bee Gees’ Lyrics
Something occasionally said even by staunch admirers of the Bee Gees is that they were melodically and vocally superior than they were lyrically. What this overlooks is a point made in a recent The Paris Review article about the Gibbs: the appeal, even if it was subconscious, of the “melancholic emotion, even paranoia,” of the brothers’…
John Lennon’s 75th Birthday – ‘Imagine’ & The Devastating Final Scene In ‘The Killing Fields’
John Lennon. For what would’ve been John Lennon’s 75th birthday yesterday, we asked listeners to The Two (Newstalk ZB, Fridays 8pm-midnight, Sundays 8pm-11pm) to talk about how Lennon inspired them and what memories he triggers. Like millions of fans there are probably countless things that enter the mind when you hear the name “John Lennon,”…
Barbra Streisand’s Biggest Selling LP Turns 35 – Episode 3 Of ‘Sunglasses Inside’
A few days ago was the 35th anniversary of what is still the biggest selling album in Barbra Streisand’s entire career, 1980’s Guilty. Written by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry Gibb with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, the album would ultimately sell close to 20 million copies around the world. In this episode…
