LIVE: STARCRAWLER – 17/01/2018

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- “I love L.A.” darks-out of frontwoman Arrow de Wilde’s mouth. Although restrained, the statement speaks to an unchained relationship with glamour and the grotesque that colours the 18-year-old’s presence, and when released, the words don’t simply fall, but are supercharged by an accompanying quarter-pint of blood that spills from Wilde’s lips and […]
-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- What strikes me as I watch Lee Fields strut onto the stage, in his brilliantly blue gold toned brocade jacket, is just how brilliantly bouncy he is. Like a man half his age, his energy is infectious with most of the crowd bouncing along with him as the night goes on. I actually […]

LIVE: LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS – 24/01/2018

ALBUM: THE GO! TEAM – SEMICIRCLE

Ever since they burst onto the music scene in 2004, The Go! Team have been on my gym playlist, and that’s in no way meant as an insult. Although if The Go! Team could see me red faced, sweaty and jumping around to the throws of Bottle Rocket and Junior Kickstart, they might disagree. Yet […]
-NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- It’s the first gig after the Christmas break and it’s great to be back in Manchester for an evening of live music. Tonight’s entertainers are Liverpool band The Probes, made up of Jack Greene (vocals, guitar), Ray Badger (guitar), Justin Forman (bass) and Elliot Ferguson (drums). Arriving at Oldham Street’s […]

LIVE: THE PROBES / BABYLON / PLEASURES / MARK PRATT – 12/01/2018

ALBUM: BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB – WRONG CREATURES

BRMC aren’t a band who like to make it easy for themselves, they seem like the kind of band who throw their entire existence into making music and giving it their all at every live gig, as this writer witnessed a few years ago in Manchester, where they played for almost 3 hours! Yep, BRMC […]
-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- As chants of “Manchester lalala” echo round Manchester Academy, an ailing yet constantly gyrating 40-something-year-old man lets out a roar. “This is how we fucking do it Manchester!” Just like the prodigal son, the Happy Mondays are home, and they bring with them a back catalogue of floor fillers that can be […]

LIVE: HAPPY MONDAYS – 13/12/2017

LIVE: EMMA RUTH RUNDLE / JAYE JAYLE – 15/12/2017

-SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER- Due to unforeseen circumstances on my way to the event, the first support act I get to see tonight is Jaye Jayle, comprising of Evan Patterson and backing band. They appear in the cavernous basement of the Soup Kitchen, illuminated only by soft orange light, emitted by two lonely bulbs, one flickering […]
-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- What an opportunity: the chance to see one of Britain’s most highly regarded bands playing in a tiny venue like Band on the Wall when they’re usually selling out multiple nights at somewhere like the Apollo. It’s almost too good to believe. Maybe there’s another band called Everything Everything who […]

LIVE: EVERYTHING EVERYTHING – 12/12/2017

LIVE: THE ORIELLES / BOY AZOOGA / ILAND TAIPAN – 08/12/2017

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- It’s already bleak December, but we may have a new festival favourite to watch in 2018. Usually that’s a precipitous view; what, dear reader, can align for the soft whiff of cow fields and the clink of tinnies in a rucksack whilst winter is still nipping our bones? Well, personally, it’s the […]
-APOLLO, MANCHESTER- Tim Burgess is a man who doesn’t like to see an empty space in his diary. There’s the band day job, the coffee company, book tours, and so it’s no surprise that on the same day as The Charlatans’ sold out gig at The Apollo, he’s taking part in one of those “In […]

LIVE: THE CHARLATANS / BRIX AND THE EXTRICATED – 02/12/2017