LIVE: VIKESH KAPOOR – 03/03/2015

– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – “I dream away my morning”, Vikesh Kapoor sings on ‘I Dreamt Blues’ conjuring up an image of Alan Sillitoe’s protagonist from Saturday Night & Sunday Morning, Arthur Seaton slaving over his lathe at a bicycle factory dreaming of plotting an escape from his small town drudgery. In fact, this is what […]
–  ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – St. Philip’s church in Salford, through vicar Andy Salmon, has been the location of various performances in the past few years. A 2011 M.E.N. interview with the vicar reveals that the programming has also included, interestingly, a regular ‘Goth, Metal, 80s and Punk club night’. Despite the conventional religious […]

LIVE: JOHN SMITH 27/02/2015

LIVE: LONELADY – 26/02/2015

– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – There was huge disappointment for me, almost 5 years ago – Manchester’s own Julie Ann Campbell, aka LoneLady, withdrew from a support slot for Chris Cunningham due to illness. Her superb debut album ‘Nerve Up’, released on Warp in 2010, had piqued my interest enough to leave me wanting more. It’s been a long wait. […]
– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – The NME awards tour has seen some huge names over the years. From Coldpay to Arctic Monkeys, they’ve had them all. It’s a tour that guarantees a great headliner and some brilliant up and coming bands. However this year, I feel that the NME have divulged into the punk direction […]

LIVE: THE NME AWARDS TOUR – 26/02/2015

LIVE: THE CRIBS – 25/02/2015

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – When I look back on my teen years and the bands I use to adore, it makes me sad to think that those bands are now defunct or still clinging on to fame by releasing the same records. The Cribs are one of the few bands from this period who […]
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER –  I first heard about Krill thanks to the founder of their former UK label Blood and Biscuits writing a genuinely honest description of how great Krill are and how great their album Lucky Leaves is. So as a fan of the label, I obliged, and subsequently fell in love with this Boston based […]

LIVE: KRILL – 23/02/2015

LIVE: LYDIA AINSWORTH – 19/02/2015

– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – Lydia Ainsworth looks elegant tonight, bedecked in a sweeping knee-length white coat with a brooch hanging from her neck. Manchester’s turn out is paltry in comparison, as the small numbers make Gullivers’ normally throbbing wooden floor seem empty, helping it to feel more like a heartless conference hall rather than one […]
– ANTWERP MANSION, MANCHESTER – There’s a palpable sense of excitement in the line for Antwerp Mansion. Down an unlikely sidestreet, off Rusholme’s cumin-flavoured neon strip, I wait with the gaggle in the rain. I’m waiting for the paper-street grandeur of Antwerp Mansion, where ornate ballustrades rub shoulders with mysterious graffiti and flaking paintwork. It’s […]

LIVE: GEORGE THE POET – 20/02/2015

LIVE: THE WAVE PICTURES – 20/02/2015

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s Friday night and what better way to start the weekend than visiting a sold-out Deaf Institute for some live music? Tonight’s visitors are The Wave Pictures, touring on the back of new album release Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon. The album was co-written and produced by Billy Childish. […]
– THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – No, not the ill-considered government policy, but rather the band from Philly, back for their second sold out gig at Manchester’s gorgeous Albert Hall. (And who needs that pale London imitation, right? Our Albert Hall bleeds royal blood.) If the support seem a bit, well, shit – kind of […]

LIVE: THE WAR ON DRUGS – 19/02/2015