Bluedot reaches its finale, delivering its best, most diverse day of music yet. Bluedot 2019 Day Three | ft. New Order, Anna Calvi & John Grant
Author: William Baldwin-Pask
Live: Bluedot Festival – Day Two
With the worst of the weather now-departed -Â Bluedot welcomes Kraftwerk and Jarvis Cocker to the festivities. Day 2 of Bluedot featured performances from Kraftwerk, Jarvis Cocker, 808 State, DJ Peach, TVAM & Scalping
Live: Bluedot Festival 2019 – Day One
Rain and raves at Bluedot Festival as Hot Chip and Kate Tempest turn up the energy. Local festivals like Parklife and Creamfields don a dance music legacy that kicked off in this part of the country not that long ago.
Live: YES FEST @ Yes, Manchester
Not yet a year old, Manchester’s best bar-cum-venue, YES, have the self-belief to invite some of indie’s biggest to help throw an all-day party YES FEST.
Live: Crows @ YES, Manchester
UK punk is having a bit of a moment. Bands such as Idles, Goat Girl and Fontaines DC are riding waves of interest and angst made by young, answer-searching listeners in these testing times. Hot on their heels is Crows, born in London and tonight blessing Manchester’s freshman venue YES for a wholly hectic affair.
Live: Idles @ Albert Hall, Manchester
Not many bands would have had as good an eighteen months as IDLES. Heralded as one of the artists of 2018 by the likes of KEXP and 6 Music, the success of second album Joy as an Act of Resistance has carried on into 2019, with a tour stop in Manchester’s Albert Hall tonight. They’re the punk band that can boast having some of Britain’s best choruses and most raucous performances, as well as the best album opener from last year. ‘Colossus’ rightly kicks things off; with its rim shots and bass shudders, the warning signs are there that things will get rowdy. When the clenching build-up finally falls into the frantic breakdown of “ah-ah-ah”-s and “yeah-yeah-yeah”-s, it releases an energy that lasts the rest of the night. They follow straight up with ‘Mother’, which has…
Live: Nils Frahm @ Albert Hall, Manchester
It’s a mean feat trying to push and cross the genres of ambient and classical music in today’s world, but Nils Frahm has managed it. Tonight, at the Albert Hall, Frahm shows the breadth of his musical ability and does so in surprisingly exciting style. As anyone who’s heard Frahm’s Late Night Tales or appearances on NTS will tell you, this is not a composer who is afraid of electronics. Though on record he is more likely to drop hints of his interest, live he drives home how important the electronic influence is to him. Tonight’s set is a measured blend of his traditional piano talent and an embrace of dark digital instrumentation. The German marries the two musical styles of classical piano and techno that were at one time perfected in his country. He owes as much to Beethoven …
Live: Mike Skinner & The Streets @ O2 Apollo, Manchester
What makes a musician a legend? Is it age? Is it album sales? Is it selling out three nights at Manchester’s O2 Apollo? For Mike Skinner and The Streets, it’s probably a straightforward case of whether you can provoke a good time or not.
Live: MGMT @ Albert Hall, Manchester
Popularity was an unwanted pregnancy for MGMT. After releasing Oracular Spectacular in 2008 they spent two albums running away from their own hits and the bright-eyed pubescent attention they brought. Read the review of MGMT playing Manchester’s Albert Hall.
Live Review: The Soft Moon @ White Hotel, Manchester
Live Review: The Soft Moon @ White Hotel, Manchester Luis Vasquez and band tear it up above a violent red strobe, shaking the walls of the White Hotel down to its foundation – this show feels distinctly like a homecoming.