LIVE REVIEW – THE DARE: NEW CENTURY HALL – 19/03/2025

“It’s just rock ‘n’ roll, you won’t die!” If there’s one thing The Dare, also known as Harrison Smith, knows how to do, it’s open a show. On the night of his 29th birthday, Smith walks out onto the stage with snippets of ‘Open Up’ ringing out through the venue, he’s greeted with screams and […]
“How does it feel when it’s quiet and calm?” Is there such a thing as the “perfect venue”? A venue designed to host live entertainment, Theatre, Live Music, Comedy, can that venue be so intrinsically in tune with the acts it puts forth? Can a venue simultaneously look and embody it’s chosen acts? …well sadly […]

LIVE REVIEW – MICHAEL KIWANUKA: MANCHESTER APOLLO – 13/03/2025

LIVE REVIEW – SNOW PATROL: MANCHESTER CO-OP LIVE – 22/02/2025

“I appreciate a few songs ago I told you to sing ‘open your eyes’ and now I’m asking you to sing ‘shut your eyes’… but… fuck it.” To be honest Gary Lightbody could ask this crowd to sing ‘Half a Pound of Tuppeny Rice’ and they would gladly comply. And that’s quite something when you […]
Sixteen years ago, Anna B Savage played her second ever gig in a former band at The Night and Day.  “I was stood in the same spot, shitting myself. Nothing has changed.” she jokes. However, much is different. Tonight is sold out, reward for a voice of cherry blossom-like gorgeousness and bracingly autobiographical lyrics. It […]

LIVE REVIEW – ANNA B SAVAGE: MANCHESTER NIGHT AND DAY – 13/02/2025

LIVE REVIEW – INHALER: MANCHESTER APOLLO – 08/02/2025

Imagine if you took a picture of your heart outside your chest and the very next day, more than 3,000 people were wearing it on a chain around their neck. This goes some way to describing how Inhaler must be feeling as they’re pumped on stage to find that the lyrics of their new album […]
Last time I saw Field Music was on 28 February 2020 at the Dancehouse in Manchester. They were doing a tour of seated venues accompanied by visuals in support of their ‘Making A New World’ album which had arisen out of a commission for the Imperial War Museum. Those who were taking Covid seriously sensed […]

LIVE REVIEW – FIELD MUSIC: BAND ON THE WALL – 06/02/2025

LIVE REVIEW – KIKUOLAND: MANCHESTER ACADEMY 2 – 01/02/25

I’ll be honest, I didn’t anticipate there being that much of a turnout for this show. In actuality, the Kikuoland concert at Manchester Academy was sold out, but I had made the easy mistake of assuming that, as the music of the headliner is relatively niche and enjoyed particularly in communities whose interactions are mostly […]
Alestorm are currently one of the busiest bands on the road. It has not even been a year since they last toured the UK, and so despite this, when they were announced as the headliners for the returning Pagan Fest tour, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. I have been following the lads on tour vlogs […]

LIVE REVIEW: PAGAN FEST – VICTORIA WAREHOUSE – 18/01/2025

GIGS OF 2024

As ever, north-west England and especially Manchester has been well-served for great gigs in 2024. Here, in no particular order, are some of the top shows enjoyed by Silent Radio’s writers during this year: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Adrienne Lenker The Breeders The Zutons Paul McCartney Magnetic Fields The Unthanks Cumgirl8 Still House […]
I intend for you to leave this review wishing you were at the gig I attended with a pal of mine on December 10th at YES Basement. At the very least, I hope you feel intrigued enough to check out cumgirl8 and Arch Femmesis – headline and support acts respectively – who each dominated the […]

LIVE REVIEW – CUMGIRL8: YES BASEMENT – 10/12/2024