Gorilla Manchester, 17 January 2020
The opportunity to witness the live performance by two USA singer/songwriters who are unknown to me, albeit both highly praised by others, is something I cannot ignore. I’ve not even heard recordings from them but looked forward to being surprised and even impressed.
The Gorilla in Manchester is not one of my [...]

Manchester O2 Apollo, 1 December 2019
Band Members
Gary Lightbody (vocals, rhythm guitar)
Nathan Connolly (lead guitar, backing vocals)
Paul Wilson (bass guitar, backing vocals)
Jonny Quinn (drums)
Johnny McDaid (piano, rhythm guitar, backing vocals)
“Seamus Heaney, my favourite poet of all time, said at 71 that he was only discovering what some of his poetry means, and this is coming from [...]

Chester Live Rooms, Chester, 19 November 2019
Back in 1999 I attended a 10 day music festival in Ireland in county Cork. It was held in a wonderful place called Liss Ard and attended by hundreds of the most dedicated and serious Irish music fans. To give you a flavour of the festival’s quality it included [...]

Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. 11 November 2019
Shakespears Sister are:
Siobhan Fahey
Marcella Detroit

There’s one primary reason for wanting to cover the performance by Shakespears Sister at the regal and sophisticated Bridgewater Hall in Manchester - the song ‘Stay’. Back in the early 90s this song remained super-glued in premier position on the pop chart for many weeks. On [...]

Manchester Academy 2, 21 October 2019
Touring Band
Andy Barlow - keyboards
Lou Rhodes - vocals
Jon Thorne - electric/acoustic bass
Nikolaj Bjerre - drums
Quinta - violin, viola
Danny Lohner - electric guitar/effects, programming
Kevin Davey - trumpet, guitar

I first heard Lamb Back in 2001. The album was WHAT SOUNDS which I loved and is still one of my favourite albums of [...]

For the past few months I’ve been starved of good, live rock music but saturated in Brexit stupidity. It’s a shame and very disappointing that so many of best musicians have remained silent on this prospective Brexit disaster, and the seemingly relentless march of the far right. This harms us all, including musicians who need [...]