LIVE: Constellations Festival – 14/11/2010

– LEEDS UNI, LEEDS – Festivals used to be just for the summer but nowadays it seems like the summer never ends. God bless that pioneering genius who first worked out that you could transport the same amount of festive fun back to the city, minus the trench foot. Constellations, a new festival modelled very […]
– THE LOWRY HOTEL, SALFORD – Let’s get this out of the way. The main reason I’m here is because the venue for tonight’s show is The Presidential Suite in the Lowry Hotel, and I’m pretty certain this is the only chance I will ever get, in my entire life, to spend an evening (let […]

LIVE: HAUSCHKA/NANCY ELIZABETH – 13/11/2010

LIVE: THE NAKED AND FAMOUS – 10/11/2010

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Let’s get one thing out of the way: ‘The Naked and Famous’ is a bit of a rubbish name. Initially a droney college-rock ‘anthem’ by The Presidents of the USA, their moniker has also been adopted by an overpriced hipster-courting denim company. Still, third time’s the charm, right? Local […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Cloud Nothings seem to have been rather busy bees lately, supporting the likes of Real Estate and Woods and even the ever popular Best Coast; they seem to be enjoying some good shows but I admit that I hadn’t heard of them till tonight. They perform a tight show, […]

LIVE: CLOUD NOTHINGS/VERONICA FALLS – 09/11/2010

LIVE: DIVINE COMEDY – 09/11/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon is Divine Comedy. It’s a Badly Drawn Boy /Damon Gough dynamic which means there will never be different line-ups… unless Neil plans on major schizophrenic schisms. Hannon does sometimes play with a band but tonight it’s only Neil, armed only with a grand piano, acoustic […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – The ABC Club come on stage in a haze of pyrotechnics, clad in leopard skin leotards and beckon to the crowd ‘Are you ready to motherfucking rock Manchester?’ Well, actually they don’t at all, but its Monday night in cold, wet and windy Manchester and I need a wakeup […]

LIVE: Wild Nothing / Milk Maid / The ABC Club – 08/10/2010

LIVE: DIETER MOBIUS/QA’AA/GNOD – 07/11/2010

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – Krautrock: has there ever been a more casually racist moniker for a music genre? In this day and age, with the musical landscape awash with weird and wonderful sub-genres -Math Rock, Aquacrunk, Witch House etc- the term “Krautrock”, coined by the British press in the 1970s as an umbrella term […]
– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Hullah Bazoo! If these guys were feline they’d wear flat caps and blue suede shoes! The crowd are full o’ beans, beans and the ravenous sexual thirst for the Young Blood Brass Band; a 9 piece group whose last album, ‘is that a riot?’ was released on their […]

LIVE: YOUNGBLOOD BRASS BAND – 04/11/2010

LIVE: MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS – 31/10/2010

– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – From the first song of hers I heard, ‘I Am Not a Robot’ I think, Marina seemed stratosphere-bound. Noting on her growing success she says: “This is my first proper tour. A lot of people say I didn’t expect to be here, but I did, because I wanted it”. […]
– THE ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – This is Grinderman’s first outing to Manchester as a separate entity from their ‘Bad Seeds’ line up. Promoting only their second album to date; ‘Grinderman 2’, the place is packed with young ‘emo’ kids and old punks alike, highlighting Grinderman’s versatility and transcendence against the restrictions of age and fashion. […]

LIVE: GRINDERMAN – 29/09/2010