In response to Robert James: The conservative soul of rock and roll, Reborn wrote:
We face several cultural threats in the UK, obviously the degradation of the visual arts is often referred to as it is state sponsored.
However, the habit of enjoying informal live music is dying amongst the young. The big festivals, like Glastonbury are essentially social and boastful. The decent musicians who play there, a minority, learned their trade in small venues which are now closing down and even worse the young (i.e. under 40) think music is something that comes out of a computer.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Stones about 30 times in their early days, sometimes with minute audiences in Ealing and Richmond. We also saw the Who, Rod Stewart et al in the Station Hotel Harrow, Jerry Lee Lewis in the Tory club, West Harrow. The music was exciting and relevant to us. There have been no new developments in rock since 1980, all the decent stuff since then has been essentially revisiting the old and worthwhile.
The most exciting band on the UK scene today is Never the Bride. I’d rather see them live in a small hall, as I often have, than the Stones in an arena. The singer, Nikki Lamborn, is awesome and the best live woman singer I have ever heard. The audience is, sadly, all over the age of 40.
