Tag: Lancaster Live Festival

2025 Gigs – Part 3

I shall commence the final part of my 2025 review with the observation that I regularly head over to Liverpool for work and periodically catch a sliver of live music whilst traversing back to Liverpool Lime Street for my train home. One such bar is Liverpool Smokie Mo’s on Great Charlotte Street where I have seen local singers Paul Gillies and Chris Kinsella playing.

In March we gravitated over to Manchester New Century Hall where I saw Mercury Rev for the seventh time and the first time for a decade. They were premiering their new album ‘Born Horses’ but obviously including some highlights from their desert island disc ‘Deserter Songs’.  

Mercury Rev. Image Credit gigantic.com

On a work outing we visited New Century food hall one evening and we got ensnared into the nights quiz event. The second prize was two free tickets to any gig at the venue upstairs, and I have no idea why, but everyone turned round to me at that particular news!  Obviously we achieved a second place, and the tickets were donated generously to myself. Unfortunately, the first choice of Blondshell I couldn’t make due to illness and the revised choice of Dirty Three due to being notified of a close family bereavement just as I was setting off to that gig, so it was obviously not meant to be, but still a nice touch from my colleagues!

Whilst out on a sally down Burton Road in West Didsbury we caught a portion of the Beat Boys at Manchester Rustik, a bar that has since closed its doors for the final time. Over in Didsbury Village there are regular gigs over the weekends at Manchester Kennedys. I saw a chap called Paul Hunt playing and manufactured a visit there on Christmas Eve to ensure I reached my double century of gigs in the year. The act to mark that achievement was a geezer called Chris Addington from Rochdale who is a bit of an all-rounder as a music service tutor, musical director and alongside being a solo performer has been in a suite of bands, the latest being called Filthy Animals.

The final block of this year’s gigs will be covered under the auspices of the Lancaster Live Festival where over two days I saw 37 gigs and a grand total of 23 new venues.  I shall take you firstly to Lancaster Tap House where on the Saturday we witnessed a local band called Fuse. The following day we returned and caught the Sun Street Stompers who are a traditional jazz band whose driving force is Barry Marshall.

Sun Street Stompers. Image Credit jazznorthwest.co.uk

Barry has a long-standing pedigree as a clarinet player and played in various bands before in 1984 being approached by Steve Thorn, landlord of Ye Olde John O Gaunt pub, to set up a Sunday lunchtime band and the Stompers were born. They have retained that residency for over four decades with an ever-changing line up and provide valuable opportunities for local upcoming musicians. For the festival they made a rare foray to another hostelry, and they played in front of a hugely respectful audience where you could literally hear a pin drop.  

Continuing the theme of Lancaster Ye Olde John O Gaunt, a venue which was also subject to a double visit on the weekend. On the first day we saw Slackrr, who were a noisy pop punk trio who have been around since 2018 and had just released their third album ‘A Light on the Horizon’. On the Sunday we caught Helen and the Mellons who are a folky trio and are regular participants on the local circuit.

Directly opposite there is Lancaster Market Square where on Day 1 a jaunty band called Des Songsmith & the Flat Cap 3 graced the stage. On Day 2 we were presented with sets from Charlie Blugrass and from Daisy Smith. The latter named is a local singer/songwriter and is also the driving force behind the creation of a four-piece rock band called Do You Like Worms? The band’s moniker derives from a Beach Boys track recorded in 1960 which was subsequently released on a compilation album in 1963.

A stumbling distance away is Lancaster Library, one of the original venues for the hugely successfully ‘Get it Loud in the Library’ initiative and where I had previously seen Robert Forster, Yuck and Low amongst others. On this particular occasion Northern Frisk were performing who are badged as one of the finest ceilidh bands in the North of England and regularly appear at festivals, barn dances or they can even be hired for weddings.

Northern Frisk. Image Credit facebook.com

At the fine setting that is the Lancaster Pub Outdoor Stage we saw Circus Freak, a rock covers band from Bolton featuring Rokkin Roy on guitar. Later, we witnessed White Tyger who were in a similar vein to the previous band and were formed in 2015 in the West Midlands. Nearby at the Lancaster Cornerhouse a singer/songwriter called Brendan Cleary was on stage and then at Lancaster Crafty Scholar we caught sight of Mark McKenna, who we then found a second time whilst he was playing a later set at Lancaster Hogarths.

At the Lancaster Royal a very enjoyable and accomplished four-piece blues band based in Liverpool named Reillo were on stage. Their name derives from the reverse spelling of the surname of the lead singer James Ollier, who is the driving force and main songwriter in the band and a guitarist since the age of 14. Nearer to the station is Lancaster Jailors Barrel (previously the Robert Willow) where a solo indie singer called Jamie Walker was playing.

Lancaster Venues 35 to 36

Our next port of call at the 2025 Lancaster Live festival was the Lancaster Golden Lion. This is one of the oldest of the town’s public houses as one has existed on this very spot on Moor Lane since the 15th century.  This hostelry sat on route from Lancaster Castle to Gallows Hill and is allegedly the venue where prisoners were allowed one last beverage on the way to their execution, and this list includes the famous Pendle Witches.

One local legend pertaining to this is that one tee-total chap refused the offer of a last drink, (not even a diet coke) and was then summarily hanged. Had he sensibly stayed for a cold one he would have been in the warm environs of the pub when his pardon was delivered by a courier. The lesson here is to never refuse an ale when it is offered to you, an approach I heartily approve of!   

Pendle Witches. Image Credit pinterest.com

The building is purported to be haunted, where one regular spectre is the nun whose job it was to escort the condemned up the hill. It was also locally known at one point as the Whittle, the gruesome back story behind that moniker is that there was a mineral water well very close by and the local butcher used it to wash his whittle after quartering the rebels in 1715. Unsurprisingly it was never used again for drinking purposes!

None of the original building remains now, however the cellars have been used for centuries, and it is believed that within those there is a secret doorway that takes you to a veritable maze of tunnels that smugglers used in those days.

It is nowadays a small, homely spot with open mic nights on a Tuesday, live bands on a Thursday and a Saturday and folk nights on a Sunday. On the downstairs stained-glass window, you can still clearly see the imprint of Lion Ales. The Lion brewery was located in Little Harwood (their beer was also conversely known as Matthew Brown) and in my early boozing days in the mid-80’s, the town of Blackburn was awash with Lion pubs alongside many Thwaites houses, the other local brewer.

Golden Lion. Image Credit Epicure & Culture.

The huge conglomerate of Scottish and Newcastle made an offer of £186 million that the brewery could not feasibly refuse in 1987 but then they shamefully did not promote them and chose to close Lion Ales down for ever a couple of years later, and that as they say was that!

I only recall visiting there once before prior to attending a Thrills gig at the Sugarhouse round the corner in 2003. On my second attendance there was a Morecambe indie pop four piece called Life in Neon on stage. They had only formed a year earlier and had just released their first album, which was titled ‘Live in Neon’ and was recorded at Lancaster Great Hall.        

We then mulched the short distance to Church Street and headed into the Lancaster Stonewell Tap which dates back to 1602.This establishment was known for many years as the Stonewell Tavern before new landlord Tim Tomlinson took over ownership in December 2017 added to his existing pubs The White Cross and The Merchants 1688.  

He decided to take the hostelry in a different direction by following the trend of craft beer establishments and this also generated the new rebranded name. The location of Stonewell does have some local precedent as it appears on the first known Lancaster map drafted in 1610. The pub has also previously been known as Paddy O’Mulligans but the one with the most longevity is when it was the White Horse for a period of 180 years.

Stonewell Tap. Image Credit bpprodstorage.blob.core.windows.net

It has always been a well known music pub with live gigs taking place on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays with a vinyl DJ hitting the decks on Friday evenings. It also has regular inclusion in the annual Lancaster Beer and Pie Festival roster.

In its Mulligans phase they had visits from Countdown’s Carol Vorderman, TV gardener Charlie Dimmock and actor Timothy West and the ‘Rochdale Cowboy’ Mike Harding used to be a regular participant in their trad music session nights.

On our late afternoon foray, we caught a portion of a local three-piece folky act called Filthy Laugh. They have been in existence for over a decade and have prolifically recorded seven albums in the last five years. Their name derives from a lyric in the Belle and Sebastian song ‘The Boy with the Arab Strap’.