Live Review
Live Review: Calexico – Albert Hall, Manchester – 30th April 2015
Calexico made a welcome return to the UK after a couple of years’ absence in support of their brilliant new album – Edge of The Sun – and we were there to see them at Manchester’s Albert Hall. This was only one of three British gigs for Calexico so the venue was packed to the gills with people of …
Live Review: Smoke Fairies – Hebden Bridge Trades Club, 26.4.15
After their second album got mixed reviews Smoke Fairies had a crisis of confidence questioning whether they should go on but this confident show made you glad they did. One of the reasons the critics turned on them was they lurched from a faintly twee folk duo to a full blown rock band almost overnight. …
Gallery: The Orielles – Rocking Chair, Sheffield 29.04.2015
Surf-pop trio The Orielles came to Sheffield this week, along with a bunch of other weird bands, to continue their brief headline tour across the UK’s northern cities. Long Limbs were up first, making me laugh more than I thought I would. They’re a fun band, and the fact that lead singer Peter forgot how the penultimate …
Live Review: The Gluts & White Hills – Bloom, Mezzago (Milano) 25.04.15
Ever since I had first clapped ears on The Gluts‘ debut LP ‘Warsaw’, I had been longing for the opportunity to see them play live. There was the small matter of their being based in Milan, which is only 1475km from Belfast as the crow flies… No matter, when the opportunity for The Gluts to open for White …
Live Review: Nai Harvest / Best Friends / Pins – The Harley, Sheffield 24.04.2015
Friday night in Sheffield saw one of the most explosive, and certainly most popular, gigs The Harley has ever seen. First up were Pins, a female four-piece to be reckoned with. Faith Holgate’s haunting, eerie voice is akin to Siouxsie Sioux, and the Manchester group stirred up the crowd for the two homegrown groups to come. …
Live Review: Hands Off Gretel – Mine, Leeds 23.04.2015
Fast rising grunge band Hands Off Gretel are in Leeds tonight to play Move, Leeds traffic being what it is I arrive slightly late walking in during their song Be Mine. What is immediately apparent is how they sound exactly the same live as they do on record with Lauren Tate’s fierce vocal like razor …
Live Review: Lower Than Atlantis / We Are The Ocean / PVRIS – Manchester Academy 2, 14.04.2015
Openers Pvris brought a barrage of synth infected pop-rock tracks from their debut album White Noise (2014). Ironically starting out with Smoke, which quite literally was the only thing that clouded over the bands performance. “Can you cut the smoke? We’re not that cool” vocalist Lyndsey Gunnulfsen stated however the intensity of the smoke didn’t …
Live: Tom Brosseau at Wilton’s Music Hall
I knew ‘Perfect Abandon’ would sound at its best live: Tom Brosseau and band did not disappoint. Wilton’s Music Hall played host to a beautiful evening of otherworldly country and folk, blending most of the new record with one or two cuts from preceding release ‘Grass Punks’, and a couple of other, older treats. Everyone was on …
Live Review: Seasick Steve – Sheffield O2 Academy, 16.04.2015
It would have been so easy for Seasick Steve to infiltrate the crowd of his own gig. For one night only, Sheffield 02 Academy was filled with men of a certain age, complete with beards and baseball caps. But that’s not to say it was only the older generation at this gig. The audience spanned …
Live: Sonic Jesus (Album Launch) & The Underground Youth – The Waiting Room, London 16.04.2015
I appreciate that people generally make the pilgrimage TO Ireland, but this was one divine intervention I was not going to miss for anything… Two years in the making and the day finally arrives for the official unveiling of the debut album by Sonic Jesus – ‘Neither Virtue Nor Anger’. (Full LP Review to follow). In a …