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

LIVE: DOT TO DOT 2010 – 31/05/2010

– VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER – Having begun life as something of a Nottingham indie institute, Dot to Dot has recently spread its wings to include stints in both Bristol and Manchester. Compromising a series of gigs at various venues (forcing you to go, quite literally, from dot to dot), this festival of sorts offers an […]
– NORTHERN QUARTER, MANCHESTER – “Yeeehaaaa,” I yelp, as The Travelling Band stop teasing the packed Band on the Wall audience and bursts into the chorus of their latest single, Sundial. It’s a wholly unexpected reaction, triggered as the full force of the Manchester band’s four-part harmonies reach a crescendo and the specially-assembled strings and […]

LIVE: HUNGRY PIGEON Pt1 – 29/05/2010

LIVE: SILVERCLUB – 27/05/2010

– THE SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – Career transitions in the music industry will often get you in trouble and a move from the shadows can see you scuttling from front and centre to back stage right, tail firmly between your legs. For every Dave Grohl, there are a dozen Cass Brownes (exactly). So when Manchester’s […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Thank god for the internet and green lights all the way into Manchester tonight. If it weren’t for these minor miracles we wouldn’t be any the wiser about Bloodshot Bill or able to get into the city in time to catch his set. Bloodshot Bill, the self proclaimed ‘one man […]

LIVE: HEAVY TRASH/BLOODSHOT BILL – 26/05/2010

LIVE: GANGLIANS – 24/05/2010

– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Floating into the ether on the same cloud (i.e. Pitchfork) that brought us The Fresh & Onlys, Real Estate and Woods, Ganglians pedal a very ‘now’ sound – scuzzy yet sparse guitars, a little bit surf-y, a little bit Pavement-y, with generous overtones of psychedelia. There is however, something […]
– ABODE, MANCHESTER – Chorlton has a fairly rich musical heritage – the Bee Gees grew up here, the Stone Roses were formed here, and previous and past residents include Badly Drawn Boy and Shaun Ryder. There has been a music scene here for years, with the Beech Road Festival, Big Green Festival and venues […]

LIVE: DENIS JONES/TO SOPHIA – 21/05/2010

LIVE: THE ANTLERS – 20/05/2010

– ST. PHILIP’S CHURCH, SALFORD – St Philips church Salford provides a stunning backdrop for tonight’s gig with the sun shining through the stain glass window behind the altar/stage and the instruments adorned with flowers. Everything is perfectly set for Brooklyn based act the Antlers to perform the moving and poignant tracks about love, loss […]
– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – This Led Zeppelin/Neil Young sounding rock band with stoner vocals are incredibly laidback unless launching into an epic instrumental. Unfortunately, a lot of their fans are too laidback to even turn up tonight. Academy 3 is disappointingly less than half empty. GNOD are onstage when I walk in the hall. […]

LIVE: DEAD MEADOW – 27/05/2010