Almost four years had passed since the Las Vegas, Nevada group had played a show in the North West, until they brought their Imploding the Mirage tour to Manchester, at the Lancashire County Cricket Club grounds, in Old Trafford. The Killers’ star continues to rise with each new tour, since 2017 when they played Manchester […]
The weekend festival is a staple of the summer season, coming in hot with their first-ever staging outdoors, Live at Leeds gave us their In the Park edition. For one incredible day of live music, they took over the grounds of Temple Newsam—a Tudor-Jacobean-era estate hemmed by rolling hills and sprawling vistas of the West […]
“I’m an introvert, I swear” reads the caption of a recent social media post by Foxes — but how are we to know? When met by Louisa Rose Allen, aka. Foxes, the signs aren’t that clear: a bubbly, vivid image is displayed and danced around the room for all to see, one wouldn’t naturally pick […]
Independent Venue Week rolls in around this time every year, where the breaking yawns of a new year are gifted some sweet relief by the comings of a celebration, of the UK’s grassroots music venues. Together with the great Can You CIC It? and local promoters and venue owners up and down the country, IVW […]
At this point in late October, in 2021, the Deaf Institute has been reopen for a number of months after a grueling year of uncertainty. Standing resilient after a near closure, not just due to a global pandemic, but a change of hands in ownership. The venue, more than ever, stands as a beacon of […]
Partly because of the later relaxation of COVID rules in Wales, partly because of a series of personal circumstances, this early-October serving of alternative rock was my very first live music event in Cardiff in nearly two years; it felt odd, comforting, and slightly tense to be back queuing outside the familiar door of Clwb […]
After five years on the scene, October Drift released their largest body of work yet, with January’s drop of long-awaited debut album, Forever Whatever. A high octane melange of grunge, hard rock, pop hooks and shoegaze; the songs enclosed offer a focussed lens on the band’s career to date: from the revelrous ‘Oh the Silence’ […]
Meg Markwick and Lily Somerville met at University in the early 2010s, it was there that pair formed a kindred alliance that would later transpire into a musical project called IDER. Soulful sensations of R&B and electronic pop serpentine to create a scintillating burst of new wave pop, contemporary and current but also reminiscent of […]
Live music on the small band circuit can be a real mixed bag. Many people who don’t regularly attend small gigs often get dragged by friends to see burgeoning bands in sweaty venues with expensive drinks prices and questionable sound quality, and come away from the whole experience with a profoundly negative view of the […]
Even in the middle of what might well be the wettest Autumn Wales has seen in a long time, the sun shone on the 2019 edition of Sŵn Festival, both literally and figuratively. In its long history, the festival has rarely attempted to fit within its programme not only such a number of quality acts […]
What to say about this year’s round of Neighbourhood Festival? It was eclectic. The programming was focused on a few particular styles of music, yet the acts and what they brought in their live shows ranged from highly conceptualised spectacle, cathartic solitude, breathtaking precision, to beautifully collective uproar – as well as steadily providing entertaining […]
Having hosted numerous music events across the UK such as Goose Island LDN Block Party and more, I was so excited to get the chance to go to their Hop Party with the likes of Shame and Park Hotel performing as well as the fantastic Rockaoke – a live act in itself.
Live music is like food. It can be one of three things: 1) totally unpalatable, 2) necessary stodge that fills you up but leaves you empty, or 3) joy-inducing combinations of flavours that leave you fulfilled, but wanting more later. Calva Louise fall into the third category. They are at once a familiar ride through […]
Summer festival season is gearing back up, it’s that time of year where we abandon city skyscrapers and trek to the countryside for an extended weekend of partying in the fields and singing our lungs out to our favourite bands, gathered with our nearest and dearest. In July, Derbyshire’s idyllic Y Not Festival returns – […]
Occupying the second Bank Holiday weekend in May, Neighbourhood Weekender returned for its sophomore run with a packed schedule of live music, performance and fairground fun. The festival benefits from its central location and easily accessible site, taking place in Warrington’s expansive Victoria Park the event is uniquely staged and administered. Covering all forms of […]
As new music festivals go, Live at Leeds is the premier league – a metropolitan wurlitzer of entertainment and culture pinpointing talent from all corners of the globe then bringing them together for one blistering day. The great Northern city offers a playground for escapism, adventure and pilgrimage, spanning miles of terrain the venues are […]
We’ve all heard the prescribed notions of what a singer-songwriter is and should be, but basics are basics and it is time to clear the slate. Every artist deserves to be heard fairly, few find success and few are successful but many have talent. Joel Baker is one of the latter. A pure talent. His […]
A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to catch a double-bill, featuring artists from the legendary Sub-Pop label. Bedroom rock breakout star((s)? – it’s left somewhat ambiguous as to whether the project is a band or a persona…) Frankie Cosmos, and experimental noise musician, Ian Sweet (who had ditched her bandmates and gone […]
Following the release last week of his third studio album A Golden State, singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh returns to Manchester’s Deaf Institute on the latest stretch of a ten-date U.K tour. This follows a packed year for Luke, who last year migrated from Bristol out to L.A. alongside his artist wife Hannah Cousins, who’s stunning work […]
Both Talkboy and Another Sky delivered fantastic, captivating, and highly varied sets. If you don’t feel remotely curious about the details, best clock out now, because really anything else I write is gonna be elaboration on how excellent the gig was. However, if your eyelids are still twitching for more detail, follow me into this […]