LIVE: THE DWARVES – 09/08/2010

– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – It’s my first time down at Moho, and I’m pleased to see that in the apparent current trend, there is another thwacking great pole right in the view of the stage. Good times. But there’s more… there are stairs. That don’t go anywhere but up… hmmm. Anyway, first up on […]
– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – The last day blues that the weekend is almost is over are now upon me, but at the same time thoughts of home comforts are also crossing my mind. As I meander past the main stage Erland and the Carnival are making sure that any overnight cobwebs are blown […]

LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2010 – DAY 3

LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2010 – DAY 2

– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – Well it’s the second day and as is to be expected I’ve had very little sleep, even though I thought that last beer before bed might help. Anyway the weather isn’t too bad and after a bite to eat and probably the worst brew I’ve ever tasted, I’m ready […]
– LOWTHER DEER PARK, PENRITH – Now I’m not one for moaning unnecessarily, alright that might not be totally true, but my start to this year Kendal Calling experience is not the best, and it is the same for some of the other folk that used the shuttle bus from Penrith train station to the […]

LIVE: KENDAL CALLING 2010 – FRIDAY

LIVE: GRAND ARCHIVES – 03/08/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – There’s surely much been said about the irony of housing a musical venue within a former deaf institute (ad nauseam). However, upon telling someone recently that I was attending a gig at The Deaf Institute they seemed equally amazed and interested before earnestly enquiring whether the band would be […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – So the summer is here at last, the festival season is under way and it usually means the best of the bands are off all over the world playing to sell out crowds of weekend camp stars. So you could imagine that the chance to see a quality acts […]

LIVE: SHEARWATER – 01/08/2010

LIVE: DUM DUM GIRLS – 28/07/2010

– SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – Sound Control’s certainly undergone a massive transformation since its previous life as a musical instruments store. I was quite flummoxed when, late one night, I saw people streaming in to what I assumed was still a guitar shop. It seems that I’d gone and taken my finger off the pulse […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Signed to the techno label Ghostly International, Dream Pop purveyors, School of Seven Bells, seem unlikely candidates to be on such a label. But look beyond the choral harmonies of sisters, Alenjdra and Claudia Deheza and you will find jangly guitars and spiky synthesizers which give their songs a […]

LIVE: SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS – 19/07/2010

LIVE: NEVILLE SKELLY – 17/07/2010

– THE LOWRY THEATRE, SALFORD – Liverpool troubadour Neville Skelly is like a speck on the horizon as he takes to the stage of The Lowry’s Lyric Theatre. Bagging last-minute tickets to The Coral’s sell-out gig was a bonus, but it’s a bit of a strain on the old 20/20 from the back row of […]
– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – I was having a conversation the other day with a friend about why the Church of England has lost favour. My argument was that the C of E blows in the wind too much, adapting itself too readily to modern trends thus debasing its integrity as a moral authority. […]

LIVE: LUCY ROSE/MELODICA MELODY & ME – 14/07/2010