Sick of seeing Instagram stories of people at festivals and gigs? Don’t worry, kill the fomo, as July is a great month for gigs in Manchester with Sounds of the City at Castlefield Bowl just around the corner, plus there’s some great intimate and arena shows. Here are some of our picks.
Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan – Castlefield Bowl – 3 July
The first gig to kick off Sounds of the City is goth-punk singer Avril Lavigne. Her accolades include eight grammy nominations and her debut album ‘Let Go’ being the best-selling album in the 21st century by a Canadian artist. Expect plenty of black on display in the crowd.
Travis Scott – Co-Op Live – 13 July
One of the biggest rappers at the minute, Travis Scott stops off in Manchester on his world tour on the 13 July. Collaborations with Drake, Young Thug, Kid Cudi, M.I.A, Kodak Black and Offset have given Scott several number ones. His fourth album Utopia was released last year.
Fatboy Slim – Castlefield Bowl – 5 July
A slightly different crowd to Avril Lavigne, Fatboy Slim has DJ’d everywhere, including to 250,000 people on a beach in Brighton, headlining the other stage at Glastonbury and several world tours.
Known for tunes such as the Rockafeller Skank and Right Here Right Now, the back catalogue is very very strong,
Q magazine named him part of their “50 Bands to See Before You Die” list and although £57 isn’t cheap, we think it’s worth the price.
Garbage – 02 Apollo – 19 July
90s American rock heroes return to Manchester after touring with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds last year. They opened for Blondie before that in 2017 so the bar is set pretty high.
Their self-titled debut album went double platinum in the US when it came out in 1995 and it seems they’re just as popular in the UK.
Idle Hours, Dove Ellis + Bleep Test – YES Basement – 20 July
Want to support grassroots music venues whilst watching three great bands? Get yourself down to YES to see a very solid lineup. Alt-RnB from Ireland Dove Ellis are playing at All Points East in August which has LCD Soundsystem on the same bill.
Idle Hours are a four-piece post-punk band from Salford whilst Bleep Test describe themselves as new-wave dance fun. For £5 we think it’s a bargain.
Black Uhuru – Band on the Wall – 26 July
Something a bit different compared to the others, Black Uhuru are a reggae band from Jamaica and formed in Kingston in the early 60’s. Frontman Duckie Simpson learnt to sing with the likes Lloyd “Bread” McDonald of Wailing Souls and Bob Marley. He recorded four tracks with Wailing Souls before forming his own group.
With 14 full length albums, 7 instrumental dub albums, and 4 live albums they have the highest record sales in reggae music after Bob Marley. Their album ‘Red’ was voted #23 for Rolling Stone’s list of “100 Greatest Albums of the 1980′s. They have six reggae grammy nominations and are a very prolific live band. Uhuru don’t perform often in Europe, so this is one to definitely see if you like reggae.a