For several years, the Homegrown festival at Bury Met, with its associated Folk Expo industry event, has been one of the most significant dates on the international folk and roots music calendar. English folk music is now an...
Read MoreThe band walks onto the stage accompanied by the mighty Rainbow’s Since You’ve Been Gone. Since they’ve only really been gone about four years, you’d be forgiven for thinking this reunion tour is a bit optimistic. As Mark...
Read MorePeter Hook and The Light treated a packed Manchester Ritz to some seldom-heard pleasures last week. New Order’s Low-Life and Brotherhood were each given a rare run-out, with the evening beginning with a selection of Joy Division...
Read MoreThe crowd here at Manchester’s Ritz is a right old mix – there are your 17-year-old girls obviously (and no shortage of 17-year-old boys, I have to say) but also folk old enough to be Jake Bugg’s grandparents....
Read MoreFrom the darkness appears a shaman anointing the air with his beaded rattle, his trancelike state allowing him access to the spirit worlds where he channels the crowds’ energies into his own ritualistic ecstasy. He shakes...
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