|
 2006
saw many things. An overkill of reality shows, a genre already rapidly
running out of ideas this time last year, another failed attempt by our
national football team to do anything worth mentioning and Doherty ‘n’
Moss racking up newspaper inches by the truckload for exactly the same
reason.
Yet the year that was hasn’t been a total bore, and there’s been plenty
to keep us entertained over the past twelve months.
Trawling through our entertainment pages, The LINC take a look back at
all the best bits from 2006.
Darkness Falls
We kicked off our 2006 in style (albeit over a month late) with a
massive gig at the MEN by The Darkness.
Flamboyance and extravagance were the order of the evening as Justin
Hawkins and his spandex-clad rock warriors look set to affirm their
position as one of the biggest arena bands in the country.
Sadly though, it wasn’t to be.
Six months later, lanky frontman Justin shockingly quit the band after a
series of drink and drug binges nearly ruined his life.
Cleaning up his act and giving an interview about the extent of his
addictions and the dangers of substance abuse, Justin revealed that the
band he once fronted will carry on without him.
Bassist Richie Edwards is now stepping up to take over vocal duties.
This should be a big step for Edwards, going from the band’s lowly
guitar tech to full-time bassist (when that bloke with the moustache
left) to frontman.
Yet it should also bring new challenges for The Darkness mark III. Let’s
face it, few people can match up to Justin’s showmanship, and it will be
interesting to see whether The Darkness will prevail without their
guiding light.
Next Big Things
It’s been a good year for unsigned bands this year, and we’ve been lucky
enough to catch a number of local acts all itching to hit the big time.
Testosterone, The Whiskeycats, The Bedheads and the mighty Inglory have
all impressed this year, and we firmly believe any one of them could
reach that higher plateau in 2007.
Monkey See, Monkey Do
One band that indeed cracked that proverbial glass ceiling that so often
prevents many a young band from making their mark were Sheffield’s
Arctic Monkeys.
In the summer of 2005, still gradually building momentum, the Monkeys
played a blinder at Club Nirvana whilst on the verge of impending mega
stardom.
In 2006, that mega stardom was finally thrust upon the new kings of
indie. With hindsight, we believe that they really weren’t ready for it.
‘Without ever really intending to [Arctic Monkeys] stole the title of
Most Important Band of Our Generation from the erstwhile ‘Libertines,’
we wrote on release of their debut album ‘Whatever People Say I Am,
That’s What I’m Not’, an album that, whilst pretty good, saw the raw,
untamed energy of their much famed early demos watered down for mass
consumption.
The result was Monkey Mania, with every person in the country suddenly
regarding them as their new heroes.
Yet we are convinced that it was all a bit too much for the lads, as
evidenced by their nervy performance at Leeds Festival.
As we said at the time, the Sheffield scallywags looked ‘like deer in
the proverbial headlights… totally lost on the big stage’. Proof, in our
mind, that it all happened a bit too fast for them.
There’s a new album due for ’07 though, and it’ll be good to see if the
lads can go at their own pace this time around, as well as living up the
hyperbole thrown on them in 2006.
Saturday Night at the Movies
2006 has been an interesting year in the world of film.
Dan Brown’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ was hailed as one of the greatest books
in, well, ages. So it came as no surprise that the book would be adapted
for the big screen.
But could the film version equal the success of the novel? Sadly not.
Though not half as bad as most critics suggested, wooden acted from the
usually infallible Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou seriously let it down.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Ian McKellen in all his usual charismatic
brilliance and Paul Bettany as the sinister monk on a mission, the flick
would probably be doomed.
Speaking of films that weren’t half as bad as people made out, Johnny
Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly made their swash buckling return
in ‘Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’.
Somewhat overly criticised, again due to bad acting, we found this to be
an ‘endearing, exciting and entertaining slice of summer fun’ and we’re
quite looking forward to the third instalment in 2007.
But perhaps our favourite film of the year was, in our view, an
underrated hit.
Clerks II, in which filmmaker Kevin ‘Silent Bob’ Smith reunited
super-slackers Dante and Randal from his debut movie in what we called
‘A brilliantly funny film’
Rumour has it that Big Kev is working on a horror film for 2007. As long
as the Poop Monster from Dogma doesn’t make a return, we’ll look forward
to it.
Super Massive Rock Band
And finally, a review of 2006 wouldn’t be complete without mentioning
the mighty Muse.
With ‘Black Holes And Revelations’ their first album in three years,
Muse reaffirmed their position as the ultimate gods of grandiose rock.
With tracks like the bombastic ‘Super Massive Black Hole’ and the epic
‘Knights of Cydonia’, the lads once again changed their sound whilst
retaining their trademark spectacle and picked up an army of new
followers.
And whilst our Leeds experience was *ahem* dampened when it started
lashing it down, their November show saw us ending our year as we
started it, with a huge rock show at the MEN. A different band may be,
but still a huge display in rock n roll theatrics from our Band of The
Year.
And with that we’re off for a much deserved Christmas break. Don’t
worry though; we’ll be back in the New Year with loads more
entertainment reviews, plus all the usual news, sport, features and
more. As always, you’re contributions will be much appreciated in 2007,
and if you have anything you want us to include, or just have something
to say, get in touch at
linconline@wlct.org
►
Return to
Entertainment
|
