LIVE: OTHERKIN / KASHMERE – 22/10/2017

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- As our charge towards the future shows no signs of slowing down, I expect more stories to begin this way, but as it is, tonight is the first time I’m going to see a band having been introduced to them by Spotify’s Discover Weekly playlist. Back then there were two EPs available, […]
-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- I remember my first Wait For Me album encounter. It was in a pound shop. Kerching! In a time when my sixteen-year-old-self just wanted 2007 indie tunes banging in my lobes constantly, not the rants from my driving instructor, nor the career advice from my sixth form tutors. Just give me a […]

LIVE: THE PIGEON DETECTIVES – 19/10/2017

LIVE: LAMB – 16/10/2017

-MANCHESTER CATHEDRAL- When I listened to Lamb‘s best of album, Best Kept Secrets, in 1999 it was the musical equivalent to Tiger Balm on tired muscles after a marathon, considering I was listening to Korn and Wu-Tang Clan albums playing on rotation. Lamb opened my mind to music beyond that made by ploddy, Britpop indie […]
-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- The final night of any artist’s tour is bound to be an emotional one, so heading along to see the tiny songstress Beth Ditto at the stunning Albert Hall on Tuesday I knew I would be in for a treat – she’s wrapping up over a dozen nights across Europe in Manchester. […]

LIVE: BETH DITTO – 17/10/2017

LIVE: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – 16/10/2017

-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- The night opens with a public service broadcast of our own. A light-hearted message about not using your phones as “the video and sound won’t be any good anyway”. I agree, enjoy the gig and don’t stick a phone in front of any other gig-goer’s view! Although I’m up in the lofty […]
-ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER- After releasing their highly anticipated debut album, Youth Is Only Ever Fun in Retrospect, at the beginning of this year, Sundara Karma – a group of four lads from Reading – have been touring pretty much non-stop. Stopping off in the UK and USA with tons of festival dates over the summer, they’ve […]

LIVE: SUNDARA KARMA – 12/10/2017

LIVE: LOYLE CARNER – 12/10/2017

-THE RITZ, MANCHESTER- It’s commonplace for fans to attend concerts dressed like their hero onstage – we’ve all done it – and the plethora of vintage football shirts in honour of South London rapper Loyle Carner is a pleasing sight. His recent guestlist-for-retro-footy-tops (international, size L) offer has made the press recently, as has his […]
-NIGHT AND DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER- Arriving at the wonderful Night & Day Café in the nick of time tonight, I take my place in the middle of the sizeable crowd, most of which it can be assumed have been here (or at least been out somewhere) for a few hours already. There is a crackle […]

LIVE: YAK – 14/10/2017

LIVE: SUPERORGANISM – 14/10/2017

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Superorganism embody everything it means to be a band in the 21st century: they met online through internet forums and once their messages started to solidify into a song it wasn’t long until they were exploiting your algorithms. The eight-piece are borderless, with members from Australia, New Zealand, America, Japan […]
-ALBERT HALL, MANCHESTER- Placebo were due to play the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool until worries about the venue’s roof meant it was forced to close. Due to some last minute changes of plan, the closest similarly sized venue was the Albert Hall in Manchester. It might not be that close (proximity-wise) to Blackpool but it’s […]

LIVE: PLACEBO – 11/10/2017