LIVE: MALE BONDING – 10/06/2010

– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER – Male Bonding have been making a name for themselves in London over the past couple of years releasing a truckload of singles and constantly playing gigs. They managed to get themselves signed to Sub Pop who put out their wonderful debut album ‘Nothing Hurts’ last month. It’s an album full […]
– THE RITZ BALLROOM, MANCHESTER – It’s been a long time since I last visited the Ritz. Many a Monday night of my youth (I) was recklessly wasted there before I was old enough to get into real clubs. It’s hardly changed – by which I mean: ‘they appear to have done no maintenance whatsoever’. […]

LIVE: BAND OF HORSES – 08/06/2010

LIVE: THE MISERABLE RICH – 08/06/2010

– BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER – Band On The Wall is a classy venue that attracts quality acts for genuine music lovers. The first support Dan Whitehouse sings alone onstage with his guitar to an attentive, silent audience. After the song he comments on how nice it is to finish a tune and realise […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – In the eight years since the release of their debut album ‘Reinventing Axl Rose’, Against Me have gradually transformed from the angry anarchist darlings of the underground punk scene, into fully fledged rock stars. The shift to a more mainstream sound and the commercial success that comes with it has […]

LIVE: AGAINST ME – 02/06/2010

LIVE: THE OH SEES – 01/06/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – One of my favourite bands of the last couple of years, Thee Oh Sees have been building into something much more than another side project from the prolific and prodigious talent of San Francisco’s John Dwyer. The last time I saw them, around two years ago, they packed out […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – It’s been a busy weekend for music festivals in Manchester. Hungry Pigeon has been and gone, Euro Cultured is still ongoing. Dot to Dot Festival’s placement on the Bank Holiday Monday is perhaps not ideal but Oxford Road is a buzz with people nevertheless. The bulk of today’s acts […]

LIVE: DE STAAT (DOT TO DOT) 31/05/2010

LIVE: DOT TO DOT 2010 – 31/05/2010

– VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER – To level with you, I came out tonight to see Fun. I did not know (much to my shame) that they were playing as part of a larger festival. So you can imagine my delight when I discovered that lots of other fine acts were playing the Academies for no […]
– NORTHERN QUARTER, MANCHESTER – If you love watching live music then you have probably asked yourself this question many times before: just why is this band or singer not a household name? There’s no accounting for taste, but some people are just so talented that not even the most musically deadened, tone deaf oaf […]

LIVE: HUNGRY PIGEON Pt2 – 30/05/2010

LIVE: PAPER TIGER (EUROCULTURED) – 30/05/2010

– SPACE, MANCHESTER – The beauty of street festivals like Eurocultured is the chance to stumble upon rare and unexpected gems. So it is with Paper Tiger, the live front of a collective of musicians and producers from Leeds. The roof terrace in Space is the venue, where the humidity and low ceiling on the […]
– THE THIRSTY SCHOLAR, MANCHESTER – The Whim Wham Club is about to celebrate its fourth birthday, which makes Manchester’s best loved vintage night about ninety four years old by my reckoning. Like some long lost dream of the libertines of the Weimar Republic, an officer’s mess far from the danger of the enemy lines, […]

LIVE: THE WHIM WHAM CLUB (EUROCULTURED) – 30/05/2010