Music & Gigs

I’m more angry now than I was thirty years ago.  There’s a lot more to get angry about. As a northern poet more closely aligned with the colour red than blue, you’ll forgive me if I was a little bit excited to meet the social surrealist rebel poet and songwriter, Attila the Stockbroker – aka John Baine – on Sunday at the Pump and Truncheon.  He was in town to perform his poetry at the hugely popular punk festival, Rebellion.  We had planned to meet on the Friday but John decided there was no point in us meeting up until…

This weekend, Blackpool hosts the annual Rebellion Festival and will see the town transformed into a punk paradise. Rebellion is a firm favourite on the Blackpool musical calendar and thousands are expected from across the globe. Thursday night sees the first of the Rebellion after shows take place at The Tache with live music from Fight Back, The Zipheads, Social Schism and At The Edge from 11pm onwards. Friday afternoon begins with Mauri Clash live at The Galleon on Abingdon Street from 4pm followed by Blest Mess from 6.30pm, Slutch from 8pm and Laura Catlow at 9.30pm taking you right…

Under blue skies on a pleasant, if breezy, evening in leafy Lytham around 10,000 festival goers gathered on Lytham Green for the musical highlight of the year. Started in 2010, the first Proms was a ‘one-night-stand’ organised to commemorate the Battle of Britain’s 70th Anniversary.  Soprano Lesley Garrett appeared and the concert was such a success, sold out in fact, that the festival organisers Daniel Cuffe and Peter Taylor realised that the Fylde Coast was ready for the festival experience. In 2011 we saw Status Quo, Katherine Jenkins and Boyzone each headline their own evening.  Last year brought a theme…

From the murk of a messy night, one memory prevails from when The Blue Room closed its doors: yours truly and the 'Wisdom that is Oz' standing outside those double-doors, regaling passing punters with the middle section of Sweet Child of Mine. You know the bit: ‘Where do we go? Where do we go now? Where do we go?’ Ever since the Bluey shut, that’s been the prevailing question. Any given evening in Blackpool you can spot the refugees, staring wide-eyed and forlorn into the distance, stumbling down the high-street, almost indistinguishable from the folks that’ll tax you for 20p;…

Poulton’s best live music venue, The Old Town Hall, is hosting Rock the Mic: Kai’s Big Weekend, a jam-packed session of local bands, performers and quality entertainers all in aid of the Kai’s New Legs Appeal. All acts are working for free in aid of this great cause, their usual fees being donated to the fundraising pot. Friday 2 August will kick off at 9 pm and include music from The Heat and the Keytars, followed by Kazzobian and Shiver on the Saturday at 8:30pm.  The big event will conclude Sunday from 7pm with live music from Jekyll, The People,…

Up and coming acoustic musicians will be taking centre stage on Saturday 10 August at a beautifully cosy gig in Thornton Little Theatre, brought to you by Sean McGinty and ‘BBC Introducing Lancashire’.  The show aims to bring new, independent upcoming artists to a wider audience, bringing down some of the pre-existing barriers that can prevent them being heard. I asked Sean how did the show end up deciding upon our great little theatre for their first live broadcast gig and he explained that as a part of the show they had wanted to get about the area more and…

I think it's fair to say that Blackpool is enjoying some very good music at the moment. The venues for playing live may have taken a bit of hit recently however, the evidence presented at the Moth Open Mic nights at the Queens in Layton, hosted by Karima Francis, proves that the musical talent in this part of the world is flourishing quite nicely indeed. The latest in a long line of tuneful brilliance is from the Fylde. Though many who know the sound would say The Half Earth are from Sheffield , those who know Conor Stephenson know where…

At the end of July I had the pleasure of sitting in the assembly hall at Montgomery High School for the start of the year seven literary festival.  The school had a variety of creative types to describe their career and show how the English language helps them in what they do.  As well as a very funny comedian, a go-getter journalist and a flash advertising copy-writer (and me, representing the poetry posse) there was the rather special singer/song-writer, Russ Erwin.  He didn't talk a lot on the stage, he used his time up there to blow us away instead. …

When I wrote the preview to the this show all I had to go on was the other reviews, the press release and my own knowledge of the music. I had no idea how good it was going to be. To satisfy musically, they had to be very competent and in time. I couldn't imagine how they were going to pull off what they had promised. Taking my seat in this magnificent theatre and looking at the number of instruments set up on the stage I was even less convinced that they could do this. The slightly apprehensive applause as…