LIVE: ALT-J – 28/10/2018

-THE BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER- The sirens blare. A voice comes through the speakers. This is one way to start a show. Now just for the lights to go out and they walk on stage. Or not… The sirens keep going while occasionally being interrupted by the concerning “This is an emergency, please evacuate the building.” […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- And so this is it; the conclusion of my ‘mother of all things holy how damn good are women at music at the moment’ series, which, if you’ve been following closely (OF COURSE YOU HAVE), has basically been a load of love letters to some absolutely brilliant young female musicians who have been […]

LIVE: LUCY DACUS – 27/10/2018

LIVE: THE KVB / AUTUMNS – 27/10/2018

-YES, MANCHESTER- Tonight in Manchester’s hottest new venue, Yes, comes a rather tasty line up from promoters Strange Days. Opening is Autumns, a one-man noise machine who is currently on a run of nine dates with headliners The KVB (high praise indeed!). The brain child of Christian Donaghey, originally from Derry, offers up a heady […]
-YES, MANCHESTER- Oh you know the drill by now…I could basically just put the heart eyes emoji here and have done with it, but that would be lazy (although very accurate), so instead, here’s 500 words that basically add up to several heart eye emojis in a row. You see, over the last few months […]

LIVE: SNAIL MAIL – 25/10/2018

LIVE: GLASVEGAS / BIRTHDAY GIRL – 22/10/2018

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- A slightly subdued start to the evening at Gorilla this evening – Swedish rockers Birthday Girl don’t have the same following as the headliner tonight so the venue isn’t filling up right away but as soon as the first chord hits people are round from the bar, surging forward and paying attention. The […]
-ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE, MANCHESTER- Not much about tonight feels of this world and that’s OK. Normal is over-rated. Normal is terra firma and not is more about a kind of astral ascendency. This is music in the round. The music with interstellar soundscapes and outer space imagery. This is kosmic. So it’s Sunday evening for […]

LIVE: JANE WEAVER – 21/10/2018

LIVE: TOOTS & THE MAYTALS – 19/10/2018

-ACADEMY, MANCHESTER- Toots and the Maytals cured my knee! Well almost. After years of gigging, my left knee has seen better days. But peace, love, a bit of dancing and one incredible voice took away this pain for a few hours. Toots Hibbert emerges from the rafters dressed almost like a Rastafarian Pearly King. Styling […]
-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- Tickets for tonight’s gig are in high demand, I know this because in the morning I checked the event page on Facebook to see if the set times had been announced, but all I could find was an endless stream of people leaving posts asking for any spare tickets. Luckily for me […]
Idles

LIVE: IDLES – 19/10/2018

LIVE: VILLAGERS – 19/10/2018

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Gorilla seems to be the place I go to watch Villagers. Tonight’s gig is their third time there and it’ll be the third time I’ve seen them there, without seeing them anywhere else in the meantime. My journey to the venue takes me passed Manchester Arena, where U2 are preparing to play a […]
-CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER- The support at Castle Hotel tonight is the terrific Malena Zavala, playing without the usual full band at her back. The solo performance works wonderfully as her delicate voice drifts over a delicate touch to the guitar. It has a sweet 80’s prom feel to the sound, a serene start to the […]

LIVE: STEADY HOLIDAY / MALENA ZAVALA – 17/10/2018