When: 7.30pm on Thursday 11 June 2026
Where: Hallé at St Michael’s, 36-38 George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DG

We’re delighted to welcome Poppy Ackroyd back to Manchester!

Acclaimed composer and pianist Poppy Ackroyd returns with Liminal, her intimate new album released 5 June via One Little Independent Records. Written and recorded during a period of profound upheaval and transition, it marks a return to the core of Ackroyd’s practice, bringing piano and violin back together.

For the first time since 2019’s Feathers, Ackroyd reunites these two instruments exclusively, with every sound on the album drawn from piano and violin alone. Melody, harmony, rhythm and texture are all extracted from the physical bodies of the instruments themselves, from bowed and plucked strings to percussive elements. Working within these limitations remains central to her creative process.

Liminal was written unusually quickly for Ackroyd, composed over a three-month period in which the core structures and musical ideas were laid out. Recording took place shortly after, once she had moved into a new studio space. Piano and violin improvisations were captured alongside scored material, then carefully edited over time. This process of sifting through improvisations to find small, human moments has always been part of Ackroyd’s approach, but here she chose to leave more of the raw material intact, preserving its cathartic qualities.

‘In the last three years everyone I loved most in the world needed me, all at once,’ she explains. ‘There has been new life and death, heartbreak and many other things that are not my stories to tell. I have also moved across the country to a part of the world I have never lived in before.’

Although the album emerged from an exceptionally difficult time in her life, it is guided by a quiet sense of resolve. Ackroyd describes listening to the album while running and feeling herself almost dancing along to it, discovering a joy that was not always present while writing. ‘I had such a chaotic few years, but the only way to cope was to allow things to be messy,’ she says. ‘Embracing the messy and imperfect but still getting things done. I decided to apply this approach to my music making and I found that I still maintain the same attention to detail but without the pressure, and I fell in love with making music again in a whole new way.’

The album was created in close proximity to nature, another first for Ackroyd. Her studio now sits within her home, backing onto ancient woodland. This environment subtly permeates the record, particularly in the quieter tracks where space and resonance play a central role. The cover artwork reflects this setting; a photograph taken by Ackroyd from her studio window on Christmas morning, showing mist hanging in the valley beyond.

As with her previous releases, Ackroyd wrote, performed, recorded, mixed, and produced the album herself, with mastering by Matouš Godík and layout and design by Ruth Keating. Ackroyd has long taken an active role in shaping the visual identity of her records, designing, or creating the artwork for most of her releases. With Liminal, she contributes a cover photograph for the first time.

Liminal opens with ‘In The Mist’, a piece that sets a tone of subtle movement and careful restraint, as gentle piano figures emerge slowly, suspended in space. This atmosphere flows seamlessly into ‘Shimmer’, where repeated patterns create a glistening surface. Soft violin lines hover and blur the edges of ‘Continuum’, a track that develops through gradual layering, with interlocking piano motifs and sustained violin tones creating a feeling of forward momentum.

The music of Liminal breathes and expands, drawing attention to small flourishes in texture and dynamics. ‘For Those Who Wait’ leans into patience and repetition, allowing notes to circle gently, accumulating emotional weight through persistence rather than dramatic change.

The return of the violin is central to the album’s expressive power. Having not played it extensively for several years, Ackroyd found the experience of layering string parts unexpectedly moving. This is especially evident in ‘The Unknown’, where sweeping violin lines rise and fall against a piano foundation, and in ‘Drift’, where flowing string passages create a sense of gracefulness. These tracks highlight the contrast between the piano’s percussive, grounding nature and the violin’s ability to float freely.

“There is this amazing feeling you get when you play with another musician that you know really really well, but when you are playing alongside yourself it’s quite powerful,” she explains. “With the violin you have control over the whole length of the note in a way that you don’t when you’re playing piano. It feels like you can say more. Like singing.”

As the album progresses, moments of rhythmic intensity and release come into sharper focus. Closing track, ‘Between Two Worlds’, brings the album full circle, blending introspective piano writing with expansive violin lines.

That wider world continues to resonate through her work. Ackroyd’s music has featured in countless documentaries and dance productions, including with New York City Ballet, and in theatre, where the National Theatre used ‘The Calm Before’ as the opening music for The Seagull. Her collaboration with Ainslie Henderson, Shackle, won Best British Film at the London International Animation Festival.

In 2025, Ackroyd released Notes On Water, a collaborative project completed during her father Norman Ackroyd’s final months and released shortly after his passing. The work combined Ackroyd’s music with her father’s final etching and served as both a tribute and a means of processing loss through shared creative language.

At its heart, Liminal is about endurance and transformation. ‘There’s a euphoric feeling after doing something you’re scared of,’ Ackroyd reflects. ‘I feel like I’ve been broken in a way I never thought I could be, but I’m also stronger than I ever thought I could be.’

‘Poppy Ackroyd can conjure whole worlds of sound out of the barest essentials’ – Stereogum

‘On par with neo-classical giants Nils Frahm, Max Richter and Hauschka’ – MOJO

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.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Friday 12 June 2026
Where: Kamera at Lloyd & Platt, 617 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M219AN

We’re delighted to welcome Later Youth back – to Kamera in Chorlton this time!

Since fronting Manchester indie-folk favourites The Travelling Band, Jo Dudderidge – aka Later Youth – has built a reputation as a sought-after producer, songwriter and session musician, working with an impressive roster of artists including Victoria Canal, Chloe Foy, Rose Gray, Stephen Fretwell, Human Interest, Joyeria, Bette Smith, and longtime collaborator Lissie.

Debut album Living History is the culmination of what has been both a cathartic and a celebratory process. It’s a bold statement with a distinctive character. Sure, parallels with his previous work exist, but it occupies a universe of its own, sonically centred on Dudderidge’s signature Wurlitzer electric piano and unmistakable voice, blending raw, heart-on-sleeve lyricism with a fresh, idiosyncratic style veering from krautrock to alt-country.

There are songs about nights that turned into mornings, heartaches rescued by a harem of Venezuelans, romanticising the myths of past loves, facing mortality, running away from yourself while dreaming of reconciling with the love of your life. It’s nostalgic, but not in a way that wants to go back — more like holding something up to the light to understand it better.

‘Chock full of more hooks and melodies than most indie conventions’ – Mojo

‘A richly textured collection that brims with vulnerability, self-destruction and sonic wanderlust’ – AmericanaUK

Main support comes from Indian Pale Male. Indian Pale Male released their debut album Dance of the Red Herrings in 2024. Produced by Jim Noir, it’s a kaleidoscopic Bad Dream Pop opus that was recorded mostly on an old Tascam machine, during a period of ‘madness and adverse offending behaviours.’ This was recently followed by their Tolerance Break E.P – the first of two planned E.Ps set for 2026 releases, described as ‘both beautifully original and thrillingly eccentric’ (John Robb, Louder Than War).

Opening the show is Gib James. Gib James is a rapscallion balladeer whose debut album Loose is soon to be released. His songs deal with heartache and rebirth, shrouded in sunshine pop melodies, throwing shade in lovers eyes.

Kamera is the brand new venue upstairs at Lloyd & Platt (formerly The Lloyd’s) in Chorlton – by the team behind the Castle Hotel and Gullivers. The pub downstairs offers Indian street food by Chapati Cafe.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Friday 12 June 2026
Where: Hallé St Peter’s, 40 Blossom Street, Ancoats, Manchester, M4 6BF

PLEASE NOTE: This show has sold out!

We’re excited to be working with Jesse Malin again!

Hailed by Rolling Stone as ‘a gritty troubadour of the streets,’ Jesse Malin released his solo debut, The Fine Art Of Self Destruction, to universal acclaim in 2003, with Uncut dubbing the album ‘an instant classic’ and The Times declaring that ‘there is simply nothing more you can demand from a great rock record’.

Over the next two decades, Malin would go on to release eight more similarly lauded solo albums while building a loyal community of diehard fans across the UK and Europe, spreading the gospel of New York rock and roll and PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) through sold-out headline tours and festival performances everywhere from Glastonbury to Hyde Park.

A true songwriter’s songwriter, Malin has recorded with and covered by Bruce Springsteen and Lucinda Williams, shared stages with The Replacements, The Gaslight Anthem, Green Day and Bob Weir, and seen his songs covered by the likes of Elvis Costello, Bleachers, Counting Crows, Green Day, The Wallflowers, Ian Hunter, Frank Turner, Dinosaur Jr., and more.

In 2023, Malin suffered a rare spinal stroke, which left him paralysed from the waist down. Rather than retreat from the spotlight, he defied the odds and learned to stand again, returning to the stage the following year in America with two triumphant sold-out nights at NYC’s legendary Beacon Theatre before crossing the pond for a pair of sold-out shows at London’s Islington Assembly Hall.

In 2026, Jesse is making his off-Broadway debut in the acclaimed stage show Silver Manhattan, written by Malin and Lauren Ludwig, and produced by ArKtype and David Bason. His first book Almost Grown: A New York Memoir will be published 7 April on Akashic.

Malin will return to the UK in June for a limited three-night engagement in Glasgow, Manchester and London.

Support comes from Bason. His life was saved by rock ‘n’ roll. With one foot in the practical and the other firmly on the creative tip, Canadian-born David Bason epitomises the sometimes paradoxical term, ‘music business’. Equally at home playing guitar on a demo for the New York Dolls or serving as President of an indie label, Bason is one of the few people whose artistic passion can co-exist with an understanding of the bottom line. He talks the language of artists and executives alike.

The son of an English Cambridge grad and a mother who sings in the Ottawa Choral Society, the entrepreneurial teenager got his start as a road manager for a popular Canadian band before working as an A&R coordinator for RCA where he signed The Strokes. Upon the success of that signing, Bason was suddenly very much in demand, and took a job running the music-publishing arm of Roadrunner Records. After running the publishing company for four years, he was asked to start and alternative division of the label. His first signing was The Dresden Dolls, as well as The Cult and his beloved New York Dolls, even playing on the demos. During this time he founded the Universal Music-distributed Stay Gold Records where he signed punk rock records and produced several dub reggae remixes.

Bason spent the next several years overseeing the day-to-day management responsibilities for multi-platinum sellers Thirty Seconds to Mars, and building a successful management stable of Grammy-winning, platinum producer/engineers and now heads the 7S Management West Coast division. A man of many hats, David Bason is a man who can hang with high profile artists as well as industry’s leading executives. Bason knows artists because he is one, writing and recording four solo albums featuring Airborne Toxic Event’s Anna Bulbrook, Sub Pop’s Chad Van Gaalen, Jesse Malin, James Iha, among others. A hybrid performer/executive, David Bason is living the dream while at the same time successfully turning art into commerce, or, as another of his heroes once put it… making cash from chaos.

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

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Friday 19 June 2026
Where: The Strines Nightingale, 105 Strines Rd, Strines, Marple, Stockport SK6 7GE

PLEASE NOTE: This show has now sold out! But Toria Wooff plays a special Halloween show in Manchester in October – plus watch this space for future Jim Ghedi shows.

We’re excited to welcome Jim Ghedi and Toria Wooff to The Strines Nightingale!

Jim Ghedi hails from Sheffield, South Yorkshire and although clearly well versed in the history of folk music, he stands out as a potential torch bearer for a new generation of respectful yet experimental performers.

Ghedi’s acclaimed new album Wasteland (2025) sees his music develop away from previous records A Hymn for Ancient Land (2018) and In the Furrows of Common Place (2021). Released on the Basin Rock record label, his sound emulates a more brooding, dark and electronic world which is mirrored in his piercing lyrics and singing. He draws from social observations, contemporary songwriting, historical and traditional material.

This year, Ghedi will also release his first film soundtrack for A24’s thriller The Death of Robin Hood, after being approached by director Michael Sarnoski. A dark adaptation of the 17th Century folk-tale Robin Hood’s Death, the film is out in June 2026, and stars Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård and more.

Over the years, Ghedi has performed headline tours and festivals across the UK, Ireland and Europe, as well as supporting and touring with bands such as Lankum, Stick in the Wheel, Richard Dawson, Martin Carthy and Shirley Collins.

He has also released collaborative duo records with Welsh guitarist Toby Hay via Topic Records.

‘Wasteland is a folk renaissance masterpiece’- The Line Of Best Fit

‘Tim-Buckley-meets-Richard-Thompson-at-the-end-of-the-universe vibe. Colossal’ – MOJO

Finding splendour in shadows, Toria Wooff (Tor-ee-a Woo-f) sings tales of the beautifully strange.

A painter, poet, songwriter and storyteller, music is just one facet of Toria’s wildly creative imagination which metamorphoses in many forms. Steeped in gothic romanticism, pagan and Germanic tradition, Toria’s unique view of the world is enchanted by an alchemy of ‘70s sound and vision where she magically blends the raw power of Led Zeppelin with Alice Cooper’s raven hues to forge her own spellbinding folk-rock concoction.

‘Potent Gothic-Folk’ – Clash Magazine

‘Darkly seductive’ – Uncut

This show takes place at the Strines Nightingale – a lovely country pub, formerly called the Sportsman, which re-opened in autumn 2022. Strines is on the Piccadilly-Sheffield train line, and on the 358 bus route from Stockport to Hayfield. This show will run until 10.30pm at the latest.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7pm on Friday 17 July 2026
Where: The woodland stage at The Strines Nightingale, 105 Strines Rd, Strines, Marple, Stockport SK6 7GE

We’re excited to welcome Rachel Sermanni to the woodland stage at The Strines Nightingale – plus guest Maz O’Connor!

Join Rachel Sermanni on an enchanting tour of the outdoors this summer, performing in settings that celebrate the beauty of nature and community. From vibrant festival stages to docklands and piers, woodland tranquility, unique urban gardens, and sustainable Earthship spaces, each stop offers an intimate listening experience in unforgettable surroundings.

NOTE: For most events there will be some wet-weather cover, but we recommend you bring waterproofs/umbrellas if it looks like rain. These are all-weather events and will go ahead unless the forecast is severe.

Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish based singer/songwriter that makes the mundane moments mystical: shock-positive pregnancy tests in train-station toilets, coffee machine breakages, cold river swims, the regret of not saying ‘I love You’, the moon & how it pulls, bare feet on wood floors, the soft glow of a house plant, ‘what even is consciousness?’, strange dreams lingering in quiet mornings…

She brims with dreamy indie-folk pop that speaks of the struggle and desire to Flow, to love, to live, to feel. Sometimes, her songs speak of the rare moments of quiet-still, found in the midst of this struggle & desire.

Rachel’s most recent offering is her fourth studio album: Dreamer Awake. An in depth assortment of playful and candid vignettes, peeping into life: after birth, after separation and in the wake of recognising the internalised conditionings of patriarchy. She seeks to be honest with herself and her environment. She seeks to express from this raw place. She seeks to speak from the descent, the plateaus, the dream-catchings and contemplations of womanhood. There are no conclusions to be drawn. It is a call to arms, of sorts, to wake up and dream the future, to dismiss the external for a minute and tend to the inner landscape of heart and mind. To not be distracted. To focus on the light and the shadow in equal measure.

Since the release of Dreamer Awake, Rachel has become a mother for the second time and continues to explore this experience while offering her songs and also her insights into creativity.

Special guest is Maz O’Connor. Described by The Observer as ‘a highly individual singer-songwriter’, Maz O’Connor is a truly unique artist. Known for her haunting, emotive vocals and her poetic lyricism, her songs are most often short stories inspired by her love of literature, folklore and mythology. She wrote her first song aged four, whilst making a ‘radio show’ with a cassette player, and grew up singing old folk songs in her local Cumbrian venues. She went onto study Literature at Jesus College, Cambridge, where she dove deep into the history of folk song. It was during this time that she started to write her own songs.

Winning a BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship in 2014 (once won by Adele) brought Maz to wider attention, and later that year she was nominated for a BBC Folk Award for her first album, ‘This Willowed Light’. Maz has since released three further albums, toured the UK, Europe and Canada, played live sessions on BBC Radio 2 and 3, and appeared at major U.K. festivals, including Glastonbury and WOMAD. She has also written book, music & lyrics for the folk musical ‘The Wife of Michael Cleary’, which won the Stiles + Drewe Prize 2023 and is currently in development with West End producers.

After taking a few years out of recording and performing to have her son and work on her musical, Maz recorded her new album, Love it is a Killing Thing, in April 2025. Recorded live to tape in Spring 2025, this record is a collection of ancient songs about the perils of love, reimagined and in some cases re-composed by Maz. It marks a triumphant return to her folk roots.

This show takes place at the Strines Nightingale – a lovely country pub, formerly called the Sportsman, which re-opened in autumn 2022. Strines is on the Piccadilly-Sheffield train line, and on the 358 bus route from Stockport to Hayfield. This show will run until 10pm at the latest.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Friday 31 July 2026
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to welcome The Loft back to Gullivers!

Creation Records originals The Loft release a brand new single, Campervan, on 5 March, followed by the new album, Badges, on 8 May. The record features 10 new songs, recorded at producer Sean Read’s (Dexys, Edwyn Collins, Iggy) Famous Times studio in Hackney and is released on the Tapete Records label.

Campervan – a poignant tale of unfulfilled wanderlust – reveals a leaner, poppier side to the band’s material.

The Loft notoriously split up mid-set at the Hammersmith Palais 40 years ago after climbing to the top of the indie charts and are now releasing their second album of new material, following on from the Top 20 vinyl chart success of last year’s debut, Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same.

The original four members – Pete Astor, Dave Morgan, Bill Prince and Andy Strickland – have produced an album that continues, and moves forward, the story of The Loft – the band that helped define the sound of the Creation label and the emerging Indie genre. Badges has a sound that comes from a band who’ve been together, touring and playing consistently over the past two years – relaxed, vibey, assured.

‘It feels good to be in a real band again, and for the first time I’m co-writing songs with Andy, learning to manage and negotiate all the things that split the band apart all those years ago,’ says singer and songwriter Pete Astor.

‘We just naturally started writing the new album as soon as we finished touring last year,’ says guitarist Andy Strickland, ‘It feels more organic – it’s a real privilege to still be able to get together and do this.’

‘The long game is one the Loft have played rather well’ – MOJO

‘An unassuming masterpiece’ – Louder Than War

Support comes from Alta Zuma. Sometimes it takes a move to another city to make things happen. When a meeting between two old mates in an Urmston pub led to Emma Stockwell and Paula Farr deciding it was time to dust off the guitars and start making music, Alta Zuma was born. They were swiftly joined by John Rowland (The Bodines, Rainkings) on drums and James Knox (The Waltones) on bass.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Saturday 15 August 2026
Where: Kamera at Lloyd & Platt, 617 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M219AN

We’re delighted to welcome Jeffrey Silverstein and Bobby Lee to Kamera – with Black Brunswicker!

Jeffrey Silverstein is a songwriter from Portland, Oregon. His music lives at the intersection of the loner-folk, cosmic country and kraut-laden choogle. He’s just signed with Full Time Hobby. Having played shows throughout the US with such names as Steve Gunn, William Tyler, Rose City Band, Widowspeak and more, Silverstein is now turning his attention back across the Atlantic for co-headline shows with Bobby Lee in the UK and Sweden this summer.

Bobby Lee trades in a wide screen brand of cosmic country-folk, full of space and pawn shop guitars. There are touches of JJ Cale’s analogue Americana, the swampy groove of Tony Joe White and Richard Thompson’s sinewy, modal guitar work. Amps hum in the warm afternoon sun, kids and dogs snooze on the grass and broken drum machines keep time with the universe.

Bobby released his debut album, Shakedown in Slabtown, in August 2020, on his own Natural Histories imprint, which Mojo Magazine described as a ‘word of mouth sensation amongst discerning heads’.  It was swiftly followed by Origin Myths in March 2021, released on the legendary Tompkins Square Records, becoming album of the week on Huey Morgan’s 6 Music show and gaining support from BBC’s Late Junction, No Depression, the Guardian, NTS and WFMU. His third album Endless Skyways, also Tompkins Square, landed in June 2023, with a return to the full band sound of his debut.

2025 saw the release of Last Ride – a collaboration with ambient pedal steel explorer Joe Harvey-Whyte on LA’s Curation Records (Beachwood Sparks, Pacific Range, Triptides). Taking in Paris, Texas-esque dusty instrumentals, west coast canyon-rock, brit-folk pastoralism, kosmische choogle and new-age mellowness. The UK pair bonded over their broad church approach to cosmic country, where Eno and Arthur Russell stand shoulder to shoulder with Gram and JJ Cale.

Opening this special triple bill is Black Brunswicker. Black Brunswicker is the solo project of Etta Helfrich. Originally from Indiana, USA, Etta moved to Manchester in 2020 and has been based there since. Self-described as ambient folk melancholia, Black Brunswicker is a synthesis of Etta’s musical interests: American primitive and new age guitar, ambient drones and tape-based experimentation, and ecological field recordings.

Drifting guitar melodies, awash in a sea of reverb, are anchored by the soft movements of tape loops and field recordings, creating an immersive listening experience. It’s music with no place to be, encouraging introspection.

Kamera is the brand new venue upstairs at Lloyd & Platt (formerly The Lloyd’s) in Chorlton – by the team behind the Castle Hotel and Gullivers. The pub downstairs offers Indian street food by Chapati Cafe.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Thursday 3 September 2026
Where: YES Basement, 38 Charles Street, Manchester, M1 7DB

We’re excited to welcome The Courettes to YES!

The Courettes is an explosive Wall of Sound group from Denmark and Brazil! Flavia Couri on vocals and guitar, Martin on loud drums and together they are the perfect blend of Wall of Sound, Girl Group Heartbreaks, Motown and R&B. Imagine The Ronettes meeting The Ramones at a wild party at the Hitsville echo chamber!

The latest album, The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes, is out on legendary Damaged Goods Records, London and Rough Trade, London.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Sunday 6 September 2026
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to be working with Wild Pink for the first time!

Still Coming Down is Wild Pink’s sixth studio album, and their most refined offering to-date. Continuing along the shredded and steely path forged by 2024’s Dulling The Horns — named one of the year’s best albums by Vogue, Consequence, Paste and more — Still Coming Down doubles down on Wild Pink’s ‘proper Rock’ (Stereogum, Best Albums of 2024) and sticks every landing.

Dulling The Horns saw Wild Pink reach new levels of critical acclaim and live success, performing alongside the likes of indie torchbearers Dr. Dog, Crumb and MJ Lenderman (who lends his guitar skills on Still Coming Down).

Still Coming Down finishes out the ride of those highs, settling into a life on the road and reflecting these experiences across a warped and encyclopedic vision of America. Led by John Ross, ‘one of the best lyricists in indie music’ (the Guardian), Wild Pink hunkered down in Asheville’s storied Drop of Sun Studios to record Still Coming Down with virtuosic producer Alex Farrar (Bnny, Wednesday, Samia). At once strange and familiar, Wild Pink’s Still Coming Down is a product of modern times that only John Ross could pen.

Tickets go on sale at 3pm on Friday 29 May via Seetickets.com

Attend on: Facebook

When: 7.30pm on Monday 14 September 2025
Where: Hallé at St Michael’s, 36-38 George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DG

We’re delighted to working with Laura Veirs plus Karl Blau!

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs blends the poetic sensibilities of folk with the rough edges of indie rock. Her career has seen her collaborate with luminaries such as kd lang, Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens, Jim James, The Decemberists, Bill Frisell and many more.

2026 sees Laura return with her new album, Temple Songs— her first in four years and the first she has written, recorded, arranged, produced and performed entirely on her own. It captures a songwriter in peak form. The album is intimate, dreamy, brave and quietly defiant, built around Veirs’ intricate fingerstyle nylon-string guitar, vulnerable vocals and bold electric guitar embellishments. The new songs lend themselves perfectly to being performed live in a stripped-back form, with Laura accompanied only by Karl Blau on electric guitar.

Karl Blau will also support. The croon of Karl Blau’s voice hits the ear like baritone Hazelwood, Cohen or Cave, especially in his albums since he found his “country voice” in the past 10 years. Blau’s staggering number of solo albums added up to 54 for the ironically entitled Introducing album, his first on London’s Bella Union in 2016, and his first foray into singing country. Not afraid to keep expanding his frontier, 2025 saw Blau’s Vultures of Love – a loose homage to psychedelia – come out on eccentric Los Angeles label Otherly Love. With thirty years of songwriting, recording and touring behind him, Karl Blau hits the road with long time collaborator and friend, Laura Veirs. As they celebrate Laura’s Temple Songs album they also mark over twenty years of making music together.

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.

Book tickets now.

Attend on: Facebook