LIVE: NENEH CHERRY – 29/01/2015

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – “I’m one happy grandma!” shouts Neneh Cherry, Addidas clad and writhing for joy. Now 50, the Swedish-born singer has more sass and attitude than some of today’s stars half her age.  I’m 24, and I feel exhausted watching her. 26 years since the release of her biggest-selling album, Raw Like Sushi […]
– KRAAK GALLERY, MANCHESTER – One-man psychedelic troubadour Tim Presley aka White Fence arrives with band in tow including the surprise addition of Cate Le Bon to a sold out Kraak Gallery. This much-anticipated gig holds extra interest for many of the tonight’s crowd with lip-smacking prospect of Ultimate Paintings in support. Ultimate Paintings comprising […]

LIVE: WHITE FENCE / ULTIMATE PAINTINGS – 28/01/2015

LIVE: FRANK TURNER – 28/01/2015

– NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER – It’s Independent Venue Week this week and four Manchester venues are taking part in hosting shows before it comes to an end. Tonight, Night & Day is hosting its first of three IVW shows as Frank Turner comes to town. Just under a year ago Turner was headlining […]
– ACADEMY 2, MANCHESTER – King Creosote, aka Kenny Anderson, is a bit of a hero of mine. Shuffling on stage wearing a hoodie with a festival line up on (headlined by Idlewild and including himself…bet it was a good one wherever it was), he introduces his band as his seven dwarfs and gently launches […]

LIVE: KING CREOSOTE – 27/01/2015

LIVE: JESSIE WARE – 25/01/2015

– ACADEMY 1, MANCHESTER – “Sorry if you thought you were coming to see Jessie J. She was here last night. I’ll try and put on a good show though” claims Jessie Ware. And she didn’t disappoint us– not at all. Those of us who missed out on her intimate gig at the cathedral last year were treated to a second date […]
– THE CASTLE HOTEL, MANCHESTER – Menace Beach have the unconstrained fervour of a rock ‘n’ roll band that encounter newfound adulation in every sweaty pub venue in every town they roll into. Tonight marks exactly a week since their excellent debut album Ratworld was unleashed upon the world, and as given away when frontman […]

LIVE: MENACE BEACH – 26/01/2015

LIVE: BC CAMPLIGHT (ALBUM LAUNCH) – 23/01/2015

– GORILLA, MANCHESTER – What’s in my head right now is trying to suss out the connection between a potential Mancunian slow dance and a gorgeously dreamy Californian sound. I’m a bit off kilter on both counts. BC Camplight’s latest album title ’How to Die in the North’ (out now on Bella Union) would give […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – Emmy the Great is at a pivotal moment in her career. Six years after debut album, First Love, established her on the bustling London anti-folk scene, and just months before the release of her third full-length, she remains to this point a somewhat peripheral figure. In those six years, […]

LIVE: EMMY THE GREAT – 23/01/2015

LIVE: MARK LANEGAN BAND – 23/01/2015

– THE RITZ, MANCHESTER –  Pushed by this January night’s icy wind and rain, and pulled by the prospect of live music from Mark Lanegan Band, I am more or less sucked in through the open doors of The Ritz. The interior climate is immediately to my liking, and I do not instantly melt from […]
– THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER – “Just in case there is any confusion, it’s pronounced ‘Always!’” laughs singer Molly Rankin, offering the same clarity everyone who has ever written about the band is obliged to cover. With their kitschy name and capacity to count Real Estate and Pains of Being Pure at Heart as past […]

LIVE: ALVVAYS – 21/01/2015