LIVE: CHARLI XCX / YADI – 19/04/2013

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – One of my favourite places to watch a gig in Manchester is The Deaf Institute and it is nice to be back realising it has been a year since my last visit. The venue is fairly small which makes gigs intimate, which I prefer. The walls have parrots on […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Having watched Night Beds somewhat brief appearance the previous evening on Later…. I  was expecting a more lengthy performance tonight at Soup Kitchen. A double debut really. Night Beds first Solo UK tour, and my first time at this venue. From Jools to a damp Manchester cellar, a real baptism of fire […]

LIVE: NIGHT BEDS – 17/04/2013

LIVE: FINDLAY – 19/04/2013

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Findlay, the newest face of rock n’ roll in the UK is quickly gaining notoriety as one of Manchester’s best-kept secrets. The 21 year-old singer toured with Jake Bugg in November and thrilled audiences with what can only be described as an electrifying stage presence. Before I endlessly compare […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – It’s Friday night and the Soup Kitchen crowd is itching for a musical tussle. Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost of New Mexico walk quietly onto the stage and without any introduction, shift the collective mood up an intellectual notch. Trost leads the opening piece with a gentle chorus that reverberates […]

LIVE: A HAWK AND A HACKSAW – 19/04/2013

THE WAVE PICTURES – 17/04/2013

– TAKK COFFEE HOUSE, MANCHESTER – Having only found out the location for this secret gig the day before, I enter Takk, a coffee shop on the edge of Manchester‘s Northern Quarter, with a  little trepidation. The most common adjective used to describe this area is ‘trendy’. Well this is the closest physically I’ve ever […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – Well, well, well, what do we have here then? Gorilla is tuning its dial towards a club night. I think this is my first gig preamble that feels more like post gig excitement. Bouncy, upbeat tunes and a nugget of Fool’s Gold cracked out before the main man gets on stage. […]

LIVE: STEVE MASON – 10/04/2013

LIVE: BRITISH SEA POWER – 12/04/2013

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – “Is that a Polar Bear!!!” There is a subtle beauty that British Sea Power have always commanded and a fan base that understands this beauty and what it means. The opening ‘quiet set’ affirms this beauty with a warmth of songs like Salty Water that make you feel all fluffy inside. […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Manchester Academy 2 is not a particularly majestic venue, in fact, it looks almost identical to a high school assembly room, so it seems odd that such a place should host an artist like James Blake, a musician who could no doubt fill a space at least three times as […]

LIVE: JAMES BLAKE – 10/04/2013

LIVE: THE SHEEPDOGS – 05/04/2013

– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – Oh Canada! Tonight’s the night Saskatchewan’s blues-rock four piece The Sheepdogs grace us Mancunians with their bearded presence. Having missed the opportunity to catch the boys live in Vancouver over the Christmas holidays, I was more than thrilled to find out they’d be on tour throughout the UK […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – According to the bastion of truth that is Wikipedia, a hookworm is ‘a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host, which may be a mammal such as a dog, cat, or human’. A parasite, something that sucks the life out of whatever unfortunate host it happens […]

LIVE: HOOKWORMS – 05/04/2013