LIVE: PALMA VIOLETS – 18/11/2015

 – SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – After the post-punk revival scene of the noughties was knocked six feet under by bands more emotionally-complex, Palma Violets have been praised for resurrecting venues all over the country with their energetic live performances. Tonight it’s Sound Control which graces their presence and a dividing line soon creates two camps: […]
– THE ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER –  This year has marked the tenth year anniversary for a lot of records that shaped my youth. 2005 saw me in my mid-teens, old enough to go to some gigs without a dad and finally earning a few more bob than the paper round so I could go and […]

LIVE: MAXIMO PARK – 18/11/2015

LIVE: MIKAL CRONIN – 19/11/2015

 – SOUND CONTROL, MANCHESTER – An immediate shock greets everybody that enters Sound Control tonight. The venue, utilised less and less by touring bands as its years drift by, has cordoned off its natural upstairs setting, and instead has compressed the night’s events into its downstairs bar area. Like others, my instinct is that this […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – I first encountered the ‘Ezra Furman’ concept through this picture: feline sunglasses, pearls, lipstick, a falsely shy smile, sinuous pose and a Chanel-styled jacket from the 1960s certainly stolen from my mother. My subconscious went: Mum! My professional superego said: mmm, let’s check this musician out. Then the music came. It was […]

LIVE: EZRA FURMAN – 16/11/2015

LIVE: FUZZ CLUB FESTIVAL – 13-14/11/2015

 – LONDON FIELDS BREWERY, LONDON – Fuzz Club Records are undoubtedly the best known record label within the psych circuit and this weekend they have something special planned with their first festival offering. Opening proceedings this evening we have Italian noise merchants Throw Down Bones. The duo are hotly tipped to go down a storm in […]
– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – I’ve been thinking all weekend about the horrors of the gig two nights ago at Le Bataclan, so it’s with mixed emotions that I head over to Gorilla to see one of my very favourite bands, The Mountain Goats. It’s a strange feeling to be going to a concert in the […]

LIVE: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS – 15/11/2015

LIVE: THE FRATELLIS – 16/11/2015

 – ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – It’s a typical damp and rainy evening in Manchester and Scottish rockers The Fratellis are in town. It’s my first time at the Academy 2 and it’s an incredibly weird venue. To me, it seems like an old library from the outside and then once you venture up the stairs […]
 – THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – This is the most fun I’ve had at a gig in a long time. Titus Andronicus, the world’s greatest punk rock bar band have brought their show supporting their 92-min, 3 LP/2 CD rock opera about mental illness (yes, really) The Most Lamentable Tragedy, to Manchester’s Deaf Institute, and […]

LIVE: TITUS ANDRONICUS – 11/11/2015

Jenny Hval

LIVE: JENNY HVAL – 08/11/2015

 – SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER – When you walk into a Jenny Hval show, you know it’s going to be weird. Last time she graced a stage in Manchester, there were pouting girls, live iPad visuals and some fun karaoke competitions. So, tonight when she walks on stage in a yoga outfit clutching a half deflated […]
 – THE RITZ, MANCHESTER – It’s Monday and I’m still wondering where did I lose my last handful of neurons, but hey, breakfast with philosophy: life is just so serious to take it seriously, innit? Flashback to Saturday night. The Ritz is packed and a cheerfully anxious crowd waits for Eagles Of Death Metal’s entertaining […]

LIVE: EAGLES OF DEATH METAL – 07/11/2015