Tag: Westlife

Preston Venues 63 to 65

I am returning this week to the town of Chorley, which was one of the key lynchpin locations during the Second World War as its sister village Euxton was the home to the Royal Ordnance Factory which provided vast numbers of munitions which greatly assisted the war effort. When I used to sporadically play golf very poorly, we made a few visits to nearby Duxbury Park.  I recall on the 10th hole they had a lake in situ on a very steeply inclining fairway that I could never clear and lost a plethora of golf balls in that pesky water hazard.   

This is now the continuing tale of the evening of my debut attendance at the ‘Deadwood Dog’ Foxtails bar. Prior to attending there we made a visit to the nearby Chorley Last Orders at the Lamplighter on Market Street, which adopted that name in 2015.

Lamplighters. Image Credit proper-pubs.com

The town is intrinsically linked to the market, and this goes all the way back to them initially receiving an official market charter from King Henry VII in 1498. This authorised for a weekly market to be instigated which has continued for over six centuries and takes place every Tuesday. The street like many other provinces contained a Woolworths, this time in an art deco building prior to its untimely demise in the 1990’s.     

The Lamplighter is one of the oldest remaining hostelries in the town and dates back to around 1793. The current name pertains to the role of lighting streetlamps in the evenings which was phased out in the 1930’s when they began to be automatically controlled, before electricity was introduced in the 1950’s.  

Its original moniker was the Joiner’s Arms, and this was exemplified by the initial landlord Thomas Green who was listed as a joiner and cabinet maker alongside his innkeeper status. As in keeping with the many pubs of that era, they were listed as one of the lodges of the Freemasons and many such ‘dubious handshake’ meetings took place there. It was in later years called Dicey Riley’s and then The Entertainer.  

It was a renowned local music pub in the 1960’s with singers Julie Jones, The Golden Girl and Ozzy Williams performing there. Ozzy was reportedly very well respected to the stage that at his funeral in 1970 he apparently stopped the traffic on Market Street. It is a traditional large room establishment, and they stage music at the weekends and on our foray, we saw a singer called Desmond playing.

Market Street back in the day. Image Credit wwwpinterest.com

Post-gig we also had a quick visit into Chorley White Bull’s Head which is a large double-fronted terrace pub.This is another one from bygones times and records indicate that it is the oldest public house in the town residing in its original building and still bearing its primary name. It was in its early days a meeting point for traders after their day at the nearby market.

Apparently, members of Boyzone and Westlife were spotted in there after their surprising purchase of the local football team in 2023. Thankfully, there are no reports of them performing any tunes whilst there! When I attended, there was a local performer called Tommy playing on a stage in the corner.   

A couple of years earlier on a previous skelp over we darkened the door of Chorley Nelipott Bar on Chapel Street nearer to the railway station. It has an affiliation back to the ‘dark satanic mills’ by being housed in what was previously a weaver’s cottage.

White Bull. Image Credit beerintheevening.com

It opened originally in 2016 as Speakeasy Bar, one of the first small micro bars to appear but since then many have followed suit, and I think Chorley is up to double figures now in this regard. It briefly changed to Warp & Welt, another reference to earlier times, then in June 2019 to its current name. It is independently run and has two lounge rooms downstairs and stairs that take you up to a function room. It also has a small outdoor space at the rear for the ‘days of summer’ and on my particular visit I saw a singer called Eamonn.

Manchester Venue 191 Gorilla – Part 2

Manchester Gorilla had a coup a few years ago when none other than Kylie Minogue requested to play two intimate European dates prior to her upcoming arena tour and she chose to play Berghain in Berlin alongside the Gorilla. I believe as a result the tickets went like hot cakes!

My next visit to describe was the exceedingly welcome reformation of Rocket from the Crypt (RFTC), who in my personal view were the best live band on the circuit for a couple of years in the late 1990’s and was the first time I had witnessed them in twelve years. They were still in fine fettle, and I enjoyed the show.

Manchester Gorilla. Image Credit Visit Manchester.

The driving force of RFTC is the lead singer John ‘Speedo’ Reis, who owns the Swami record label and has also been in several other bands over the years including Pitchfork, Drive Like Jehu, Sultans, Night Marchers, Swami and Hot Snakes. In January 2018 I saw the last named act who serve up a more stripped down sound than RFTC where John was more in the background and during the first track dampened down the ‘Speedo’ chants from the admittedly sparse audience. They produced an urgent, vibrant and thoroughly enjoyable performance.   

On a cold January night in 2015 we trogged over to see Neneh Cherry for the first time. She was born in Sweden under the name of Neneh Mariann Karlsson and her half-brother is musician Eagle Eyed Cherry. She has punk heritage as a 15 year old member of the Slits and around that time roomed with lead singer Ari Up in a squat in Battersea. In 1989, she had a huge hit with ‘Buffalo Stance’ and has also dabbled in DJing and broadcasting.

She cut a spiky intriguing presence and was a veritable bundle on energy on stage and we very much enjoyed the show however we unfortunately had to scamper off early to guarantee we could catch a train home.   

The Slits. Image Credit billboard.com

Next up was Parquet Courts, a four piece from New York who met whilst at university in Texas. They were touring to support their fifth album ‘Human Performance’, for which the art and packaging of that particular release garnered a Grammy Award nomination.

Later that year, I had my latest dose of the unique Lovely Eggs who were in fine form. It was Gill’s first exposure to them, and she was swiftly converted. They were supported on the night by the Hornblower Brothers, who have nobody named Hornblower or any brothers in the lineup! What I can tell you is that they had more than a passing resemblance to Half Man Half Biscuit. A couple of years later in 2018 we saw the Eggs again there and they marked a milestone as it was the first time I reached a century of gigs in a calendar year.   

The next one on the roster was a band that I had been chasing for a long time, but events always seemed to conspire against me when they announced tour dates. The act in question was Mono, an instrumental band from Tokyo. They formed in 1999 and have released eleven albums in total, and my favourite is the epic titled ‘Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and the Sun Shined’. In 2005 they took the unusual route of releasing a split album with the aforementioned Pelican and restricted the recording to vinyl and only 4000 copies.

They have more of a lush classical sound then their post-rock compatriots. They are seated when they play live, but they are definitely not Westlife as they break into some noisy sonic guitar sounds when the muse takes them. The only remaining band of this ilk who I have still not seen is Built to Spill.

Mono were joint headliners with French post-rockers Alcest, who started originally as a black metal combo before moving into less abrasive territory, and their sound evoked comparisons with My Bloody Valentine.   

Mono on stage. Image Credit asiapacificarts.org

In April 2018 I witnessed the Madrid majesty of the Hinds. They were originally a two-piece called Deers but risked legal action from The Dears so changed the name to their current moniker, but to a degree retained the original as it can be translated in some languages to ‘female deers’. They then morphed into a four-piece and released 4 albums before resorting back to a duo in 2023.

They are firmly in the garage rock domain with lovely harmonies and were terrific fun and had a fine stage banter and presence. My most recent attendance at the venue was in 2025 to see the band again for a second time. In 2019 I had my second sighting of Fontaines DC who were very entertaining again and were supported by Cut the Mustard.

At the final ever Dot to Dot festival later that year I saw Crows who provided some thunderously loud abrasive post-punk. Their latest album ‘Reason Enough’ was recorded in a former Catholic church and convent in Stroud and their lead singer James recently fronted the band Humanist on their arena support slots for Depeche Mode. Finally in May 2024 I saw Maybeshewill, a post-rock band from Leicester who I enjoyed as much as the previous time I had seen them at the Ferret in Preston in 2011.

Now, for the very eagle-eyed (not Cherry!) among you, you will have noted that I have only documented seventeen gigs at the venue, the eighteenth I will document next time in its own specific article, and the reasons for this will then become apparent.