Top Stories
Really, the main story this week centres on the SOS 4.8 festival held in Murcia over the weekend, although we'll cover that a little more later on.
Other news centres on Coldplay this week. As if one accusation wasn't enough, Chris Martin and crew find themselves facing another copycat claim. This time it's Cat Stevens who is on their backs, stating that 'Viva La Vida' is not really a Joe Satriani rip-off, but in fact a copy of Stevens' own 1973 track, 'Foreigner Suite'.
For now, no mention of legal action has been made.
Perhaps in an attempt to divert a little attention, the band (who might be considering changing their name to Coverplay) have announced they will be giving away a live album to fans attending their forthcoming tour dates.
The nine-track live album, 'LeftRightLeftRightLeft', will be given to all fans who attend their 'Viva La Vida' tour dates – including their five UK dates set for September.
The album will be available as a free download from the band's official website, from May 15.
Martin said, "It's a way of saying thank you. It's a tough economy and people are paying a lot of money for tickets."
Of course, nobody thought about reducing the price of those tickets, did they?
Myspace Magic
Action-a-plenty this week, so highlights only. New friends from France, My Raining Stars, have added a new track to their profile. As leader Thierry says, "let's keep the indie flame burning" and you could do a lot worse than visit his page to do so. Meanwhile, Welsh band, BenSem are streaming their debut album on a free download. If anthem-pop is your fancy, don't miss it, it's well worth a listen.Finally and locally, Spanish indie poppers Miss Caffeina will be in Murcia this Saturday. I'm not gonna even try and categorize this lot, you'll have to see for yourselves!
Incidentally, interviews with these last two bands will be online later on in the week.
Album Reviews
There have been a couple of releases which nme-e has been waiting for and are now available. The Enemy and The Maccabees have both released their second albums this week, entitled 'Music For The People' and 'Wall Of Arms', respectively. Reviews to follow... Meanwhile readers will be able to check out a summary of the latest nme-e reviews as from Wednesday.Festival Fever
And so, back to the SOS in Murcia. Well, impartiality aside and despite a cruel twist of fate which deprived me a better look in this was a resounding success. Both days sold out (25,000 tickets a day), the concert was well-organised and general feedback is positive. Organisers are already talking about making it bigger and better next year and it's clear that, despite being only the second edition, SOS has placed itself well and truly alongside the Spanish big boys at FIB and Primaversound. So far, the consensus is that The Prodigy, The Wombats and local boys, Second (who are quickly making a massive impact and were in no way out of place in an international line-up) were Top Of The Pops, with Keane (somewhat surprisingly) and Babyshambles close behind.
Nme-e has been trying to get in touch with bands to get their thoughts. More will come, but so far Sweden's Those Dancing Days seem to sum things up pretty well: "The food and Murcian beer was great and it was our biggest crowd so far and maybe the happiest one."
We'll have to wait another year for SOS, but NME-E will be back with more news next week!
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