Bringing you all the Live Reviews that matter since 1998

NOT CONTENT TO BE THE SAME
28 April 2011 / 42nd Street / Manchester
:: No Tokyo ::
Launching their EP, No Tokyo show that there will always be a place for their own brand of psychedelic indie-rock within this city and on the strength of tonight's performance there is much evidence to suggest that they will always be welcome.

TWATTING AN ANVIL WITH A BRUTAL DEATH HAMMER
29 April 2011 / Moho / Manchester
:: Beecher :: Trojan Horse :: NASDAQ ::
Manchester's underground metal heroes return with such a degree of intensity, ferocity and commitment that they’d make most young pretender ‘Ooh we’re so brutal’ metal acts soil their freshly laundered underpants.

LIVE AT LEEDS 2011
30 April 2011 / Various Venues / Leeds
:: The Twilight Sad :: Insect Guide :: Fight Like Apes :: Pulled Apart By Horses :: Dutch Uncles :: Post War Glamour Girls :: Still Corners :: Adult Jazz :: Bear Mask :: Milk White White Teeth :: GOLD ::
The sun's out for the first day of the Season. For the duration of May - a month which has started a day early this year - the nation's venues pulsate with more music than anyone can reasonably take in: This was some of it...

WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
18 April 2011 / The Deaf Institute / Manchester
:: Ghost Outfit :: Milk Maid :: Weird Era :: Lime Headed Dog ::
Three great local bands with echoes of different parts of the fertile pre-Britpop early nineties plus one visiting band with a wild imagination equals three quid well spent...

FAILSWORTH MASSIVE
21 April 2011 / The Ritz / Manchester
:: Exit Calm :: Puressence :: Loop Aznavour ::
The love Manchester still has for this band is unquestionable - from the sweaty throngs at the front raising arms aloft and crashing around like excited teenagers to the delighted faces looking down from the balcony.

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER
16 April 2011 / Academy 2 / Manchester
:: Asobi Seksu :: Rival Schools ::
Asobi Seksu walk the line between elegant power pop and dance-worthy indie rock; Rival Schools are effectively an emo-influenced-post-punk-with- hardcore-roots-supergroup - luckily tonight both can be more easily described as Very Good.

JAPANCHESTER!
14 April 2011 / Ruby Lounge / Manchester
:: Patterns :: Day For Airstrikes :: From The Kites Of San Quentin :: PLANK! :: Trojan Horse :: The Goddamn Electric ::
The day after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami struck, Trojan Horse's Nick Duke posted a message on Facebook asking if any bands would be up for doing a benefit gig - five weeks later, this is the quite outstanding result.

THIS IS A BLACKOUT, COMING TO YOUR TOWN
08 April 2011 / Academy 2 / Manchester
:: The Blackout :: The Swellers :: Hyro Da Hero ::
They might have ended their tour with a sold-out London show but the Welsh alt-rockers reckon Manchester was the best date, and the fans packing Academy 2 were equally enthusiastic...

1991 REWORKED FOR 2011
13 April 2011 / The Castle (Oldham St) / Manchester
:: 2:54 :: Echo Lake ::
Call it what you want - stoner; post-grunge; no-wave; slowcore - this isn't the sound you'd generally expect from two girls from London. And what's that name all about?

ERRORS GET IT RIGHT
09 April 2011 / Joshua Brooks / Manchester
:: Errors :: May 68 :: Techniques ::
"Shut up, there's a gig going on... we're here because we've got a single out and... it's good to play gigs when you're in a band." Having appeared at one of the very first Now Wave shows in 2008 Errors are back - and still quite strange...

THREE YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENTS
09 April 2011 / Gullivers / Manchester
:: Mammal Club :: Patterns :: Milk White White Teeth ::
In the week in which The Stone Roses didn't reform (OK, so that's every week since 1996, but it did look worryingly possible for about ten seconds) Underachievers serves up a reminder of why Manchester must look forward and not back.

THE BOTTOM LINE
08 April 2011 / Academy 1 / Manchester
:: Big Audio Dynamite :: Rotten Hill Gang ::
B.A.D. remain one of the few cases in musical history whereby someone has departed a legendary band and gone on to create music that's both commercially successful and genuinely innovative - so how do they sound a quarter of a century on?

WITCHCRAFT... IN A CHURCH!?
07 April 2011 / St Philip's Church / Salford
:: Esben And The Witch :: Polinski ::
For each person who understands the dark, sensual and spooky overtones of their music, there is another who dismisses them as overwrought hyperbole...

SOMETIME AROUND TUESDAY
05 April 2011 / Academy 2 / Manchester
:: The Kill Van Kulls :: The Airborne Toxic Event ::
Air-punching anthems, wild onstage energy and songs you find yourself singing along to even though you don't actually know them: terrible musical crimes or a great night out? We catch up with the band that puts the wind up miserable hipsters.

TOTALLY WIPED
01 April 2011 / Fuel, Withington / Manchester
:: Christopher Eatough :: Air Cav :: The Sun Electric Band ::
It may be April Fools Day but there's no trick or catch here at Fuel, just three great live sets for no entry fee courtesy of the fine folks at MCR Scenewipe.

BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS
02 April 2011 / Islington Mill / Salford
:: Earth :: Lori Goldston ::
A strip of wilderness on an evil night; some creature or some person is howling in pain and the sky is vast making you are aware of how small you are, how vulnerable and yet filled with wonder at a monstrous world. That is the sound of Earth.