The opening 7 seconds of ‘All for One’ is unmistakably Stone Roses…. Listen to it, flit to the intro of ‘Waterfall’, flit back again to the intro of ‘All for One’, unmistakeably, enticingly, Stone Roses (I realise that is probably quite a geeky thing to have done). A slow, teasing, suspenseful opening gambit, I could feel my heart aflutter with delight. The Stone Roses know how to open a tune, and they’re back with one after 21 years.

Now then. I was one of those kids. The Stone Roses arrive on the scene during my formative musical years (playing havoc with my A level results, but never mind) and I loved them, I mean adored. First gig, Blackpool Empress Ballroom 1989, second gig, ‘Second Coming’ tour – the Apollo, third gig – our work Christmas party – free tickets to the Stone Roses at Sheffield Arena supported by Black Grape (all my Christmasses HAD come at once). At the time, my workmate commented, “I am more excited to see how excited you are about this gig than I am excited about the gig”.

So you can imagine my mounting anticipation of the rumours of a gig, but more excitingly, new material. Loved the ubiquitous lemon logo tease campaign around Manchester and then, ‘All for One’, the first Stone Roses release for 21 years. I was nervous; I have an attachment to this band and I wanted to love it, but did they still have it?

I listened in anxious anticipation. The opening 7 seconds – oh yes, they still had it alright in captivating bucket loads. Then it just got better as enter stage right: Mr John Squires…. and the magic has been recreated. It’s tempting to gush on for many a paragraph about the genius of Squires. You’ve heard the adjectives before: slick, fluid, tight, seamless, effortless, beautiful riffs… god, his guitar playing, it’s a joy to the ears. All true, and here Mr Squires proves he most definitely has still got it – even more so.

Whilst it’s still an indie tune and I want my Stone Roses to remain an indie band, it’s funked up, rocky indie. There are fluid riffs, head nodding drums, and identifiable Stones Roses resolution and discord to the tune.

Ian Brown too retains his discernible Mancness, BUT and it is the only but, but it’s a big one – lyrically, the tune lacks for me. And this means I like the tune a lot, but I don’t love it. The Stone Roses have put down some memorable words in their career, but ‘All for One’s’ lyrics lacks depth for me. I read that the tune is about the fact they’re back together; they’re a team again, having healed old wounds at Mani’s mum’s funeral. This is a touching tale, and I love the fact their comeback single is honest and pays homage to this reconciliation, maybe they don’t say too much as it’s a private affair, but more lyrical complexity really would’ve made this a golden nugget of a return single. I wait in anticipation for their next tune as this is a tasty start.

Acclaimed British composer John Metcalfe brought three musicians and a mighty array of electronic gear to the intimate and atmospheric gig room at The Castle on Oldham Street. Respected as a composer of contemporary music, arranger of pop songs and creator of genre-crossing electronic musical soundscapes, Metcalfe is a fully-fledged conservatoire musician who clearly enjoys slinging a guitar round his neck and playing to a sweaty crowd in an old-fashioned pub venue. On paper his music may sound rather art-house, but in the flesh it was an utterly convincing display of live music which was clearly enjoyed by a crowd of ‘proper music’ fans. The band demonstrated impressive technical skills, conjured heady moods and gave a virtuosic performance across many styles of music, with Metcalfe as a sorcerer-like figure at the front. With only upright bass, drums, loops and vocals to back John Metcalfe’s own contribution on viola, guitar and keyboards, the sound of a huge orchestra filled the small room. The crystal clear soundscape they produced was a considerable technical achievement.

Rosie Doonan’s beautiful and breathy vocals brought a human but also ethereal sound on certain tracks, her voice more like an instrument adding another layer than a vehicle for elaborated lyrics which detract from the music. This was part of a determined attempt by the composer not to have singalong choruses or narratives, and to focus on sound, which for a composer associated with minimalist music, is an imperative. Much of the music was mild and meandering in character, with simple single note lines interweaving in slowly changing formation. But certainly there were fiery moments. The muscular sound of Ali Friend on upright bass and the hard-edged beats of Daisy Palmer on drums cooked up pulsing dance rhythms which made the crowd dance and flail their arms.

Metcalfe himself is an instrumentalist completely in control of the instruments he uses; every note was perfectly executed and shimmered through the prism of electronic delays and loops. But it was not about personalities, and in a self-effacing conversation after the gig, he explained his lifelong fascination with…. well, the sound of music. It is the music itself rather than the egos of the players that shone through, all parts meshing together into a rich, multi-layered weave. If sounds can shine, then this band certainly made them. In discussion, John Metcalfe explained that as a viola player in classical situations, you don’t get to play the ‘top line’ very often, so his view of music has always been looking out from the works as it were. This explains his mastery of textures, and his comparative disregard for obvious melodies or formulaic structures such as verse, chorus, middle eight or the like. This may not of course appeal to all ears; a great deal of conventional music of many kinds is built on formulaic use of tension and release, discord and resolution. Audiences like big anthemic melodies and dramatic solos on their favourite instruments, whether it’s Yehudi Menuhin or Carlos Santana. Thus there were times in this music when I felt I was waiting for something to happen. But what Metcalfe undoubtedly does with total integrity is present exquisite sounds to the ear, and almost say to the listener: my music is the question not the answer, you make of it what you will. Undoubtedly, he had this audience on his side from the outset. Further and perhaps more importantly, Metcalfe is one of the great, successful exponents of the new eclecticism of contemporary music. It was not very long ago that musicians from different traditions treated each other’s music as alien, and were suspicious or even disdainful about genres other than their own. Happily now, chart, art, jazz, classical and world musicians are respectful and open-minded about each other’s work and for the rest of us, this can only enrich the world of music and inspire the next generation of musicians.

And so to the music for the night. First of all I have to give a big shout out to The Whiskey Jar for the quality of their open-mic. night. There was a string of unbelievably good amateur performers extolling a huge variety of styles to an incredibly high standard that kept the audience engaged, enraptured and excited throughout the night. If you are a performer looking for a good night to show your abilities at, where you’ll meet musicians that will inspire and stretch you to improve yourself, then this is the one for you. Equally, if you’re bored of your local pub’s string of half-assed, deluded wannabees, and want some quality from your open-mic. night, then get down to this one on a Tuesday evening and you’re in for a treat.

Bare Knuckle Parade didn’t disappoint either and gave a spirited and animated set of about six songs that slotted in well to the oeuvre of the evening. Unlike the previous performances of theirs that I’ve seen online, this one was much more subdued, understated and nuanced and somewhat the better for it, in my opinion. I think they may have adopted their style to suit the smaller stage, closely related to the audience, in a small bar setting, rather than the bigger gigs they’ve been doing of late. Or, it may just have been an aspect of the way they’re developing and growing as a band, or just an experimental one-off, who knows? The set was much more acoustically based and quieter than their normal high-energy, raucous affairs. Perhaps the absence of the enthusiastic Bath crowd contributed to the quieter approach, but they were well received by the Mancunians present and gave a very good account of themselves.

The highlight of the set was ‘Diamond Eyes’, their single and well-known crowd-pleaser, a very strong melodic song. Their vocal and instrumental harmonisation was very evident, very pleasing and suited to the ambience of where they were playing. Their Celtic influences and style were very much to the fore, and they used the small space available in which they had to play, extremely well, getting intimate and close-up with the audience, bringing the songs and the melody into their laps. Their frontman Jamie is an accomplished showman and performer, and they came across as a band that are thoroughly enjoying plying their trade, honing their skills, garnering audience support and living the life of an up-and-coming band on-the-road.

There were subdued and subtle moments within the set, atmospheric instrumental interludes and the strength and melodic force of their songs came through throughout. Despite the fact that they play a genre of music that’s not personally my cup of tea, I enjoyed their performance and can see that they will have a wide appeal to a young crowd raised on the likes of Mumford and Sons and their ilk. They are a very tight outfit, well-rehearsed, a proper band in that they play for each other as well as for an audience and their songwriting ability, in terms of turning out songs that grab your melodic and vocal attention quickly and thoroughly is beyond doubt. They’re a lovely bunch of lads and I wish them well in their burgeoning career. If they keep developing their songs, styles and stagecraft at the same rate that they have since their inception, there should be interesting and fruitful times ahead for them.

Sometimes I like to just listen to new music or see bands and see what happens. This night was one of these times. My decision to review this gig was based on a quick skim of the press blurb and listening to around 15 seconds of a Tav Falco track. It became clear that both of these had given me an entirely wrong expectation of what I was going to hear but what the hey.

The Ruby Lounge was worryingly empty when I first arrived and it hadn’t filled up that much when Creeping Heat came on, not that that seemed to worry them that much. You have to respect a band who can play their hearts out to such a small number of people.

This seems to happen all the time, there’s two or three support bands listed and people don’t bother turning up in time to see the first act on. If you turn up you might hear something good people, please support support bands. Rant over.

Creeping Heat, to my mind, have a bit of that psych garage thing going on. There’s a twang to the guitar sound, pounding tribal-ish drums and shouted vocals. But what vocals, the singer has this deep throaty rasp that is actually quite disturbing, I honestly have no idea quite how he does it without causing physical damage. Their songs range from solo period Roky Erickson sounding psych blues to psycho-billy sounding tracks. They do throw in some post-punk guitar sounds into the mix as well.

For me the standouts in their set were a track that had no words, just sounds that alternated between these ‘cutesy’ sounding squeals and that rasping growl, with some really nice post-punk guitar. And a slow slow sultry track that builds to a crescendo.

I don’t think the sound was doing Creeping Heat any favours to be honest – even after they asked for some tweaks – but I did get some flashes of something special. A band I’d like to see again I think.

I was intrigued to see a keyboard being set up centre stage for the next act but this in no way prepared for me for what I heard. James Leg is brilliant. There is just him and a drummer. Yep that’s right just a couple of keyboards and a drummer, but when you can produce the sounds he plays on a keyboard who needs things with strings. There’s a classic organ sound, squeals of feedback and sounds I don’t have the words to describe. There were times during his all too short set that I could swear blind that there was a hidden guitarist off stage.

OK so I know it’s all done with effects but it sounds organic, it’s dirty. In my notes I have the word ‘swampy’ written large and this is the only way I can describe it. His songs may be based in southern rock, blues and even country but there’s this swampy, dirty, even punky, edge to them. And, before I forget, vocally it’s great, he has a fabulous voice.

Musically there’s real skill here. The communication between him and the drummer is great and his keyboard playing is brilliant. Visually it’s fabulous – he rocks and writhes over his keyboards, long hair flailing. I swear he even throws in poses for the photographers during the songs.

I urge you to go and see him the next time he’s back in our area.

And finally on to our headliner Tav Falco’s Panther Burns. The set opens with the band – who are brilliant – running through ‘Green Onions’ before Tav appears. He doesn’t walk onto the stage he ‘dances’ onto the stage.

The set consists of a covers of country, blues, rock ‘n’ roll and hillbilly songs, all of which are given the Panther Burns feel. This is to give it that guitar twang thang. There’s a couple of psych pop songs (think Strawberry Alarm Clock) which I think were originals although I can’t be sure, some of the songs were introduced as Panther Burns’ originals.

To be honest it took me a while to ‘get’ Tav Falco’s Panther Burns. But it did dawn on me eventually that this is a show, the whole thing is a ‘performance’. Once I got that the show suddenly started working for me, it was hugely fun. If I had bothered actually doing rather more than just skimming the press blurb I have found that that the show is usually called a Revue which would have made it obvious to me right from the start. Given that it’s a ‘show’ Tav’s sometimes rather mannered song intros and the rather strange dancing he does make complete sense.

So, I hear you asking, what was the music like. What it didn’t sound like is parody. The Panther Burns’ reworkings of the covers were interesting and Tav has a really good voice. They bought a new sound to the songs that really worked.

The small but extremely enthusiastic audience were clearly enjoying it hugely. They spotted another reviewer in the audience and there were loud shouts of ‘five stars, it’s a five star show’. I wouldn’t dare disagree.

More photos from the night

Creeping Heat

James Leg

Tav Falco’s Panther Burns

By the time I got into the venue, the very pretty surroundings of Chorlton’s St Clements, a quaint and notably diminutive parish church, the opening support Mad Winter had, by this point, unfortunately left the stage. However, as luck would have it, the second support of the evening False Advertising were already mid-session and warming up the gathering crowd nicely. Fronted by a female lead (Jen Hingley), who, part way through the gig, retired to the drums, allowing co-lead (Chris Warr) to get behind the mike—a quirky facet of their performance style—they offered up a honed, evocative and engaging selection of melodic tunes and accomplished Garage Rock. This as an entrée to the main event was particularly well received and, by the time the headliners arrived on stage, the crowd, now fully gathered, were suitably beer-sodden and more than ready to pogo the night away. Which they did with gusto, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

And so to PINS, a young band full of vim and terse Mancunian attitude, whose months on tour have obviously served them well. As this was an utterly polished performance. For, as far as I could see anyway, they were the master technicians, the faultless puppeteers, and the drunken loons pogoing like nutters in the heart of the chapel, their unwitting marionettes. And, just like banshees on a mission, PINS preceded to rip right through their riotous set; an orchestrated whirlwind carrying the siren’s call of album favourites ‘Dazed By You’, ‘Curse These Dreams’, ‘Got It Bad’ and ‘Baby Bhangs’. And the crowd surfing! What a sight to behold, a cherubic, or, maybe on second thoughts I really ought to say, a demonic Faith Holgate, lifted on high as though she herself were a votive in a sacrificial offering. And lastly, it seems I have the overwhelming need to give an extra special nod to PINS drummer, Sophie Galpin. Her stabbing beats and rolling tom-toms, a mesmerising combination reminiscent of New Order and their man in the saddle, the very gifted Stephen Morris, made me feel very much at home. Thank you ladies for an exceptionally good night.

Special thanks to Urszula Karolina for providing such fantastic photos.

Firstly, I should admit that until two days ago this two-time Grammy award winning, multi-platinum selling a capella group had completely escaped my attention. Secondly, my knowledge of a capella groups extends to 1980’s pop sensations The Flying Pickets and that’s about it. So, it was with some trepidation that I set off to watch Pentatonix – or PTX as their fans affectionately refer to them.

The Albert Hall is a truly impressive venue, with its concert hall framed elegantly with huge stained glass windows. I’ve seen many bands play here — from Interpol to Father John Misty to the frankly terrifying Die Antwoord and it’s safe to say that the Albert Hall makes any gig feel special and intimate despite its 2000 capacity. Tonight the sold out venue is packed with excited fans well before the support act takes to the stage. It’s a mixed crowd ranging from very young children and their parents to teenagers and upwards. It’s clear that Pentatonix have a diverse fanbase, later in the evening I spoke with members of a church group who were well into their 60’s and the LGBT community was also loudly represented.

Support comes from Us The Duo, husband and wife Michael and Carissa Alvarado. The pair showcase their musical talents, alternating between vocals and beatboxing, playing keyboard, bass and guitar and various percussion instruments; if the audience’s reaction is anything to go by, it’s a winning combination. The duo work through a number of covers including Adele’s ‘Hello’ and Johnny Cash’s ‘Hold Me til the Morning Comes’ – the latter, in particular, appreciated by some of the older members of the crowd. Before they perform an original composition, ‘No Matter Where You Are’, Carissa excitedly informed us that the song lyrics are their wedding vows sang by the pair on their wedding day. Engaging and bubbly, the couple managed to hold the audience’s attention throughout the whole performance, often rare for a support act. The audience erupted into a huge singalong when Rhianna’s ‘We Found Love’ was covered and the happy couple exited the stage to rapturous applause.

A combination of rare Manchester sunshine and those huge stained glass windows led to extremely high temperatures inside the building. Bar staff were despatched with water into the mostly drink-free crowd. Despite the fact I’d never heard of them, it was clear that Pentatonix have a large and enthusiastic following. The five vocalists who make up Pentatonix are Avi Kaplan, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Avi Kaplan and Kevein Olusola. Hailing from Texas, the group were winners of ‘The Sing Off’ an American television a cappella singing competition in 2011 and have gone from strength to strength since. They are currently in the middle of a world tour which finishes in November in their home state.

The heat didn’t appear to be affecting anybody’s energy levels or ability to scream prior to them taking the stage. A chant of ‘PTX! PTX! PTX!’ gradually grew louder and louder until the five piece made their entrance, launching straight into ‘Cracked’ which had a soulful, gospel feel to it complete with hand clapping.

The cover of OMI’s ‘Cheerleader’ was another big hit with the audience. At times it was a struggle to hear the band’s vocals above the many a capella wannabes in the crowd. Admittedly, it was difficult to refrain from attempting some harmonies or, at the very least, singing along. As a result there were many good natured sing offs and members of the audience seemingly attempting to recreate their own versions of Pentatonix. The acoustics of the Albert Hall, once a chapel, is perfect for a cappella. On some of the quieter numbers, the harmonies and blend of voices work perfectly whereas, unfortunately, this is lost during some of the more upbeat numbers, mainly due to the audience reaction drowning the sound out.

Us The Duo made another appearance when they were invited to collaborate on ‘If I Ever Fall in Love’, their vocals adding another dimension to the song. Demonstrating the versatility of the group, Olusola took to the stage alone to play a Bach number. The electric cello is accompanied with beat boxing for this number, a technique he refers to as ‘cello boxing’ and, for me, this is one of the highlights although I sense tonight’s audience prefer the more upbeat numbers. Pentatonix interact with their fans throughout – acknowledging two audience member’s birthdays and inviting another five fans onto the stage to sing ‘Misbehavin’ which works surprisingly well. Things really step up a gear when Maldonado steps forward to take the lead vocal on another original composition called ‘Water’. With her vocal range and ability to convey genuine emotion, I would suggest that she is an underused member of the group.

Social media clearly plays a massive part in maintaining Pentatonix’s connection with their fans, their Youtube channel has over 10.5 million subscribers which has been significant in contributing to their success. There are numerous references to their Twitter accounts and Snapchat and selfies are taken whilst performing with their fans. This whiff of insincerity begins to irritate me after a while. Or maybe I’m just old fashioned and out of touch. There’s no denying, however, that Pentatonix are a talented bunch and it’s clear that their fans adore them. They have obvious cross-generational appeal and it was good to witness families out watching a gig together. Theirs is certainly different to a lot of music in the charts; it will be interesting to see if interest in them can be sustained or whether the novelty will wear off once the next band with a gimmick comes along.