Northwest Gig Highlights – September 2014

Festival season usually leaves the summer months resembling a little bit of a wasteland for local gigs – September, traditionally, is the month that sees things begin to whir back into life. There’s often a hangover effect, though; it’s not usually until the end of the month that the gig calendar really begins to pick up. This time around, however, Liverpool and Manchester are getting back into the swing of things impressively quickly.

We advise kicking things off with Perfume Genius at Band on the Wall on 2 Sep; Seattle’s Mike Hadreas is making a peculiarly-timed visit to these shores, with new record Too Bright not out for a few weeks yet, but expect previews of cuts from that brilliantly dark new effort as well as classic, stripped-back confessionals from his first two full-lengths. If you’re in the market for low-key, painfully honest singer-songwriters, you could do much worse than check out Angel Olsen bringing her magnificent Burn Your Fire for No Witness LP to Gorilla – a show upgraded from The Deaf Institute – on 23 Sep, following a sold-out show at Soup Kitchen earlier this year.

After a period of some confusion, which saw her show announced, apparently scrapped, and then confirmed as back on again, Jenny Lewis’s gig at the Ruby Lounge – originally slated for 7 Sep – will now be taking place at The Ritz on 12 Sep. She’s just dropped her first full solo record in six years, the brilliantly poppy The Voyager, and will bring her new six-piece band along to run through cuts from that record, Rilo Kiley classics and a handful of tracks from her collaboration with The Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat. The following weekend, this month’s theme of superb all-female gigs continues with a couple of couples: hotly-tipped Glaswegian duo Honeyblood play Soup Kitchen on 19 Sep, and their Swedish counterparts First Aid Kit – out in support of third LP Stay Gold – have sold out an appearance at the Albert Hall the following evening.

There's a host of special gigs in Liverpool this month – Kylie Minogue at the Echo Arena on 24 Sep is just the beginning (no, seriously). If you've ever seen – or indeed, if you've never seen – David Thomas Broughton, then make a beeline to MelloMello on 19 Sep for his first appearance in the city for five years. Broughton's shows are the best kind of unpredictable, his wry, somnambulist persona amusing and uncompromising in equal measure; over the last few years, we've seen him wander the crowd at Levenshulme's Klondkye Bowls Club, looping the sound of scrunched empty peanut wrappers to create textured rhythms; eyeballing individuals in claustrophobic pub crowds, and unspooling the limpid, lupine howls of Ambiguity into the vast space of Peel Hall. His is always a unique, mesmeric, almost too unflinchingly intimate show – and those in Manchester can see him at, of all places, Manchester Climbing Centre on 21 Sep, performing at this show with the Juice Vocal Ensemble. Wow. 

Patrick Wolf makes a sole Northwest appearance at Liverpool Scandinavian Church – the Peter Pan of the naughties makes a habit of playing in churches, but there is absolutely no better setting for his signature brand of wide-eyed mysticism. Though he has a hugely varied back catalogue – every fan has their favourite 'era' of the young pop auteur, from the stormblasted, introspective days of Wind in the Wires to the low-budget glitterball pomp of the Accident & Emergency tour – he is consistently, simultaneously one of our most consummate and raw performers; lately he's been riding high on the tails of a sort of 'best-of' album, Sundark & Riverlight, and still only just gone 30. Elsewhere, the highly rated SOHN performs in the intimate confines of The Kazimier on the 18 Sep (or Manchester folk can catch him the night before at Gorilla, 17 Sep). Most notable, though, is the superb lineup at Camp & Furnace for the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia on 26 and 27 Sep: the likes of Goat, Allah-Las, The Besnard Lakes, September Girls and Thought Forms are just some of our picks of an excellent bunch.

Back in Manchester, Albert Hall is fast becoming one of the city’s most beloved venues, lending itself beautifully to the likes of Wild Beasts, Neutral Milk Hotel and Beirut already this year, and there’s another couple of must-see shows lined up for late September, too: Ryan Adams brings his new, self-titled solo album to Peter Street on 24 Sep, before The Horrors appear three nights later on 27 Sep – expect a slew of tracks from latest album Luminous as well as classics from Primary Colours and Skying. Alternatively, you could head to The Deaf Institute that same night to check out Woman’s Hour, who won rave reviews for debut album Conversations earlier this summer. [Joe Goggins and Laura Swift]

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Do Not Miss: Owls, The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 17 Sep

It really has been quite the year for fans of the Kinsella family. For the uninitiated, brothers Mike and Tim and cousin Nate represent a genuine dynasty of emo and indie rock in their native Illinois, with Mike the singer and songwriter in the short-lived but hugely influential American Football, and Tim playing a key part in the likes of Joan of Arc, Cap’n Jazz, and Owls. This year, not only have American Football reformed for select 15th-anniversary shows in the US – hopefully, they’ll be able to pencil in a handful across the pond before too long – but Owls, a band featuring both Mike and Tim and trading off of similar math-rock-tinged emo to American Football, have released Two, their first full-length in 13 years. They’re now set to make their UK debut, with a slew of dates lined up for September – including one at Manchester’s Deaf Institute on 17 Sep. This is a gig that the band’s die-hard following never thought they’d get to see; it’s just as well, then, that the new album is mighty good, and should lend itself nicely to live performance on a tour that looks sure to be a one-off. [Joe Goggins]