LIVE: SABA – 13/03/2019

-ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER- Holding a crowd’s attention when you’re in a band, have some instruments, or massive screens and choreography behind you in an arena is hard enough (i.e Drake’s ridiculous ‘whole stage as an HD screen’ set up), but holding a crowd’s attention with nothing but yourself and a DJ in the background building […]

-ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER- With the gig sold out in a matter of minutes, it’s clear that people have waited years to see two of Teenage Fanclub’s best albums played in their entirety. Having been around for over twenty-five years, this is also the last chance to see the original three singers, as vocalist and bassist […]

LIVE: TEENAGE FANCLUB – 05/11/2018

BRIX & THE EXTRICATED TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM ‘PART 2’ COINCIDING WITH THEIR UK TOUR

Brix & The Extricated have revealed they will release their highly anticipated album Part 2 on Friday 22nd September 2017 on Blang Records, coinciding with their UK tour (see dates below). The band has – in the words of an old Fall lyric – something of a “track record”. Brix Smith-Start is a female rock icon […]

-ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – I’ve possibly not listened to Ladyhawke in about 5 years or more, not because I stopped liking her music or because she had stopped releasing music, it was just that it hadn’t appeared on my radar and I’d kind of forgotten about her. But Ladyhawke, or ‘Pip’ Brown, has in fact […]

LIVE: LADYHAWKE / ISLE – 11/02/2017

LIVE: TIM HECKER – 16/05/2016

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – The last time I saw Tim Hecker was just after he’d released the incredible Ravedeath, 1972, when he played in the beautiful surroundings of St. Phillips Church in Salford as part of the Future Everything festival. What set this apart from any other gig I saw that year was that […]

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – I’ve never been to the Manchester Academy 3 before, so I’m thrilled to see how small and intimate the room is. Sashaying to the front, hiding to the right of the stage to get a brilliant view of the crowd and the bands performing. Though the room is still relatively […]

LIVE: ELIZA AND THE BEAR – 15/04/2016

LIVE: FALSE ADVERTISING – 19/09/2015

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – False Advertising are my favourite band in Manchester at the moment. This three piece took their time crafting their fuzzed up brand of grunge pop and got us all excited when they dropped their stunner of a debut single ‘Wasted Away’ back in March. Since then the band have only […]

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Anticipation is heated for young Jack Garratt tonight, as is the Academy 3 unsurprisingly, it’s always heated in here. The room is packed full of a surprising variety of young and old, all here to bare witness to Island Records’ latest protégé. His debut EP Remnant released in 2014, emerged through […]

LIVE: JACK GARRATT – 19/05/2015

LIVE: WIRE – 29/04/2015

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – Wire is a one-way journey, as singer and guitarist Colin Newman says. A deep, disturbing, not necessarily pleasant but always unique and meaningful one. As soon as the band enters the stage at Manchester Academy 3, the atmosphere gets thicker and they take the audience deep into a frenetic hypnosis. […]

– ACADEMY 3, MANCHESTER – The house lights come down and 3 revolving police lights come on, two blue and one red. The room fills with dramatic introduction music and voices greet us in many different languages. It’s not long before The Subways walk out into the flashing light. They receive an enthusiastic welcome and […]