For a lot of football fans, the end of a campaign is a time for reflection and anticipation for the start of the next one.
The same can also be said of the boardroom, with clubs' owners toasting successes and considering the failures, before deciding to try and enact on them. The aspiration for Newcastle fans is that for once, the failures are considered and acted on in the manner a football team might, rather than a franchise extension of Sports Direct.
The reason for the hope of some came when, for the first time since buying the club in 2007, Mike Ashley spoke to the sporting media. Admittedly it was to one Sky journalist who is also represented by Ashley's PR Keith Bishop, but it was more than anything so far. Ashley said the club had done a lot wrong in the last few years, and the goal is to invest to get Newcastle in a trophy winning situation.
With any luck, he'll stick to his word, or else the growing protest industry around Newcastle United will continue to evolve in stature. This was a campaign dominated by protestation from the get go, with a lot of it beginning in hangovers from the previous year.
The final home game of 2013/14 was a mass protest against Cardiff City that saw a walkout of around 10,000 people, and after a dreadful start to the campaign, a home clash with Hull City saw a concentrated protest by the SackPardew.com protest group.
Despite a bizarre warning that he was one defeat from the sack - and he managed to lose the game in question - Pardew remained, and even more surreally, Pardew went on a six game winning run, which included victory at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup.
This weird rise and fall nature continued - victory over Chelsea was then followed by hammerings by Arsenal and Spurs, and a home defeat by Sunderland. But it soon seemed as though Newcastle fan's disquiet may soon be solved by its sacrificial lamb moving, and without the threat of dismissal ever been moved - it was later revealed that Ashley never had any intention of sacking Pardew.
Its tricky to pin-point what turned Newcastle's season from middle of the road to near-Armageddon. But everything did not start to turn when the Magpies' season was not necessarily the decision to accept an offer by Crystal Palace to let Pardew move to South London. It wasn't even the dismissal of Neil Warnock by the Eagles. But in many respects, this had a severe changing effect. Many at the time thought Pardew was crazy for moving from a then-9th placed Magpies to a Palace team labouring in the Premier League's bottom 3.
The immediate aftermath was hoped to be temporary, even if it was an ambling shame. Assistant manager John Carver and first team coach Steve Stone failed to win any of their first four games in temporary charge, including the throwing away of three points to a hardly prolific Burnley, and then bowing out of the FA Cup following an attacking-free performance at Leicester where 4,500 travelling fans booed the team off in a stunning display of vitriol and hatred.
What changed everything was a series of moves over the course of the week when the decision to effectively not replace Pardew was rubber stamped. True, Newcastle were stuck when various preferred candidates opted not to walk away from their employers, or break TV commitments. But it was not a helpful choice to appoint Carver, whose record in sole charge in both England and Canada was not exactly stellar.
Seemingly not content with that, a feeble playing squad crying out for reinforcements was weakened further. Italian international full-back Davide Santon was carted off back to Inter Milan, while 5 reserves were carted into a Sports Direct lorry to Rangers, as part of Ashley's attempts to grab power at Ibrox. This was ultimately a bit of a wasted trip for some, with Remie Streete and Kevin Mbabu virtually irrelevant, Gael Bigirimana ruled out through an unspecificed illness, and Shane Ferguson only appearing after the play-offs had gone.
Only Haris Vuckic made an impression, and its highly likely this will convince someone else to take a punt on him. But with six players leaving in a week, this was always a risky strategy, and one that quickly fell to bits, much like the limbs and muscles of a disappointing large quantity of first teamers.
But even then, things didn't look desperate, and a 1-0 win over Aston Villa in February seemed to have the team in position for a fine end, and with it, a fairly predictive drift to the end. But then the bottom fell out in dramatic and histrionic fashion.
The following eight games will forever be remembered as some of Newcastle's worst ever form. Awful performances yielded some pathetic results, as the Magpies lost eight in a row for the first time since 1977. This fatal implosion was ended with a draw, before another defeat at already-doomed QPR seemed to send Newcatle into an apocalyptic slipstream.
With everything going wrong, many were actively hoping for the Magpies to fall through the trap door to spite Ashley. This even included a quantity of fans inside the black and white wall, although many were still on side - even those who had attempted to re-start the protest fires with a boycott of a home clash with Spurs.
Ultimately, the prayers of demise went unheeded, with a slick win against West Ham seeing Newcastle through after the major near-miss story. But its clear for all that after several years of pursing a transfer policy centered on cheap, young, foreign imports with a high re-sale value overseen by local coaches, the enterprise is breaking down.
Whether or not Ashley is willing to deviate course is a question that is yet unanswered. The early signs post-season are yet to hint otherwise, and with the new season already looming very large, something has to change soon or else the aimless drift towards more profits will re-start all over again.
With everything now done, a few observations:
Player of the Season: Ayoze Perez. Its a weird one to think that Newcastle's initial plan was to loan out the Spanish youngster. For a lot of the campaign, Perez was Newcastle's most lively presence, and in a season where black and white shirted players looked woeful and uninterested, it was refreshing to see him offer a lively striking presence.
Most Improved: Steven Taylor. The most secure Newcastle's defence looked in the entire campaign came with the academy graduate in the side - a far cry from a number of shaky displays in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 seasons. This is even in spite of another laughable injury record - keeping him fit is a must.
Worst Player: Emmanuel Riviere. Picking a winner for this "award" is a tricky ask. The woeful Mike Williamson at centre-back, Yoan Gouffran's inept wing-work, Fabricio Coloccini's worrisome defending, and more are fair candidates. So what did Riviere do to justify his place ahead of such lofty competition? Well, nothing. Which for a £6.5million French striker, is not a great return for his investment. One goal in 23 appearances in the league was a pitiful return, and half the time, he looked nothing like gaining further ones.
Most Regressed Player: Tim Krul. Newcastle's goalkeeper was an unexpected World Cup star, with his only appearance in last summer's Brazil showpiece being a decisive penalty shoot-out. But this campaign saw him deliver a number of sins, with his lamentable distribution of the ball a constant problem. A special mention goes out to Moussa Sissoko, who was hyped as the Magpies' Yaya Toure after a good November, then promptly drifted.
Best Signing: Perez. The free signing of Jack Colback was perhaps Newcastle's best signing by economics, while Daryl Janmaat was the best of the big money signings, and was an impressive performer, but Perez was one that the fans took to hearts very quickly, and he looks like a very nice find.
Team of the Season:
Tim Krul - Daryl Janmaat, Fabricio Coloccini, Steven Taylor, Paul Dummett - Moussa Sissoko, Jack Colback - Gabriel Obertan, Ayoze Perez, Jonas Gutierrez - Papiss Cisse
Best Individual Performance: Jonas Gutierrez has now left Newcastle after seven years in black-and-white, but his individual performance in his final appearance against West Ham is a memory that will last a lifetime. It was an emotional season for the Argentine, who revealed in September he was fighting cancer and only received the clear two months later to return. But an all-action performance against the Hammers that yielded an assist and goal that kept the Magpies in the top flight showed a player in impressively full flight.
Best Goal: Perez's backheel flick against West Brom in November was voted Goal of the Month, with a delightful finish to turn a cross that was going behind him into the goal. It was an excellent goal at the heart of Newcastle's best month. Second goes to Ameobi's thunderbolt at Hull in January, although Gutierrez's strike against West Ham was perhaps the goal with the greatest cheers of all this season.
Best Game: If it was crazy at the time that Newcastle ended Chelsea's 4 month unbeaten start to the Premier League season, it looked even more absurd that it was the case during the late season drift. But in sheer ability, it was a great performance, and a result deservedly achieved after a crazy game that saw third choice keeper Jak Alnwick thrown in at the deep end for a first team debut, and Steven Taylor sent off.
Best Moment: Gutierrez's strike against West Ham on the final day. Newcastle fans everywhere cheered the goal like few others this campaign, with the goal effectively securing Premier League survival ten minutes before it was confirmed by the end of the season.
Worst Game: Virtually all of the worst matches can be found in the eight game losing streak, where Newcastle seemed engaged in a fatal cataclysm and needlessly dragging themselves in the race to face trips to Bristol City and MK Dons in August. But by far the worst offender was a 3-0 hiding at euphoric Leicester City, which saw the Foxes score inside the opening 35 seconds. A humiliating day in the East Midlands ended in accusations of deliberate dismissal and rumours of a bust-up on the way home, with Newcastle looking in fatal danger.
Worst Moment: For a long time, it looked like being another pair of Tyne-Wear Derby defeats, with the late sucker punch at home followed by a feeble performance on Wearside. But nothing really compared with the sheer depressing misery of when Leroy Fer hit a 35-yard bolt past Tim Krul in Newcastle's last away match, which gave already relegated QPR a lead they ultimately held onto. At that point, all looked lost, and had the cards fallen a different way, it would have been.
Manager Musings: For all the postulation that Newcastle fans regretted their protests against Alan Pardew, its worth noting Newcastle fans were not expecting the club to fail to replace him. It was fairly clear in 2013/14 that the relationship had gone, but it remained in an impasse beyond the surreal afternoon against Cardiff in May 2014, and on through to his December move to South London. But Newcastle fans did expect a replacement to be sourced. Instead, John Carver was thrown in at the deep end, with lamentable consequences. Even with injuries, suspensions, and players that didn't care, a run of 3 wins in 20 should automatically disallow him from the top job.
What Does The Team Need?: Everything. After being merely preferable this time last year, a new manager is now essential. On the playing field, he will need a renovation, with players needed in most positions. Top of the list are two/three new central defenders, a new striker, one (maybe two) new wingers, and a left back.
What Will The Team Get?: Its difficult to say. A new manager is close, with Steve McClaren the overwhelming favourite until the surprise name of Patrick Viera turned up. As for players, the likes of Charlie Austin, Alexander Mitrovic and Patrick Bamford have been linked early to solve the striker conundrum, but more is still required.
What Is The Aim for 2015-16?: Avoiding a similar disaster has to be the basic enterprise. Beyond that, its a job to know. Ashley's surprise final day interview said he wanted either a trophy or regular Champions League football, but Newcastle need to built if they're going to be in such a position. Anything less will spell trouble.
With the entire enterprise now on hold for a few weeks, and the season of rampant transfer speculation free to hog the football pages - or at least those not occupied by FIFA's scandals - fans now have to hope some kind of lesson is learned. By the time the weekend of August 8th and the opening game of the season arrives, the stakes will have risen in intensity, and something has to be ready.
But with no input, all Newcastle fans must do is wait and see what ridiculous plans will be curated...
Monday, 1 June 2015
Monday, 25 May 2015
Premier League 2014-15 Season Review
AND so the curtain has gone down on another Premier League season.
In truth, the more exciting battle in the season was the race to get into the league, with Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich eventually being those who got in ahead of a chasing swarm. This one may not have been an exciting vintage, but has nevertheless held moments of excitement, as all good football season should. With it now over, all the 20 teams that fought it out have some interesting stories to tell of their campaign, and will certainly be preparing to see how they can duke it out better next season.
So, without further adieu, let's crack on with it...
Chelsea
Final Position: 1st (Champions)
Can they be happy with their season?: They most certainly can. Chelsea set out to get the title and swept to the top quickly, before easily holding on. No team came close to stopping Jose Mourinho from lifting the Premier League title, and they were also Capital One Cup winners. The team may've disappointed in the Champions League again, but they got what they wanted, and comfortably.
Star Players: Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were major successes in the opening half of the campaign as Chelsea assembled their advantage. Eden Hazard was also consistently impressive, while Thiabult Cortouis and Nemanja Matic were more unsung heroes.
Need To Improve: Its hard to find anyone specific that disappointed. Full-back Filipe Luis is perhaps the nearest, but with Cesar Azpilicueta proving an adept left-back, he didn't really play anyway. Loic Remy could also have played more, but scored a healthy total when he did, including vital winners against Hull and Stoke.
Best Moments: Most of Chelsea's season was fairly effortless, but they had plenty of delightful results along the way. Nevertheless, the sweetest moments for Blues fans will be the victories over Spurs and Crystal Palace respectively that confirmed their two trophies.
What's Next?: Chelsea will be happy enough to have won their first two trophies of the second Mourinho era. Now that is done, the goal is now to get some more shiny trinkets, with Roman Abrahmovic's dreams surely focused on bringing another Champions League title to Stamford Bridge. No doubt he will provide Mourinho a handsome treasure chest with which to do so.
Manchester City
Final Position: 2nd
Can they be happy with their season?: Not especially, although it could've been more disastrous. The Citizens finished eight points behind Chelsea in the end, with a fairly terrible start to 2015 ending their title hopes after they had managed to reel Chelsea in over the Christmas period. In truth, they could've done a lot better, but they ultimately showed more to get a runner-up spot, although its clear it will be a busy summer.
Star Players: Sergio Aguero ended the campaign as the Premier League's top scorer and among them, racked up some extremely impressive strikes. Its no secret that Manuel Pellegrini's team would've done better had Aguero not sustained injuries and a blank patch. Elsewhere, Joe Hart looked impressive, while David Silva had another nicely productive campaign.
Need To Improve: Yaya Toure received a pasting from pundits at various points in the campaign, but in truth, Man City were worse with him out of the team. The central player who disappointed was Vincent Kompany, who had an underwhelming campaign by his standards. Eliaquim Mangala did not look stable alongside him, although he did have his moments. Wilfried Bony also needs to start producing goals to justify his big money transfer.
Best Moments: The best performances were usually away, with a thumping 3-0 demolition of Southampton at St. Mary's arguably the team's best showing of the lot. Similarly resounding successes at Stoke and Sunderland were also achieved in a pleasing manner, while the biggest away day victory was at Roma to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
What's Next?: Whether or not Pellegrini remains will have to be determined quickly. After that, its most likely the management team will be engaged in a clear out, with the next step being attempts at challenges for further silverware. A Champions League campaign that goes beyond the round of 16 is a must.
Arsenal
Final Position: 3rd
Can they be happy with their season?: More happy than not. In truth, most of it is down the final months, with Arsenal's title challenge being effectively over by Bonfire Night and Monaco dumping the Gunners out of the Champions League. But the team's league form was more consistent than not, and a very proficient run to the end of the campaign saw them secure an automatic Champions League spot for the first team in three seasons, another FA Cup Final appearance, and a suggestion of a squad that can challenge next year.
Star Players: Alexis Sanchez was widely seen as a big capture when he moved from Barcelona in the summer, and the Chilean was a delightful star in his first campaign in the Premier League. Francis Coquelin proved a surprise key cog in the run-in despite failing to play regularly in a loan spell at Charlton, while Olivier Giroud delivered a very healthy goal total.
Need To Improve: Despite delivering a good goal total, Giroud's game still falters against bigger opposition, as proved following a horror show against Monaco, and the Frenchman needs more consistency. Wojeich Szczesny had an error-strewn campaign that was ended after his pain relief for gifting Southampton two goals was a cigarette in the showers afterwards.
Best Moments: For many, the catalyst for Arsenal's improved showing in the second half of the campaign was a deserved victory at Manchester City in the kind of game the Gunners have had a reputation for losing. Sandwiched by comprehensive wins over Stoke and Villa, it certainly helped, as did mauling Liverpool in a close attempt at getting payback on their defeat at Anfield last year. Edging out Manchester United and a sprited Reading to make the Cup final for a second successive year also helped.
What's Next?: The next step for Arsenal is making more of an impression in the Premier League title race and in the Champions League. A few further additions in key areas would certainly help - particularly up front, and perhaps between the goalposts.
Manchester United
Final Position: 4th
Can they be happy with their season?: A little, but not by much. The goal for Louis van Gaal's first season in the hot seat at Old Trafford was to right the wrongs of the failed Moyes experiment and restore a top four placing. After a ridiculous start that included a mauling by MK Dons and a defeat from 3-1 up at Leicester, the Red Devils put together some wins, but it took them quite a while to really look like a team with anything like the swashbuckling verve of old, and in truth, they never really looked like showing it over consistent stretches.
Star Players: David de Gea is pretty much single-handedly responsible for getting the Red Devils as many points as he did. The Spanish goalkeeper made some beautiful saves that helped the team gain a myriad of points, and its vital that van Gaal keeps him in England. Further forward, Wayne Rooney again lead the line well, while Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young proved to be unexpectedly key cogs.
Need To Improve: Much was made of the troubles of Angel di Maria, who in truth didn't have that bad a campaign, but was perhaps expected more of given he cost a British transfer record. Saying that, he was of more use than Falcao, who cost a ridiculous fee for a loan and did barely anything, while Robin van Persie was also disappointing more often than not.
Best Moments: After being dismantled at home by Liverpool and Manchester City last season, it will have been of immeasurable satisfaction for Red Devils fans that they handed out some heavy beatings to these two rivals in this campaign. A pair of quickfire jammy victories away at Southampton and Arsenal where Manchester United were largely dominated also proved delights, not to mention vital in that top 4 chase.
What's Next?: For many, the rebuild was a two-step process, with the first being a return to the Champions League revenue streams, and then a title chase. For some, next year is seen as a year for the chase at the top, but the Red Devils need some key additions to stay close, not to mention keeping De Gea at the club. Holding onto a top 4 place is probably the starting point, although that's not to say a title chase is entirely beyond them.
Tottenham Hotspur
Final Position: 5th
Can they be happy with their season?: Not really. To some degree, fifth put a layer of gloss on another transition season at White Hart Lane. This is not to say that Mauricio Pochettino's first season at White Hart Lane was a disaster, and they will be relieved to avoid the dreaded Europa League qualifiers. But in truth, a top 4 challenge rarely looked likely, and some poor home form in the first half of the season did not help.
Star Players: "Harry Kane, he's one of our own", was the popular chant from the Spurs fans. He wrote himself into the club folklore with a brace on his first North London Derby start on his way to 21 Premier League goals, and lead the line in an unexpectedly impressive manner. Hugo Lloris also looked high quality in the goal and kept Spurs in several games, while Christian Eriksen and Nabil Bentaleb were key men in the midfield.
Need To Improve: Defensively, Spurs need reinforcements in the summer. Vlad Chiriches and Federico Fazio were particularly inept, Kyle Walker has had his progress stalled, while even the better Eric Dier and Jan Vertonghen have had moments of brain fades. Further forward, Erik Lamela and Andros Townsend require greater consistency next year.
Best Moments: The first half of the campaign saw Spurs become late-in-the-day specialists, with late winners at Villa, Hull, Swansea and Leicester picking up three points. But things looked to change after a tremendous result on New Year's Day at home to Chelsea, where Spurs came from behind to net five. A very impressive comeback win over Arsenal lead by Kane was a tremendous result.
What's Next?: Pochettino has already said that the goal of next year will be Champions League qualification. Whether or not they get it depends on keeping Kane in the goals and/or finding someone else to rack them up alongside him, while bringing in defenders that can do their jobs more consistently.
Liverpool
Final Position: 6th
Can they be happy with their season?: Not at all. Matching last season's 2nd place was always going to be a hard ask even before Luis Suarez left and Daniel Sturridge spent the majority of the campaign injured. But a poor first half of the season left them up against it for the entire campaign, amid serious rumours over Brendan Rodgers' future. An impressive winning run at the turn of the year left them in a decent spot, but defeats in the FA Cup semi-final and to top 4 rivals saw Steven Gerrard's final campaign at Anfield end on a whimper. An inexplicable thrashing by Stoke on the final day has certainly made Liverpool fans even more scathing on the way out.
Star Players: Phillipe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson were somewhat overlooked heroes during Liverpool's 2nd place run, but here, both were cornerstones for Liverpool, and provided the consistency that some of their more decorated contemporaries lacked. After being a public whipping boy in the opening half of the campaign, Simon Mignolet also delivered an improved second half of the season.
Need To Improve: Liverpool's attack was part of the reason their 2013/14 campaign sizzled. Equally, their attack was part of the reason why this one was a disappointment. Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli failed to convince they were anywhere near replacing the goals gone, while Raheem Sterling didn't always look comfortable in the myriad of positions he was asked to play, and faded badly amid a contract furore that quickly went sour.
Best Moments: A 3-0 victory over Spurs in August was a great result, albeit a false dawn of one. The start of 2015 was nevertheless an impressive one, with some high quality football and impressive victories picked up against the likes of Spurs, Southampton and Manchester City that had given themselves hope of the top 4.
What's Next?: Next season will be something of an unknown, with Gerrard gone, Sterling likely to also be gone, and Sturridge still looking for fitness. The goal nevertheless remains the same that it was 24 months ago - Champions League football. Whether or not Brendan Rodgers is overseeing that remains to be seen.
Southampton
Final Position: 7th
Can they be happy with their season?: Very much so. Doom mongers were out in pre-season for Southampton after the Saints sold £90million worth of talent. But while relegation fears as some suggested were always over-the-top, very few predicted their tremendous start, with the team spending the majority of the campaign in the top six. In truth, the team slowed down a little towards the end, but Ronald Koeman's first season in England was certainly excellent.
Star Players: Jose Fonte was a colossal presence in the centre of the Saints backline, and looked very strong in a defensive unit with Nathaniel Clyne, Toby Alderweireld and Ryan Bertrand. Despite fading badly after January, Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic have adjusted to England very nicely, while Morgan Schneiderlin shrugged off his early transfer wrangle to be a dominant midfield presence.
Need To Improve: The Saints squad was largely trimmed of fat and was filled with players giving their all. You could argue some of the less-often used defenders could've made a greater impression, but such was the form of those ahead that they couldn't. Maybe Eljero Elia could've done more after a bright start, but he will be an asset if his loan becomes permanent.
Best Moments: The memories will presumably last a lifetime of the eight goal mauling of Sunderland, which was the pinnacle of attacking class for most teams. A 6-1 win against Aston Villa to round off the home campaign was also delightful, while maiden away day triumphs of this century at Manchester United and Newcastle were achieved by impressive back-to-back away displays.
What's Next?: Its not entirely surprising that the Saints have been linked with another mass exodus. Koeman's goal is strengthening this collection and preparing for a tilt at continuing with the Saints' five years of flight up the football pyramid, which will most likely include requiring a new striker.
Swansea City
Final Position: 8th
Can they be happy with their season?: Indeed they can. This is Swansea's second highest league position in their history, as pre-season fears of a relegation fight were quickly eroded. In truth, the second half of the campaign was not as impressive, but a remodelled Swans team coped impressively well even after losing Wilfried Bony in a big money move, and they remain an asset to the division.
Star Players: Gylfi Sigurdsson's second spell in South Wales has been excellent, with the Icelandic attacking midfielder slotting in extremely nicely. Lukasz Fabianski has also stepped up very nicely after moving from North London in the summer, with the Polish keeper making some fantastic saves along the way, while Ki Sung Yeung has formed an excellent pairing with Jonjo Shelvey.
Need To Improve: The nearest you could argue is French striker Bafetimibi Gomis, who struggled during the first part of the campaign, but bagged a number of vital goals after top scorer Wilfried Bony joined Manchester City in January.
Best Moments: The big highlight for some is a first ever league double over Manchester United, with the Swans party-pooping van Gaal's arrival in style on the opening day and then doing as well at home. The South Welsh club also picked up 6 points from Arsenal, and also had a very pleasing style once more on their way to some impressive home results.
What's Next?: After getting along reasonably well, the big challenge is now replacing the goals of Bony in order to keep themselves in a high-riding fashion. Manager Garry Monk is expected to sign a new contract soon and wants to bring in five or six players as the Swans seek to continue their upwards trajectory.
Stoke City
Final Position: 9th
Can they be happy with their season?: Yes, even if it took a little bit to get going. Stoke started off surprisingly inconsistently, as they lost early home games to Aston Villa, Leicester and Burnley. Despite the blow of losing new attacking lynchpin Bojan to injury in January, Mark Hughes was able to galvanise runs that got the team a second top 10 position in a row.
Star Players: A re-modelled strike force of Mame Biriam Diouf and Bojan provided plenty of impressive and enterprising attacking play throughout the campaign, while loan signing Victor Moses also proved useful. But the biggest surprise was Charlie Adam, who belied his love-him-or-hate-him nature with some excellent displays and wonderful goals - not least his 65-odd yarder at Chelsea and a sumptuous volley against Sunderland.
Need To Improve: Considering how integral he had been, it was a surprise to see Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic give away some easy goals. The Bosnian was still a key presence, but his form wavered a bit more than previous seasons. Marko Arnautovic could also have contributed a few more strikes than his one Premier League goal in the entire campaign.
Best Moments: Stoke's seemingly annual home win over Arsenal was this time secured with an impressive attacking first half. But one of the big results was an excellent away display at Manchester City that saw them secure their first win of the campaign. There were also some delightful displays against QPR and Spurs as Stoke continued their attempts to divorce themselves of their long ball reputation. The icing on the cake was the final game, as Stoke demolished Liverpool.
What's Next?: The long game for Mark Hughes is trying to get Stoke towards the top seven or even an outside chance of a top 6 challenge. One aim is a new goalkeeper, amid rumours Asmir Begovic is a set to depart and concern over Jack Butland, while a long term successor to Peter Crouch in attack should also be sourced.
Crystal Palace
Final Position: 10th
Can they be happy with their season?: Very much so in the end. It could all have been so different. Tony Pulis' resignation on the eve of the first game was not a great start, and Neil Warnock struggled to get results before leaving just after Christmas. In came Alan Pardew, who immediately turned things around. The victories saw them zoom up the league, with Palace ultimately ending in their highest league placing since 1992.
Star Players: Goalkeeper Julian Speroni entered his 10th season at Palace and was once again responsible for keeping Palace in games with some excellent stops. A reformatted front group also worked wonders for Jason Puncheon and Yannick Bolasie, while Glenn Murray provided an unexpected impression up top in the home straight.
Need To Improve: Until Pardew arrived, goalscoring proved problematic. Marouane Chamakh's goal on the final day was his first league goal since August, Fraizer Campbell has stalled, Dwight Gayle has proved inconsistent and Yaya Sanogo has not impressed in his loan from Arsenal. Palace could use a new face or two up top.
Best Moments: Before Pardew arrived, the big highlight looked like being a deserved victory over Liverpool in early November. Palace continued to be a thorn in Liverpool's side by then winning at Anfield in Steven Gerrard's last game, and deservedly so with a very impressive performance. The biggest result was arguably coming from 2-0 down to win at Burnley in Pardew's third game, which hinted that the players and manager had got something in motion..
What's Next?: Some new faces to consolidate their presence in the top half will be sought, with Pardew presumably relishing freedom on transfers after being restrained at Newcastle. One, possibly two strikers are a must.
Everton
Final Position: 11th
Can they be happy with their season?: They won't. Even accounting for the Europa League adding extra games, Everton have gone backwards during the campaign and will finish in the bottom half for the first time in 9 years. Things could have been worse, with an error-prone defence leaking goals and giving them away at an alarming rate, and were it not for some late form, the Toffees could have found themselves in a relegation battle.
Star Players: The Toffees did have consistent performers in spite of their problems. Seamus Coleman had another impressive season his full-back bomber role, while Phil Jagielka and James McCarthy have the makings of a good spine. Aaron Lennon was also impressive, both for good showings in his loan spell and for his unimpressed look in his publicity photos after his signature.
Need To Improve: Romelu Lukaku is a curiosity. He did extremely well to get 20 goals and was his usual combative self, but for most of the season, his form was patchy, and he was dropped on a surprisingly regular basis for a club record signing. Tim Howard and Sylvain Distin underperformed, while Ross Barkley was also a surprise disappointment.
Best Moments: Phil Jagielka's thunderbolt at Liverpool in the final minute of the Merseyside Derby was a sumptuous strike that deserved greater recognition in the end of season goal awards. The best team performances came in the Europa League, with the Toffees thumping Bundesliga high fliers Wolfsburg home and away, and doing similar to Swiss side Young Boys - a result that meant Everton were the last English team standing in a disappointing European season for Premier League teams.
What's Next?: This was a very disappointing campaign and Roberto Martinez knows the most important part is adaptation. The Toffees need some strength in depth at the back, and perhaps a new partner for Jagielka, while some further reinforcements are required in the attacking quadrant.
West Ham United
Final Position: 12th
Can they be happy with their season?: The first half, yes, but the second half, no. Seemingly with a point to prove at the start of the campaign, West Ham begun extremely nicely, and were in the Champions League places by mid-December. But after that, the team bottled it. West Ham only won three league games after New Year' Day, and an FA Cup mauling by West Brom seemed to signal an end to Sam Allardyce long before his exodus was confirmed within five minutes of the final game of the Premier League season.
Star Players: Diafra Sakho had been a relatively unheralded arrival, but his early season form was magnificent, and 11 goals for his first campaign in England is a good haul. Full-backs Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Cresswell proved to be excellent signings, while Adrian was again very good between the posts.
Need To Improve: Kevin Nolan has been a whipping boy for Hammers fans for quite a while, but this season proved to be one where his inclusion was in spite of his merits. Andy Carroll again spent more time with the physio than with a ball, while Mauro Zarate proved to be a massive disappointment - both at Upton Park and at QPR, who tried to return him almost immediately after loaning him in.
Best Moments: The early form will be the most fondly remembered of this campaign, with impressive early successes over Liverpool and Manchester City among their most successful early conquests. The most comprehensive victory was over Hull City, although that masked a few cracks given the Hammers were booed off before the Tigers' second half disintegration.
What's Next?: The quickfire removal of Allardyce has set a mandate for change at the Hammers, with the replacement likely to start by jettisoning of Allardyce favourites like Nolan and Joey O'Brien. Beyond that, the Hammers have to avoid botching it and ending up in the Championship for their first season at the Olympic Stadium. The post-Allardyce record of his former Premier League clubs does not make comforting reading.
West Bromwich Albion
Final Position: 13th
Can they be happy with their season?: The second half of it, yes. WBA gambled by appointing Alan Irvine in the summer and letting him bring in 13 new players, but it was fairly quickly evident that he was not the man to keep them in the Premier League. Tony Pulis arrived on New Year's Day and despite taking some time to adjust, he was able to take the Baggies to convincing survival.
Star Players: Despite various quit threats, Saido Berahino proved key up front and bagged several key goals along the way. A new midfield pairing of Craig Gardner and Darren Fletcher proved to be very consistent after Fletcher's arrival in January, while Boaz Myhill proved to be an unsung hero when he stepped in for Ben Foster after the ex-England international's injuries.
Need To Improve: Defensively, WBA could use some tightening up, with left back seemingly an issue given their most consistent player in the position was winger Chris Brunt. £9million striker Brown Ideye also proved disappointing, even if he did chip in with vital goals against Burnley and Stoke shortly after Pulis' arrival.
Best Moments: The icing on the cake for the Baggies after securing survival was a 3-0 win over Chelsea. A 1-0 win at Old Trafford a few weeks earlier was also an impressive success story. Irvine's time by contrast peaked with double success over Spurs and Burnley, but while he did beat Aston Villa - something Pulis failed to do in two meetings - WBA showed more than enough to justify the change.
What's Next?: Uncertainty could be part of the scenario. Chairman Jeremy Peace wants to sell the club but has said he will stay if a buyer cannot be found quickly. Provided that's resolved quickly, the next step is strengthening the squad, and with it, attempts at better after consecutive seasons fighting the drop.
Leicester City
Final Position: 14th
Can they be happy with their season?: Ultimately, yes, albeit mainly the start and the end. Leicester had started quite brightly, but after the undeniable high of putting five past Manchester United, they tanked to the bottom and for the majority of the campaign, Leicester looked doomed. But after breaking a winless streak against West Ham, Leicester roared up the league, beating demotion rivals West Brom, Burnley and Newcastle on their way to safety.
Star Players: Esteban Cambiasso has proved to be magnificent in his debut Premier League season, who has bought some Champions League class to proceedings. Striker Jamie Vardy has proved a livewire, and proved particularly useful in the second half of the season, as demonstrated by his England call-up. Robert Huth and Marcin Wasilewski have also proved to be a secure defensive unit.
Need To Improve: In truth, most of the players have done what they needed to when they needed. But more could probably have been expected of some. Striker Andrej Kramaric has only scored two Premier League goals since a big money January move, while Anthony Knockeart has failed to adjust in the same way Riyad Mahrez has. Nigel Pearson's PR skills could also be bolstered a tad, although he won't care too much given he's achieved what he set out to at the start of the campaign.
Best Moments: For a long period, it looked like the 5-3 win over Manchester United in September would stand alone as a highlight. But the impressive run at the end provided a myriad of highlights - the late winner over West Ham, deserved wins over Swansea and Southampton, a thumping win over Newcastle - that Leicester fans will watch on the highlights DVD over and over again.
What's Next?: The goal for the first PL campaign in Leicester in ten years was survival and that has been achieved. The next step is strengthening and consolidation, although the Foxes have to avoid the second season syndrome trap that many have been recently fallen into.
Newcastle United
Final Position: 15th
Can they be happy with their season?: Certainly not. Newcastle's season started badly with no wins in the opening two months, and after the end of February, the bottom fell out of the club's world. One point from ten games is some of the worst form in the team's history, and John Carver proved incapable of being anywhere near replacing Alan Pardew. The Magpies did eventually do just enough to maintain their top flight status, but must do better.
Star Players: Ayoze Perez and Jack Coblack proved to be the best of Newcastle's summer overhaul, with the former proving impressive on his first campaign in England and the latter looking consistent - something his teammates lacked. Papiss Cisse also scored some vital goals, even if receiving 10 games in suspension for off the ball incidents was idiotic. The big cheers were also made for Jonas Gutierrez, after the Argentine came back following testicular cancer treatment and proved to be a key player in the home straight.
Need To Improve: Pretty much everyone else. From owner Mike Ashley underfunding the team, to director Lee Charnley looking woeful, to John Carver's appalling management, and into a large number of players looking disinterested, incapable or woeful, the club is in dire straits and requires large scale alteration in the summer.
Best Moments: If it was crazy at the time that Newcastle ended Chelsea's unbeaten start, it looks even more so now the season is done. But that was a deserved victory, even with Newcastle playing their third choice keeper. Victory at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup was also very impressive. But perhaps one of the big defining images will be a shirtless Jonas running around St. James' after his goal secured victory over West Ham and survival.
What's Next?: Root and branch reform is an absolute necessity. The club's structure has clearly failed everyone supporting it, and if Ashley stands any chance of bringing irritated fans back on side, fundamental changes in model have to be done. This include a new manager that is professionally capable and new players.
Sunderland
Final Position: 16th
Can they be happy with their season?: Not especially, but it could've been worse. Sunderland proved to be the draw specialists, with no other team coming near their 17 stalemates. But with victories proving elusive, the defeats threatened to be hammer blows, and while nothing matched the 8-0 humiliation at Southampton in terms of ineptitude, all looked lost after a humiliation at home to Aston Villa in March. That proved the end for Gus Poyet, but not for the Black Cats, as Dick Advocaat performed an impressive act of heroism to maintain their survival.
Star Players: The giant frame of Costel Pantilimon struggled to get ahead of Joe Hart at Manchester City, but proved to be an adept presence between the sticks for the North East side. Centre half Sebastian Coates has done well in a loan spell from Liverpool, while Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson are a pair of quietly efficient and useful midfielders.
Need To Improve: Sunderland's attacking players have a consistency problem. Danny Graham only scored his first goal in the final month, Steven Fletcher remains frustrating, Connor Wickham hasn't followed through his late 2014 form, Jermaine Defoe didn't score as many as perhaps hoped - even if he got vital ones - and Will Buckley and Ricky Alvarez underwhelmed. The best attacker was Adam Johnson, who made more headlines for an off-field underage sex scandal than his football.
Best Moments: For many Black Cats supporters, a second successive pair of Tyne-Wear Derby triumphs is the highlight of the season, with Adam Johnson and Jermaine Defoe writing themselves into Sunderland folklore. This is particularly the case for the latter, whose winner was a goal of the season contender. A proficient sweeping aside of Southampton and impressive rearguard win at Everton also justified the Advocaat change.
What's Next?: It largely depends on the manager situation. Advocaat has confirmed his intentions to retire when he leaves Wearside, but is yet to confirm how far in the future that is. Players will be arriving regardless, but the philosophy will no doubt change if someone else is in the hotseat.
Aston Villa
Final Position: 17th
Can they be happy with their season?: Moreso than the position suggests. Villa looked doomed with Paul Lambert in the manager's seat, with a desperate surrender at Hull in February the nadir. Former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood was put in charge, and pulled off some significant results to keep Villa's heads above water, and even take them to their first FA Cup final since 2000. The less said about a mauling at Southampton and slump to defeat on the final day to end the league campaign, the better.
Star Players: Fabian Delph has proved a consistent powerhouse in claret and blue, and it will have been an immeasurable benefit that he chose to extend his contract. Sherwood was then able to coax performance out of Tom Cleverley as a strong midfield centre. Christian Benteke also improved following the change of management.
Need To Improve: Defensively, questions have to be answered about the Villains. Ron Vlaar is a strong presence, but various members of the back four all seemed to be going through their own inconsistent patches independent of others. Brad Guzan also had a fairly underwhelming campaign, with the veteran Shay Given looking like the better keeper after his recall.
Best Moments: Lambert peaked with a surprisingly impressive start that saw Villa win three of their opening four matches, including a deserved win at Liverpool, but for many Villa fans, a moment that saved them was showing him the door. Impressive free-flowing football shone against Everton, while Sherwood will be particularly happy to have returned to Spurs by leaving with a win. The FA Cup semi-final win over Liverpool and a late winner against West Brom in the league would also have proved very satisfying.
What's Next?: Having begun off well enough, Sherwood has to try and prevent Villa's seemingly endless flirtation with the drop. To that end, Villa need a few extra quality players, particularly in defence.
Hull City
Final Position: 18th (relegated)
Can they be happy with their season?: Hell no. Hull begun the season optimistic and hopeful of big things, with pundits suggesting the Tigers for a top half challenge after a big spending summer. But in truth, Hull struggled with their revamp, and soon enough, they began sinking. Despite coming close to saving themselves a few times, the Tigers fell through the cracks in the end.
Star Players: Nikica Jelavic was Hull's top scorer and the Croatian was a lively presence when fit. Ahmed Elmohamady was also a lively presence, even despite a handball goal and a comic dive. David Meyler and Paul McShane were put in the team for the run-in, and put some of their more wealthy teammates to shame.
Need To Improve: Its too easy to criticise Hatem Ben Arfa, even if the loanee from Newcastle was a failure. But Hull had bigger problems as well as that. The physio room had problems given Hull had an improbably large injury list for most of the season. On the pitch, Abel Hernandez proved to be a waste of £10million, while Tom Huddlestone was pedestrian, and Jake Livermore was disappointing even before his ban for a positive drug test.
Best Moments: Hull fans thought they had it done when a twin success over Crystal Palace and Liverpool with less than a month to go seemed to have got them clear of danger. This was ultimately a false dawn, and not the only one in a campaign full of them for long-suffering Hull fans.
What's Next?: Hull have go down riddled with divisions, with owner Assem Allam's "Hull Tigers" re-brand plot still irritating them, along with the Tigers owner kicking community teams out of a sports facility by the stadium. When it comes to the team, Hull will be a different looking team by the time they wander onto the field for the opening day of next season, although Steve Bruce will be hopeful of trying again to get promoted.
Burnley
Final Position: 19th (relegated)
Can they be happy with their season?: Not particularly. But few people had Burnley down to survive and they did nicely enough to keep their fight alive for so long. The team was full of hard workers and graft, but ultimately, they did not score anything near enough to keep them in the Premier League.
Star Players: A hard-working front pair of Danny Ings and Ashley Barnes proved to be a lively presence, while Tom Heaton looked at home as a Premier League goalkeeper. But one of the big stars was George Boyd, who grabbed vital goals and looked excellent out wide.
Need To Improve: In truth, Burnley lacked options in attack. Ings and Barnes may have been lively, but they needed to score more, while the likes of Lukas Jutkewicz, Sam Vokes and Marvin Sordell didn't score a single Premier League goal.
Best Moments: Taking four points off champions Manchester City was an excellent memory, including the very nicely won victory over the Citizens in March. The team also provided some pleasant memories throughout, with impressive victory over Southampton an impressive day.
What's Next?: Burnley's net spend was very low and even despite the likely departure of Ings, the team should have a squad already capable of returning to the top flight. Whether or not Sean Dyche can keep them there is a tricky one, but instant promotion back to the Premier League is certainly the goal.
Queens Park Rangers
Final Position: 20th (relegated)
Can they be happy with their season?: No. This was an unmitigated disaster, with heroically terrible away from pre-Christmas and equally terrible home form after Harry Redknapp left in February. Chris Ramsey took the reigns but the QPR side never looked like staying out of the bottom 3 after slipping below the line of doom, and they cannot complain they're heading back to the second tier from whence they came.
Star Players: Two players can really come out of this debacle with credit. Charlie Austin bagged a very impressive 17 goals in his debut Premier League season, including some important victories in the early half of the season. At the other end, goalkeeper Robert Green pulled off some beautiful stops that bailed out his inept defensive unit.
Need To Improve: With the exception of those two and possibly Leroy Fer, Joey Barton and Matty Phillips, QPR have been abysmal. The purchasing strategy has left QPR filled with uninspiring heavily moneyed mercenaries yet again, and the Hoops need to shed as many of them as quickly as possible.
Best Moments: It looked for a brief moment like two exhilarating and well-earned victories against Leicester and West Brom would get QPR somewhere. Both games were impressively earned wins, and are perhaps as good as it got for the Hoops.
What's Next?: Provided the Football League don't fine them £50million+ as has been rumoured, whoever takes the reigns needs to desperately rebuild. But the Championship is an unforgiving league, with the likes of Fulham, Cardiff, Wigan, Blackpool and Wolves all recently finding it a struggle, and QPR have to be wary of avoiding a plummet.
With everything now done and dusted for the campaign, we now have a tournament-free summer to focus on what most football fans consider one of the fundamental parts of football supporting - rampant transfer speculation.
There's a full 75-odd days before everything starts back up again, with the FA Cup Final and the European finals the final things wrapping us all up before the summer, and then eventually going back into the groove of league football.
All we can do now is wait up for the next chapter to be written.
In truth, the more exciting battle in the season was the race to get into the league, with Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich eventually being those who got in ahead of a chasing swarm. This one may not have been an exciting vintage, but has nevertheless held moments of excitement, as all good football season should. With it now over, all the 20 teams that fought it out have some interesting stories to tell of their campaign, and will certainly be preparing to see how they can duke it out better next season.
Chelsea
Final Position: 1st (Champions)
Can they be happy with their season?: They most certainly can. Chelsea set out to get the title and swept to the top quickly, before easily holding on. No team came close to stopping Jose Mourinho from lifting the Premier League title, and they were also Capital One Cup winners. The team may've disappointed in the Champions League again, but they got what they wanted, and comfortably.
Star Players: Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas were major successes in the opening half of the campaign as Chelsea assembled their advantage. Eden Hazard was also consistently impressive, while Thiabult Cortouis and Nemanja Matic were more unsung heroes.
Need To Improve: Its hard to find anyone specific that disappointed. Full-back Filipe Luis is perhaps the nearest, but with Cesar Azpilicueta proving an adept left-back, he didn't really play anyway. Loic Remy could also have played more, but scored a healthy total when he did, including vital winners against Hull and Stoke.
Best Moments: Most of Chelsea's season was fairly effortless, but they had plenty of delightful results along the way. Nevertheless, the sweetest moments for Blues fans will be the victories over Spurs and Crystal Palace respectively that confirmed their two trophies.
What's Next?: Chelsea will be happy enough to have won their first two trophies of the second Mourinho era. Now that is done, the goal is now to get some more shiny trinkets, with Roman Abrahmovic's dreams surely focused on bringing another Champions League title to Stamford Bridge. No doubt he will provide Mourinho a handsome treasure chest with which to do so.
Manchester City
Final Position: 2nd
Can they be happy with their season?: Not especially, although it could've been more disastrous. The Citizens finished eight points behind Chelsea in the end, with a fairly terrible start to 2015 ending their title hopes after they had managed to reel Chelsea in over the Christmas period. In truth, they could've done a lot better, but they ultimately showed more to get a runner-up spot, although its clear it will be a busy summer.
Star Players: Sergio Aguero ended the campaign as the Premier League's top scorer and among them, racked up some extremely impressive strikes. Its no secret that Manuel Pellegrini's team would've done better had Aguero not sustained injuries and a blank patch. Elsewhere, Joe Hart looked impressive, while David Silva had another nicely productive campaign.
Need To Improve: Yaya Toure received a pasting from pundits at various points in the campaign, but in truth, Man City were worse with him out of the team. The central player who disappointed was Vincent Kompany, who had an underwhelming campaign by his standards. Eliaquim Mangala did not look stable alongside him, although he did have his moments. Wilfried Bony also needs to start producing goals to justify his big money transfer.
Best Moments: The best performances were usually away, with a thumping 3-0 demolition of Southampton at St. Mary's arguably the team's best showing of the lot. Similarly resounding successes at Stoke and Sunderland were also achieved in a pleasing manner, while the biggest away day victory was at Roma to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League.
What's Next?: Whether or not Pellegrini remains will have to be determined quickly. After that, its most likely the management team will be engaged in a clear out, with the next step being attempts at challenges for further silverware. A Champions League campaign that goes beyond the round of 16 is a must.
Arsenal
Final Position: 3rd
Can they be happy with their season?: More happy than not. In truth, most of it is down the final months, with Arsenal's title challenge being effectively over by Bonfire Night and Monaco dumping the Gunners out of the Champions League. But the team's league form was more consistent than not, and a very proficient run to the end of the campaign saw them secure an automatic Champions League spot for the first team in three seasons, another FA Cup Final appearance, and a suggestion of a squad that can challenge next year.
Star Players: Alexis Sanchez was widely seen as a big capture when he moved from Barcelona in the summer, and the Chilean was a delightful star in his first campaign in the Premier League. Francis Coquelin proved a surprise key cog in the run-in despite failing to play regularly in a loan spell at Charlton, while Olivier Giroud delivered a very healthy goal total.
Need To Improve: Despite delivering a good goal total, Giroud's game still falters against bigger opposition, as proved following a horror show against Monaco, and the Frenchman needs more consistency. Wojeich Szczesny had an error-strewn campaign that was ended after his pain relief for gifting Southampton two goals was a cigarette in the showers afterwards.
Best Moments: For many, the catalyst for Arsenal's improved showing in the second half of the campaign was a deserved victory at Manchester City in the kind of game the Gunners have had a reputation for losing. Sandwiched by comprehensive wins over Stoke and Villa, it certainly helped, as did mauling Liverpool in a close attempt at getting payback on their defeat at Anfield last year. Edging out Manchester United and a sprited Reading to make the Cup final for a second successive year also helped.
What's Next?: The next step for Arsenal is making more of an impression in the Premier League title race and in the Champions League. A few further additions in key areas would certainly help - particularly up front, and perhaps between the goalposts.
Manchester United
Final Position: 4th
Can they be happy with their season?: A little, but not by much. The goal for Louis van Gaal's first season in the hot seat at Old Trafford was to right the wrongs of the failed Moyes experiment and restore a top four placing. After a ridiculous start that included a mauling by MK Dons and a defeat from 3-1 up at Leicester, the Red Devils put together some wins, but it took them quite a while to really look like a team with anything like the swashbuckling verve of old, and in truth, they never really looked like showing it over consistent stretches.
Star Players: David de Gea is pretty much single-handedly responsible for getting the Red Devils as many points as he did. The Spanish goalkeeper made some beautiful saves that helped the team gain a myriad of points, and its vital that van Gaal keeps him in England. Further forward, Wayne Rooney again lead the line well, while Marouane Fellaini and Ashley Young proved to be unexpectedly key cogs.
Need To Improve: Much was made of the troubles of Angel di Maria, who in truth didn't have that bad a campaign, but was perhaps expected more of given he cost a British transfer record. Saying that, he was of more use than Falcao, who cost a ridiculous fee for a loan and did barely anything, while Robin van Persie was also disappointing more often than not.
Best Moments: After being dismantled at home by Liverpool and Manchester City last season, it will have been of immeasurable satisfaction for Red Devils fans that they handed out some heavy beatings to these two rivals in this campaign. A pair of quickfire jammy victories away at Southampton and Arsenal where Manchester United were largely dominated also proved delights, not to mention vital in that top 4 chase.
What's Next?: For many, the rebuild was a two-step process, with the first being a return to the Champions League revenue streams, and then a title chase. For some, next year is seen as a year for the chase at the top, but the Red Devils need some key additions to stay close, not to mention keeping De Gea at the club. Holding onto a top 4 place is probably the starting point, although that's not to say a title chase is entirely beyond them.
Tottenham Hotspur
Final Position: 5th
Can they be happy with their season?: Not really. To some degree, fifth put a layer of gloss on another transition season at White Hart Lane. This is not to say that Mauricio Pochettino's first season at White Hart Lane was a disaster, and they will be relieved to avoid the dreaded Europa League qualifiers. But in truth, a top 4 challenge rarely looked likely, and some poor home form in the first half of the season did not help.
Star Players: "Harry Kane, he's one of our own", was the popular chant from the Spurs fans. He wrote himself into the club folklore with a brace on his first North London Derby start on his way to 21 Premier League goals, and lead the line in an unexpectedly impressive manner. Hugo Lloris also looked high quality in the goal and kept Spurs in several games, while Christian Eriksen and Nabil Bentaleb were key men in the midfield.
Need To Improve: Defensively, Spurs need reinforcements in the summer. Vlad Chiriches and Federico Fazio were particularly inept, Kyle Walker has had his progress stalled, while even the better Eric Dier and Jan Vertonghen have had moments of brain fades. Further forward, Erik Lamela and Andros Townsend require greater consistency next year.
Best Moments: The first half of the campaign saw Spurs become late-in-the-day specialists, with late winners at Villa, Hull, Swansea and Leicester picking up three points. But things looked to change after a tremendous result on New Year's Day at home to Chelsea, where Spurs came from behind to net five. A very impressive comeback win over Arsenal lead by Kane was a tremendous result.
What's Next?: Pochettino has already said that the goal of next year will be Champions League qualification. Whether or not they get it depends on keeping Kane in the goals and/or finding someone else to rack them up alongside him, while bringing in defenders that can do their jobs more consistently.
Liverpool
Final Position: 6th
Can they be happy with their season?: Not at all. Matching last season's 2nd place was always going to be a hard ask even before Luis Suarez left and Daniel Sturridge spent the majority of the campaign injured. But a poor first half of the season left them up against it for the entire campaign, amid serious rumours over Brendan Rodgers' future. An impressive winning run at the turn of the year left them in a decent spot, but defeats in the FA Cup semi-final and to top 4 rivals saw Steven Gerrard's final campaign at Anfield end on a whimper. An inexplicable thrashing by Stoke on the final day has certainly made Liverpool fans even more scathing on the way out.
Star Players: Phillipe Coutinho and Jordan Henderson were somewhat overlooked heroes during Liverpool's 2nd place run, but here, both were cornerstones for Liverpool, and provided the consistency that some of their more decorated contemporaries lacked. After being a public whipping boy in the opening half of the campaign, Simon Mignolet also delivered an improved second half of the season.
Need To Improve: Liverpool's attack was part of the reason their 2013/14 campaign sizzled. Equally, their attack was part of the reason why this one was a disappointment. Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli failed to convince they were anywhere near replacing the goals gone, while Raheem Sterling didn't always look comfortable in the myriad of positions he was asked to play, and faded badly amid a contract furore that quickly went sour.
Best Moments: A 3-0 victory over Spurs in August was a great result, albeit a false dawn of one. The start of 2015 was nevertheless an impressive one, with some high quality football and impressive victories picked up against the likes of Spurs, Southampton and Manchester City that had given themselves hope of the top 4.
What's Next?: Next season will be something of an unknown, with Gerrard gone, Sterling likely to also be gone, and Sturridge still looking for fitness. The goal nevertheless remains the same that it was 24 months ago - Champions League football. Whether or not Brendan Rodgers is overseeing that remains to be seen.
Southampton
Final Position: 7th
Can they be happy with their season?: Very much so. Doom mongers were out in pre-season for Southampton after the Saints sold £90million worth of talent. But while relegation fears as some suggested were always over-the-top, very few predicted their tremendous start, with the team spending the majority of the campaign in the top six. In truth, the team slowed down a little towards the end, but Ronald Koeman's first season in England was certainly excellent.
Star Players: Jose Fonte was a colossal presence in the centre of the Saints backline, and looked very strong in a defensive unit with Nathaniel Clyne, Toby Alderweireld and Ryan Bertrand. Despite fading badly after January, Graziano Pelle and Dusan Tadic have adjusted to England very nicely, while Morgan Schneiderlin shrugged off his early transfer wrangle to be a dominant midfield presence.
Need To Improve: The Saints squad was largely trimmed of fat and was filled with players giving their all. You could argue some of the less-often used defenders could've made a greater impression, but such was the form of those ahead that they couldn't. Maybe Eljero Elia could've done more after a bright start, but he will be an asset if his loan becomes permanent.
Best Moments: The memories will presumably last a lifetime of the eight goal mauling of Sunderland, which was the pinnacle of attacking class for most teams. A 6-1 win against Aston Villa to round off the home campaign was also delightful, while maiden away day triumphs of this century at Manchester United and Newcastle were achieved by impressive back-to-back away displays.
What's Next?: Its not entirely surprising that the Saints have been linked with another mass exodus. Koeman's goal is strengthening this collection and preparing for a tilt at continuing with the Saints' five years of flight up the football pyramid, which will most likely include requiring a new striker.
Swansea City
Final Position: 8th
Can they be happy with their season?: Indeed they can. This is Swansea's second highest league position in their history, as pre-season fears of a relegation fight were quickly eroded. In truth, the second half of the campaign was not as impressive, but a remodelled Swans team coped impressively well even after losing Wilfried Bony in a big money move, and they remain an asset to the division.
Star Players: Gylfi Sigurdsson's second spell in South Wales has been excellent, with the Icelandic attacking midfielder slotting in extremely nicely. Lukasz Fabianski has also stepped up very nicely after moving from North London in the summer, with the Polish keeper making some fantastic saves along the way, while Ki Sung Yeung has formed an excellent pairing with Jonjo Shelvey.
Need To Improve: The nearest you could argue is French striker Bafetimibi Gomis, who struggled during the first part of the campaign, but bagged a number of vital goals after top scorer Wilfried Bony joined Manchester City in January.
Best Moments: The big highlight for some is a first ever league double over Manchester United, with the Swans party-pooping van Gaal's arrival in style on the opening day and then doing as well at home. The South Welsh club also picked up 6 points from Arsenal, and also had a very pleasing style once more on their way to some impressive home results.
What's Next?: After getting along reasonably well, the big challenge is now replacing the goals of Bony in order to keep themselves in a high-riding fashion. Manager Garry Monk is expected to sign a new contract soon and wants to bring in five or six players as the Swans seek to continue their upwards trajectory.
Stoke City
Final Position: 9th
Can they be happy with their season?: Yes, even if it took a little bit to get going. Stoke started off surprisingly inconsistently, as they lost early home games to Aston Villa, Leicester and Burnley. Despite the blow of losing new attacking lynchpin Bojan to injury in January, Mark Hughes was able to galvanise runs that got the team a second top 10 position in a row.
Star Players: A re-modelled strike force of Mame Biriam Diouf and Bojan provided plenty of impressive and enterprising attacking play throughout the campaign, while loan signing Victor Moses also proved useful. But the biggest surprise was Charlie Adam, who belied his love-him-or-hate-him nature with some excellent displays and wonderful goals - not least his 65-odd yarder at Chelsea and a sumptuous volley against Sunderland.
Need To Improve: Considering how integral he had been, it was a surprise to see Stoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic give away some easy goals. The Bosnian was still a key presence, but his form wavered a bit more than previous seasons. Marko Arnautovic could also have contributed a few more strikes than his one Premier League goal in the entire campaign.
Best Moments: Stoke's seemingly annual home win over Arsenal was this time secured with an impressive attacking first half. But one of the big results was an excellent away display at Manchester City that saw them secure their first win of the campaign. There were also some delightful displays against QPR and Spurs as Stoke continued their attempts to divorce themselves of their long ball reputation. The icing on the cake was the final game, as Stoke demolished Liverpool.
What's Next?: The long game for Mark Hughes is trying to get Stoke towards the top seven or even an outside chance of a top 6 challenge. One aim is a new goalkeeper, amid rumours Asmir Begovic is a set to depart and concern over Jack Butland, while a long term successor to Peter Crouch in attack should also be sourced.
Crystal Palace
Final Position: 10th
Can they be happy with their season?: Very much so in the end. It could all have been so different. Tony Pulis' resignation on the eve of the first game was not a great start, and Neil Warnock struggled to get results before leaving just after Christmas. In came Alan Pardew, who immediately turned things around. The victories saw them zoom up the league, with Palace ultimately ending in their highest league placing since 1992.
Star Players: Goalkeeper Julian Speroni entered his 10th season at Palace and was once again responsible for keeping Palace in games with some excellent stops. A reformatted front group also worked wonders for Jason Puncheon and Yannick Bolasie, while Glenn Murray provided an unexpected impression up top in the home straight.
Need To Improve: Until Pardew arrived, goalscoring proved problematic. Marouane Chamakh's goal on the final day was his first league goal since August, Fraizer Campbell has stalled, Dwight Gayle has proved inconsistent and Yaya Sanogo has not impressed in his loan from Arsenal. Palace could use a new face or two up top.
Best Moments: Before Pardew arrived, the big highlight looked like being a deserved victory over Liverpool in early November. Palace continued to be a thorn in Liverpool's side by then winning at Anfield in Steven Gerrard's last game, and deservedly so with a very impressive performance. The biggest result was arguably coming from 2-0 down to win at Burnley in Pardew's third game, which hinted that the players and manager had got something in motion..
What's Next?: Some new faces to consolidate their presence in the top half will be sought, with Pardew presumably relishing freedom on transfers after being restrained at Newcastle. One, possibly two strikers are a must.
Everton
Final Position: 11th
Can they be happy with their season?: They won't. Even accounting for the Europa League adding extra games, Everton have gone backwards during the campaign and will finish in the bottom half for the first time in 9 years. Things could have been worse, with an error-prone defence leaking goals and giving them away at an alarming rate, and were it not for some late form, the Toffees could have found themselves in a relegation battle.
Star Players: The Toffees did have consistent performers in spite of their problems. Seamus Coleman had another impressive season his full-back bomber role, while Phil Jagielka and James McCarthy have the makings of a good spine. Aaron Lennon was also impressive, both for good showings in his loan spell and for his unimpressed look in his publicity photos after his signature.
Need To Improve: Romelu Lukaku is a curiosity. He did extremely well to get 20 goals and was his usual combative self, but for most of the season, his form was patchy, and he was dropped on a surprisingly regular basis for a club record signing. Tim Howard and Sylvain Distin underperformed, while Ross Barkley was also a surprise disappointment.
Best Moments: Phil Jagielka's thunderbolt at Liverpool in the final minute of the Merseyside Derby was a sumptuous strike that deserved greater recognition in the end of season goal awards. The best team performances came in the Europa League, with the Toffees thumping Bundesliga high fliers Wolfsburg home and away, and doing similar to Swiss side Young Boys - a result that meant Everton were the last English team standing in a disappointing European season for Premier League teams.
What's Next?: This was a very disappointing campaign and Roberto Martinez knows the most important part is adaptation. The Toffees need some strength in depth at the back, and perhaps a new partner for Jagielka, while some further reinforcements are required in the attacking quadrant.
West Ham United
Final Position: 12th
Can they be happy with their season?: The first half, yes, but the second half, no. Seemingly with a point to prove at the start of the campaign, West Ham begun extremely nicely, and were in the Champions League places by mid-December. But after that, the team bottled it. West Ham only won three league games after New Year' Day, and an FA Cup mauling by West Brom seemed to signal an end to Sam Allardyce long before his exodus was confirmed within five minutes of the final game of the Premier League season.
Star Players: Diafra Sakho had been a relatively unheralded arrival, but his early season form was magnificent, and 11 goals for his first campaign in England is a good haul. Full-backs Carl Jenkinson and Aaron Cresswell proved to be excellent signings, while Adrian was again very good between the posts.
Need To Improve: Kevin Nolan has been a whipping boy for Hammers fans for quite a while, but this season proved to be one where his inclusion was in spite of his merits. Andy Carroll again spent more time with the physio than with a ball, while Mauro Zarate proved to be a massive disappointment - both at Upton Park and at QPR, who tried to return him almost immediately after loaning him in.
Best Moments: The early form will be the most fondly remembered of this campaign, with impressive early successes over Liverpool and Manchester City among their most successful early conquests. The most comprehensive victory was over Hull City, although that masked a few cracks given the Hammers were booed off before the Tigers' second half disintegration.
What's Next?: The quickfire removal of Allardyce has set a mandate for change at the Hammers, with the replacement likely to start by jettisoning of Allardyce favourites like Nolan and Joey O'Brien. Beyond that, the Hammers have to avoid botching it and ending up in the Championship for their first season at the Olympic Stadium. The post-Allardyce record of his former Premier League clubs does not make comforting reading.
West Bromwich Albion
Final Position: 13th
Can they be happy with their season?: The second half of it, yes. WBA gambled by appointing Alan Irvine in the summer and letting him bring in 13 new players, but it was fairly quickly evident that he was not the man to keep them in the Premier League. Tony Pulis arrived on New Year's Day and despite taking some time to adjust, he was able to take the Baggies to convincing survival.
Star Players: Despite various quit threats, Saido Berahino proved key up front and bagged several key goals along the way. A new midfield pairing of Craig Gardner and Darren Fletcher proved to be very consistent after Fletcher's arrival in January, while Boaz Myhill proved to be an unsung hero when he stepped in for Ben Foster after the ex-England international's injuries.
Need To Improve: Defensively, WBA could use some tightening up, with left back seemingly an issue given their most consistent player in the position was winger Chris Brunt. £9million striker Brown Ideye also proved disappointing, even if he did chip in with vital goals against Burnley and Stoke shortly after Pulis' arrival.
Best Moments: The icing on the cake for the Baggies after securing survival was a 3-0 win over Chelsea. A 1-0 win at Old Trafford a few weeks earlier was also an impressive success story. Irvine's time by contrast peaked with double success over Spurs and Burnley, but while he did beat Aston Villa - something Pulis failed to do in two meetings - WBA showed more than enough to justify the change.
What's Next?: Uncertainty could be part of the scenario. Chairman Jeremy Peace wants to sell the club but has said he will stay if a buyer cannot be found quickly. Provided that's resolved quickly, the next step is strengthening the squad, and with it, attempts at better after consecutive seasons fighting the drop.
Leicester City
Final Position: 14th
Can they be happy with their season?: Ultimately, yes, albeit mainly the start and the end. Leicester had started quite brightly, but after the undeniable high of putting five past Manchester United, they tanked to the bottom and for the majority of the campaign, Leicester looked doomed. But after breaking a winless streak against West Ham, Leicester roared up the league, beating demotion rivals West Brom, Burnley and Newcastle on their way to safety.
Star Players: Esteban Cambiasso has proved to be magnificent in his debut Premier League season, who has bought some Champions League class to proceedings. Striker Jamie Vardy has proved a livewire, and proved particularly useful in the second half of the season, as demonstrated by his England call-up. Robert Huth and Marcin Wasilewski have also proved to be a secure defensive unit.
Need To Improve: In truth, most of the players have done what they needed to when they needed. But more could probably have been expected of some. Striker Andrej Kramaric has only scored two Premier League goals since a big money January move, while Anthony Knockeart has failed to adjust in the same way Riyad Mahrez has. Nigel Pearson's PR skills could also be bolstered a tad, although he won't care too much given he's achieved what he set out to at the start of the campaign.
Best Moments: For a long period, it looked like the 5-3 win over Manchester United in September would stand alone as a highlight. But the impressive run at the end provided a myriad of highlights - the late winner over West Ham, deserved wins over Swansea and Southampton, a thumping win over Newcastle - that Leicester fans will watch on the highlights DVD over and over again.
What's Next?: The goal for the first PL campaign in Leicester in ten years was survival and that has been achieved. The next step is strengthening and consolidation, although the Foxes have to avoid the second season syndrome trap that many have been recently fallen into.
Newcastle United
Final Position: 15th
Can they be happy with their season?: Certainly not. Newcastle's season started badly with no wins in the opening two months, and after the end of February, the bottom fell out of the club's world. One point from ten games is some of the worst form in the team's history, and John Carver proved incapable of being anywhere near replacing Alan Pardew. The Magpies did eventually do just enough to maintain their top flight status, but must do better.
Star Players: Ayoze Perez and Jack Coblack proved to be the best of Newcastle's summer overhaul, with the former proving impressive on his first campaign in England and the latter looking consistent - something his teammates lacked. Papiss Cisse also scored some vital goals, even if receiving 10 games in suspension for off the ball incidents was idiotic. The big cheers were also made for Jonas Gutierrez, after the Argentine came back following testicular cancer treatment and proved to be a key player in the home straight.
Need To Improve: Pretty much everyone else. From owner Mike Ashley underfunding the team, to director Lee Charnley looking woeful, to John Carver's appalling management, and into a large number of players looking disinterested, incapable or woeful, the club is in dire straits and requires large scale alteration in the summer.
Best Moments: If it was crazy at the time that Newcastle ended Chelsea's unbeaten start, it looks even more so now the season is done. But that was a deserved victory, even with Newcastle playing their third choice keeper. Victory at Manchester City in the Capital One Cup was also very impressive. But perhaps one of the big defining images will be a shirtless Jonas running around St. James' after his goal secured victory over West Ham and survival.
What's Next?: Root and branch reform is an absolute necessity. The club's structure has clearly failed everyone supporting it, and if Ashley stands any chance of bringing irritated fans back on side, fundamental changes in model have to be done. This include a new manager that is professionally capable and new players.
Sunderland
Final Position: 16th
Can they be happy with their season?: Not especially, but it could've been worse. Sunderland proved to be the draw specialists, with no other team coming near their 17 stalemates. But with victories proving elusive, the defeats threatened to be hammer blows, and while nothing matched the 8-0 humiliation at Southampton in terms of ineptitude, all looked lost after a humiliation at home to Aston Villa in March. That proved the end for Gus Poyet, but not for the Black Cats, as Dick Advocaat performed an impressive act of heroism to maintain their survival.
Star Players: The giant frame of Costel Pantilimon struggled to get ahead of Joe Hart at Manchester City, but proved to be an adept presence between the sticks for the North East side. Centre half Sebastian Coates has done well in a loan spell from Liverpool, while Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson are a pair of quietly efficient and useful midfielders.
Need To Improve: Sunderland's attacking players have a consistency problem. Danny Graham only scored his first goal in the final month, Steven Fletcher remains frustrating, Connor Wickham hasn't followed through his late 2014 form, Jermaine Defoe didn't score as many as perhaps hoped - even if he got vital ones - and Will Buckley and Ricky Alvarez underwhelmed. The best attacker was Adam Johnson, who made more headlines for an off-field underage sex scandal than his football.
Best Moments: For many Black Cats supporters, a second successive pair of Tyne-Wear Derby triumphs is the highlight of the season, with Adam Johnson and Jermaine Defoe writing themselves into Sunderland folklore. This is particularly the case for the latter, whose winner was a goal of the season contender. A proficient sweeping aside of Southampton and impressive rearguard win at Everton also justified the Advocaat change.
What's Next?: It largely depends on the manager situation. Advocaat has confirmed his intentions to retire when he leaves Wearside, but is yet to confirm how far in the future that is. Players will be arriving regardless, but the philosophy will no doubt change if someone else is in the hotseat.
Aston Villa
Final Position: 17th
Can they be happy with their season?: Moreso than the position suggests. Villa looked doomed with Paul Lambert in the manager's seat, with a desperate surrender at Hull in February the nadir. Former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood was put in charge, and pulled off some significant results to keep Villa's heads above water, and even take them to their first FA Cup final since 2000. The less said about a mauling at Southampton and slump to defeat on the final day to end the league campaign, the better.
Star Players: Fabian Delph has proved a consistent powerhouse in claret and blue, and it will have been an immeasurable benefit that he chose to extend his contract. Sherwood was then able to coax performance out of Tom Cleverley as a strong midfield centre. Christian Benteke also improved following the change of management.
Need To Improve: Defensively, questions have to be answered about the Villains. Ron Vlaar is a strong presence, but various members of the back four all seemed to be going through their own inconsistent patches independent of others. Brad Guzan also had a fairly underwhelming campaign, with the veteran Shay Given looking like the better keeper after his recall.
Best Moments: Lambert peaked with a surprisingly impressive start that saw Villa win three of their opening four matches, including a deserved win at Liverpool, but for many Villa fans, a moment that saved them was showing him the door. Impressive free-flowing football shone against Everton, while Sherwood will be particularly happy to have returned to Spurs by leaving with a win. The FA Cup semi-final win over Liverpool and a late winner against West Brom in the league would also have proved very satisfying.
What's Next?: Having begun off well enough, Sherwood has to try and prevent Villa's seemingly endless flirtation with the drop. To that end, Villa need a few extra quality players, particularly in defence.
Hull City
Final Position: 18th (relegated)
Can they be happy with their season?: Hell no. Hull begun the season optimistic and hopeful of big things, with pundits suggesting the Tigers for a top half challenge after a big spending summer. But in truth, Hull struggled with their revamp, and soon enough, they began sinking. Despite coming close to saving themselves a few times, the Tigers fell through the cracks in the end.
Star Players: Nikica Jelavic was Hull's top scorer and the Croatian was a lively presence when fit. Ahmed Elmohamady was also a lively presence, even despite a handball goal and a comic dive. David Meyler and Paul McShane were put in the team for the run-in, and put some of their more wealthy teammates to shame.
Need To Improve: Its too easy to criticise Hatem Ben Arfa, even if the loanee from Newcastle was a failure. But Hull had bigger problems as well as that. The physio room had problems given Hull had an improbably large injury list for most of the season. On the pitch, Abel Hernandez proved to be a waste of £10million, while Tom Huddlestone was pedestrian, and Jake Livermore was disappointing even before his ban for a positive drug test.
Best Moments: Hull fans thought they had it done when a twin success over Crystal Palace and Liverpool with less than a month to go seemed to have got them clear of danger. This was ultimately a false dawn, and not the only one in a campaign full of them for long-suffering Hull fans.
What's Next?: Hull have go down riddled with divisions, with owner Assem Allam's "Hull Tigers" re-brand plot still irritating them, along with the Tigers owner kicking community teams out of a sports facility by the stadium. When it comes to the team, Hull will be a different looking team by the time they wander onto the field for the opening day of next season, although Steve Bruce will be hopeful of trying again to get promoted.
Burnley
Final Position: 19th (relegated)
Can they be happy with their season?: Not particularly. But few people had Burnley down to survive and they did nicely enough to keep their fight alive for so long. The team was full of hard workers and graft, but ultimately, they did not score anything near enough to keep them in the Premier League.
Star Players: A hard-working front pair of Danny Ings and Ashley Barnes proved to be a lively presence, while Tom Heaton looked at home as a Premier League goalkeeper. But one of the big stars was George Boyd, who grabbed vital goals and looked excellent out wide.
Need To Improve: In truth, Burnley lacked options in attack. Ings and Barnes may have been lively, but they needed to score more, while the likes of Lukas Jutkewicz, Sam Vokes and Marvin Sordell didn't score a single Premier League goal.
Best Moments: Taking four points off champions Manchester City was an excellent memory, including the very nicely won victory over the Citizens in March. The team also provided some pleasant memories throughout, with impressive victory over Southampton an impressive day.
What's Next?: Burnley's net spend was very low and even despite the likely departure of Ings, the team should have a squad already capable of returning to the top flight. Whether or not Sean Dyche can keep them there is a tricky one, but instant promotion back to the Premier League is certainly the goal.
Queens Park Rangers
Final Position: 20th (relegated)
Can they be happy with their season?: No. This was an unmitigated disaster, with heroically terrible away from pre-Christmas and equally terrible home form after Harry Redknapp left in February. Chris Ramsey took the reigns but the QPR side never looked like staying out of the bottom 3 after slipping below the line of doom, and they cannot complain they're heading back to the second tier from whence they came.
Star Players: Two players can really come out of this debacle with credit. Charlie Austin bagged a very impressive 17 goals in his debut Premier League season, including some important victories in the early half of the season. At the other end, goalkeeper Robert Green pulled off some beautiful stops that bailed out his inept defensive unit.
Need To Improve: With the exception of those two and possibly Leroy Fer, Joey Barton and Matty Phillips, QPR have been abysmal. The purchasing strategy has left QPR filled with uninspiring heavily moneyed mercenaries yet again, and the Hoops need to shed as many of them as quickly as possible.
Best Moments: It looked for a brief moment like two exhilarating and well-earned victories against Leicester and West Brom would get QPR somewhere. Both games were impressively earned wins, and are perhaps as good as it got for the Hoops.
What's Next?: Provided the Football League don't fine them £50million+ as has been rumoured, whoever takes the reigns needs to desperately rebuild. But the Championship is an unforgiving league, with the likes of Fulham, Cardiff, Wigan, Blackpool and Wolves all recently finding it a struggle, and QPR have to be wary of avoiding a plummet.
With everything now done and dusted for the campaign, we now have a tournament-free summer to focus on what most football fans consider one of the fundamental parts of football supporting - rampant transfer speculation.
There's a full 75-odd days before everything starts back up again, with the FA Cup Final and the European finals the final things wrapping us all up before the summer, and then eventually going back into the groove of league football.
All we can do now is wait up for the next chapter to be written.
Friday, 22 May 2015
Brandon Flowers at Brixton Academy - Gig Review
TWO years ago, Brandon Flowers lead a different band into a very different London stage.
This was The Killers' show at Wembley Stadium, which was the Las Vegas band's biggest headline outing, and they celebrated with a greatest hits parade, fireworks, confetti, lasers, lighters-up singalongs, a song honouring the venue and the legends that had played it... basically, the full works.
But with The Killers on a break, Flowers is now back to his side-project. While he has hinted he would've preferred new solo album The Desired Effect to be a full Killers project, the neat little electro-pop compositions are instead a solo one, and with it, he is on tour with his solo band, which brings him back to Brixton Academy.
The last time The Killers did a full show in one of London's most famous music rooms was on the tour for Sam's Town, although its safe to say that Flowers need no time to reacquaint himself with the venue. He and his impressively proficient solo band put the pedal to the metal immediately, hammering off a brass-powered Dreams Come True and a nice and spindly Can't Deny My Love as a show-starter.
This opening pair gets a healthy reaction, but the biggest early reaction comes for Crossfire. The lead single from 2010's Flamingo inspires a large singalong and stompalong from the assembled hordes.
Flowers has always had the air of being surprised and delighted with people singing along, and that thrill looks in place. He grins his way through the opening tracks, while jumping on and off his monitors and pumping fists in a show of physicality, all without seemingly getting sweat on his silver foil jacket.
Indeed, in the opening stages, the only real break is an extended intro discussing the origins of Magdalena, which is a substantially improved beast live.
There's also a large singalong for the first real slow track, which sees a reworked country-style version of Hot Fuss opener Jenny was a Friend of Mine, which is all acoustic guitars and brush stroke drums alongside the track's signature bass riff.
This segues nicely into some more newer singalong tracks. The stalker-stylings of Lonely Town get perhaps the best reaction of the new stuff played, and plenty of bopping along to its stylings. Following on from that, recent single I Can Change gets people moving to its electro-stomp grooves, despite getting an initially quite muted reaction. Flowers even ends the track with a vocal snippet of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy to accompany the sampled original.
The biggest singalong of the night is played onto a slide-guitar heavy rendition of Killers favourite Read My Mind, before the main set ends with a rapturously received pairing of Only the Young and a lively rendition of the Thin White Duke remix of Mr. Brightside. The latter duo in particular is an impressive and unbroken hotstreak, with the spindly former cascading seamlessly into the grooves of the latter, even if producer Stuart Price doesn't guest on the pair like he did in 2010.
A guest star is coming, however, as Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde is introduced to a very good reception. The two leads then take part in a good rendition of the Pretenders first single Don't Get Me Wrong, while Flowers and Hynde do some dancing together at the front of the stage.
Hynde's pipes are certainly impressive in full-flow, which is also demonstrated as the duo then duet on Desired Effect track Between Me and You.
Two more new cuts then round off the evening. The chirpy Still Want You is first, which is dedicated to Flowers' wife, who is introduced to the crowd before it - perhaps a first at anything related to Flowers - before about 4/5 extra renditions of the chorus extend it, each one more fervently sung to then the last.
If there's only real one misstep, the downbeat The Way It's Always Been feels like an odd choice to close the show. That's not to say its not performed well - like everything else, the band of multi-instrumentalists, backing singers, brass players and a lively drummer hidden by a myriad of gear perform it very well, and Flowers' pipes top it off in style. But its not exactly the most anthemic closing tune, and feels oddly placed. In truth, the show could also have gone on for longer, not least given the headline act started over half an hour late.
This, however, is a relatively minor quibble. For the show itself is a delightful proposition filled with plenty of impressive moments.
Whether or not Flowers on his own might reach similar heights as his day job band is a different debate, but in this space and time, its fairly clear that on his own, he's having a good go at it, and that its definitely a proposition making sense live.
4/5
This was The Killers' show at Wembley Stadium, which was the Las Vegas band's biggest headline outing, and they celebrated with a greatest hits parade, fireworks, confetti, lasers, lighters-up singalongs, a song honouring the venue and the legends that had played it... basically, the full works.
But with The Killers on a break, Flowers is now back to his side-project. While he has hinted he would've preferred new solo album The Desired Effect to be a full Killers project, the neat little electro-pop compositions are instead a solo one, and with it, he is on tour with his solo band, which brings him back to Brixton Academy.
The last time The Killers did a full show in one of London's most famous music rooms was on the tour for Sam's Town, although its safe to say that Flowers need no time to reacquaint himself with the venue. He and his impressively proficient solo band put the pedal to the metal immediately, hammering off a brass-powered Dreams Come True and a nice and spindly Can't Deny My Love as a show-starter.
This opening pair gets a healthy reaction, but the biggest early reaction comes for Crossfire. The lead single from 2010's Flamingo inspires a large singalong and stompalong from the assembled hordes.
Flowers has always had the air of being surprised and delighted with people singing along, and that thrill looks in place. He grins his way through the opening tracks, while jumping on and off his monitors and pumping fists in a show of physicality, all without seemingly getting sweat on his silver foil jacket.
Indeed, in the opening stages, the only real break is an extended intro discussing the origins of Magdalena, which is a substantially improved beast live.
There's also a large singalong for the first real slow track, which sees a reworked country-style version of Hot Fuss opener Jenny was a Friend of Mine, which is all acoustic guitars and brush stroke drums alongside the track's signature bass riff.
This segues nicely into some more newer singalong tracks. The stalker-stylings of Lonely Town get perhaps the best reaction of the new stuff played, and plenty of bopping along to its stylings. Following on from that, recent single I Can Change gets people moving to its electro-stomp grooves, despite getting an initially quite muted reaction. Flowers even ends the track with a vocal snippet of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy to accompany the sampled original.
The biggest singalong of the night is played onto a slide-guitar heavy rendition of Killers favourite Read My Mind, before the main set ends with a rapturously received pairing of Only the Young and a lively rendition of the Thin White Duke remix of Mr. Brightside. The latter duo in particular is an impressive and unbroken hotstreak, with the spindly former cascading seamlessly into the grooves of the latter, even if producer Stuart Price doesn't guest on the pair like he did in 2010.
A guest star is coming, however, as Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde is introduced to a very good reception. The two leads then take part in a good rendition of the Pretenders first single Don't Get Me Wrong, while Flowers and Hynde do some dancing together at the front of the stage.
Hynde's pipes are certainly impressive in full-flow, which is also demonstrated as the duo then duet on Desired Effect track Between Me and You.
Two more new cuts then round off the evening. The chirpy Still Want You is first, which is dedicated to Flowers' wife, who is introduced to the crowd before it - perhaps a first at anything related to Flowers - before about 4/5 extra renditions of the chorus extend it, each one more fervently sung to then the last.
If there's only real one misstep, the downbeat The Way It's Always Been feels like an odd choice to close the show. That's not to say its not performed well - like everything else, the band of multi-instrumentalists, backing singers, brass players and a lively drummer hidden by a myriad of gear perform it very well, and Flowers' pipes top it off in style. But its not exactly the most anthemic closing tune, and feels oddly placed. In truth, the show could also have gone on for longer, not least given the headline act started over half an hour late.
This, however, is a relatively minor quibble. For the show itself is a delightful proposition filled with plenty of impressive moments.
Whether or not Flowers on his own might reach similar heights as his day job band is a different debate, but in this space and time, its fairly clear that on his own, he's having a good go at it, and that its definitely a proposition making sense live.
4/5
Saturday, 11 April 2015
Courtney Barnett at Electric Ballroom - Gig Review
HYPE can be a dangerous machine.
Many popular artists on a variety of artistic spectrums have arrived in the music-buying public's consciousness in the midst of a shroud of hype and duly wound up being superceded by it. Perhaps this thinking is why its quite amusing that highly rated Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has had a swell in fanbase numbers with a tune that literally deadpan squwks "Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint you/Tell me I'm exceptional and I promise I'll exploit you".
Barnett has certainly seen growth in fans outside the scene of the Melbourne scene in a short space of time, with the Australian singer's earlier track Avant Gardener becoming something of a sleeper hit in 2013. The track showed off an impressively dark comic and deadpan-delivered recount of suffering a panic attack and being taken to hospital while gardening in an Aussie summer, accompanied by a nicely constructed folky-but-heavy riff and a tennis match turned brawl for a music video. Her debut album then landed top 20 spots in both the UK and the USA earlier this year, as well as a top 5 spot in the Aussie charts.
The final night of her largest ever UK tour is then something celebratory, with the whole thing wrapping up with a sold out pair of nights at the Electric Ballroom. There's certainly confidence on show, with Barnett and her backing duo on bass and drums strolling onto the stage and bashing straight into the jangly Elevator Operator.
The clarity in sound is impressive, which each little flick of wrist on the guitars sounding huge in the club, while thundering bass riffs from a player "who just learned today" help underpin everything nicely. The songs may sound similar in places, but the riffs are all fun and satisfying, and keep up a buoyant crowd's spirits very nicely.
This even has the curious effect of beefing up the less massive tracks. The folksy Depreston is given an unusually hefty feeling in places, although it maintains its light touch charm and its impressive re-collections of disquiet with gentrification, house-hunting and tearing down people's memories for 500 thousand Australian dollars. It also has a big sing-a-long, with Barnett deferring to the crowd to let them sing over the final guitar chords.
Some of Barnett's material does take lyrics of deeper sources. The peppy Dead Fox is a track that takes up reference to Australia's shark culls, roadkill, giant trucks, CO2 emissions and organic vegetables, and presents it with an interesting stream of consciousness bewilderment at the way things are progressing. Full marks too for lines like "possum Jackson Pollock painted on the tar".
Appearing early is Barnett's earliest song in the form of Canned Tomatoes (Whole), which is an impressive yarn using everyday activities to cover up the feelings of loss.
For the most part, there is a celebratory air to proceedings not dwelling on such concerns, and things take a further air when opening act Fraser A. Gorman is bought back on stage for a run-through of his song Book of Love with Barnett and her band.
This is also during a show which makes the most of the unusual stage-show, with a white perspex screen wrapping the stage. This is impressively illuminated by a hidden lighting rig and a massive bright light button. Although less impressive are the moments when an old school projector is turned on, leaving parts of the set lit up by a backdrop of its loading screen.
The appearance of Gorman then cascades into the strongest portion of the show. Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party appears, armed with a punchy yet simple chorus of "I wanna go out but I wanna stay home", and a firmly direct riff that gets people bopping.
Following this up is the aforementioned Avant Gardener, which sounds much heftier than on record and is accompanied by bouncy singalongs. The mood also remains for History Eraser, which is tied over well.
Ending the main set is Pedestrian at Best, replete with its hype reluctant chorus and grungey riff set. Even though Barnett intentionally buries and even mumbles the vocal, there are a lot of people attempted to keep up with the 1000mph-an-hour words in the verses.
After that, the encore comes and takes up a build up pattern. First, Barnett serenades us solo with a cover of the Lemonheads' Being Around, then is joined by the drummer for recent track Pickles From a Jar, and then finally the bass player for the closing number, which ends almost amusingly with a single guitar squawk rather than the big epic climax most gigs strive for.
In any case, those in the Camden club have certainly been welcome to an excellent evening's entertainment. Barnett, meanwhile, may now be followed with a cloud of hype, but it comes with good reason for someone that has provided some impressive material. What the next step is will be anyone's guess, but its highly likely future visits to London may well find themselves in bigger rooms.
4/5
Barnett's appearance was preceded by two support acts. The first to appear was Fraser Gorman, who was solo on acoustic guitar. He was also engaged in heavy duty banter with the crowd, introducing himself as "looking like Leo Sayer while dressing like Bob Dylan", and singing the ironic praises of the United Kingdom. When he wasn't doing that, he was playing some nice if sparse tunes, but he will be back in the summer with a band and could be a very good watch for those who attend.
Manchester four piece Spring King were the sandwich in-between. They provided a lively set but somewhat neutered by poor acoustic management, with one of the two guitars absent. Nevertheless singing drummer Tarek Musa was an engaging presence, while the band's Josh Widdicombe look-a-like on guitar was an equally nice player. But the band's star man was its bass guitarist, who provided an almost lead-like performance on his instrument, even if pedal problems caused some between-song delays.
Many popular artists on a variety of artistic spectrums have arrived in the music-buying public's consciousness in the midst of a shroud of hype and duly wound up being superceded by it. Perhaps this thinking is why its quite amusing that highly rated Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett has had a swell in fanbase numbers with a tune that literally deadpan squwks "Put me on a pedestal and I'll only disappoint you/Tell me I'm exceptional and I promise I'll exploit you".
Barnett has certainly seen growth in fans outside the scene of the Melbourne scene in a short space of time, with the Australian singer's earlier track Avant Gardener becoming something of a sleeper hit in 2013. The track showed off an impressively dark comic and deadpan-delivered recount of suffering a panic attack and being taken to hospital while gardening in an Aussie summer, accompanied by a nicely constructed folky-but-heavy riff and a tennis match turned brawl for a music video. Her debut album then landed top 20 spots in both the UK and the USA earlier this year, as well as a top 5 spot in the Aussie charts.
The final night of her largest ever UK tour is then something celebratory, with the whole thing wrapping up with a sold out pair of nights at the Electric Ballroom. There's certainly confidence on show, with Barnett and her backing duo on bass and drums strolling onto the stage and bashing straight into the jangly Elevator Operator.
The clarity in sound is impressive, which each little flick of wrist on the guitars sounding huge in the club, while thundering bass riffs from a player "who just learned today" help underpin everything nicely. The songs may sound similar in places, but the riffs are all fun and satisfying, and keep up a buoyant crowd's spirits very nicely.
This even has the curious effect of beefing up the less massive tracks. The folksy Depreston is given an unusually hefty feeling in places, although it maintains its light touch charm and its impressive re-collections of disquiet with gentrification, house-hunting and tearing down people's memories for 500 thousand Australian dollars. It also has a big sing-a-long, with Barnett deferring to the crowd to let them sing over the final guitar chords.
Some of Barnett's material does take lyrics of deeper sources. The peppy Dead Fox is a track that takes up reference to Australia's shark culls, roadkill, giant trucks, CO2 emissions and organic vegetables, and presents it with an interesting stream of consciousness bewilderment at the way things are progressing. Full marks too for lines like "possum Jackson Pollock painted on the tar".
Appearing early is Barnett's earliest song in the form of Canned Tomatoes (Whole), which is an impressive yarn using everyday activities to cover up the feelings of loss.
For the most part, there is a celebratory air to proceedings not dwelling on such concerns, and things take a further air when opening act Fraser A. Gorman is bought back on stage for a run-through of his song Book of Love with Barnett and her band.
This is also during a show which makes the most of the unusual stage-show, with a white perspex screen wrapping the stage. This is impressively illuminated by a hidden lighting rig and a massive bright light button. Although less impressive are the moments when an old school projector is turned on, leaving parts of the set lit up by a backdrop of its loading screen.
The appearance of Gorman then cascades into the strongest portion of the show. Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party appears, armed with a punchy yet simple chorus of "I wanna go out but I wanna stay home", and a firmly direct riff that gets people bopping.
Following this up is the aforementioned Avant Gardener, which sounds much heftier than on record and is accompanied by bouncy singalongs. The mood also remains for History Eraser, which is tied over well.
Ending the main set is Pedestrian at Best, replete with its hype reluctant chorus and grungey riff set. Even though Barnett intentionally buries and even mumbles the vocal, there are a lot of people attempted to keep up with the 1000mph-an-hour words in the verses.
After that, the encore comes and takes up a build up pattern. First, Barnett serenades us solo with a cover of the Lemonheads' Being Around, then is joined by the drummer for recent track Pickles From a Jar, and then finally the bass player for the closing number, which ends almost amusingly with a single guitar squawk rather than the big epic climax most gigs strive for.
In any case, those in the Camden club have certainly been welcome to an excellent evening's entertainment. Barnett, meanwhile, may now be followed with a cloud of hype, but it comes with good reason for someone that has provided some impressive material. What the next step is will be anyone's guess, but its highly likely future visits to London may well find themselves in bigger rooms.
4/5
Barnett's appearance was preceded by two support acts. The first to appear was Fraser Gorman, who was solo on acoustic guitar. He was also engaged in heavy duty banter with the crowd, introducing himself as "looking like Leo Sayer while dressing like Bob Dylan", and singing the ironic praises of the United Kingdom. When he wasn't doing that, he was playing some nice if sparse tunes, but he will be back in the summer with a band and could be a very good watch for those who attend.
Manchester four piece Spring King were the sandwich in-between. They provided a lively set but somewhat neutered by poor acoustic management, with one of the two guitars absent. Nevertheless singing drummer Tarek Musa was an engaging presence, while the band's Josh Widdicombe look-a-like on guitar was an equally nice player. But the band's star man was its bass guitarist, who provided an almost lead-like performance on his instrument, even if pedal problems caused some between-song delays.
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Muse at Brighton Dome - Gig Review
THE question of "What's next?" will presumably have been on the minds of Muse after their last worldwide adventure.
Muse's last UK run of shows was a stadium extravaganza, which at once seemed to celebrate vast stadium shows by condemning them as gas-guzzling expensive follies. The fire-breathing chimnies, industrial-shaped video screen, enormous robot, "quantitative easing", floating ballerinas and surreal aftershows documented in the press were a crazy shroud of presentation, and left a few wondering if Muse had hit the glass ceiling.
Its too early to know if that is the case, with this quickfire promo tour acting as a warm-up before a heavy run of festival headline slots this summer. But the band's talk of this perhaps being more frequent in future is an interesting talk, and is certainly something fans have been somewhat hoping for in the last year or so.
The other excitement in wish fulfillment Muse fans were aspiring towards was a rolling off of the hardcore older tracks. This again has been reciprocated, and is in evidence in the final night of the Psycho Tour at the Brighton Dome. Midway through, the band dispatch a runthrough of the hefty rock thump of Absolution-era B-side The Groove, and later on, there's an airing for the flamenco-flecked angst-rocker Uno - Muse's first full single. Both of these earn widespread singalongs and enthusiastic bouncing, which even seems to eclipse those offered for the much more notable Supermassive Black Hole.
Aside from these, the focus is on two planes. One of them is early promotion for Muse's upcoming album Drones, which is expected in just over two months. First off the bat is opening song Psycho, which has a riff that needs little introduction to the hardcore fans given it's been jammed out live on-off by the band for the best part of 16 years.
The song forms the cue for a magnificent moshpit that begins almost the moment Matt Bellamy pings out the chords, while chants of "You fucking psycho!" reverberate as loud and clear as possible.
Until the day of the show, the other new track to rear its head is the song that ends the main set. Reapers is a myriad of layers, combining finger-tapping solo intro, massive classic rock-aping chorus, an almost duel-like bridge where Bellamy and Chris Wolstenholme seem to be divulging in competing solos, and a massive outro riff that recalls Rage Against the Machine's Freedom. Somehow, it all seems to work.
The show itself is on the day of release for the first official single from Drones. Album opener Dead Inside was debut to the fans in a live simulcast with the Radio 1 premiere, and is dispatched here as the third song. Filled with double-bass drum pedal from drummer Dominic Howard, spindly yet full-on bass rhythms, an abrasive guitar part, and synths not a million miles removed from sci-fi soundtracks, the song seems to make more sense live than it does on record.
Contrary to the earlier billing of a rock-centric record, the song recalls songs like Madness and Follow Me from The 2nd Law, albeit with a heftier finish to them.
Elsewhere, the setlist is simply a reminder of Muse times gone by. No sooner had opener Psycho stopped do the band dig into the hefty crunch of Map of the Problematique, which seems to have been beefed up on previous tours. There's also an early run-through for Bliss, which also feels punchier than in previous incarnations, and comes replete with the balloons that used to accompany performances when venues like the Brighton Dome were the band's biggest solo shows.
There's very little space for anything from the band's last output, with only Uprising appearing from the band's most recent two albums, and previous record The 2nd Law being ignored entirely. Instead, there's more space for oldercuts. A one-two-three of Absolution hits Time is Running Out, Hysteria and Stockholm Syndrome is an excellent reminder of the power of what arguably remains Muse's best album.
In the end, it's all over too soon, with the familiar closing duo of Plug in Baby and a harmonica-preceded Knights of Cydonia bringing down the curtain in sumptuous fashion.
With this being a warm-up show, a 90 minute running time is perhaps understandable, but with the band in the excellent form they were in, its conceivable to think the show could've gone on much longer without a dip in quality. Certainly, recent airings for obscure cuts like Fury, Futurism, and Assassin, plus further goes for early hits Muscle Museum and Dead Star prove the depth exists in the band's live catalogue. And that's even before factoring in the likes of New Born, Butterflies and Hurricanes, and a handful of tunes on the most recent albums that could be aired.
With the last Muse tour ending somewhat on a downer after Bellamy contracted laryngitis, the band are back looking composed and comfortable in a live setting. The next step is presumably taking this around the world, starting with a busy summer on the European festival circuit, including launching a new metal & hard rock festival trio in Germany and Austria, and a debut at Download Festival.
On this evidence, they look more than ready for the task at hand, big stage show or no big stage show.
4/5
Supporting Muse were highly rated heavy rock five-piece Marmozets. The Yorkshire band had reportedly cut a few planned US dates to do the shows, included appearances at South by South West, and had given a few glowing pieces on the slots. The crowd here would certainly have endeared themselves, with the likes of Captivate You and Born Young & Free sparking moshpits. This however was not one of the best performances, which is not helped by some appalling sound problems. There are a handful of occasions when it seems as though singer Becca MacIntyre's microphone isn't even turned on, which is perhaps leading to some vocal exertions to make up for the sonic gap. Predictably, the problems seem to have been rectified just in time for final song Why Do You Hate Me?, which at least sends the band off with a rouser and presumably some new fans.
Muse's last UK run of shows was a stadium extravaganza, which at once seemed to celebrate vast stadium shows by condemning them as gas-guzzling expensive follies. The fire-breathing chimnies, industrial-shaped video screen, enormous robot, "quantitative easing", floating ballerinas and surreal aftershows documented in the press were a crazy shroud of presentation, and left a few wondering if Muse had hit the glass ceiling.
Its too early to know if that is the case, with this quickfire promo tour acting as a warm-up before a heavy run of festival headline slots this summer. But the band's talk of this perhaps being more frequent in future is an interesting talk, and is certainly something fans have been somewhat hoping for in the last year or so.
The other excitement in wish fulfillment Muse fans were aspiring towards was a rolling off of the hardcore older tracks. This again has been reciprocated, and is in evidence in the final night of the Psycho Tour at the Brighton Dome. Midway through, the band dispatch a runthrough of the hefty rock thump of Absolution-era B-side The Groove, and later on, there's an airing for the flamenco-flecked angst-rocker Uno - Muse's first full single. Both of these earn widespread singalongs and enthusiastic bouncing, which even seems to eclipse those offered for the much more notable Supermassive Black Hole.
Aside from these, the focus is on two planes. One of them is early promotion for Muse's upcoming album Drones, which is expected in just over two months. First off the bat is opening song Psycho, which has a riff that needs little introduction to the hardcore fans given it's been jammed out live on-off by the band for the best part of 16 years.
The song forms the cue for a magnificent moshpit that begins almost the moment Matt Bellamy pings out the chords, while chants of "You fucking psycho!" reverberate as loud and clear as possible.
Until the day of the show, the other new track to rear its head is the song that ends the main set. Reapers is a myriad of layers, combining finger-tapping solo intro, massive classic rock-aping chorus, an almost duel-like bridge where Bellamy and Chris Wolstenholme seem to be divulging in competing solos, and a massive outro riff that recalls Rage Against the Machine's Freedom. Somehow, it all seems to work.
The show itself is on the day of release for the first official single from Drones. Album opener Dead Inside was debut to the fans in a live simulcast with the Radio 1 premiere, and is dispatched here as the third song. Filled with double-bass drum pedal from drummer Dominic Howard, spindly yet full-on bass rhythms, an abrasive guitar part, and synths not a million miles removed from sci-fi soundtracks, the song seems to make more sense live than it does on record.
Contrary to the earlier billing of a rock-centric record, the song recalls songs like Madness and Follow Me from The 2nd Law, albeit with a heftier finish to them.
Elsewhere, the setlist is simply a reminder of Muse times gone by. No sooner had opener Psycho stopped do the band dig into the hefty crunch of Map of the Problematique, which seems to have been beefed up on previous tours. There's also an early run-through for Bliss, which also feels punchier than in previous incarnations, and comes replete with the balloons that used to accompany performances when venues like the Brighton Dome were the band's biggest solo shows.
There's very little space for anything from the band's last output, with only Uprising appearing from the band's most recent two albums, and previous record The 2nd Law being ignored entirely. Instead, there's more space for oldercuts. A one-two-three of Absolution hits Time is Running Out, Hysteria and Stockholm Syndrome is an excellent reminder of the power of what arguably remains Muse's best album.
In the end, it's all over too soon, with the familiar closing duo of Plug in Baby and a harmonica-preceded Knights of Cydonia bringing down the curtain in sumptuous fashion.
With this being a warm-up show, a 90 minute running time is perhaps understandable, but with the band in the excellent form they were in, its conceivable to think the show could've gone on much longer without a dip in quality. Certainly, recent airings for obscure cuts like Fury, Futurism, and Assassin, plus further goes for early hits Muscle Museum and Dead Star prove the depth exists in the band's live catalogue. And that's even before factoring in the likes of New Born, Butterflies and Hurricanes, and a handful of tunes on the most recent albums that could be aired.
With the last Muse tour ending somewhat on a downer after Bellamy contracted laryngitis, the band are back looking composed and comfortable in a live setting. The next step is presumably taking this around the world, starting with a busy summer on the European festival circuit, including launching a new metal & hard rock festival trio in Germany and Austria, and a debut at Download Festival.
On this evidence, they look more than ready for the task at hand, big stage show or no big stage show.
4/5
Supporting Muse were highly rated heavy rock five-piece Marmozets. The Yorkshire band had reportedly cut a few planned US dates to do the shows, included appearances at South by South West, and had given a few glowing pieces on the slots. The crowd here would certainly have endeared themselves, with the likes of Captivate You and Born Young & Free sparking moshpits. This however was not one of the best performances, which is not helped by some appalling sound problems. There are a handful of occasions when it seems as though singer Becca MacIntyre's microphone isn't even turned on, which is perhaps leading to some vocal exertions to make up for the sonic gap. Predictably, the problems seem to have been rectified just in time for final song Why Do You Hate Me?, which at least sends the band off with a rouser and presumably some new fans.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)