Hey! Manchester promotes gigs by folk, Americana and experimental bands from around the world in Manchester, England. Read more here, see below for our latest shows, check out our previous shows, contact us, or join our mailing list, above.
When: 7.30pm on Thursday 21 March 2024
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW
We’re delighted to be welcoming Mr Ben & the Bens back to Gullivers!
Cult DIY outfit and BBC 6 Music favourites Mr Ben & the Bens return in 2024 with a brand new 10-track LP Small Wide World via Bingo Records.
After years of steadily touring the back and even-further-back of beyond in the UK, as well as some of the island’s most beloved venues, Ben found himself taking a well-earned hiatus during 2023. Hibernating in his Sheffield studio in an old pewter factory, and in between working as a full-time potter come illustrator, he penned a set of contemplative songs which would later become the new album.
From the Village Green-era Kinks-style Poor, Poor Me to the motoric Listening Party, Small Wide World combines tried-and-tested methods with sonic departures for the band. Recorded in Tesla Studios and produced by David Glover, the new album inhabits a world of vintage drums machines, shimmering acoustics and wiry synthesisers.
Lyrically, kitchen sink realism winds its way around a set of songs jam packed with melancholic melody. So long Sympathy speaks of fragile ego and our means of combatting this, and Penny Drop of the loudest voice in the room disarmed by a junior colleague. Ben aims to disarm hostility in both society and the self with sensitive, personal sentiment.
With a limited edition vinyl and UK tour in the works for late March this year, Mr Ben & the Bens looks set to take on their Small Wide World once again.
Main support comes from Adam Hopper. Adam Hopper is a singer-songwriter based in Manchester. Concentrating on poignant, wry lyricism and catchy melodies, he creates his own unique brand of wide-eyed, mellow alternative pop music. Adam’s sound is informed by the brighter moments of 1970s New York’s art rock and pop movements and the carefree, DIY attitude of 1990s Lo-Fi and anti-folk scenes. Adam spent the first half of 2023 gigging solo across the country, honing his material, and emerged later in the year, fully fleshed out with his band The Wimps.
Opening the show are The Punchies. The Punchies are a garage-country trio fronted by a former Fruit Tone, bring raucous melancholy and witty libretto to their ramshackle punky tonk live set.
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All shows are 18+ unless otherwise stated.