LIVE: DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP – 22/03/2010

– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip bring together two things I fell out of love with a long time ago, hip hop and poetry. Actually half of that is a lie; I never did in fact fall in love with poetry. It would be fair to say that growing up […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – After seeing the wonderful Dennis Jones on Saturday, I’m geared up for some more eclecticism from The Album Leaf. To my ire, I have to wait outside, as (according to the bouncer) doors have been delayed half an hour because the band are ‘just dicking about with their gear […]

LIVE: THE ALBUM LEAF – 22/03/2010

LIVE: NEW YOUNG PONY CLUB – 20/03/2010

– MOHO LIVE, MANCHESTER – When I saw that tonight’s gig is to be a 16+ affair and that the doors were to open at 6.30pm, I had the usual momentary thought of “am I gonna be the oldest person in the room?” Fortunately this never lingers long enough for me to actually care. On […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – A sudden downpour has kicked up the potassium in the soil and put a late dampener on a real hibernation-buster of a spring day. Meanwhile, the unexpectedly drenched indie-rock denizens of Manchester are standing agape at Josiah Wolf, drummer of tonight’s headliners and solo artist in his own right, […]

LIVE: WHY? – 19/03/2010

LIVE: NINE BLACK ALPS – 19/03/2010

– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – Nine Black Alps have lined up two support acts to accompany them for their gig at Night and Day, Former Bullies and The Witches, both of whom have a similar grungey/rocky style to their own. Former Bullies are first up, and they don’t do a lot wrong. […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and Manchester is full of students taking their disgusted first slurps of Guinness, while those used to all the faux-Oirishness that March 17th entails have crammed into the Academy 1 en masse, and are mostly holding drinks with an amber hue. The clean shaven Chuck Ragan, […]

LIVE: FRANK TURNER/CHUCK RAGAN – 17/03/2010

LIVE: EDITORS – 16/03/2010

– THE APOLLO THEATRE, MANCHESTER – I used to like Editors. That is, I did until last night when they left me cold. In their defence, they weren’t awful, they were merely average. They start with a slow number from their third album ‘In This Light And On This Evening’ before opting for their more […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Everytime the Manchester music scene seems to be escaping the shackles of its past, a new club or indie night seems to raise it’s head offering the same kind of generic, pedestrian music and putting on bland ‘landfill indie’ acts. Thank goodness then for nights like Now Wave, who, […]

LIVE: ERRORS – 10/3/2010

LIVE: DELPHIC – 10/03/2010

– CLUB NIRVANA, WIGAN – Approaching Club Nirvana, I feel somewhat apprehensive, wondering what a Wednesday night in Wigan could possibly offer, a feeling which increases as I enter the half empty venue – or is that half full? A tiered, all standing venue, I manage to nab the best spot in the house, right […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Alan Sparhawk has had a relatively long and distinguished career as guitarist and frontman for Low. His more recent side project Retribution Gospel choir offer a very different musical proposition to the one he made his name with. While Lows trademark sound is slow, sombre and delicate with beautiful […]

LIVE: RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR – 11/03/2010