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

LIVE: ALEX CAMERON – 06/12/2017

-GORILLA, MANCHESTER- Alex Cameron’s gigs feel like novels. Without doubt one of the best lyricists and storytellers in music at the moment, you spend the time watching him and his band as well as watching his stories unfold in your mind’s eye. A sign of good writing is that you can see everything that is […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Music isn’t a commodity. It’s a luxury that’s somehow been devalued to the point that a large proportion of the population just stream whatever they want for free and never give the artist a penny themselves. It’s bizarre and it makes me sad, but that’s where we are as a people. Tonight’s […]

LIVE: DESTROYER – 04/12/2017

LIVE: JANE WEAVER – 30/11/2017

-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- Jane Weaver’s new album, Modern Kosmology, is an absolute belter, high up on album of the year list good – I personally think it’s a step up from her Piccadilly Records album of 2014 The Silver Globe. The first thing I heard from it was the sublime ‘Slow Motion’ when I was presenting […]
-RITZ, MANCHESTER- Northern Ireland’s The Divine Comedy have to come to be affectionately known as an orchestral pop band. Formed in 1989 and fronted by the ever enigmatic Neil Hannon, the band has seen an ever evolving line up with constant changes in personnel. Having an impressive 11 studio albums under their name, they arguably […]

LIVE: THE DIVINE COMEDY – 28/11/2017

LIVE: FLEET FOXES – 23/11/2017

-APOLLO, MANCHESTER- Listen to records by Fleet Foxes and I’m transported to a captivating realm of spectacular hills, meandering valleys, orchards, oceans and quivering forests. The characters who roam these settings might cross paths with Bob Dylan’s sanctuary-seeking wanderer in ‘Shelter from the Storm’ or The Band’s nomad heading back north in ‘Acadian Driftwood’. It’s […]
-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- Acting as a bridge between Suicidal Tendencies and Kamasi Washington, blur-limbed transformer Thundercat, born Stephen Bruner, has been colouring inside the lines of the visions of others – casting tempo-shuffling psych-jazz spells on-cue and indelibly shaping some of the most important works of the decade. However, influenced by the encouragement of twin […]

LIVE: THUNDERCAT – 15/11/2017