LIVE REVIEW – TOM A SMITH: DEAF INSTITUTE – 02/04/2026

Tom A Smith’s show this evening in Manchester’s best small venue felt like the end of something. Sunderland’s worst kept secret has been steadily honing his craft for over a decade, and those fortunate enough to have seen him play over the years will attest to the growing maturity in both his songwriting and stage […]
Emerging from a decade-long hibernation, American singer-songwriter SARABETH TUCEK has announced an 18-date UK tour for May/June 2023. Sarabeth Tucek officially broke onto the music scene in 2003, performing a series of spell-binding duets with Bill Callahan on the acclaimed Smog album ‘Supper’. This was swiftly followed by a memorable appearance in the prize-winning Brian […]

SARABETH TUCEK ANNOUNCES MANCHESTER LIVE SHOW

Laura Veirs

LIVE: LAURA VEIRS – 19/06/2022

– Deaf Institute, Manchester – Sunday nights were made for watching Laura Veirs. But this is not the same Laura Veirs who has played this stage before. On her first UK tour since navigating a divorce from her husband and long-time producer, this is a new, quietly confident and tentatively upbeat Veirs reaching to pick […]
– Deaf Institute, Manchester – “This one combines my love of the 70s with my love of bastards…” deadpans Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson with a nod and a wink, as she introduces her next song ‘Peter Bogdanovich’ (“I like you Peter, I wish you were a wife-leaver”), taking to a stool clutching some kind of 80s […]
CMAT

LIVE: CMAT – 02/04/2022

LIVE: JOHN – 29/01/2020

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- The post-punk revival is raging, fuelled by the B word and the government and the utter bollocks we wake up to on the news every day. John (or John (timestwo) for internet purposes) are a duo of John’s from Crystal Palace – ‘I’m John, he’s John, we’re John’ they announce, one John […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Chaos. Total and utter chaos. That is what unfolds tonight at Deaf (an absolutely apt name for a venue where this band is concerned, sweet Jesus it’s LOUD tonight), the mayhem orchestrated by Daughters’ extraordinary frontman Alexis S.F. Marshall who is quite unlike anyone I’ve seen perform. An absolute whirling dervish of […]

LIVE: DAUGHTERS – 17/04/2019

LIVE: DESPERATE JOURNALIST – 15/03/2019

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- The Empty Page A late start (I hear an act pulled out?) affords me enough time to eat a quantity of waffles (potato) before venturing into the vaguely kitsch dwelling we all know as the Deaf Institute. Up first comes a 3-piece heavily rooted in 1990s ‘alternative’ rock, though sadly it doesn’t […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Charlotte Cannon Deciding early on to remain seated in the school gymnasium-type ‘bench zone’ gives me a chance to observe the rather theatrical lightning setup, in conjunction with the gaudy, oversized disco ball looming over the growing audience (imagine the impact). It actually provides a rather fitting backdrop for the opening act; […]

LIVE: SNAPPED ANKLES / CHARLOTTE CANNON – 06/03/2019

LIVE: SHE PWR (ILL / WITCH FEVER / JULIA BARDO) – 08/03/2019

-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- For the celebration of International Women’s Day, Gorilla and The Deaf Institute have come together for SHE PWR, an event to celebrate women artists of every kind: visual arts, spoken word and music. The Deaf Institute welcomes four bands/artists on stage tonight: ILL, WITCH FEVER, Current Mood Girl (who I missed, unfortunately) […]
-DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER- Slothrust, pronounced sloth-rust (a fact that, embarrassingly, I only find out tonight, even with the band being four albums deep) arrive on stage to an eager crowd at Deaf Institute. Their name is not the only aspect that has eluded being pinned down correctly, their sound can also be hard to articulate […]

LIVE: SLOTHRUST – 23/01/2019