When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 19 March 2025
Where: YES Pink Room, 38 Charles Street, Manchester, M1 7DB

We’re excited to be working with Nadia Reid for the first time!

There is a photograph that Nadia Reid still keeps, taken ten years ago now on an old iPhone 4. It shows the singer at just twenty two, standing in a backyard in Auckland, her face obscured by a bright bloom of sparkler flame. ‘It was just a throwaway photo, but I clung to that image through the years,’ she says. ‘You have those points in life that when you look back you see were a time of almost cellular change. And that was one of those points; all my cells were changing.’

Reid was drawn to this image once again in the making of her fourth album, details of which are to follow soon. This was the obvious choice for the artwork for her first single Changed Unchained. Her first new music for four years and first for new label Chrysalis Records.

Much had changed since Out of My Province, the album she released in early March 2020, just as the Covid pandemic sent the world into lockdown. In her native New Zealand, restrictions were some of the toughest in the world, the country’s borders remaining closed for over two years. Reid toured the record as best she could, she put on hold her plans to move to the UK, attended to the steady rhythms of living. In July of 2021, she gave birth to her first daughter, Elliotte; her second, Goldie, arrived this past Spring.

On the new single, Reid moves away from her earlier folk inclinations. ‘I still feel uncomfortable about the word folk and being a folk singer. It makes me sort of cringe. It’s too confining.’ Reid expands on her new fuller sound. ‘Changed Unchained is a great example of me bringing lyrics and a melody into the studio, then Tom (Healy, producer) and the band letting the mojo/muse/spirit do its thing in the room. That was a really freeing feeling for me. The song begun in this delicate introspective way and formed into something quite powerful.’

As well as a taste of what’s to come next, Changed Unchained closes a chapter on her first three records as something like a trilogy; music that belonged to a time before everything changed.

Nadia is currently on a sold out solo tour in the UK playing a short run of intimate venues. She’ll then return to tour Europe/UK in March 2025 with a full band in support of her new record.

‘Moving away from folk, the New Zealand songwriter embraces a full bodied sound halfway between Haim’s sophisticated pop sparkle and Sharon Van Etten’s full-throated songcraft’ – the Guardian

Tour support comes from Lili Holland-Fricke. Lili Holland-Fricke is a British-German experimental cellist, music-writer, and improviser based in Manchester. Her music combines the many sounds of the cello with electronics and voice to create intricate songs, instrumentals, and improvisations. Inspired by artists like Ichiko Aoba, Mabe Fratti, Adrianne Lenker and FKA Twigs, Lili seeks to weave together unusual textures and sounds, with words that evoke dreamlike images and feelings. Her debut album Dear Alien is out now on Melodic.

This show is a co-promotion with Grey Lantern.

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When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 19 March 2025
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to be welcoming Danny & the Champions of the World back – for their first Manchester show in eight years!

You Are Not A Stranger Here, the long-awaited new album by Danny & the Champions of the World, will be released through Loose Music on 18 October. Their seventh studio release and first since 2017’s Brilliant Light, You Are Not A Stranger Here is the sound of a band exploring new and surprising musical terrain. Produced by Champs keyboard player Thomas Collison and featuring frontman Danny George Wilson’s most compelling songs to date.

The old contradiction that in creating something intensely personal, you can share something inspiringly universal, is at the heart of a remarkable new album by Danny & the Champions of the World, whose formidable body of work dates back to 2007. It’s full of brilliantly cohesive performances that come together to reach a new creative peak, founded on the most reflective and deep-seated lyrics to date by frontman Danny George Wilson. It’s an intricate and beguiling tapestry of highly crafted sounds by a band at the top of their game and a songwriter on an honest and unpretentious quest for some truth. If that sounds potentially dark and doom-laden, the results are anything but, on a record that’s deeply relatable, infectious and moving.

Tour support comes from Annie Dressner. Since moving from her hometown of NYC to the UK thirteen years ago, singer-songwriter Annie Dressner has garnered rave reviews for her recordings and live performances. From her debut Strangers…, her EP East Twenties, her second full-length Broken…, to her third full-length Coffe…. and her latest I Thought It Would Be Easier, Dressner has gone from strength to strength. Her straightforward lyrical style, sharp ear for wordplay and crisp, lilting vocals offer listeners a front row seat to her stories. Her music has drawn comparisons to an up-tempo Mazzy Star, an understated Jenny Lewis, Soccer Mommy and Phoebe Bridgers.

Annie’s songs have received considerable airplay on BBC 6 Music (Gideon Coe, Tom Robinson, Steve Lamacq, Tom Ravenscroft), Radio 2 and Radio 1 via her cowrite with Saturday Night Gym Club, The Nowhere Team. She recently released her fourth studio album, I Thought It Would Be Easier co-produced with Paul Goodwin in 2024, followed by a headline UK tour and supports with Badly Drawn Boy, Bernard Butler (Suede) and The Trials Of Cato.

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When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 26 March 2025
Where: The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester M4 1LE

We’re delighted to welcome Ruth Lyon to the Castle Hotel!

Newcastle’s Ruth Lyon celebrates strength in vulnerability and the allure of imperfection, challenging societal norms and igniting a journey towards self-acceptance and empowerment – all unravelling through offbeat anti-folk, commanded by her soulful vocals and witty yet raw lyricism; influenced by such acts as Fiona Apple, Aldous Harding and Regina Spektor.

Lyon grew up in North Yorkshire, before moving to Newcastle Upon Tyne to study Fashion Design. Meanwhile, she began fronting the cult folk-rockers Holy Moly & The Crackers, with which she has toured the UK and Europe extensively.

She began developing her solo music in 2020, when she was invited to be artist in residence at The Glasshouse. Soon after came lockdown, and while she was shielding, she slowly built a new musical identity from the confines of her bedroom. For her last release Direct Debit To Vogue (2022), Lyon collaborated with Bristol producer John Parish, who has notably worked with PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding and This Is The Kit.

Another key inspiration came when Lyon made her USA debut at SXSW TX in March 2022. She spoke on a panel and performed at a showcase with fellow Disabled artists Eliza Hull and Lachi, from Australia and the US respectively. Here, she heard brand new perspectives on community and accessibility, and was deeply moved to witness the performances from her fellow artists which spoke to their own experiences. ‘It was almost like a spiritual thing for me,’ she says. ‘I came back and realised this career is so much bigger than myself. I think I have a duty to push this as far as I can and to be as honest as I can.’ She harnessed this in a burst of writing upon her return, completing Direct Debit To Vogue with a new commitment to her authentic voice. She says, ‘I wanted to evoke the feeling of the kinda music that just punches you in the gut — I want to emotionally drag some stuff out of people.’

Since the release Lyon has received accolades from the likes of PRS Women Make Music and has received airplay from BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music, as well as invites to perform at The Great Escape, Latitude Festival, Secret Garden Party, Greenbelt and Glastonbury. She has been nominated and shortlisted for the 2024 Disability Power 100. She has just returned from recording her debut album, again with John Parish, for release in 2025, as well has recording an exclusive BBC live session at Abbey Road.

Over the years, Lyon has established herself as a key and active member of the Newcastle music scene, including in her role on the Board of Trustees at The Glasshouse. ‘Because there isn’t a lot of industry up here, it can feel like you have to move to London to be successful,’ she says. ‘But I’m really proud of the musicians that are trying to make it so we can be established, we can be successful, and we can make good art in the North.’ She has also advocated for the Disabled community in her work as an ambassador for Attitude Is Everything, a charity that aims to improve accessibility for Deaf and Disabled people in live music; Lyon herself has been a wheelchair user since the age of 21.

‘Chamber pop artist and songwriter Ruth Lyon positions herself as a force to be reckoned with in the industry’ – Wonderland Magazine

‘A refreshing slice of leftfield alt-pop that’s full of heart’ – Rhys Buchanan, Glastonbury Emerging Talent

Local support comes from Lindsay Munroe. Lindsay Munroe is an alt-indie artist based in Manchester, bringing her distinctive vocals together with lyrical storytelling reminiscent of Sharon Van Etten, Lucy Dacus and Maggie Rogers. Having left a conservative religious environment in her early 20s, Lindsay’s songwriting became a way to build her own identity, a journey that was captured in her EPs Softest Edge and Our Heaviness. 2025 sees her recording a debut album and returning to live shows across the UK.

This show is a co-promotion with Please Please You and the Brudenell.

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When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 26 March 2025
Where: Band on the Wall, 26 Swan Street, Manchester M4 5JZ

We’re excited to be welcoming The Delines back – this time, to Band on the Wall.

The Delines will return to Manchester in support of their fourth album, scheduled for release in February 2025.

Willy Vlautin and his band The Delines have been touring the UK since 2014 and previously with his former act Richmond Fontaine. The Delines feature the exquisite vocals of Amy Boone with the drummer Sean Oldham and bassist Freddy Trujillo (both also formerly of Richmond Fontaine). The quintet is rounded off by Cory Gray on trumpet and keys.

Their debut record, Colfax, appeared in 2014 and surprised fans and critics alike. Evoking a beat-up Dusty Springfield or a weary Rickie Lee Jones, Colfax made over a dozen top ten year end lists. It was a four-year wait until their sophomore effort, The Imperial was released. Singer Amy Boone spent much of that time in hospital beds recovering from serious injuries sustained in a car accident in Austin, Texas. When she was just strong enough to stand she finished The Imperial – a record that spent two weeks on top of the official UK Americana charts with the band playing sold out shows across the UK and Europe.

The band returned with their cinematic third album The Sea Drift, which Americana UK and BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe both made their ‘Album of the Year’.

Vlautin is no stranger to critical acclaim, enjoying cult success and rave reviews from the likes of the New York Times, Washington Post, Uncut, Rolling Stone and Mojo, both as a novelist with seven books under his belt. Two of his books have become major films with another currently in production with Netflix for release in 2025.

Tour support comes from Peter Bruntnell. In an uncertain number of years time, it will be acceptably cool to say that you first got into non-Grammy-winning artist Peter Bruntnell through his classic 2024 album Houdini And The Sucker Punch, before then going back and discovering his back catalogue of yet more ‘classics’. And you were there! You saw him live. You were one of those ’10’ people who saw him play in that modestly-sized room, almost 30 years into his career.

So here we are again. Three years on, another album into Peter’s 13 or 14 album catalogue and shouldering the burden of even more sublime reviews. Every possible positive adjective has been called into play, although it must be noted that the word ‘sublime’ can never be used enough. Not even 2021’s primarily solo, slightly synthy lockdown album succeeded in putting an end to his non-success, despite Mojo echoing the plea that, ‘Somehow, some way, this cult and infinitely class songwriter must get his due wider recognition.’ The Scottish Daily Express with its 5 star review, slightly frustrated, said, or perhaps yelled, ‘I’m getting tired of saying this: He’s brilliant.’ The Irish Times thoughtfully combined two quotes into one, saving us the trouble of going back and getting crushed under the sheer weight of Peter’s archive of press quotes: ‘With Journey To The Sun, the man whose songs NME once noted should be placed on school curriculums has done it again.’ And he continues to do so. But not without a brief foray into dance music, in collaboration with mega pop-hit songwriter Rob Davies. A foray that succeeded in sneaking by, almost completely unnoticed, therefore providing us with no further fresh quotes. If veering off entirely into the dark world of autotune would have increased his chances of hitting the big time, we shall never know. But fortunately Peter’s taking his chances.

This is a 10+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

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When: 7pm on Friday 28 March 2025
Where: Low Four Studio, Deansgate Mews, Great Northern, Manchester M3 4EN

We’re delighted to present this intimate show with Helena Deland

Helena Deland is interested in how songs can hold what eludes everyday language. Her music draws inspiration from reading and walking around.

Her debut album Someone New was released on Luminelle Recording in 2020, introducing a new and resonant voice to the indie music scene. Three years later, she published the acclaimed Goodnight Summerland, with label and longtime collaborators Chivi Chivi. In parallel, she explored new soundscapes with Hildegard, her collaborative project with fellow Montreal musician Ouri. Together, they released two albums, 2021’s Hildegard and 2024’s Jour 1596. She has also worked with other renowned artists, collaborating with Men I Trust, JPEGMAFIA, Jonah Yano and Claire Rousay amongst others.

After opening for the likes of Weyes Blood, Andy Shauf, Connan Mockasin, Soccer Mommy and Iggy Pop, she toured Goodnight Summerland across North America and Europe. In 2025, she will be performing intimate solo concerts, blending existing material with new songs, foreshadowing new music to come out in the near future.

Tour support comes from Olivia Kaplan. Olivia Kaplan (b. 1992, California) is a musician based in Los Angeles. Her songs explore the secret bonds between grief and time, slowness and memory, sadness and sleep. Her latest album, Afterlife, asks how death shapes our deepest-held beliefs and rearranges our sensory experience of the world. Although each song serves as a foothold, no hold is made to last, and in this way, the listener is reminded how patternless loss can be. Made in collaboration with lo-fi innovator and producer Evan Wright, the record lives in the sonics of sparseness but finds its lifeline in Olivia’s voice – blue and sunlit – which serves as a warm anchor.

Following the release of her critically acclaimed debut LP Tonight Turns To Nothing (2021) on Topshelf Records, Olivia toured North America extensively with Billie Marten. She has also shared the stage with The War on Drugs, Miya Folick, Katie Gavin, Buck Meek, Hand Habits, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Helena Deland and Courtney Marie Andrews. Olivia studied voice and ethnomusicology at McGill University and UCLA. Her songwriting is equally inspired by Bill Callahan, Sheryl Crow and Neil Young as it has been compared to Cat Power and Cowboy Junkies.

This show takes place at Low Four – a recording studio situated on Deansgate Mews in the Great Northern warehouse. This intimate venue features a fully stocked Cloudwater bar.

This is a 14+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

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When: 7.30pm on Friday 28 March 2025
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to be welcoming Chris Brain back – this time, to Gullivers!

Yorkshire’s Chris Brain has carved his place firmly into the contemporary folk scene following his highly-regarded first two albums, Bound to Rise (2022) and Steady Away (2023).

Garnering acclaim from the likes of Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music) and Mark Radcliffe (BBC Radio 2), he has since shared the stage with iconic acts like Robert Plant, Jacqui McShee and Martin Simpson.

With the release of his third much-anticipated album, New Light, in Spring 2025, he will be embarking on a UK/Ireland solo tour. New Light brings a refreshingly contemporary sound as Chris contemplates transformation, nostalgia and tenderness in times of vulnerability – all woven around his familiar gestures towards the natural world.

From sublimely deployed strings and dappling piano to rhythmic percussion, the album’s arrangements are perfectly wrapped around Brain’s honeyed vocals, anchoring fingerpicked guitar and persuasive melodies.

Recorded in various locations, from his allotment shed to The Nave Studios, New Light embodies the expanded parameters that his sound has reached. Both intimate and expansive, New Light expresses a surety of Chris Brain’s song-writing abilities with the album’s imagery and melodies dwelling long after the music ends.

‘There are shades of the master Ralph Mctell here and I can think of no greater compliment than that. Love it!’ – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2 Folk Show

Local support comes from Fionnuala Bradbury. Fionnuala Bradbury is a singer-songwriter from Manchester. Her sound is inspired by the local folk scene she grew up in, and the jazz music she found a love for later on. Having been studying archaeology for the past few years, she has returned to Manchester to get re-involved in the music scene.

Her part-Irish heritage meant she plays the fiddle, and had the pleasure of learning traditional folk songs from Ríoghnach Connolly. Her recordings of traditional Irish folk songs, made with the help of Mike McGoldrick, have been played on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show.

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When: 7.30pm on Tuesday 8 April 2025
Where: The Castle Hotel, 66 Oldham Street, Manchester M4 1LE

We’re delighted to be working with Index for Working Musik for the first time!

Index for Working Musik emerged from the depths of an East End bunker in 2023 with Dragging the Needlework for the Kids at Uphole (Tough Love), a ‘Heroin Country’ affair, followed by the experimental Indexe’e.

2024 saw the release of Purple Born, an eight-minute track that channels the likes of John Fahey and Polvo — leather boys, leather girls, and silly cuckoo clocks — and served as the first signal of the future to come with the pending release of second album, Which Direction Goes The Beam, out on 4 April via Tough Love.

In this post Sounds world, the boundaries of Post Punk have not only broadened but splintered. And over the course of (now) four releases, Index For Working Musik have seen to using the sprawling boundaries to great effect, flexing a polyglot of styles to convey the language of the moment.

‘Their sound brings to mind John Cale’s drone effects on the early VU albums and the pink noise of the Jesus and Mary Chain‘ – Louder than War

Support comes from Plastic Gift.

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When: 7.30pm on Thursday 10 April 2025
Where: Hallé St Peter’s, 40 Blossom Street, Ancoats, Manchester, M4 6BF

PLEASE NOTE: Due to exceptional demand, this show has been upgraded to Hallé St Peter’s. All other details are the same and original tickets remain valid.

We’re excited to be working with Heather Nova for the first time!

Heather Nova first hit the airwaves in 1994 when her breakout album, Oyster, was released. The cool, infectious songs of Oyster put her firmly on the indie-pop map, and charted worldwide, and she has been making critically acclaimed albums and touring ever since.

But what really garnered Heather a loyal following has been her live performances; known for a voice that is both incredibly powerful but is also often described as ‘angelic’, she plays major rock festivals with full band as impressively as she captivates audiences in intimate theatres with just a cellist as accompaniment. She has toured consistently in the 30-plus years since starting out, and her shows continue to sell out quickly.

‘Live music transcends the sum of its parts,’ she says. ‘There is a magic that happens that I am not fully in control of; I just let go, open up, and allow the music to come through me. The audience brings their emotions and their energy, and the synergy is born.’

This tour will be an eclectic mix of acoustic, cello driven tracks combined with synths, beats and percussion.

She will perform a combination of brand new material from her forthcoming album, as well as older ‘fan favourites’.

‘Live music has a more significant role than ever these days,’ says Heather. ‘Concerts create a moment of unification, community, and harmony, when there is so much division in the wider world today.’

Tour support comes from Daisy Chute. Scottish/American singer-songwriter Daisy Chute has found a loyal following through her award-winning songwriting and ‘gorgeous’ vocals (Guy Garvey, Elbow). 2024 brought with it a Grammy Award for her involvement in The Birdsong Project and she also has received FATEA’s EP of the year award for Songs of Solace. Collaborations have led to co-release singles/tours with Hollie Rogers, The Dunwells, Ed Blunt, Lady Nade and James Walker in 2024, while an album is due in 2025. Selling out shows across the UK, Europe and US, Daisy can be spotted with a guitar or banjo at top arts venues and festivals like Black Deer and Glastonbury.

This is a 14+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

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When: 7.30pm on Wednesday 30 April 2025
Where: The Yard, 11 Bent St, Cheetham Hill, Manchester M8 8NF

We’re delighted to be working with Bay Bryan for the first time – for our first show at The Yard!

Bay Bryan has spent the past five months writing new songs and jamming them with the band, resulting in a second concept album, BAYARD, to start taking shape. Before the album is officially recorded, Bay’s band invites you into their ‘living room’ (at The Yard) for a single-date hometown performance of the in-progress songs and concept.

Channeling the closeness of an NPR Tiny Desk concert, and brought to life by Bay and brilliant musicians Pete Mitchell (drums), Matthew Campbell (guitar), and Sam Leigh (bass), this experience will be one to remember.

Following the introspective The Meadow, BAYARD introduces new outward energy, with funky grooves and a playful campness more commonly expected from Queen Bayard (Bay’s drag alter ego). Fans of Bay’s recent single Drifting will have an inkling of the new sonic flavour.

Bay’s live shows are an unforgettable mix of stand out vocals, layered songwriting and captivating storytelling with an authentic theatrical flair. If you’ve seen Bay and the band perform before, you know it’s an experience not to miss.

‘Complex songwriting sees arrangements rise and fall with all the drama of the Rockies from whence he came… a deft, fairylike elegance’ – Piccadilly Records

‘Bay’s ability to conjure imaginative, story-led songs… sets them apart from the crowd’ – Fortitude Magazine

Special guest is Ryan Buxton. Ryan Buxton is a Manchester-based singer-songwriter, guitarist, and self-confessed music nerd – makes sense of the world around him through his music. Whether with full band or flying solo, Buxton’s songs often grow from textured folky beginnings into haunting or dreamlike soundscapes to get lost in. He has recently released his EP Other Breaths, which you can check out on all platforms.

The Yard is an accessible and unique creative hub based in a regenerated old school building in North Manchester just a 10-minute speed walk from Shudehill tram stop. They programme an eclectic mix of intimate seated gigs like NQ Jazz, silent film and improvisation nights, dance nights, and more.

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When: 7.30pm on Saturday 26 April 2025
Where: Hallé at St Michael’s, 36-38 George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DG

We’re excited to welcome Mark Eitzel back to Manchester!

Mark Eitzel is coming to Europe for the first time in eight years. In addition to older classics from American Music Club, which will be featured on a new box set due out in 2025, Mark will be playing songs from previous solo albums and a new vinyl EP.

Mark Eitzel has released over 17 albums with American Music Club and as a solo artist. The Guardian has called him ‘America’s greatest living lyricist,’ and Rolling Stone once gave him their Songwriter of the Year award. Originally formed in 1983, AMC released seven albums before breaking up in 1995. The band reunited in 2004 for two full-lengths, Love Songs for Patriots and The Golden Age.

Eitzel released Don’t Be A Stranger in 2012 on décor/Merge which was followed by his strongest solo album since the 90s with Hey Mr Ferryman in 2017. Mark has been spending the last seven years composing music for playwright Simon Stephens as well as working on the American Music Club reissues.

For this first full UK and EU tour in eight years, Mark will be performing solo acoustic.

This concert takes place in Hallé at St Michael’s – a former Roman Catholic church, which was founded in 1859 and became the heart of the Little Italy Community in Ancoats.

This is a 14+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

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