The Murder Capital - Manchester New Century - 18th April 2025

The second night of The Murder Capital’s UK tour in support of their third album Blindness rolled into town on Good Friday with a show at Manchester’s New Century Hall playing most of Blindness alongside old favourites.

John Bramwell - Waterfoot Horse And Bamboo - 17th April 2025

John Bramwell continued his never-ending solo travels around the UK with an intimate sold-out show at the Horse And Bamboo in Waterfoot on Thursday night. Mixing classics from his days with I Am Kloot and material from his solo albums as well as a blast from the past, he charmed the audience with stories, humour as well as some of the finest songwriting this country has produced since the turn of the century.

TRACK OF THE DAY : Little Sparrow - Moondust

It's been four years since we heard new music from Little Sparrow, but she's out of hibernation today with a brand new single Moondust. It's a change in direction that Katie (aka Little Sparrow) describes as "space folk" but with old friends in collaboration with her.

The Man From Delmonte / The Mudd Club - Manchester Academy 2 - 12th April 2025

The Man From Delmonte's unexpected reunion continued apace on Saturday night with a sold-out show at Academy 2 in Manchester. Thirty-five years on from their split they brought memories of misspent youth flooding back with a glorious seventy-five minute set.

slab / Vice Vera - Manchester Peer Hat - 11th April 2025

slab celebrated the release of their debut album Taut with a packed out show in the basement of The Peer Hat in Manchester on Friday night delighting the crowd with their dark heavily instrumental brooding soundtrack.

Divorce / Dug - Manchester Gorilla - 3rd April 2025

Divorce brought their sold-out tour in support of their debut album Drive To Goldenhammer to Manchester's Gorilla on Thursday night. Supported by newly-signed Dublin duo Dug, they delighted a packed crowd by performing their album in full alongside tracks from their early EPs.

Inspiral Carpets - Coventry HMV Empire - 27th March 2025

When Inspiral Carpets announced they were opening the year with some big gigs in Greece -  with bass supremo Martyn Walsh returning to the fold - there was immediate excitement at Even The Stars. We couldn’t make it out to Greece unfortunately but there was no way Stuart Ralston was missing the first show back on British soil. 

Thus Love / Ain't - Salford White Hotel - 29th March 2025

Thus Love continued their relentless touring schedule with a packed out show at Salford's White Hotel on Saturday night with a set taken from their two albums to date Memorial and last year's All Pleasure in front of an appreciative crowd. Support came from heavily-backed newcomers Ain't.

Westside Cowboy / Pushbike - Manchester Gullivers - 27th March 2025

The hottest name in town, Westside Cowboy, took two sold-out nights at Gullivers in their stride as they played their biggest headline shows to date in what felt like a significant undersell. Over forty-five minutes the four-piece justified the mounting hype around them.

Ist Ist - Preston The Ferret - 26th March 2025

Ist Ist prepared for their upcoming European and UK tours with a sold-out packed warm-up show at The Ferret in Preston. Mixing songs from their back catalogue celebrating ten years as a band with tracks from their top 25 album Light A Bigger Fire and giving a three-song insight into the writing sessions for their fifth album, they delighted the fervent crowd with a mammoth twenty-two song set.

Tom A Smith / The Manatees - Manchester Night And Day Cafe - 19th March 2025

Tom A Smith called in at Manchester's Night And Day Cafe on Wednesday night for the first of two shows on a short tour with Southampton's The Manatees promoted by The Rock Revival. Over the course of fourteen songs he got the audience singing along to every word of old favourites whilst revealing new music from one of the country's most prolific young songwriters expanding his musical palette still further.

The Slow Readers Club - Leeds Headrow House - 16th March 2025

As part of the campaign for the release this week of their seventh album Out Of A Dream, The Slow Readers Club headed to Headrow House in Leeds for two shows in conjunction with Crash Records playing the album in full plus four tracks from their substantial back catalogue repertoire.

Whitehorse / Mleko - Manchester Rat And Pigeon - 13th March 2025

Whitehorse opened their debut UK tour with a ten-song set at a packed sold-out Rat And Pigeon in Manchester on Thursday night. Despite only having one released song to their name - Doesn't Come Close - they held the audience's attention with a set full of ambitious rock songs heavier than frontman Thomas Haywood's previous work delivered with power and passion by his new bandmates.

The Slow Readers Club - Interview

The Slow Readers Club release their seventh studio album Out Of A Dream today. The self-released album is one of their strongest bodies of work to date as yet as evidenced at their preview shows in Bury and Manchester a couple of weeks ago. We caught up with the band after soundcheck for their Manchester Gorilla show to chat about the recording of the album and where The Slow Readers Club stand today.

The Slow Readers Club - Out Of A Dream

When The Slow Readers Club debuted songs from their seventh long player at the tail end of last year, we were instantly excited for the release of Out Of A Dream. We noted that “the band are on fire and frontman Aaron Starkie has an energy, an enthusiasm, and a passion that suggests he’s on a mission.” That mission has been delivered. 

Divorce - Bury Wax And Beans - 8th March 2025

Divorce celebrated the release of their debut album Drive To Goldenhammer with an intimate stripped-back Saturday evening performance in the Wax And Beans record shop in Bury to an attentive and appreciative crowd and the backdrop of Saturday night passers-by looking through the windows bemused at such a cool event in their town.

The Man From Delmonte / The Mudd Club - Waterfoot Horse And Bamboo - 27th February 2025

When cult heroes The Man From Delmonte announced last year that they were reforming to play shows in Manchester and London, there was immediate excitement and the shows quickly sold out. Having last played in 1990, the social media campaign to get the four piece to reunite paid off and following last night's rousing show at Band On The Wall, The Man From Delmonte moved twenty miles north to play the more intimate Later@ show in Waterfoot's Horse & Bamboo.

The Slow Readers Club - Manchester Gorilla - 2nd March 2025

With the imminent launch of their seventh album Out Of A Dream, The Slow Readers Club have taken to the campaign trail this weekend with a couple of intimate preview shows, performing the album plus selected back catalogue highlights in full. On Sunday night they played a hometown show at Gorilla revealing the ten new songs from the record to a loyal and dedicated fanbase.

Tim Burgess, Helen O'Hara and The RNCM Session Orchestra - Manchester Royal Northern College Of Music - 1st March 2025

Tim Burgess joined forces with Helen O'Hara and The RNCM Session Orchestra for a couple of special evenings in the RNCM's main theatre on Friday and Saturday. Performing tracks from Tim's career with The Charlatans and his solo projects as well as a couple from Helen's time with Dexy's Midnight Runners, the RNCM Session Orchestra reinvented and reinvigorated old favourites and shed new light on Tim's solo work.

The Man From Delmonte / Edward Barton / The Mudd Club - Manchester Band On The Wall - 26th February 2025

It's thirty-five years since The Man From Delmonte departed the world without a single studio album to their name, but a trail of wonderful EPs and thrilling live shows continued to live on in the memories of those fortunate enough to have caught this off-kilter four-piece who flitted around the outskirts of the Madchester explosion despite being an ill fit to the hedonistic flower-power of the time. Whilst most of the big names of that time split and reformed, The Man From Delmonte coming back really only existed in the heads of a few fans who'd set up a Facebook tribute group. Led by Iain Lee, the momentum gathered pace, front man Mike West's kids started to research their Dad's band and slowly the seeds were sown for one of the most unlikely reunions of recent times. Five-hundred people crammed into The Band On The Wall on Wednesday night to relive their teenage years to the sound of gender-fluid, confused songs about being twenty-two and being in love with everyone.

The Murder Capital - Liverpool Rough Trade - 24th February 2025

The Murder Capital's release week trip around the UK's record stores in support of their third album Blindness continued on Monday night with an hour-long set in the venue space at Rough Trade's new store in Liverpool. Performing the whole of Blindness plus three old favourites, the five-piece brought Blindness to vivid life.

Ist Ist - Manchester Night And Day Cafe - 16th January 2025

Ist Ist celebrated the tenth anniversary of their first ever show by returning to the very same stage they performed on that night for a career spanning set to a crowd who snapped up the two hundred and fifty tickets in seconds when they went on sale. Across twenty-five songs they reminded us of just how many great songs they've released across that time.