Music
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1982 was a very special year. My brother was born in the January, the Hacienda was born in May. And the rest is history. That said, history came alive Saturday night when the shutters flew up on what is now the Hacienda apartments car park, and 1000 of us flooded in (note a last minute…
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Me: fancy coming to see beatboxers perform Frankenstein? Him: (without missing a …beat) yeah And this reader is why I married him. On Tuesday I found myself part of a beatbox symphony. This is the same week that I got my first pair of prescription reading glasses. Balance redressed.. Contact theatre played host (and continues…
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Saturday 23 April was Sea Power appearing at Albert Hall, Manchester day. It was also St George’s Day. The two things are somewhat very tenuously related. They really are, stay with me. Last August, Sea Power announced that they were dropping the ‘British’ from their name. The reasons I completely understand, the fact that the…
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Last Friday 10 December saw the first of two Christmas concerts that day, given by the Northern Chamber Orchestra in Knutsford, And I was excited. But it won’t be the first time I’ve misjudged an entrance and it surely won’t be the last. It actually wasn’t even the first time I misjudged the entrance to…
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I have never been so ready for Christmas. Note when I say ready, I don’t mean the practicalities. No matter what I promise myself every year, I will never be that person who’s done, dusted and has Christmas wrapped up (figuratively and literally) by November. No, after Christmas was almost cancelled last year, any jadedness…
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My Dad was a professional museum, which led to him being away on tour a fair bit when I was growing up. ‘Gigs and digs’ were oft heard words in our house. And it’s all very rock and roll and glamorous, isn’t it? Well like everything, dig (not always deep) below the surface and there…
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Only a few days earlier, I’d enjoyed the wonder that was the Damon Albarn gig, as part of the very special Manchester International Festival. Friday it was back to GMEX (am I being tedious refusing to get upto date with this? Such a mouthful) and the space had been transformed into a very different place.…
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Remember that balmy day back in June 2018, when the socialising was anything but distant, substantial meals were for wimps masks were for gimps (it rhymes, I have no choice). And the mighty Sheds graced our tier-free little Castlefield Bowl in Manchester? I do, it was immense and now we can relive those blessed times…
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What do you mean there’s nothing to look forward to, we have no future, 2020 has nothing to offer us mancunians actuary, honorary or passing through (controversial – stick to your own tiered up towns, we’ve got enough problems). Retro rock and roll band, The Electric Stars, are bringing their brand new album, Velvet Elvis:…
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The world of music, in particular our own very special part of that world, here in Manchester, was recently rocked and hugely saddened by the news that hugely acclaimed, simply stunning, vocalist, Denise Johnson, had passed away. Best known for the two albums she recorded and toured with Primal scream in the 90s, Screamadelica and…
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I last wrote about the wonderful Northern Chamber Orchestra when I visited the rather lovely Stoller Hall for the first time, back in May 2018 – https://honorarymancblog.com/2018/05/18/the-northern-chamber-orchestra-mozart-and-elgar-and-beethoven-oh-my/ Yes I was rather taken with the acoustics of the environment and hall, and I’m not going to pretend to go down the ‘but was it the location…
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If you haven’t yet heard that Back to the Future The Musical (no less) is coming to Manchester’s Opera House on 20 February 2020, great Scott, you’d better make like a leaf and get outta here! Yes, I did that homage and I’m very proud of my little self… Starring Olly Dobson as Marty McFly…
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Some years ago, I visited the site where Julius Caesar was said to meet his maker. The Curia in the Theatre Of Pompey is not only a place of significant historical importance but much to my total and utter glee, a colony for feral cats. Cat lovers this is your Mecca, cat not-lovers probably give…
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Manchester International Festival is your opportunity to see something different. Something new, something especially commissioned, someone new, someone big… The Nico Project is the perfect case study of all of the above. The late Nico, real name Christa Paffgenmade, entered the musical zeitgeist in 1967 with The Velvet Underground, and the ‘show’ is inspired by…
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