LIVE: THE SEVEN BRAVE TRACTOR DRIVERS – 31/01/2020

-THE MET, BURY- There are only four of them. Not seven, as was previously stated. Also, they don’t even drive tractors. Like, what is going on here? Anyway, The Seven Brave Tractor Drivers performed at The Met in Bury on 31st January 2020. In short, it was a really good gig, organised by Bury Cancer […]
– Yes Basement, Manchester – Humint: The opening act helps to congregate the room without windows with the post-punk-post-hardcore approach of being a mechanism that doesn’t quite work yet still works, the reverse stutter that is the drumming being the pedestal that makes this band the more rhythmically interesting of the 2 performers. Chordal descents […]

LIVE: SPECIAL INTEREST – 10/03/2020

LIVE: JON HOPKINS – 13/03/2020

– Bridgewater Hall, Manchester – Don’t mention it Don’t mention it Don’t mention it Don’t mention it Don’t mention it There are empty seats due to the coronavirus. There, I’ve addressed it. Some people don’t feel comfortable enough to come to a concert hall full of people who potentially have a world wide pandemic virus, […]
– The Ritz, Manchester – This is being billed as a homecoming gig of sorts for The Orielles. By ‘homecoming’, I think people mean ‘big gig up north’, as the band hail from Halifax on the wrong side of the Pennines to Manchester, but we’ll let that slide; the excitement amongst a near to sellout […]

LIVE: THE ORIELLES – 05/03/2020

LIVE: MARIKA HACKMAN / DO NOTHING – 24/02/2020

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- First on stage tonight at Gorilla are Nottingham-based four piece Do Nothing, a post-punk band utilising the talk-singing style that is quickly rising back into fashion within the indie scene. Singer Chris Bailey’s live rambling talk/shout vocal style, along with easy comparisons of Talk Show and Dry Cleaning, reminds me of a mix between […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Keeley Forsyth It appears minimalism by spook is an effective strategy for the achievement of crowd bamboozlement; the ageing gig-goer prevalent around no doubt expecting a forgettable dilute-Copeian derivative hell bent on attaining das capital, yet not so. Aided only by the wheezing of what probably is a faux-accordion, the vocal adopts the […]

LIVE: JULIAN COPE / KEELEY FORSYTH – 21/02/2020

LIVE: KINDNESS – 20/02/2020

-YES, MANCHESTER- Adam Bainbridge is here for a good time. Entering the Yes stage in pearls, leather chaps and sparkling disco pants clutching a bunch of flowers, they saunter onto to a brilliant disco throb which melds into the stone cold classic ‘Young Hearts Fun Free’, and we all instantly know this is going to […]
-VICTORIA WAREHOUSE, MANCHESTER- Before heading to see Cage the Elephant at the Victoria Warehouse, I was told: “if they aren’t in your top five live bands after tonight, I’ll be shocked”. I took this with a pinch of salt, but boy, have I been proven wrong – and I couldn’t be happier for it. Off […]

LIVE: CAGE THE ELEPHANT – 19/02/2020

LIVE: U-BAHN – 19/02/2020

-YES, MANCHESTER- For a band, travelling across the globe to new countries to play music can often be a daunting experience, however if bands did this with the confidence of Melbourne’s U-Bahn, no band would have to worry about anything again. Yet another rendition of Victoria’s seemingly endless supply of talent made itself heard in […]
-GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER- For a band that as yet have only put out a handful of tracks across 2 EPs, Dry Cleaning have accrued a monstrous number of fans. Arriving early at the upstairs room of Gullivers, I am shocked that already I can barely get through the door. Manchester is the first stop on their […]

LIVE: DRY CLEANING / POZI – 12/02/2020