Live music in Liverpool this week: 29 Mar-4 Apr

We dive into the listings to bring you the essential guide to gigs in Liverpool this week – plus the latest news on festivals, tour announcements and more. Think we've missed something? Hit up will@theskinny.co.uk with the details...

Wed 29 Mar

Songwriter Luke Daniels hails from Reading but resides in Glasgow, and there's a noticeably Celtic lilt to his lyrical folk balladry. He's currently touring recent album Revolve and Rotate, which finds his acoustic guitar working in tandem with a 19th-century music box called The Polyphon – very pretty, all told.
Philharmonic Music Room, 8pm, £12

Thu 30 Mar

Fall devotees, Sleaford Mods fans... your attention please. Bristol quintet Idles offer a similarly acid-tongued take on post-punk, with last year's single memorably casting a disdainful eye across everyone from Mary Berry to Trevor Nelson, while snarkily summarising the UK's growing class divide. A searing, seething bundle of energy, hooks and mordant wit. O2 Academy, 7pm, £7

Alternatively, Idles' citymates Goan Dogs offer something slinkier: their free-grooving indie is both slick and smooth, with hints of desert rock and a subtly bluesy rumble underpinning frontman Luke St Leger's wry observations and gentle croon. The Shipping Forecast, 7.30pm, £6-£7

Fri 31 Mar

It's been eight years since The Zutons broke up, but now saxophonist Abi Harding is back with her new project, AbiChan. Anyone expecting similarly cosmic vibes is going to be disappointed; this is a classier, multifaceted outfit with gentle hints of soul, tropical pop and more. The Sneaky Nixons, The Isrights and The Floormen support. The Magnet, 7pm, £4

'Ambient rock' is Nottingham-based Eyre Llew's chosen genre, although it sounds an awful lot like shoegaze and dreampop to us. Anyone who digs the starry-eyed psych of The Antlers, Cigarettes After Sex or even Galaxie 500 is well advised to pay attention; their sparse anthems start out quiet but often border on the epic. Hus, 7.30pm, £4 

Meanwhile, there's thrash-centric hardcore fun for all down at Maguire's: Southampton's Grove Street Families supply riffs and shredding; your role in all this should immediately become apparent as the mosh kicks off. Head down early for more heavy goodness from Clench Your Fist, Back Down, Stranded and Resist. Maguire's Pizza Bar, 7pm, £6 tickets/£7 OTD

Sat 1 Apr

If you're going to name your band after anything, there are far worse choices than Juliette Lewis's Natural Born Killers anti-hero. Cambridge rockers Mallory Knox may lack the psychotic tendencies of their inspiration, but with an audience this devoted and hooks this pogo-friendly, that's hardly a concern. O2 Academy, 7pm, £13.50

Fresh from releasing their debut LP Oubliette last year, local folk-poppers The Drifting Classroom attempt to turn the spotlight towards the Northwest with the launch of their new 138 residency at Zanzibar. Designed to bring together the region's best talent for collaborations and one-off performances, the first of this monthly series also sees performances from Louie Louie, Violet Youth, Damrak and The Courts. Keep an eye on the band's Facebook page for details of future shows. Zanzibar, 7.30pm, £4-5

Mad Alice are a blues-rock trio from Liverpool, smashing power and volume together to create commanding, riff-based anthems – 'potential' used to be the watchword, but there's a real sense that they're outgrowing that nascent stage and becoming a band to be reckoned with. Tonight they play alongside Rival Bones, Astral Project and Lara Boundy. Maguire's Pizza Bar, 7.30pm, £5

Sun 2 Apr

Following a quiet nine months, UK grime king Stormzy recently returned with Big For Your Boots, a grade A #banger and the first cut proper from LP Gang Signs & Prayer. Almost feels like attendance should be compulsory, somehow. O2 Academy, 7pm, £20

Mon 3 Apr

According to something this hack just read on Wikipedia, The Who's Pete Townshend once accused Jimi Hendrix of stealing his act, which seems increasingly preposterous the more you think about it. In other news, the surviving members of Thee 'Oo are playing the Echo Arena. Echo Arena, 6.30pm, £60-£70

C86, dreampop and surf guitars make up the base elements of The Velvet Room's sound; an addictive indie concoction that's firmly in touch with the zeitgeist while still retaining its own character. Ones to watch. Zanzibar, 7.30pm, £4-5

Threshold Festival

Returning to Liverpool this weekend for three days of live music and more, Threshold Festival brings over 100 artists to the Baltic Triangle, including Hannah Peel, False Advertising, Hey Colossus and more. This follows a successful crowdfunding effort, which raised over £11,400 to enable the annual celebration of grassroots music to go ahead, confirming the festival's place in the affections of Merseyside's gig-going community. We strongly recommend heading along to find out why it's such a well-loved event. Baltic Triangle, 31 Mar-2 Apr, weekend tickets: £20, day tickets: £7-£12