LIVE: OFF THE RECORD FESTIVAL 2019

-VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER- ‘New Music Festival and Conference’ Off The Record is returning to Manchester for its fourth edition this Friday. It’s a one day event (apart from the networking drinks on Thursday), taking place over different venues across the Northern Quarter, such as Jimmy’s, Night and Day Café and Soup Kitchen. During the day, […]

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- A lot can happen to a band in just over a year and for Perth’s Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, to use the term bumper would be a huge understatement. Returning to Manchester for the fourth time in thirteen months, the band, somewhat unsurprisingly, have sold out yet another venue and continue […]

LIVE: PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS – 25/10/2019

LIVE: SELF ESTEEM – 18/10/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- What an absolute triumph this show is. Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor to her mum) returns to Manchester after playing Yes earlier in the year for what is a kind of a victory lap for her brilliant debut album Compliments Please, and absolutely slays it. The packed out Friday night […]

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Upon discovering that a 50 year old prog band with only half the original line up was coming to Manchester, I metaphorically crashed through a fence to get the opportunity: to see something so far removed from punk it might as well have been a harp troupe specialising in Indonesian […]

LIVE: FOCUS – 08/10/2019

LIVE: BILL RYDER-JONES – 06/10/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Bill Ryder-Jones (contractually obliged to say ‘formally of The Coral’ here – indeed he is playing a guitar with a strap adorned with their name) released a brilliant album, Yawn, last year, probably his best solo effort to date. Not content with that, he also released an entirely piano based version […]

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- After spending the summer abroad and finally having returned, seeing King Kartel will be my first gig back in Manchester. The Mancunian band hailing from Northern Ireland (mostly) are playing Band On The Wall with support from local bands Global and Narrow Margin. As soon as we enter, we see […]

LIVE: KING KARTEL / NARROW MARGIN / GLOBAL – 04/10/2019

LIVE: FEMI KUTI & POSITIVE FORCE – 09/06/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- It’s Sunday night and the Positive Force are warming us all up for the incredible, inimitable Femi Kuti and as the groove swells and the brass punches in and Femi starts dancing, we all start dancing too, and all the cares in the world melt away and a huge grin […]

-VARIOUS VENUES, MANCHESTER- For this bank holiday Friday, Dot To Dot is back in Manchester to celebrate its 15th anniversary. In 19 venues over Manchester city centre, several dozens of artists of different genres are performing. The first gig I decide to see is Northern indie rock band Broke Casino at The Venue. So far, […]

LIVE: DOT TO DOT FESTIVAL – 24/05/2019

LIVE: BC CAMPLIGHT – SOLO SHOW & Q&A – 30/04/2019

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- Tonight is special for BC Camplight. He’s too cool ever to say so, but it is clear. After everything he’s been through over the last decade, to have an intimate solo show like this in the city that has become his home and has offered him the opportunities that he […]

-BAND ON THE WALL, MANCHESTER- New Yorker Kelly Moran is a woman of many talents. Producer, composer and a multi instrumentalist, she released her first album Ultraviolet for the legendary Warp label last year to much acclaim, bringing her virtuoso piano skills together with moody electronics to a wider audience that she’s been exposed to […]