In a couple of weeks, I’ll be posting a list of all the films I’ve seen this year, so I thought I’d also do a round-up of all the live music and comedy gigs I’ve been to in 2019.
January
Snow Patrol at Manchester Arena (with support from Roe and Kodaline). Last minute ticket purchase!
June
Mumford and Sons at Manchester Arena (with support from Villagers). In the accessible area with a crutch because I’d only just got out of hospital!
Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott at Edgeley Park (with support from Richard Hawley). Really last minute – went with Lee & Katie because they had a spare ticket!
Blossoms at Edgeley Park (with support from Fuzzy Suns, The Blinders, Cabbage, and The Coral). A mini-festival in the sunshine, and a really great atmosphere!
July
John Archer at NSN. Some great magic, and really good rapport with the crowd.
August
Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls at Greenbelt.
September
Tape Face at The Lowry (with support from Jonny Awsum). Didn’t take a photo!
Ben Hart at The Lowry. Co-starring Michael Wray on camera!
A Taste Of Honey at The Lowry (National Theatre). Went with Dean – it was an interesting play, but there were elements of it (accents, staging) that I didn’t think were that great.
October
Barbara Nice at Stockport Plaza (with support from Mat Ricardo). Crazy show with the Gag Reflex crowd.
Jason Byrne at The Lowry. There was a kind of narrative structure, but he really thrived off going on crazy tangents with audience participation, even throwing back to audience members who’d been to the show on previous years!
James Morrison at Manchester O2 Apollo (with support from Ferris and Sylvester). Got a complimentary ticket – luckily it turned out I actually knew 4 of his songs!
November
John Robins at The Lowry (with support from Robin Allender). His latest show from Edinburgh – ‘Hot Shame’. Very funny!
Freya Ridings at Manchester O2 Apollo (with support from Jasmine Thompson). Again, a comp ticket, but I thought she was great and ended up buying her latest album!
Emili Sande at Manchester O2 Apollo (with support from Ben Monteith). Amazing voice!
Rod Stewart at Manchester Arena (with support from Johnny Mac and the Faithful). Would never have thought to go to a Rod Stewart gig, but Dean, Hannah and her mum were going and there was a spare ticket, so I thought why not?! And it was a pretty spectacular show!
Australian Pink Floyd at Manchester O2 Apollo. Went with Dean – comp ticket again – and I thought I might’ve known more Pink Floyd tracks, but I didn’t! Impressive light show, but I found some of the video visuals a bit ropey – can’t switch off from my work-head!
December
Snow Patrol – Reworked at Manchester O2 Apollo. Really intimate show in comparison to seeing them at the Manchester Arena at the start of the year – so great!
Dido at Manchester O2 Apollo. Another freebie with Dean and Lee! Felt like the early 2000s again!
Coldplay album listening experience in Dolby Atmos with Amazon Music HD. Not technically a gig, but I won a ticket with Amazon Music to go to London to experience the new Coldplay album in Dolby Atmos, in a themed pop-up space in Soho. Was really interesting, and I got a goodie bag with some Coldplay merch – and got photographed in the queue for Coldplay’s Instagram!
