LIVE: STEVE MASON – 12/04/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Wow. Good evening from The Deaf Institute – the venue that laughs in the face of health and safety. The venue that scoffs at the idea of personal space. The venue that puts the ‘mmmm’ in intimate. Seriously, there’ll be no cat-swinging here tonight, so tightly jammed in are […]
– ST. PHILIPS CHURCH, SALFORD – Where better to see a prog goth band than in a church? The interior of St. Philips may be too well kept to be the perfect backdrop for tonight, some of Salford’s industrial abandoned and rain soaked buildings could offer Esben and The Witch possible music video locations, but […]

LIVE: ESBEN & THE WITCH – 08/04/2011

LIVE: SMITH WESTERNS – 03/04/2011

– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – Smith Westerns produced one of my favourite albums of last year with the excellent ‘Dye It Blonde’, so to say that I am really looking forward to this gig is an understatement. The gig sold out well in advance, due to being headlined by the current darlings of indie […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Punk rock is supposed to be unpredictable, theatrical and ball-bustingly energetic, and if there is one band encompassing those elements with every fiber of their being, it is Killing Joke. Not only is their fourteenth and most recent album, Absolute Dissent, every bit as liable to strip paint from studio […]

LIVE: KILLING JOKE – 31/03/2011

LIVE: DUM DUM GIRLS – 31/03/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER –  I didn’t come to the Deaf Institute tonight to review  the support band for Dum Dum Girls, but the music of Mazes is so good I feel compelled to let you know about them. All the songs feel ‘killer, no filler’.  They play with boundless energy and come across […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – I’m not overly fond of the Ruby Lounge as a venue at the best of times- it might be that it’s dark and dingy, or the strange design, I can’t put my finger on it, but when I walk in and see about six people in the crowd my […]

LIVE: DUCKTAILS – 31/03/2011

LIVE: DEERHUNTER – 30/03/2011

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER –  The band are ready, lead singer Bradford Cox talks over the Foals tune that can still be heard and amusingly comments on the audiences startling red faces. The result of heavy backlighting. Technical difficulties allow him to break the ice with his natural wit as he urges the crowd to […]
– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – As one of the true oddities of the New York punk scene in the mid 70s, The New York Dolls are considered to be the godfathers of American punk. The band imploded in spectacular fashion back in 1975, and articles in various music magazines, books and punk rock documentaries kept […]

LIVE: NEW YORK DOLLS – 29/03/2011

LIVE: JESCA HOOP – 26/03/2011

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Looking like she has just arrived at Trof this evening by Gothic Express, Jesca Hoop cuts a rather striking mystical figure on stage bare footed and clad in a flowing black dress. This North Californian songstress now decamped to Manchester for the past two years after persuasion from our […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – It looks like 2011 is the year that James Blake ate the pies.  I expect  the svelte foppish-haired waif that I’ve seen peer out of press photos, but the man who takes the stage alongside fellow traveller Rob McAndrews (guitar and sampler), minus Ben Assiter, who often provides […]

LIVE: JAMES BLAKE – 26/03/2011