LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2011

– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – The final weekend of July sees the 6th Annual addition of Kendal Calling Festival.  Continually growing in strength and size it managed to bag the Best Small Festival award for 2010 and with only 13000 tickets for 2011 it sold out in record time. Since a move in 2009 […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Manchester’s roller coaster weather is at one of its brief peaks and I’m off to go and sit in the dark basement that is Ruby Lounge. Monday evenings don’t get much better… But at least it’s cool and the place has really shaped up in to a decent venue […]

LIVE: YACHT – 25/07/2011

LIVE: OFF WITH THEIR HEADS – 22/07/2011

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Salford: Home of The Smiths, LS Lowry and at one time The Ting Tings! Their original home was Islington Mill a converted mill founded by Bill Campbell as a space for artists and musicians with a performance area on the ground floor. This year Campbell received an honorary MA from The […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – It’s a rain-drenched Sunday night and murky, grey Manchester looks like it’s turning into mud.  The promoter at The Ruby Lounge is anxiously looking up and down the street for his crowd, but there’s barely a soul about. Discouraging, perhaps, is the fact that the only other person who turns […]

LIVE: VIVIAN GIRLS 17/07/2011

LIVE: WU LYF – 16/07/2011

– THE TUNNEL, MANCHESTER – Despite the presence of world renowned artists Bjork and Snoop Dogg in the city over the last couple of weeks, for many, the potential musical highlight of this years Manchester International Festival is the prospect of seeing one of the city’s own acts. Wu Lyf’s slot at the festival is […]
– FERRIOUS, MANCHESTER – Three words attracted me, and probably many others, to this event tonight – wine, song and garden. Another draw is the unlikely setting, as the Not Part of Festival-organised event is held in uber-cool furniture store Ferrious, underneath a railway arch on the edge of the River Medlock. After arriving at […]

LIVE: WINE & SONG IN THE GARDEN (NOT PART OF) 14/07/2011

LIVE: KARIMA FRANCIS – 09/07/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – My mum said, “You can’t call a venue that”, I tried to explain to her that ‘The Hard of Hearing Institute’ might not have the same ring to it. Grade II listed, I will have you know as well. Nice to get a bit of history into these reviews, so it’s a […]
– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – As if going to see Tame Impala live wasn’t enough, news that Wolf People were to support had made my week. Sounding as though they’d been locked in a barn, in Devon, with nothing but their instruments and a copy of ‘The Rolling Stones: Rock and Roll Circus’, the hairy […]

LIVE: TAME IMPALA / WOLF PEOPLE – 06/07/2011

LIVE: JOHN BUTLER TRIO – 07/07/2011

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – Opportunities to impress people with your knowledge of Burkina Faso are few and far between – as are summer gigs, especially ones of such quality as John Butler Trio, so I’m surprised to score on both counts tonight. I missed JBT last year, as I was at the Soundwave festival […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Tonight’s early attendees watch support act Star Slinger while sat on the stepped area at the back of the Deaf Institute hall. The Mancunian beatsmith makes an impression, however, and the dancefloor steadily fills during his half-hour on stage as the crowd gets into his skittering, tuneful mixcraft. He […]

LIVE: MEMORY TAPES – 07/07/2011