Taken at The Canteen Media & Arts Centre in Barrow-in-Furness on Saturday July 17, 2010 - a hastily arranged support slot to Transmission, the Joy Division tribute band.
Photo by MARTIN MILLAR

LIVE REVIEW * JESSE MALIN * [Ruby Lounge, Manchester - Wednesday, July 7 2010]

AMERICAN singer / songwriter Jesse Malin has toured and recorded relentlessly for the last 7 years, working with the likes of Ryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen along the way. Bruce went on to record a duet with Jesse (Broken Radio), a favour he extends to very few.
Stepping out with his new band, the St. Marks Social, Jesse is over in the UK promoting his latest album Love It to Life, stopping off at the Ruby Lounge in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.
Kicking off with Burning the Bowery, he quickly followed it up with Hotel Columbia from his second album, The Heat. This tells the tale of the London hotel where most rock bands find themselves staying when on tour in the capital. Jesse describes it as ‘The Shining meets Spinal Tap’.
Live favourites such as Wendy, Queen of the Underworld and Almost Grown from his debut LP The Fine Art of Self Destruction are all received with glee. Almost Grown contains a line about his mother, “she used to like Frank Sinatra, cigarettes and JFK”, which is typical of Malin’s candour. New song, All the Way from Moscow looks to the perilous financial precipice of the new world. “You don’t get your money back kid, but you get to keep on living” is Jesse’s take on the ‘plight’ of disenfranchised bankers.
After an emotional trip through Brooklyn, Jesse encores with a cover by punk band Bad Brains. He then leads us into Solitaire, a song about not needing anyone. Sung in unison by the crowd, it somehow transforms into an anthem for positivity.
To reinforce the point, Jesse spontaneously leaps from the stage and urges the audience to join him in sitting down on the floor, where, drenched in sweat, he holds court on the power of living the good life, quoting philosophers such as Camus, Sartre, Joe Strummer and Lemmy Kidderminster. Life affirming stuff, as seen by the P.M.A. sticker (Positive Mental Attitude) on Jesse’s Les Paul guitar. Welcome to Malin County – it’s well worth the journey.
DAVID DUFFIN 354 words

LIVE REVIEW * ASH * [The Nines, Barrow - Tuesday, July 6 2010]

IF you weren’t aware already, the sight of a swish double-decker tour bus and trailer parked in Dalkeith Street should have been an indication that something rather special was happening tonight. Ash were in town for a sold-out gig, and the Nines was literally heaving, both upstairs and down, with expectant well-spirited gig-goers.
Ash were received with rapturous applause from the outset, as they ploughed into a trio of tunes including Lose Control and A Life Less Ordinary. The huge banner at the back of the stage behind the beautiful gold sparkle drum-kit read ‘Ash A-Z’, a reference to the ongoing series of single releases by the band.
There were a fair amount of new songs in the set, plus sure-fire crowd pleasers like Goldfinger. Tim Wheeler played his white Gibson SG for the majority of the set, and the trio were augmented by a very able rhythm guitarist who occasionally doubled on keyboards. Six songs in, and the opening chords to Shining Light reverberated around the venue and the place, understandably, went wild.
New songs like The Dead Disciples rubbed shoulders with euphoric anthems like Oh Yeah, which seemed to have ended, when Tim Wheeler provoked the crowd into a sing-a-long of the chorus. This continued with Kung Fu, the song that reminds people of Eric Cantona’s athleticism off the field, and it felt like we were at a private indoor festival.
Girl from Mars was like being on another planet, with everyone singing along and dancing and jumping around furiously. The last song of the set, Return of the White Rabbit, was quite an epic affair, and marked something of a change in direction for the band, with sequenced sounds and a more free-fall dance feel, with it’s vocal refrain of ‘I don’t wanna go’.
They exited the stage for a while, but Ash returned for some splendid encores, starting with another favourite in Angel Interceptor. “Thanks a million!” said Tim. “It’s been great to be in Barrow for the first time. Maybe we’ll come back some day.” With that they launched into Burn Baby Burn.
The light and sound were fantastic throughout, and it’s a tribute to the Nines for tempting Ash to play in the town. Not bad for a drizzly Tuesday night in Barrow. We definitely need more nights like this – keep it coming.
DAVID DUFFIN

[PHOTO BY MARTIN MILLAR]