Tag: Gang of Four

2023 Gigs – Part 1

Continuing the theme of previous years, I will now cover the 2023 gigs attended at venues already reviewed in previous blogs. Because I am sure you are desperate to know lets firstly cover the numbers bit! It turned out to be a record breaking year in that I attended 128 gigs in total which also encompassed 70 new venues.

So, I shall start with the familiar haunt of Manchester Academy 2 and cover my 41st and 42nd visits to that venue. In the cold depths of mid-winter in January Marcus and I headed there to witness the Delgados who are a four-piece band from Glasgow who produce some imaginative music. They formed in 1994 before disbanding in 2005 and then subsequently reformed in 2022 hence this comeback tour.

The Delgados. Image Credit nme.com

I had seen them once before on our honeymoon at Dublin Mean Fiddler in 1998 where they were on an excellent double bill with Nottingham’s Six By Seven. I thoroughly enjoyed their current incarnation as they cut an engaging presence on stage in front of a responsive crowd just glad to witness them back on the gig circuit and their tour culminated with a date in their home city.

The other attendance to Academy 2 also involved a further lengthy gap from my first sighting, in this case 20 years and one week exactly from when I witnessed the Northern Irish combo Therapy? at Preston Mill. Now to be fair I have always been fairly ambivalent about this band and their show on the night unfortunately didn’t alter my viewpoint.  

Prior to the gig there was an obligatory visit to the nearby mecca Manchester Big Hands where they periodically have live bands playing at the end of the room. That night I encountered a noisy Warrington psych rock band called Pray for Mojo who earlier in the year had graced the stage at Manchester Psych Fest. In 2022, they had released their debut album titled ‘Welcome to Mojopia’. They were supported by Swamp Kids.  

I shall now return to the Academy complex with a visit to Manchester Club Academy with the more than welcome return of the Raveonettes. The Copenhagen duo of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo were back on the circuit after a 4 year sabbatical. They were in fine form and played a greatest hits set with my personal highlight being one of their early singles ‘That Great Love Sound’. They were supported by local noiseniks Dr Dr.   

The Raveonettes. Image Credit discogs

Prior to night one of my Mogwai triple bill (over four nights and two cities) Gill and I grabbed a table and had an aperitif in the Manchester Blues Kitchen Bar. The act on stage whilst we primed ourselves for the upcoming aural assault were called Cry Wolf.   

The next gig derived from my very learned musical twitter (I still call it twitter!) pal @parramaterial who recommended Black Doldrums on their latest tour that included a date at Manchester Gullivers. Thus, the troops were enlisted and four of us popped over to have a gander and they were wholly worthy of the effort. Black Doldrums are a North London trio who released their debut album ‘Dead Awake’ in 2022 and they created a hugely enjoyable psych shoegaze cacophony on the night.

Black Doldrums. Image Credit louderthanwar.com

In June I had a foray over to Manchester Didsbury Park Green for the summer festival where a lass called Sally Smith was playing.  The following week another twitter recommendation resulting in four of us attending Manchester Yes Pink Room to watch Screaming Females. Their driving force was Marissa Paternoster who initially formed the band in 2005 at a high school in New Jersey.

Obscure fact time, she was referenced as the 77th greatest guitarist of all time in the Spin magazine in 2012. They released eight albums in total, all on the terrifically named Don Giovanni record label. I happened to catch them and their very decent stagecraft on their final ever tour as they subsequently broke up later in the year. 

The next two gigs to cover took place at Manchester Ritz where Tony Dewhurst, Rick Clegg, Barry Jury and I (Gang of Four) went to watch the Gang of Four who entertained with their angular post-punk sound. In October we managed to purchase tickets to see the Pretenders and the eternally youthful Chrissie Hynde. Unusually, on arrival the queue snaked back to beyond the Sainsburys on the corner, but we managed to enter the establishment just in time for their excellent show and her voice still sounds terrific. She dedicated one song to Johnny Marr, who was in the audience watching on his birthday.  

Kirkcudbright Wickerman Festival Fringe – Part 2

This week I complete the tale of the Kirkcudbright Wickerman Fringe event held in September 23.  Kirkcudbright Harbour Square is located in the centre of town and was built in 1911 when the old dock was filled in and the new quay created. Many fun fairs and festivities have taken place there and, on this occasion, an outdoor stage had been set up.

We could watch the proceedings from seats outside the newly revamped Steamies Bar, where their attempt to capture the ‘yoof’ crowd had been partially successful.  The first band up was Cherry Pinks from the nearby town of Dumfries whose sound revolves around singer/songwriter Julie Ward, they were followed by the local folk duo Wyrdy Women and also Rangatang.

Fringe facing Harbour Square stage with ‘Steamies’ in the background. Image Credit dailyrecord.co.uk

At that point, a group decision was made to have an intermission to walk over to St Mary’s Park to watch the town’s football team St Cuthbert Wanderers play Dalkeith Thistle in a preliminary round of the Scottish FA Cup.  As we passed through the quaint turnstiles, we were encouraged to enter the half time lottery draw to which we acquiesced and were invited to sample some sandwiches from a mini buffet in the ‘clubhouse’.

A bizarre incident occurred in the first half when a home defender caught the full force of the ball in his face and was out cold on the turf. After some medical action he stumbled to the touchline with us fully expecting him to be substituted. However, he remarkably and probably foolishly returned onto the pitch, with us concluding that they are obviously made of stern stuff in these parts!

At half time, we somewhat inevitably won the lottery draw with Uncle George having the golden ticket and we sheepishly and suffering a little from ‘imposter syndrome’ went up to collect our cash prize. Whilst there, we were tracking the PNE score which resulted in an away win at Stoke which astonishingly and unprecedently took us to the top of the league which put us all in fine spirits. We left the match before the end as the away team were heading towards their comfortable 5-0 win.

The ‘Main’ stand at St Mary’s Park. Image Credit flickr.com

We traversed down the river back to the Harbour Stage where we witnessed the Gang of Three from Perth. They actually had four members but were not the Gang of Four! They were a folk combo and were engaging and played three Neil Young covers which suited myself including closing the set with ‘Rocking in the Free World’.  

I remember a pal of mine Steve Berry who always used to skit me about my lifetime devotion to Neil Young. However, he then approached me one night in the Olde Black Bull pub in Preston town centre and outlined that the aforementioned song had caused him to have a ‘Road to Damascus’ conversion experience, better late than never I say!

After grabbing some tea, we headed onto our next destination at the Kirkcudbright Parish Hall. It was originally built alongside St Andrew’s and St Cuthbert’s church in 1843 and subsequently renovated in 2009. It was a long thin function room and was packed when we arrived, so we perched in a corner near the stage. The band playing was a noisy five piece rock band with a female lead called Shardlake who derive from Glasgow.

Shardlake on stage. Image Credit shardlakerock.com

We then trotted the short distance to Kirkcudbright Bowling Club to see Alan Bissett. Alan is an author, playwright and was also for a spell a creative writing lecturer at Leeds University. He has a musical background in that he collaborated with Malcolm Middleton writing the lyrics and performing spoken word on the Ballads of the Book project alongside Roddy Woomble. He has also undertaken spoken word support slots for the Vaccines and at the short lived but excellent Connect Music Festival in Inverary.

On the night, he was staging his one-man Edinburgh Fringe Moira Monologues set. This is based on stories and characters Alan engaged with growing up in the Hallglen area of Falkirk featuring her pal Babs and her wee dug Pepe. It was original and highly amusing and us English lads were hooting at the section where Moira was celebrating one of England’s many penalties defeats.   

On the Sunday three of the lads headed into Dumfries to watch the Celtic v Rangers old firm match whilst I headed home and was glad of Jez Catlow’s company on the long drive back. En route I treated Jez to the sonic soundtrack of the fabulous Sennen’s back catalogue.