Salford Music Festival but no toe-tapping - ouch!.

Photo by Gavin Ithel

I tend to dread outdoor gigs from this time of year as, although I'm generally someone who likes cooler rather than warmer weather, my hands do suffer from cold (even when the rest of me is too hot!). No such worries for my stint at The Salford Music Festival as it was very warm weather really. However a suspected broken toe and swollen, painful foot made the whole process of getting to and from there (by train and.. on foot) made it a painful experience, apart from when I was on stage (other than not being able to prevent my bad foot from stomping along to the beat!). It was nice to see a couple of friends there and I was also able to enjoy the lovely voice of Vicky Robson-Capps - be sure to check her out HERE.

"Backstage" overlooking the Greengate Urban Market in Manchester earlier.

Acoustic Alchemy II at the Vibe, the Vibe? Yeah actually.. the Vibe!

Not a dubious film but a rather wonderful night and another new venue for me, The Vine in Shavington. Funnily enough I keep miss-spelling it as "The Vibe", which would certainly have been an appropriate name on the night! All the bands & artists were "in the zone", great! With many thanks for Jonathan White for the photos and the many chums who turned up :) Jonathan was too late to photograph Sam Lyon who has the sweetest voice, catch her (JW) if you can. 

United Breaks Headlined. Photo; Jonathan White.

Me (well it is my blog). Photo; Jonathan White.

Great to see Dayve Dean back in musical action. Photo; Jonathan White.

Check out the great acts here;

United Breaksjoined by Tom Seals
Dayve Dean
John Macleod Band 
Sam Lyon

Worcester Music Festival.

A bridge over the Severn from right outside the venue.

As far as I know, unless I visited with my family as a very young child, this was my first visit to Worcester and I was not disappointed, an exceptionally beautiful city. Worcester manages to combine an understated grandeur with the sort of quaintness normally associated with small, wealthy  market towns in the shires. Every street a hotch-potch of engaging architecture, around every corner, nook and cranny a pleasant surprise, pretty courtyards and squares. In other words YES, I had time to look around.

I was there for the fabulous Worcester Music Festival to play at the lovely riverside venue of The Old Rectifying House. Again I have been extremely blessed with a music-loving and highly attentive, enthusiastic audience. I hope this experience of recent months is a sign of a real growing enthusiasm for new music. Maybe it’ll all change at the next gig but thanks to all of you who have supported me so far, I really appreciate it enormously.

Another really positive factor for the weekend, and one which was a pleasant surprise to me when already on my way (the joys of the facebook news-feed) was that one of my very favourite bands, the completely awesome Pre Sleep Monologue. Imagine the sound-child of The Doors (maybe grand-child then), The Mars Volta, Jack White and the spirit of grunge and a post-apocalyptic Americana – right up my street. They rock and they groove. Do check them out HERE.

Thanks Worcester – a great festival which felt more like a holiday rather than music-work <3 font="">

Inside The Old Rectifying House.

The Old Rectifying House is the building on the right.

Everywhere a lovely courtyard or square.

They take bike-parking seriously too.

Even my hotel room had a nice view.

Worcester Cathedral

One of many grand buildings, The Guild Hall I think.

Reminds me of Nantwich!

Becky Rose with her fab take on brilliant electro-pop at the ORH.

View from the train.

View from the train.

View from the train.

August 25th - The Northern Quarter Festival, Chester

3 Cities, 1 weekend mini-tour, 3.

Big, attentive crowds in the sunshine.

I think the photos will say more than too many words can say here, Chester was blessed with both fine weather and huge, friendly and most importantly music-loving & listening crowds. Thank you, I really appreciate another wonderful audience like that. Huge thanks also to Zola from Alexander's for doing so much behind the scenes and to my lovely friends Steph and Jose with their daughters Alba and Estrella who I think managed to dance through every song of mine - even the slow, miserable ones! Well done them! :)

An on-street stage.

Crowds overlook Alexander's from the famous
Roman city walls.

I saw Ellie Larke play at the Eisteddfod, a great talent,
good to see her again.
(Follow Ellie and her lovely songs HERE).

August 24th - The Greystones, Sheffield.

3 Cities, 1 weekend mini-tour, 2.

The watery scene which awaits you from Sheffield Railway Station.

Sheffield, where the sturdy buildings seem carved out of the rock itself and seem as tough as the surrounding hills. Sheffield, where straight-talking, no-nonsense, macho blokes call each other "love". Sheffield, where a long-unseen friend I recently got back in touch with (via the magic of facebook) invited me to the awesome venue for a charity gig she helped put together and run, in aid of the Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity.

Sadly I missed Chrisy's performance (she has moved over the years from being a talented visual artist to a full-on commitment to music) but it was great to catch up with her and see her again after so long, in a double-whammied, synchronitic bit of luck and niceness, another 'old' friend, Jenni who came along too it was really lovely to see her again and see how well things are going for her as well.

The Greystones is a great venue, and just a look around the posters at the awesome, legendary acts they've had on and coming up shows what a good job they are doing, have a look yourself here. It's sort of a normal, if larger than average pub at the front with a sizable "backroom" venue at the back. Superb. The locally brewed Thornbridge beers are nice too! 

A lot of appropriately very high-quality acts on, I was particularly impressed with Richard Brind who played an engaging and in places acerbic set which was highly individual and distinctive in both guitar-playing and songwriting.  
This is a venue I can't wait to return to some time.

The views from the train window (when not in tunnels) were often spectacular.

Richard Brind impressed everyone.

Rosie's view (my guitar), well, if she was out of the gig-bag.