LIVE: THE LEISURE SOCIETY – 10/04/2009

– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Tonight is one of those nights when there are two gigs on at two different venues that you don’t want to miss. Fortunately for me, the first band I wanted to see is due to play at eight fifteen and the second at nine thirty. So I am glad […]
– JABEZ CLEGG, MANCHESTER – Looking around the upstairs room at tonight’s venue, I am sad to say, the numbers are very low. I find this all the more shocking, as I have had the joy of seeing Kid Carpet on two other previous occasions, both of which were packed out. The first two bands […]

LIVE: KID CARPET – 02/04/2009

LIVE: I BIKE MCR OPENING PARTY – 27/03/2009

– ISLINGTON MILL, SALFORD – After a windswept mass bike ride around the city centre, it is a short detour at the end of the route to converge at Islington Mill in Salford for the “I Bike MCR 2009 Festival” grand opening party. As well as live music in the downstairs room of this former […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Clash Magazine prove their worth tonight with a line-up of three acts they are backing to go on to bigger things in the near future. First up on tonight’s rolling headline tour at the Lost & Found clubnight, are the Norwegian analogue masters Casiokids with their deep electronic dance […]

LIVE: CLASH MAGAZINE PRESENTS – 10/03/2009

LIVE: FIGHT LIKE APES/UNDERGROUND RAILROAD – 01/03/2009

– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER – With only 10 minutes to go before Underground Railroad take to the stage, there are possibly no more than 20 people populating The Roadhouse. Which is unfortunate, not necessarily for the Parisian trio that are providing the support tonight, but mainly for anyone that missed out on this chance to see […]
– THE NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – The first band to take to the stage tonight at The Night & Day Café, are Apache Beat. This five-piece from Brooklyn, New York, fronted by the Siouxsie Sioux-esque Ilirjana Alushaj, give us a short but powerful set of their punk-wave style. Even though Ilirjana is a fixating […]

LIVE: SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS/APACHE BEAT/KYTE – 27/02/2009

LIVE: IMELDA MAY – 23/02/2009

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – When Imelda May takes to any stage, it is hard to see how anybody could possibly see past this vision of beauty that stands before you and concentrate on anything else, but this is soon put aside with the amazing talents that Imelda and her band members individually possess. Dave […]
– THE DANCEHOUSE THEATRE, MANCHESTER – It’s gone 10pm when our very own Broughton Bard strides gingerly on stage at Manchester’s Dancehouse Theatre. Clutching a bottle of water in one hand and tatty carrier bag in the other, there is no mistaking this instantly recognisable skinny figure. As the years have passed since his support […]

LIVE: JOHN COOPER CLARKE – 13/02/2009

LIVE REVIEW: La Roux – 07/02/2009

– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER – The boys behind Manchester’s bi-weekly Contort Yourself night at The Roadhouse managed to pull a rabbit from the hat tonight. The decks this evening are adorned by Rachel Barton (BBC Radio 1), Emma Chibuku and Natalie Esquire (Murkage). If for one moment you think this all-girl line-up could not be […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – On arrival at Manchester’s Academy 1, it is clear to see that Half Man Half Biscuit are very much a boy’s band (not boy band), or maybe I should re-phrase that to a man’s band. Blokes in their late thirties and early forties make up a large percentage of this […]

LIVE: HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT – 30/01/2009