Bringing you all the Live Reviews that matter since 1998

FISHHEADS ACOUSTIC TOUR
20 December 2010 / Band On The Wall / Manchester
:: Fish ::
Fish is one of the most charming and intelligent banterers in rock...

WILD AT HEART
19 December 2010 / Moho / Manchester
:: Eureka Machines :: Ginger & Friends :: Laika Dog ::
I hate New Year’s resolutions...

A FAB NIGHT
18 December 2010 / Hammersmith Apollo / London
:: Paul McCartney ::
Britain's most successful and enduringly popular living musical entertainer gives fans young and old a Wonderful Christmas Time (and 31 other songs) - thumbs aloft!

ELECTRIC SHOCK
15 December 2010 / Academy 1 / Manchester
:: The Human League :: Performance ::
In his final live review of the year, David Edwards looks back at 2010 and indeed the early 80s with the old and the new faces of British electronic pop music squaring off against each other in a cascade of glitter and gold.

FESTIVE RESPITE
18 December 2010 / Odder / Manchester
:: Nolan Watkinson ::
It's the Saturday before Christmas and the choice is shopping insanity and frozen-on snow or some stripped-down strung-out space blues and mulled cider...

THE BIGGEST CULT BAND IN THE WORLD?
11 December 2010 / Manchester Central / Manchester
:: Arcade Fire ::
Their promotion into the stratosphere of mainstream music is as much a shock as it is a delight, yet the band have reached this platform by virtue of continued brilliance, nothing else.

THEY REALLY HAVE THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING...
13 December 2010 / RNCM / Royal Northern College Of Music / Manchester
:: Everything Everything :: James Blake ::
In the centre sits the familiar toolkit of an indie band, to the left the stalls of a string section, to the right the music stands for the brass accompaniments and some unfeasibly sized orchestral percussion behind. This is already spectacular.

COLD OUTSIDE
04 December 2010 / An Outlet / Manchester
:: Eleanor Lou :: Niven Ganner :: Mammal Club ::
Sumptuous as a cup of hot chocolate, as warm and inviting in opposites to the biting cold outside...

INDECENT EXPOSURES
15 December 2010 / Sound Control / Manchester
:: Orange Goblin :: Solace :: Firebird ::
...most of all, I was delighted that Orange Goblin had utterly raped my ears

TRJIPS ON SHJIPS
10 December 2010 / St Philip's Church / Salford
:: Wooden Shjips :: Frankie Rose And The Outs ::
There's none of the twatting about and extended rambling that can make some of their fellow 21st century space-rockers rather tedious live, they just get up there and do an hour or so of trippily fluid drone which is never less than sublime.

GOING UP UP UP
07 December 2010 / The Ritz / Manchester
:: Echo & The Bunnymen ::
Fact one is that I last saw the Bunnymen on my birthday in January 1988, so this is something of blast from the past and a re-acquaintance

MISSING A BEAT
06 December 2010 / Academy 1 / Manchester
:: The Drums :: Violens ::
There might well be a pack of pulsating, bouncing hormones down the front but you don't have to step back too far - roundabout the front end of the bar - to find an atmosphere closer to the moon's: the hype bubble bursts here.

RETURN OF THE REBELS
05 December 2010 / Academy 1 / Manchester
:: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club :: The Duke Spirit ::
Black noise, white light and gloriously dirty distortion: they ask "Whatever Happened To My Rock'n'Roll?", we say it damn near blew the walls out.

TAKE FIVE
04 December 2010 / The Roadhouse / Manchester
:: City Reign :: Santiago Street Machine :: Echodeck :: Lisbon :: The Syndicate ::
Saturday night in December, and it's good to see a decent number of people in the Roadhouse who would rather watch unknown artists playing their own songs live on instruments, than doing Auto-tuned karaoke covers on the telly...

LEGENDS OF GRINDCORE
03 December 2010 / Club Academy (Academy 4) / Manchester
:: Napalm Death :: Immolation :: Macabre ::
If Immolation kicked arse, then words almost fail to describe the intensity with which Napalm Death took to the stage.

WE'RE STILL HERE
02 December 2010 / Star and Garter / Manchester
:: The Longcut :: King Tree & The Roots :: Well Wisher ::
They've still got it, whatever it is. In terms of a live act, they've actually got more of "it" now than they did in the heady days of sold-out Academy 3s and the like. How the hell did The Longcut get forgotten?