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

LIVE: BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB – 12/07/2010

– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – Bombay Bicycle Club embark on their latest tour, fresh off the successes of their first record ‘I had the blues but shook them loose’ released summer 2009. The four piece guitar band from Crouch End have come a long way in the past four years. They shot to fame […]
– CASTLEFIELD, MANCHESTER – “How do you get 5p off your mum? Go to the shop, buy a tin of beans and change the 23p on the label to 28p. Bingo!” – Damon Gough quotes Frank Sidebottom. Considering I’m at Frank Sidebottom’s Fantastic Farewell – the last goodbye to alter ego of Timperley’s most famous […]

LIVE: FRANK’S FANTASTIC FAREWELL – 08/07/2010

LIVE: HOLY GHOST – 08/07/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – My knowledge of Holy Ghost, before I went to see them, could best be described as ‘cursory’ but those with their ears to the ground at club nights in Manchester such as Homoelectric and Now Wave, have been singing the praises of Holy Ghost for a while, so it […]
I’ve been intrigued by this West Yorkshire based bunch of sonic expressionists for some time now. To the uninitiated, The Window Right play instrumental music. Some might call that Post Rock or Krautrock; some might call it Ambient or Shoegaze. Whatever it is, The Window Right are bloody good at it. Having recently performed live […]

LIVE: THE WINDOW RIGHT – 02/07/2010

LIVE: The Morning Benders – 28/06/2010

– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – 11.30pm is pretty damn late for a band to start their set on a Monday night, especially coming off the back of Glastonbury and England’s dreaded World Cup debacle. The Night & Day’s policy of 4 bands on a night is certainly value for money and opening […]
– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – It’s not easy growing up in the world The Cold One Hundred’s dark pop alludes to, with its tedium and disenchantment, but for source material, it doesn’t sell them short. The hanging gloom of the Night & Day stage is a perfect setting for the live rendition of […]

LIVE: THE COLD ONE HUNDRED – 25/06/2010

LIVE: CHERRY GHOST – 21/06/2010

– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – As we shuffle into St. Phillip’s Church in Salford there’s a feeling that we’re the cool kids in the know: This is a warm up gig for the band’s upcoming tour as support for The Coral. On come our heroes, entering without pretension and after a quick “y’alright?” they […]
– PLATT FIELDS, MANCHESTER – There’s something intractably lucky about any festival on Platt Fields. Despite the weather’s reputation for pissing on Mancunians day in day out year in year out – though it didn’t save a friend of a friend getting literally pissed on during Fake Blood’s set – every time there’s a festival […]

LIVE: PARKLIFE 2010 – 12/06/2010