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David Essex, Wolverhampton Civic Hall

WITH a wealth of material going back nearly 40 years, it would be hard for any one person to come up with as good a set list and showmanship as David Essex does.Read

An English Celebration Concert For St George's Day, Symphony Hall

Birmingham's St George's Day weekend of activities ended with this first-class concert.Read

Bjork, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

BEING dull and predictable are words you can never use to describe Bjork and this amazing gig showed why.Read

The Kooks, Birmingham Academy

THE Kooks couldn't have got a worse press in recent months if they'd rigged the Zimbabwean elections or gone on stage clutching the Olympic torch every night.Read

The Blue Planet Live, Birmingham Symphony Hall

WITH breath-taking film from the BBC television series of the same name, The Blue Planet Live! takes the audience where it can never hope to go in real life.Read

CBSO, Mahler, Symphony NÂș 5, Symphony Hall

"LOVE the score, who's this Mahler guy's agent?" an ignorant Hollywood executive is supposed to have said after the premiere of the 1971 arthouse film Death In Venice, which featured the long-dead Mahler's mighty Fifth Symphony.Read

Edwyn Collins, Glee Club, Birmingham

EDWYN Collins was given a rapturous ovation from the Glee Club after finishing his set with the brilliant 1995 hit A Girl Like You, because they'd never met a singer recovering from a brain haemorrhage before.Read

Captain, Barfly, Birmingham

PITCHED somewhere in the cavernous gap between The Cure and Smashing Pumpkins, Captain are a confused band who just cannot be all things to all men.Read

We Are Scientists, Birmingham Academy

IT TOOK me a little while to work out what was missing from this gig - choruses.Read

Simon Fowler of Ocean Colour Scene

Ocean Colour Scene back in Brum

WHEN Brit-Pop ruled the waves in the mid-nineties Ocean Colour Scene navigated choppy waters to major success.Read

Dominic Kirwan, Tamworth Assembly Rooms

IRISH favourite Dominic Kirwan rocked with his West Midland fans in a show that had groovy grannies crowding in front of the stage yelling for more.Read

The Long Blondes, Birmingham Academy

IT WAS a brave decision by The Long Blondes to rework the sound that brought them initial fame.Read

Crazy For You, Coleshill Operatic Society, Solihull Library Theatre

THIS is an excellent, light-footed show, with a pleasing team of dancers and, in Andrew Alton, who also directs, a central character who has clearly thrown himself into the business of learning to tap.Read

Reader review: Marti Pellow, Birmingham Town Hall

MARTI Pellow came to Birmingham Town Hall - and was impressed with the changes in the city over the past 20 years.Read

Portishead, Wolverhampton Civic Hall

PORTISHEAD don't do things by half.Read

The Fratellis, Birmingham Carling Academy

THE Fratellis new album may not be out until June, but this gig was the perfect chance for a preview hearing.Read

Supergrass, Birmingham Carling Academy

WHEN a band is touring a new album they have a tough choice to make - do they play new songs and promote the album or give the audience all their old favourites?Read

The Beach Boys, NIA Academy

WITH Arctic temperatures outside and a muted atmosphere inside the draughty, cavernous, not quite full NIA it seemed that The Beach Boys faced an uphill struggle to bring some Californian sunshine to Birmingham.Read

The Blockheads, Lichfield Garrick

BASSIST Norman Watt-Roy does not go in for all that two set stuff, he told the audience at the Garrick, so it was a straight 90 minute set, ending with a long Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.Read

Down, Carling Academy, Birmingham

"I CAN feel the gods of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest all around me here tonight," drawled Phil Anselmo, a man so laid back it's a wonder he doesn't perform from a horizontal position.Read