Writer, podcast guru and 2x ARIA Gold Award winning Exec Producer. Literary Agent @MWHamilton. One half of Ronnie & Clyde: ronnieandclyde.co.uk
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Articles by Rob Fitzpatrick
If only more rock veterans had Roger Taylor’s titanic chutzpah
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If only more rock veterans had Roger Taylor's titanic chutzpah
At the Roundhouse in north London, Roger Taylor, Queen's drummer and occasional songwriter, delivered a lesson in the freedom offered by extreme fandom. While the motivation behind this short run of shows is entirely predictable – Taylor has a rather good new album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World , to promote – this gig's genius was its wanton, glorious unpredictability. From the moment 77-year-old Taylor took the stage, it was clear this would be no hit-fuelled victory lap.
If only more rock veterans had Roger Taylor’s titanic chutzpah
4 hours ago More than a decade after his death, David Bowie continues to regularly appear on the music charts in the United Kingdom, his home country, often with multiple projects simultaneously. That’s the case again this frame, as two beloved titles from the rocker move ever so slightly while a …
If only more rock veterans had Roger Taylor’s titanic chutzpah
At the Roundhouse in north London, Roger Taylor, Queen's drummer and occasional songwriter, delivered a lesson in the freedom offered by extreme fandom. While the motivation behind this short run of shows is entirely predictable – Taylor has a rather good new album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, to promote – this gig's genius was its wanton, glorious unpredictability. From the moment 77-year-old Taylor took the stage, it was clear this would be no hit-fuelled victory lap.
If only more rock veterans had Roger Taylor’s titanic chutzpah
At the Roundhouse in north London, Roger Taylor, Queen’s drummer and occasional songwriter, delivered a lesson in the freedom offered by extreme fandom. While the motivation behind this short run of shows is entirely predictable – Taylor has a rather good new album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, to promote – this gig’s genius was its wanton, glorious unpredictability. From the moment 77-year-old Taylor took the stage, it was clear this would be no hit-fuelled victory lap.
A track-by-track guide to Songs in the Key of Life
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‘The best album ever made’: A track-by-track guide to Songs in the Key of Life
Transcendence is a big goal, but Stevie Wonder achieved it in September 1976 when he released Songs in the Key of Life. Aged 26 and a star since his early teens, Wonder had delivered three classic albums – Talking Book, Innervisions and Fulfillingness’ First Finale – back to back. America had celebrated its bicentennial year and Wonder was one of the decade’s key stylistic visionaries. But times were changing.
The baffling rise of Rick Rubin, rock’s guru of gibberish
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Why Joy Division still casts a long, dark shadow over rock
Rob Fitzpatrick Spring 1980 was a busy time for Joy Division . The band, who'd played its first gig in Manchester, under the name Warsaw, supporting Buzzcocks in May 1977, had spent the last two weeks in March at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row studios in Islington recording a new album, Closer , before setting out on a small UK tour.
Why Joy Division still casts a long, dark shadow over rock
Spring 1980 was a busy time for Joy Division . The band, who'd played its first gig in Manchester, under the name Warsaw, supporting Buzzcocks in May 1977, had spent the last two weeks in March at Pink Floyd's Britannia Row studios in Islington recording a new album, Closer , before setting out on a small UK tour.
When celebrities resign from the autograph game Original
"If you haven't got trust in this business, you're nobody." Alfie Evans is 23 years old and the founder and owner of Fab Four Memorabilia, one of the leading rock autograph and memorabilia businesses in the UK. When he was 13, a teacher played him Rubber Soul. Within weeks, Evans was in Liverpool where someone asked whether he'd ever looked at autographs. Before his 14th birthday he'd bought a copy of Hamburg Days, a two-volume set of Astrid Kirchherr Beatle photographs signed by George Harrison.
When celebrities resign from the autograph game
“If you haven’t got trust in this business, you’re nobody.” Alfie Evans is 23 years old and the founder and owner of Fab Four Memorabilia, one of the leading rock autograph and memorabilia businesses in the UK. When he was 13, a teacher played him Rubber Soul. Within weeks, Evans was in Liverpool where someone asked whether he’d ever looked at autographs. Before his 14th birthday he’d bought a copy of Hamburg Days, a two-volume set of Astrid Kirchherr Beatle photographs signed by George Harrison.
God of Hellfire Arthur Brown on Bowie, Hendrix and his comeback at 84
Arthur Brown lives in a beautiful old house in the middle of nowhere. A pony named Tony flicks its impressive blond mane out in the paddock while a fat brown chicken pecks at a stray nacho on the kitchen table. Brown, dressed in striped turquoise trousers, a white shirt and a gently battered straw hat, looks at me and says: “My father was a psychic.” I pull my chair – which looks like a prop from the set of Witchfinder General – in closer.
How heatwaves and hedonistic teenagers are making festivals a danger zone
We all know that Europe was ill prepared for the summer of heatwaves we've just had, but for the many music festivals that populate our warmer months, the problem of extreme weather is becoming existential.
Lulu is still fabulous – even if The Man with the Golden Gun is terrible
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The star hornist who plays with his toes was brilliant at the Proms
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The Proms celebrate 100 years of Miles Davis in lavish style
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Two ballet masterpieces steal the show from an earnest new concerto
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Berlioz’s requiem brings shock and awe
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This sublime Marvin Gaye prom could never be ruined by wildfire alerts
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Paul Heaton: 'I've sold tons of records, but I don't get any respect'
Paul Heaton sits opposite me outside the Metropolitan pub in West Didsbury, staring into his pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord. He sighs quietly. “I'm one album away from a failure,” he says. “I've always felt that way.” Despite what he says, Heaton has released successful records across five decades, ever since he first appeared in the mid-1980s as the frontman of the “fourth best band in Hull”, the Housemartins.
Paul Heaton: 'I've sold tons of records, but I don't get any respect'
Paul Heaton sits opposite me outside the Metropolitan pub in West Didsbury, staring into his pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord. He sighs quietly. “I'm one album away from a failure,” he says. “I've always felt that way.” Despite what he says, Heaton has released successful records across five decades, ever since he first appeared in the mid-1980s as the frontman of the “fourth best band in Hull”, the Housemartins.
Johnny Depp has zero rock-star charisma
The original idea for Hollywood Vampires was a good one: shock-rock legend Alice Cooper drafts in famous pals – Johnny Depp, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry (a real rock star) and Cooper’s guitarist and co-writer Tommy Henriksen – to pay tribute in song to his dead rock-star comrades. Simple, clean, understandable. Yet the reality is rotten. Vampires is a very fitting name for a variety-act victory lap where fans pay to watch superstars feed noisily on others’ entrails.
Why rock stars are running scared of 'blue dot fever'
Rob Fitzpatrick In late May 2024, the Grammy-winning blues-rock duo the Black Keys suddenly cancelled their entire 31-date International Players tour after Ticketmaster's seat maps – where blue dots mark out the real-time information on unsold tickets – appeared to reveal swathes of leftover inventory.
Why rock stars are running scared of 'blue dot fever'
In late May 2024, the Grammy-winning blues-rock duo the Black Keys suddenly cancelled their entire 31-date International Players tour after Ticketmaster's seat maps – where blue dots mark out the real-time information on unsold tickets – appeared to reveal swathes of leftover inventory.
Luke Combs’s packed Wembley show proves the UK is embracing country
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Luke Combs’s packed Wembley show proves the UK is embracing country
The country star played the first of three shows at Wembley Stadium on Friday night - David Bergman At the first of Luke Combs’s three nights at Wembley Stadium on Friday, that creaky old canard “overwhelming ticket demand” had been wheeled out, but one only needs to observe the many thousands dressed in trucker hats, boots and cap-sleeve shirts to accept that, this time at least, it appeared to be true.
Burnham might be backing music venues, but don’t let him on the aux
In the spring of 2022, when he was still mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham sat down with leading music website The Quietus to discuss the albums that marked the most significant moments in his life. Of the 13 records mentioned, eight (the Beatles, the Smiths, Doves, the Strokes, Radiohead, The La’s, the Wedding Present and the Stone Roses) came exclusively from some-blokes-in-a-band territory.
System of a Down's shrieking return was utterly brilliant – and howlingly awful
At their first UK show in nine years, avant-garde heavy metal band System of a Down filled the vast 65,000-capacity Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to its shiny rafters. The Armenian-American band have a huge cult following, but if you're not in that cult, they can be cosmically aggravating – the textbook definition of the sort of shrieking, growling, roaring great racket you'd play to punish your parents for daring to have you.
Sweet Caroline vs Wonderwall – there's only one winner
Rob Fitzpatrick I received a WhatsApp message after England's victory over the DR Congo: “We won because Tuchel's using a possession back-three that morphs to a back-four defensively. Rice screening as a true six, Stones stepping into midfield, Kane dropping to drag defenders and open half-spaces for Bellingham's runs. He's saving legs – pragmatic and coherent.” My reply: “Nope.
Johnny Marr showed he’s the perfect rock star at his homecoming show
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Johnny Marr showed he’s the perfect rock star at his homecoming show
Johnny Marr’s Castlefield Bowl set was split evenly between Marr’s own solo material and Smiths classics - Alexander Cropper/Getty Images On a sweltering night that felt more Seville than Salford, Johnny Marr filled Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl to capacity with his droll charisma and a crowd hungry for sing-alongs.
The story from A–Z: The forgotten history of the Spice Girls' Wannabe
There were a few important UK music stories in the summer of 1996. The Lightning Seeds teamed up with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner for the chart-conquering football anthem Three Lions . The fiery Welsh iconoclasts Manic Street Preachers were celebrating a new £1m publishing deal – the biggest of the year – after Sony/ATV won a hard-fought battle against BMG, EMI and PolyGram.
Metallica is everything America should be
On the eve of America's 250th birthday, Metallica presented a picture of what that nation should look like: ambitious, pluralistic and unexpectedly joyful. Since 1981, this excitable band of German, Irish, Mexican, Filipino, English, Danish and Native American extraction has made something no-one had ever been crazy enough to make before – thrash metal – and have had huge success with variations of it ever since.
Foreigner's desperate, misguided quest to become cool
Rock bands want two things: to make a lot of money and be cool. Some, such as Led Zeppelin , manage both; some only manage one. Foreigner made – make, in fact, since they currently have nearly 21 million listeners a month on Spotify and are back on tour in the UK and Europe – a lot of money. But were they ever cool? No. Did that bug them? Very much. The question, then, is what might a band be willing to do to appear cool?
Guns N' Roses have become an embarrassing cabaret act
Guns N' Roses were once the most dangerous rock 'n' roll band in the world: a group of excitable maniacs whose songs tore through the ozone layer of late Eighties pop and planted a ragged, bourbon-soaked flag in the dirt. But on Saturday night, as Download Festival headliners, every trace of that visceral danger was absent. In its place, we witnessed a well-drilled, super-professional cabaret outfit who sashayed through the hits and smiled sweetly as they did it.
This Boyzone reunion was breathtaking in its awfulness
A band needs an awful lot of charisma to pull off a summer-weekend stadium show, and last night, in north London, Boyzone's distinct lack of it felt as huge and untraversable as the Mariana Trench. Billed as a one-off reunion show, the first since 2019, and a tribute to their late bandmate Stephen Gateley, the stakes were already high at the Emirates Stadium. But a less thrilling outcome would be hard to imagine.
This Boyzone reunion was breathtaking in its awfulness
A band needs an awful lot of charisma to pull off a summer-weekend stadium show, and last night, in north London, Boyzone's distinct lack of it felt as huge and untraversable as the Mariana Trench. Billed as a one-off reunion show, the first since 2019, and a tribute to their late bandmate Stephen Gateley, the stakes were already high at the Emirates Stadium. But a less thrilling outcome would be hard to imagine.
This Boyzone reunion was breathtaking in its awfulness
Sat, June 6, 2026 at 10:41 AM UTC Keith Duffy, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch of Boyzone reuniting for the first time since 2019 - Redferns A band needs an awful lot of charisma to pull off a summer-weekend stadium show, and on Friday, in north London, Boyzone's distinct lack of it felt as huge and untraversable as the Mariana Trench. Billed as a one-off reunion show, the first since 2019, and a tribute to their late bandmate Stephen Gateley, the stakes were already high at the Emirates Stadium.
This Boyzone reunion was breathtaking in its awfulness
Keith Duffy, Ronan Keating and Shane Lynch of Boyzone reuniting for the first time since 2019 - Redferns Rob Fitzpatrick Sat, June 6, 2026 at 10:41 AM UTC 2 min read Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. A band needs an awful lot of charisma to pull off a summer-weekend stadium show, and on Friday, in north London, Boyzone’s distinct lack of it felt as huge and untraversable as the Mariana Trench.
People will be talking about this Paul Simon gig for years
Rob Fitzpatrick During the solemnYour Forgiveness, the question bubbles up: “Who else would have the nerve to do this?” The packed arena is waiting for hits and singalongs, the odd heckle goes up, but Simon – in the quietest way imaginable – demands peace. He won't be rushed towards anything.
Paul Simon proves experimental and unafraid at 84
Rob Fitzpatrick During the solemn Your Forgiveness, the question bubbles up: “Who else would have the nerve to do this?” The packed arena is waiting for hits and sing-alongs, the odd heckle goes up, but Simon – in the quietest way imaginable – demands peace. He won't be rushed towards anything.
People will be talking about this Paul Simon gig for years
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People will be talking about this Paul Simon gig for years
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Paul Simon proves experimental and unafraid at 84
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Paul Simon proves experimental and unafraid at 84
Simon delivers a ‘hushed and inward-looking’ performance that stares directly at life and death - Jake Edwards It’s nearly 70 years since 16-year-old Paul Simon (and friend Art Garfunkel) had a hit with Hey, Schoolgirl and more than 60 since he first played in Liverpool, so it’s fair to say we were in the presence of history tonight. And what history it was.
Seeing Jethro Tull in 2026 feels like watching a pretend band
Rob Fitzpatrick The venue felt appropriate for what turned out to be a decidedly theatrical affair; there was even an interval. An evening with Jethro Tull – or more accurately, an evening with Ian Anderson, the only founder member still in the line-up after nearly 59 years – is at times a frustrating affair. You wish they'd let go a little, allow the noise to build and the power to shake the room a bit. But the vibe was more “gentle freak-out”.
Seeing Jethro Tull in 2026 feels like watching a pretend band
Jethro Tull perform their Curiosity tour at an earlier performance in Edinburgh in April - Jason Gilchrist The last time Jethro Tull were cool, Ted Heath was prime minister, but like Canadian rockers Rush – or Morris dancing – that very uncoolness is the band’s superpower. Their fans are truly devoted; those who love them, really love them.
Why May 1966 was the most electrifying month in rock history
May 1966 is rock’s ultimate rabbit hole. It began with the biggest band in history (unknowingly) playing their final scheduled UK show; by May 31, whole new technologies had entered the fray, new sounds were everywhere and bands who would shape and influence every major rock scene for the next 60 years emerged into the light. In 744 hours, the already fairly new mop-top ’n’ folk-pop era did not just fade away, it was gleefully shredded by some of the very people who created it.
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