Review
Reviews of Liverpool music, restaurants, bars and more
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The Best Things To Do In Liverpool For Chinese New Year
To celebrate this year’s Chinese New Year a three day celebration will take place across Liverpool’s Chinatown; an area of Liverpool adorned by an iconic Chinese Arch, that was gifted to the city in 2010 by twin city, Shanghai; The largest outside of China itself. Lighting up the Chinese Arch, the Black-E and The Arch, there will be projections, music and lighting, that together will tell the story of Liverpool’s incredible Chinese history and culture.…
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Esme Bridie’s Melodic Voice Blossoms on Debut Album ‘Today It Rains’
Not many new singer-songwriters can say they’ve received international airplay, but for Esme Bridie, her angelic vocals and folky music has already been warming hearts across the UK and beyond. Hailing from Merseyside and studying at Leeds College of Music, the young singer’s debut album, Today It Rains, is set for release in February through independent Liverpool music label, Klee Music. The singer’s freshness that comes with her youth offers a spark of vitality to…
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Ping Pong House Party Returns To Constellations
Ping Pong House Party returns after the Christmas break. With free-to-use ping pong tables, giant jenga, house party vibes, beer pong, and fantastic drink offers, this will be the place to be on a Wednesday night! Imagine teaming a club night with a ping pong social…well now you can! So expect bats, beats and beverages and bring your stamina, as the tournaments are set to get heavy. Free entry but register your attendance through Skiddle. 31st January, 2018 Constellations, Liverpool…
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Debut Single by New Kids on the Block, Skinner’s Lane, is a Triumphant Indie Opener
Liverpool’s given us many great musicians over the years, from The Beatles and Frankie Goes to Hollywood, to newer bands such as The Wombats and The Zutons. Like many bands that have gone before them, new-kids-on-the-block, Skinner’s Lane, don’t originally hail from the city; rather the city brought them together. The three-piece – comprising Zak Langford-Do, Rob Holland, and James Kerr – have roots beyond the city, but if their debut single is anything to…
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Craft Taproom team with Signature Living to feed city’s homeless population
Liverpool’s craft beer and hotdog joint Craft Taproom will be working alongside Signature Living to provide free food for the people staying at the Hatton Garden Temporary Homeless Shelter, donating a meal for every one they sell at their Smithdown Road bar until the end of January. Craft Taproom will be donating the profits from their food sales towards the shelter and will be regularly dropping off hot food at least once a week – as well as cakes and…
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Astles – Full Of Wonder EP: Review
Frankly, this is a collection of compositions which highlight the rich promise of the producer, which I am assuming is Dan Astles. Production wise, it is about evocative risk taking to convey the intensity of the songs. But, isn’t this what the art of musical production is about? That magical ingredient, the nuanced insight that elevates the composition to the listener? Astles, to these ears – its always subjective until you yourself are in a…
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Pop-up Pug Cafe Is Coming To Liverpool
Pug Cafe & HUS have joined forces to invite pugs and their humans to visit the pop up Pug Cafe on Saturday 20th January 2018. HUS will be transformed into puggy paradise and if you’re a proud pug or pug cross owner (pugs, jugs, pugzus, pugaliers and more all welcome) then you can bring your curly-tailed pals to the cafe to meet some new puggy friends and tuck into some delicious doggy treats. There will…
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There’s A Massive Six Day Winter Festival Coming To Camp & Furnace – With Guaranteed Snow!
Leading city venue Camp and Furnace have announced their plans for a giant indoor winter festival today and they promise snow every day of the event – even when it’s not forecast! Launching on Monday 18th December and running for six days until Saturday 23rd December, Snö Garden is a seasonal spin on the venue’s popular Nightgarden event, which combines music, drinks and live music. Billed as an event for the whole family, Snö Garden…
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Spark ‘Lemonade’ Single Review
Let’s aim straight for the bullseye. I just love the way this tune starts with a can being opened and someone slurping down a drink – presumably lemonade. But don’t be caught out by such a jokey start, as this is a really well thought out production to a quirky off beat composition. And well worth play-list rotation. The whole enterprise works so well, from the arch lyrics, the louche laid back delivery of front…
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The Long Finger Bandits’ New Single ‘Black Delilah’ is a Haunting Cabaret
Sometimes bands can’t be neatly packaged into a certain genre of music, and this couldn’t be truer for Long Finger Bandits. Switching from mellow folk and enchanting gypsy sounds to a boisterous jazz percussion and a dabble of punk, all in a dizzying whirl, the five-piece seems to be without musical limits. They are no strangers to testing boundaries and dipping their toes into different waters. After a series of live performances over the past…
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The Merchant Is Celebrating The 25th Anniversary of F.R.I.E.N.D.S With A Huge Quiz
Can you tell us one person who hasn’t seen and doesn’t love Friends? Well now is the time to prove just how much you love them, in the ultimate F.r.i.e.n.d.s Quiz taking place at Liverpool bar The Merchant. Unbelievably, F.r.i.e.n.d.s is celebrating is almost 25 years old so what better way to celebrate the classic 90’s, endlessly quotable show. So if you know the answer to vital questions like What’s Chandler Bing’s job? then we think…
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Sugarmen’s Debut Album, Local Freaks, is Full of Indie Bliss
Not many new bands can hold the crown of supporting some of Britain’s most prolific artists so early on in their musical career. But, for Liverpudlian four-piece, Sugarmen, their slot supporting Blur at London’s Hyde Park a few summers ago was just the start of something special. Since then, the band have been collecting accolades as easily as picking up bruises in a mosh pit. Since first hitting the music scene back in 2013, the…
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The Jjohns ‘Lucy’ Single Review
Some tracks just sneak up on you, passively, and work their way into your musical memory like a slowly undulating ear-worm. And then, there are tracks like Lucy, which as polar opposite, kick in the door and demand priority access to your own personal musical archive. Lucy is loud, confident, immediate and irresistibly anthemic. It is the resulting acoustic splinter when an aspect of Liverpool musical heritage is accelerated, hadron collider-like, into the legacy of Oasis…
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Things To Do In Liverpool This Halloween
Farmageddon (Now until 31st October) Farmageddon is a Merseyside Halloween staple, with even more scares than ever before. For its eleventh year there’s more happening than ever with 5 unique scare zones to enjoy or not enjoy as the case may be. More info and tickets here Ottersghoul (Otterspool Adventure Centre) 28th – 31st October Ottersghoul will put participants nerves to the test as they embark on a journey around the adventure park undertaking on…
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Siobhan Wilson Live At 81 Renshaw: Review
81 Renshaw is a venue extremely well suited to host a Siobhan Wilson gig, especially when it is to promote her new album, There Are No Saints. The venue is compact and intimate, and works beautifully in portraying works with sparse, intricate arrangements. Hence Siobhan Wilson’s new album, one of haunting beauty, intricate and delicate, is in the perfect environment to allow her compositions to breathe and let her voice – yes that beautiful voice…
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The Jackobins Latest Single Brims With Energy, Proving Summer’s Not Yet Over
It’s been an exciting few months for The Jackobins. After playing a handful of sets at festivals throughout the summer – including Reading and Leeds, Kendal Calling, and Isle of Wight Festival – the four-piece have just this month announced their deal with the UK independent record label, Zy Records. To coincide with this, new single ‘Outside’ is set for official release on 22nd September. The single has already received airtime on BBC Introducing on…
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Festival No.6 Review
Festival No.6 returned for its sixth year last weekend with a packed music, arts and cultural feast in the picturesque Welsh village of Portmeirion. It’s a festival that brings something refreshing to the festival scene with the unique surroundings of the village, Castell Park and Gardens, seafront and woodlands, there’s something to discover around every turn. The Castell Gardens could be described as the most typical part of the festival, home to the main stage…
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THE MUSIC MANUAL PRESENTS…SUMMER SHINDIG FULL LINE UP REVEALED
To celebrate five years of the award shortlisted music blog, The Music Manual will host a Summer Shindig, which will bring together all that is good about Liverpool’s ever growing music industry over the August Bank Holiday Weekend. The Music Manual Presents series over the last few years have featured artists such as Blossoms, Purple Heart Parade and Kashmere. The full line up for the event will feature; Nick Ellis, Edgar Jones, Mike Murphy (The…
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Soulful Barney Goodall Lets His Alt-Pop Sound Shine On ‘Fallen Love’
Barney Goodall is bringing something different to the Liverpool music scene with intelligent, thought-provoking alt-pop. His latest track ‘Fallen Love’ is a testament of that, with a dreamy electronic beat and clever, attention grabbing lyrics. Goodall hints at Radiohead and David Bowie influences whilst telling tales of love, loss and heartache. Following on from his previous track, the atmospheric ‘Golden Age’, the follow up is another slice of tense alt-pop music that features Goodall’s mature…
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Liverpool Comedy Festival 2017 Line Up Revealed
Top comedians from around the UK will be descending on Liverpool for two weeks to turn the funniest city in the UK into the funniest city across the world. This year’s festival will welcome some of the biggest names on the comedy scene including Rob Brydon, Micky Flanagan, Greg Davies and Jerry Sadowitz. They will be complemented by the very best of home-grown Scouse talent including Liverpool legend Stan Boardman, rising star Adam Rowe, Twitter pseudo-celebrity Ant Campbell, and…
