LIVE REVIEW: Friends of Mine Festival 2011

– CAPESTHORNE HALL, CHESHIRE – The Friends of Mine crew have been doing good things in and around Manchester and the North West for a while now, shoving the pick of the region’s up n’ coming acts in the shop window and giving them precious exposure. A festival seemed a more-than-logical progression, and when FOMFest […]
– ST. MARGARET’S CHURCH, MANCHESTER – Improvised music can be a nightmare. Overwhelming in terms of scope and size as a ‘genre’; seeming to require an encyclopaedic set of references; over-intellectualised; pretentious; snobbish and cliquey; perplexingly theoretical. Just when you think you have got a handle on it, something new will fall in your lap […]

LIVE REVIEW: Okkyung Lee and John Butcher / Open Eye Quartet – 20/05/2011

LIVE REVIEW: Sufjan Stevens – 19/05/2011

-THE APOLLO THEATRE, MANCHESTER- Somewhere near the beginning of Sufjan Stevens’ awesome spectacle of a performance he introduces himself as the entertainment for the night and promises a journey through space: the space of the exterior; the cosmos, and the space of the interior; the body, in the spaceship Apollo. This statement may cause the […]
– THE ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Explosions In The Sky produce a sound that feels paradoxical in the sense that it is intimate and yet epic. They are playing to near full capacity in Academy 1 and I wonder how the venue might detract from the musical experience but rush through and forget your not in […]

LIVE REVIEW: Explosions In The Sky – 17/05/2011

LIVE REVIEW: Chain & The Gang – 17/05/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I was reading an interview with Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream in Uncut a while back and in it he name-checked Chain &The Gang’s first album ‘Down With Liberty.. Up With Chains’. He went on to add that it was the only new band he was into at the […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – You know you’re getting old when you arrive at a gig and the bar area is pretty empty even though the show is sold out. I feel a little concerned that the new breed of Panic At The Disco fans has left the old ones behind. Maybe the departure of […]

LIVE REVIEW: Panic! At The Disco – 16/05/2011

LIVE: WARPAINT – 14/05/2011

– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – I was lucky enough to see Warpaint last October at The Deaf Institute, and despite the addition of only one new tune, I am keen to see them again. That gig was possibly my favourite from 2010, in my favourite venue, so there is a lot to live up […]
– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Preceded by former-Gowns singer, EMA, touring her debut album Past Life Martyred Saints and generally strutting around like a preening mental patient – Scout could only go on to raise the bar. Scout enters wearing a high-visibility jacket – the only piece of clothing that quite literally says ‘notice me’. […]

LIVE REVIEW: SCOUT NIBLETT – 13/05/2011

LIVE REVIEW: Moon Duo – 12/05/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – I’m here tonight in the ever cool surroundings of The Deaf Institute’s music hall on the strength of one single. Is this right or is this wrong? Who knows, but Moon Duo’s last single ‘Mazes’, has been played to death on my walks to and from work and has […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Brooklyn act Gang Gang Dance seem an obvious choice to play Manchester’s annual FutureEverything festival. The Festival is a celebration of digital culture, with a strong emphasis on innovation and breaking new ground. Over the course of five studio albums Gang Gang Dance have displayed a willingness to experiment, […]

LIVE REVIEW: Gang Gang Dance – 11/05/2011