LIVE REVIEW: JOHN CALE – ALBERT HALL: 24/08/2023

On Thursday night the legendary John Cale, perhaps mostly known for his role in one of the most iconic and influential acts of the 60s/70s – The Velvet Underground – played an eclectic set of classics and new jams to an intimate and lucky Albert Hall crowd. This famous Manchester venue over the years has […]
The Last Dinner Party are breaking all the rules. Tonight, they have sold out the jewel in the Manchester live music crown having released exactly two songs; by the time they are back in town in October to play the much larger Academy 2, they’re unlikely to have released many more. This is virtually unheard […]

LIVE REVIEW: THE LAST DINNER PARTY – DEAF INSTITUTE 28/07/23

LIVE REVIEW: JOHN GRANT SINGS THE SONGS OF PATSY CLINE WITH RICHARD HAWLEY AND BAND 11/07/2023

John Grant is blessed with a glorious, honeyed voice. Early in his solo career, he lived up to the cliché about being able to make anything sound good by turning a list of the items for sale in his childhood sweet shop into the most wonderful confection full of wonder and longing (‘Marz’). At Manchester […]
– Gorilla, Manchester – How on earth is someone this effortlessly cool? Dressed in a white vest with ripped off sleeves, dripping in pearls, Channel Tres is elevated above the audience and his two dancers on a podium on stage, oozing nonchalant chic, and it’s magnetic. Here to support his latest EP Real Cultural Shit, […]
Channel Tres

LIVE: CHANNEL TRES – 28/03/2023

Anna B Savage

LIVE: ANNA B SAVAGE – 22/03/2023

– Yes Pink Room, Manchester – To describe this Anna B Savage show as eagerly awaited would be a major understatement. The searing intensity of her first album, ‘A Common Turn’, became one of my soundtracks to 2021’s winter lockdown while her more nuanced follow-up, ‘in/FLUX,’ has already established itself as a leading contender for […]
– Ritz, Manchester – I usually hate those pretentious types, those fans who believe that the unreleased stuff is better than the released stuff, but for tonight at least I’m my own worst enemy. As someone who only listens to Alex G’s unreleased music I have no idea how I will fare at an Alex […]
Alex G

LIVE: ALEX G – 18/03/2023

Sophie Jamieson

LIVE: SOPHIE JAMIESON – 02/03/2023

– Castle Hotel, Manchester – I came across Sophie Jamieson’s astonishing, raw debut album at the very start of the year. Gold Flake Paint, one of the best music blogs around, has a knack of presenting albums to me in their end of year roundup that I’ve never heard of, but because of their brilliant […]
It’s testament to the musical ambition of Mogwai that more than twenty-five years years after they started they can now sell out Manchester’s Albert Hall so fast a second date had to be added. Not bad for a band whose spellbinding tunes mostly consist of epic instrumentals with minimal vocals. Having recently spoken to Stuart […]

LIVE: MOGWAI – 10/02/23

The 1975

LIVE: THE 1975 – 20/01/2023

– Arena, Manchester – There’s no two ways about it: this is the most thrilling arena show I’ve ever seen. It’s quite a grand statement to make, but what Matty Healy et al have constructed (and constructed is definitely the word) for the mega-tour in support of their latest album Being Funny in a Foreign […]
– Academy 3, Manchester – The last time Nada Surf was in Manchester in March 2020, the world was on the edge of a precipice. In the days after, the band cut short their tour as the country entered lockdown indefinitely. In the two years that followed, it was hard to imagine gigs without risks, […]
Nada Surf

LIVE: NADA SURF – 30/11/2022