Year: 2025

2024 Gigs – Part 1

After a slow start to the year due to some ill health my numbers then increased exponentially to reach a personal best figure of 143 gigs for 2024. My current total for 2025 suggests I have a decent chance though of surpassing that figure this year. As with all previous annual updates I will cover only the venues that I have already reviewed in previous blogs.

Where shall we start? I guess a good as place as any is the old stalwart Manchester Academy 1. I visited there in February for the 32nd time and as a result also reached another milestone as it was my 100th visit to the entire Academy complex (includes also 42 gigs at Academy 2, 19 at Academy 3 and 7 at Club Academy). My century being achieved a small matter of 36 years and 7 days since my first attendance at Academy 2 in February 1988 to see Wedding Present.

Slowdive. Image Credit NME.

I also had the veritable bonus of finally after a few years of correspondence meeting the music aficionado and musician Andrea for a quick drink prior to the event. The gig itself was my first ever sighting of the now revered shoegazers Slowdive. The band formed in Reading in 1989 and subsequently broke up in 1995 after the release of their third album ‘Pygmalion’. Some of the members formed a splinter group called Mojave 3 before Slowdive reformed for Primavera in 2014 and have since released two albums, the latter ‘Everything is Alive’ achieving a Top Ten placing in several countries.    

The venue was as busy as I have ever witnessed it, and I managed to snuggle into a spot about halfway in on the left-hand side. There was a considerably more youthful crowd than I had anticipated, and it has now become apparent that shoegaze is now being heard by a fresh new generation. The band had a compelling presence, and it was an enjoyably immersive experience.

They were supported by some newer kids on the block, Whitelands, who have been playing since 2017 and had just released their debut album on the legendary Sonic Cathedral record label.  On the night, I also made the inadvertent discovery for the first time of the infinitely quieter upstairs bar!

There was a sojourn in June with my brother-in law Phil to Manchester Old Trafford Cricket Ground as a wingman to see the Foo Fighters on Day 2 of their residency there. We had a couple of scoops prior in Chorlton whilst dodging the rain showers and en route to the ground made a virgin visit to the old Holts brewery pub The Quadrant.

The Quadrant pub. Image Credit flickr.com

There were some painfully slow ticket queues reminding me why I very rarely attend stadium gigs. We sallied about and stood in different spots for their near three hour set. Dave Grohl always cuts a charismatic presence and his swear box was overflowing by the end of the show!

There was a visit to Stockport Rock Salt Café in Moor Top in August where I saw a chap called Eddie performing and just before Christmas, I watched the oddly named Liffey St featuring Eoin Griffin & Mixi Toal at Stockport Cassidy’s in Heaton Moor.

I made another pilgrimage to the Sounds from the Other City festival (SFTOC) in Salford. First port of call was the Manchester Pint Pot Upstairs where I witnessed the Manchester three-piece Shell Company. They had a brooding electronic sound topped off by spoken word poetry from their vocalist Rosebella Allen and have released records that were recorded at the White Hotel venue.

In Manchester Pint Pot Downstairs we could barely scramble through the door to obtain a sighting of Thraa, a Manchester drone duo consisting of Sally Mason and Andi Jackson. They were both in other bands before forming this one and have garnered support slots with Lorelle Meets The Obsolete. They were intriguing as they employed two guitars and threw away traditional song structures to produce shards of sounds, sometimes minimalist and sometimes rather joyously noisy!

Just around the corner in Manchester St Phillips Church we caught a singer called BEATRICE, which I cannot find any information about. Further down the A6 brought you to the vibrant communal area and the Manchester Bexley Square Live Tent where Meme Good were noisily cooking up a storm on the stage. In the nearby fine hostelry Manchester New Oxford, I saw a combo called Fellowship.

St Phillips Church. Image Credit manchesterhistory.net

We then pottered over to the busy hub of Manchester Islington Mill Courtyard where in the outside area alongside the bars and pizza huts, we saw and heard the synth sounds of local musician Sarah Bates. Her career commenced as a solo vocalist and at one stage worked with the legendary producer Nile Rodgers.

Back under the roof in Manchester Islington Mill Mirage Bar we witnessed a portion of Chermonseg’s set. Down the corridor in Manchester Islington Mill Partisan Bar we saw Zolatec who is a drum and bass artist. She was born in Leicester with the name of Ayeshah but is also known under the stage name of Zola Steelpan, reflecting the influence of that particular instrument in her repertoire. She is a festival stalwart and has performed at the Notting Hill Carnival.

Preston Venues 61 to 62

I am returning to the area of my hometown and birthplace of Preston this week by delving into the nearby town of Chorley which is a short ten-minute train ride away. It is the home of the Chorley cake, certainly not to be confused with Eccles cakes! Previous famous residents include Pauline Clare, UK’s first woman chief constable, comedian Phil Cool, speaker of the house Lindsay Hoyle, League of Gentleman’s Steve Pemberton and musicians John Foxx and Starsailor.

My pal Jez Catlow has been a member of various bands over the years with one of the latter ones being Deadwood Dog. The lead singer Mick Pike recently took over a bar in Chorley town centre and obviously was always going to stage music there, including spots for his own bands!  

Chorley Foxtails. Image Credit tripadvisor.co.uk

So, situated on a street called Pall Mall, you will find Chorley Foxtails Bar and Music Club, which is a fine cosy friendly establishment, and is a family run bar. They are open between 3 and 10 from Thursday to Sunday, but those hours can be extended as and when desired.

They have Thursday night community events incorporating music quizzes and craft & draught and games evenings. They stage regular gigs, normally on either a Saturday night or Sunday afternoon, mostly free but with the odd pay event. Stourbridge punk balladeer Jess Silk is playing there this very evening at a sold out gig.       

Gill, Uncle George and I decided to make a sabbatical over to this new bar to see Deadwood Dog in action on the last day of February this year. As Preston North End had a big FA Cup tie at high noon the next day, we sought alternative approaches as it made no sense to return home in the interim. We landed on the option of finding some cheap digs nearby and Chorley North Premier Inn met that brief perfectly.

So, on the Friday we navigated the M60 rush hour traffic to land at the hotel which had the very busy Malthouse Farm pub located right next door. We then purloined an uber into the town centre and purchased some tea at Calico Lounge near the train station.

Chorley North Premier Inn. Image Credit lancashire-hotels.com

We met George off the train and had a couple of refreshing sherbets before gravitating over to Foxtails. We sampled a couple of local ales and chewed the fat with Jez and Hughie who was also in attendance. The opening act was a decent blues covers band called Mojo Rising followed by an enjoyable set from Deadwood.  

After the gig we gravitated to the award-winning Chorley Shepherds Hall Ale House & Victoria Rooms. Itwas the first micro pub to open in Chorley in August 2014 and became a trend setter that many others have followed. The driving force behind it were three brothers named Stuart, Graham and Thomas Hardyman (no it is not the start of a joke or a Harry Potter script line!). 

Shepherds Hall Ale House. Image Credit tripadvisor.in

The name derived from the ancient order of Shepherd’s friendly society that used to be based in the building in the 19th century. It is located on Chapel Street near to the bus station and took over the former S&F Newsagents and is open seven days a week. It was refurbished in December 2020 and in the tail end of 2021 it expanded by taking over the adjacent larger shop unit next door.

It is an inviting establishment with a plethora of ales on tap and one we regularly visit when carousing in the town. It has a traditional Tap room, and the adjoining newer Victoria room is a larger space with extra seating dotted about. They now have sporadic music acts and are part of the Chorley Live roster. On the night of our visit a very noisy punk covers band were playing.

After encouraging George to head off and catch the midnight train, we encountered a delay before managing to bag a cab back to the hotel. We were both rather jaded in the morning but were revived by the chirpy staff and a belly busting breakfast and lashings of hot tea.  

I then went to pick up my father-in-law and then onto the match where we had a famous 3-0 victory over local rivals Burnley to reach the quarterfinals of the FA Cup for the first time in 59 years, and thus the first time in my lifetime.

Michael Palin playing Golden Gordon in Ripping Yarns. Image Credit BBC.

On arriving back, the result and achievement felt momentous enough to consider an impersonation of Michael Palin in the Ripping Yarns episode ‘Golden Gordon’ where he reappears after the football and when asked the score, he shouts out ‘eight -one, eight bloody one’ before trashing the crockery in celebration!