– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Being a relatively new Wild Child listener, I’m hoping for bouncy beats and down-to-earth prosaic lyrics about everyday life, provided by the way of good-humoured derision. The teasing nature of the singing duo of Wild Child is amusing to listen to, but live I’m not entirely sure what I’m in […]
– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – The happiness that emanates from The Wailers is astounding; from Donald Kinsey’s forever beaming smile to 86-year-old Alvin ‘Seeco’ Patterson ambling on stage with the help of a walking stick and an arm to cheers, there is so much love for this band that to not smile may mean you’re […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – When you think of the New York City indie rock scene, you instantly recall bands like The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs surfacing in the first knockings of the new millennium. Before that Sonic Youth, The Velvet Underground and Blondie pioneered the movement in The Big Apple. […]
– THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – New York-based musician Mitski’s first Manchester show was as recent as October last year at the Deaf Institute, but it seems she enjoyed herself as she’s back in town already. Daylight hours today were all clear-skied and spring-like, so maybe she made the most of the day with a […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – As far as selling out your first Manchester headline show goes, it can only be a good thing. Even in a modestly sized venue such as The Castle, it’s an intimate setting to get to know your fans. Tonight, a few have travelled from Chester; the birthplace of Peaness. […]
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER – A wiser man than I once said, “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”, and although I don’t usually buy into this façade, nights like this make me think otherwise. In a poorly lit attic above a pub in the heart of the Northern Quarter, the future of British psychedelic […]
– ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER – Incense smoke sneaks around the room, as though from the very pipes of the Albert Hall organ, maybe blown by some celestial keys man, working the heavenly pedals. Something smells pretty sweet, anyways. Look around and at first it seems somehow sacrilegious: that people would rave, silhouetted in front of […]
-THE RUBY LOUNGE, MANCHESTER – Welcome to Henge. At this gig, you check your measly human earth life at the door. For the uninitiated, this band have come on a longer journey than most to be at the Ruby Lounge tonight – from the State of Mutagia, to be exact. If you’re not 100% clear […]
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – The Northern Quarter’s Soup Kitchen has developed over recent years into something of a citadel for psych rock bands and fans alike. The scene, which has now been blossoming for longer than most would have thought possible, sees new and unfamiliar bands cropping up from all corners of the world […]
– DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – To the left of me stands an obese, pissed, ageing, fifty-something man exclaiming “we’ve won the cup”, whilst spilling his drink all over the sobbing teenage girls in front of him. To the right stands a rawboned blond-haired middle class student, draped in a baggy coral shirt and an inside-out […]