Lucy Harbron

London

Staff Writer at Far Out Magazine

writer ✿ staff @faroutmag / ex-@Gigwise editor ✿ she/her ✿ https://t.co/1dG9zGSpGB

Articles

10 must-see acts at The Great Escape 2025

1 day ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Each year, for a long weekend in May, it feels as if the entire music world descends on the seaside for a big party with all the best things: fish, chips, a sea swim to get rid of a hangover, and every best new bands around, all within walking distance of one another. That’s what The Great Escape brings to the table, and this year, the lineup is a feast. This 2025 edition feels especially powerful given the way last year’s event was derailed by an incredible to witness boycott.
The song Billy Joel retired from playing live

1 day ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Tue 13 May 2025 23:30, UK It must get exhausting having a hit. Imagine being asked to repeat something on a never-ending loop, year on year, city on city, tour on tour. No amount of new music seems to ever undo the draw of the big song. There appears to be no antidote to it – unless you make a clean break, like Billy Joel did. He’d had enough. By 1990, Joel couldn’t stomach singing the same songs from the 1970s over again.
“I’m sick of it”: The song Billy Joel retired from playing live

1 day ago | flipboard.com | Lucy Harbron

Now“Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, depicts an aging president whose family and aides enabled his quixotic campaign for a second term. ORIGINAL SIN: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson In Christian theology, …
Why was Jim Morrison too scared to play Woodstock Festival

1 day ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Tue 13 May 2025 21:30, UK One of the biggest misconceptions about contemporary music history is that anyone who was anyone was at Woodstock. In our rose-tinted recollections, it’s remembered as the ultimate musical event where the whole cast of the 1960s descended onto the farm and all of the decade’s favourite songs were played. That wasn’t the case, though, and while some rejected invites were for good reason, others weren’t.
The best song ever written about Joni Mitchell

1 day ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Tue 13 May 2025 20:30, UK Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best one. When it comes to cases like this, there is often the temptation to rack your brain, rejecting the first thing that comes to mind in favour of a more niche opinion. But the immediate answer is immediate for a reason—it’s the ultimate one, the clearest one. So if I tried to claim that the best song written about Joni Mitchell was anything other than ‘Our House’, I’d be lying. There are plenty of incredible options, though.
Art's most confrontational prank

2 days ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Mon 12 May 2025 23:00, UK Ah, the art world is so serious and so stuck up sometimes. It’s a world of contradictions. Art is so often so progressive; it prides itself on that. But, in contrast, the actual art industry, the world of galleries and finances, can be quite the opposite, filled with problematic figures and choices and a long history of injustices. However, it can’t function without the artists themselves, giving creatives the upper hand.
The Cure album Robert Smith called his all-time favourite

2 days ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Mon 12 May 2025 16:30, UK There has always been a contrarian streak in Robert Smith. Right at the height of his career, when he was being celebrated as the ultimate wonderkid of goth music, he turned around and rejected the label, later stating, “Goth was like pantomime to me. I never really took the whole culture thing seriously”. When it comes to the topic of his own favourite album by The Cure, he handles it with the same left-field view. I get it, though – it’s a tough and tiring question.
Why Stevie Nicks said Lindsey Buckingham had no fun

2 days ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Mon 12 May 2025 16:00, UK Surely, making music should be a joyful process, one rooted in fun and play. Is that not what all creativity is? Let the imagination run wild, and then figure out how to use your skills to bring whatever vision might have come to life. Really, the studio should be a kind of playground where musicians get to mess around and make a masterpiece from the freedom of that, but Stevie Nicks never saw that in the eyes of one of her key collaborators.
The artists Frank Zappa thought were all image, no substance

3 days ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Sun 11 May 2025 18:30, UK Frank Zappa was a complex character. He was, at once, one of the biggest supporters of the music world and one of its biggest haters. His adopted home of Laurel Canyon became the ultimate hangout for the scene, with musicians and artists dropping in and crashing there, getting sage wisdom and support from the artist. But, in the press, he was never shy about dishing out the critique. Anyone who landed at Zappa’s pad found it a safe space.
Why Gene Simmons hates Kiss' biggest hit

3 days ago | faroutmagazine.co.uk | Lucy Harbron

Sun 11 May 2025 17:00, UK With their makeup and outfits, Kiss have always been a theatrical rock band. When they began in the early 1970s, they were something new and bold. They were leading the way for heavier rock, setting themselves apart from the classic rock and roll crowd. But as time went on, and as is always the case for pioneers, the rest of the world caught up, and soon, the band had regrets. Regret is a harsh word, though.