Featured image and gallery: Gracie Hall
Alaska-based Medium Build, aka Nick Carpenter, opens up the evening with a soulful and rugged set. Carpenter, sporting a blue boiler suit, fills the former church with a growly tone and personal lyrics. ‘Crying Over U’, a song about missing someone deeply, is a standout moment.
Holly Humberstone starts the second leg of her UK tour in Manchester tonight. Having only been releasing music since 2020, Humberstone has seen a speedy rise to fame, appealing to fans of the likes of Maisie Peters and Taylor Swift. Despite the grandeur of the venue, she exudes a down-to-earth charm that makes her instantly relatable.
Backed by a talented band of Seth Tackaberry on bass, Jack Rennie on guitar and Carpark’s Lauren O’Donnell Anderson on drums, Holly delivers a setlist that showcases her impressive range as a songwriter and a performer. Opening with ‘Paint my Bedroom Black’, the title track of last year’s debut album, she flits from introspective ballads to anthemic indie-pop tracks, each song delivered with an authenticity and raw emotion that resonates.
Medium Build comes back on stage to duet with Holly during ‘Cocoon’, Humberstone’s whispery vocals blending seamlessly with Carpenter’s rougher cadence. ‘Flatlining’ is a highlight; it’s more beat driven then most of Holly’s output, more akin to the likes of Girl in Red or Olivia Rodrigo, telling a story of a relationship gone bad.
‘Falling Asleep at The Wheel’ and ‘London is Lonely’ are firm crowd pleasers as the entire hall sings like a church choir back to her. With an encore of ‘Friendly Fire’ and crowd activator ‘Scarlett’, the night closes as the audience screams the words she wrote right back at her.
“It was a photo that changed my life,” says Richard Davis at HOME café in the city centre. This picture is of Joy Division, taken by British photographer Kevin Cummins on Epping Walk Bridge in Hulme. The stark, steely images would go on to define the band and this part of the city’s legacy. It…
Based on Douglas Day Stewarts’ hit 80s romance, An Officer and A Gentleman takes to the Manchester Opera House stage to transport us into a timeless story of love, courage and redemption. This Curve production is a neon sensation of retro hits and escapism.
To celebrate 16 years of their music, The Maine take the road for a limited number of shows in the UK and Europe. After stops in Cologne and Amsterdam, tonight marks Manchester’s visit. Under the enigmatic ceiling of New Century Hall, a voice over the speakers orders the crowd to “adjust your enthusiasm in 5, 4, 3,…
The latest series to take Netflix by storm is the real-life story of Scottish comedian Richard Gadd. Baby Reindeer documents Gadd’s encounter with previously convicted stalker “Martha Scott”, detailing the disturbing series of events that would culminate in her eventual imprisonment.
Leave a reply