The Slow Readers Club's long-delayed tour continued with a show at Liverpool's O2 Academy on Monday night supported by Sheffield's Sheafs and Wigan's Stanleys.
John Bramwell made the short trip across the Pennines to the historic Leadmill venue in Sheffield for the latest in his series of shows to preview his forthcoming The Light Fantastic album as well as delight the audience with a series of old I Am Kloot classics accompanied by Dave Fidler and Harriet Bradshaw. Support came from Howarth.
A Monday night in Manchester is often a sedate affair, but heading down to the basement of Yes for the Liverpool double-header of Stone and Courting there's no chance of a quiet night watching bands as the audience throw themselves around the room to two bands that trade on their ferocious live shows.
Wainsgate Chapel sits on top of the hills overlooking Hebden Bridge and each year runs a small programme of live music to audiences of up to a hundred and fifty. Due to access being via narrow roads and up steep hills (we know, we walked up), the events take place in daytime with the audience sat in the church pews and on the balcony giving it a really unique feel and creating an intimate space for some very special concerts and Little Sparrow's two-hour two-set performance of tracks from her debut Wishing Tree and forthcoming second album was no exception.
Eighteen months late, Blossoms make their triumphant first headline appearance at a sold out Manchester Arena with a set covering and celebrating their three albums to date and all the crowd favourites that have seen fans of all ages take them to their hearts. Support came from The Lathums and The Magic Gang.
Hey Bulldog today release The People That You Know, their most instant single to date, a song about celebrating the people that you go out with, who make you feel part of a scene and the person that you are. It's accompanied by a video made of Manchester gig footage from the Mancmusic Youtube channel of our mutual friend John Hall. It serves as a perfect reminder of the joy of live music and being in a crowd of like-minded people, an embodiment of what the song is about and as a tribute to our departed friend.
James' summer of festival shows moved on to Newcastle Exhibition Park where they headlined an event For The NHS supported across two stages by Zuzu, Beth Macari, Cruel Hearts Club and The Voluntears.
It's two years since Italian-born Julia Bardo, then of Working Men's Club still, announced herself to the world with the stunning debut single Desire, a world away from the band that had broken into daytime 6 Music with their own debut Bad Blood. By the time the Phase EP had come out the following year, just prior to lockdown, Julia was out on her own, newly-signed record deal in hand and already making her mark. A year and a half on, Bauhaus, L'Appartamento, a brand new set of songs prefaced by a few appetiser singles, is out in the world, is a statement of intent yet also a revealing honest laying bare of all the uncertainties of loving and living far from home.
A wet dreary Sunday night with the promise of a long week at work was brightened up by the presence of SKIES, all the way from Kent, with a seven-song set that felt more appropriate for a big festival stage than it did a dark Manchester basement.
The Slow Readers Club return with Tell No Lies, a brand new single to follow up the top 10 album The Joy Of The Return and 91 Days In Isolation, both released during lockdown ahead of their UK tour that kicks off at Hebden Bridge Trades Club next week. An upbeat stomper of a track, it's accompanied by a video featuring Line Of Duty's Craig Parkinson.
VLURE return with their second single, and their first since signing to So Young Records, with live favourite and call-to-arms Show Me How To Live Again. It's set to the thrilling wall of synth and guitar sounds that the band create and anyone that has witnessed their few live outings to date will well recognise.
Tunbridge Wells Forum witnessed the unforgettable return of The Murder Capital as the band steamrollered through a blistering set of old and new songs on an emotionally charged evening.
Ist Ist have today revealed It Stops Where It Starts, the first track to be taken from their forthcoming second album The Art Of Lying, released on a limited edition 7" single, streaming and download and accompanied by a video that might surprise long-term watchers of the band.
Set in the imposing shadow of the Ashton Memorial in Williamson Park, Lancaster's Highest Point Festival is one of the newer additions to the calendar, but already feels like an established well-organised and well-run festival. James headline the first night of four for 2021 with a set that strikes a fantastic balance between their new material and old favourites with a few surprises and which is full of the spontaneous energy that symbolises their live experience even close to forty years into their career.
