Friday 20 August 2021

Inhaler / Blondes - London Hoxton Colours - 19th August 2021

Inhaler completed the first week of their rescheduled launch shows with an intimate hour-long show at Colours in Hoxton in London to an excited crowd of hardcore fans ready to throw themselves fully into a celebration of the band's debut album It Won't Always Be Like This that reached number one in the UK charts.

Wednesday 18 August 2021

James / Torrin - Oxford O2 Academy - 17th August 2021


James played their first show since September 2019 in a celebratory packed Oxford O2 Academy, mixing tracks from their sixteenth studio album, the top three All The Colours Of You, with a series of their best known hit singles ahead of their late summer festival season.

Monday 16 August 2021

Section 25 - Jams From The Bardo

Fresh from their universally acclaimed Record Store Day reissue of their groundbreaking From The Hip album, Section 25 delve deep into their archives to deliver an incredible collection of improvisations and jams, recorded between 1978 and 1981.

Saturday 14 August 2021

Sea Fever - Manchester Night And Day Cafe - 13th August 2021

Seafever are what used to be called a supergroup, comprised of Iwan Gronow of Haven and Johnny Marr's band, Beth Cassidy from Section 25, New Order's Tom Chapman and Phil Cunningham with Elliot Barlow on drums. This was meant to be a celebration of the launch of their album Folding Lines, but the inevitable pressing plant delays have shifted that to October so this evening takes on the role of an intimate first ever gig preview of nine of the ten songs from the record.

Thursday 12 August 2021

Proletariat / Leon The Pig Farmer - Salford Eagle Inn - 12th August 2021

Proletariat made their long-awaited return to the live stage after three years away with an invite-only intimate show at the Eagle Inn in Salford. Cheered on by a partisan crowd they revealed their new line-up to an audience for the first time as well as some exciting new material and reinvigorated old favourites. Support came from poet Leon The Pig Farmer.

FOR JOHN (The Blackheart Orchestra / Jon Coley / Seamus McLoughlin / James Holt / Granfalloon / Anna McLuckie / Maddy Storm) - Salford Sacred Trinity - 11th August 2021


Wednesday night saw an intimate fundraising gig for The John Hall Stage foundation featuring many of John's favourite artists and friends in the inspiring surroundings of Salford's Sacred Trinity Church. Headlined by The Blackheart Orchestra's electronic folk and supported by five solo artists and a duo, the audience were treated to a different side of John's love and support of music in Manchester and further afield.

Saturday 7 August 2021

Springfield Elementary / Soup! / Salt The Snail - Levenshulme The Talleyrand - 7th August 2021

Saturday night and we venture out of the city centre to Levenshulme for a three-band bill of Springfield Elementary, Soup! and Salt The Snail, each providing their own take on punk, both complementing yet contrasting in their approaches and impressing each other's sets of fans in the process.

Katherine Priddy - Manchester Homeground - 7th August 2021

On a wet Manchester Saturday afternoon the rain clouds cleared for forty-five minutes as if in time for Katherine Priddy's long-awaited return to the city to perform at Manchester Folk Festival's takeover of Homeground. The set featured tracks from her early EP Wolf, her critically acclaimed debut album The Eternal Rocks Beneath as well as a number of new songs with delightful explanations of each song between them. 

Friday 6 August 2021

Ist Ist / The Goa Express / Abbie Ozard / Julia Bardo - Manchester Night And Day Cafe - 5th August 2021

The first of a new series of BBC Introducing showcases at Manchester's Night And Day Cafe saw headliners and hometown heroes Ist Ist play their first non-distanced show in the city since June 2019 with an impressive supporting cast of Introducing favourites The Goa Express, Abbie Ozard and Julia Bardo in a sold-out venue of music lovers making their first excited tentative steps back out into the world of gigging again.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Fountain Head - Heart Like A Landslide

Heart Like A Landslide is the second track from Liam Frost's new project Fountain Head, the follow-up to last year's debut In Chrysalis. Accompanied by stunning vocals by Blanid that complement and contrast with Liam's familiar tones, Heart Like A Landslide is a gorgeous extravagant dream pop song that will delight and surprise long-term followers of Liam and appeal to new listeners.

Tuesday 3 August 2021

Fontaines D.C. - Leeds Brudenell Social Club - 1st August 2021

One year and one day after releasing A Hero’s Death we returned to the iconic Brudenell Social Club to witness a blistering eleven song set by Dublin rockers Fontaines D.C.

A Concert For John (Peter Hook And The Light, LIINES, The Blinders, Cabbage, Dirty Laces, The Mysterines, Purple Heart Parade, Déjà Vega, Loose Articles, Scuttlers, Inland Taipan, Gardenback, Hey Bulldog, The Big Peach, La Mode) - Manchester Ritz - 1st August 2021

You'll know John Hall. If you're the type of person who likes to talk while the band are on, he'll have cast you a disbelieving stare across the room. If you're a real dickhead, like one man in Rawtenstall at a Liam Frost gig, I might have stood between the two of you at some point. If you love live music videos on You Tube, you'll have seen his wonderful Manc Music channel of films of songs recorded across Manchester's music venues, you'll probably be in one of them as he loves to show the audience reaction. If you've ever sat in the secret garden at the back of the Castle or the Rose And Monkey you'll definitely have met him. There isn't a bigger champion of new music in Manchester than John Hall. Many people might claim that title, bollocks that it is, as their own. But there's no I in John Hall, just a love of music, an extravagant flounce, a wicked laugh, a bag of pills and the biggest heart.