Sad to hear of this terrible news.Our sincere condolences to his Family and Friends,he seemed a very nice bloke.

R.I.P

Oh well we can live in hope!

Just got back from the gig, 4 Smiths classic songs, 2 Electronic numbers and 1 modest mouse, mixed in with his new stuff, absolutely fantastic stuff from Johnny, the mans a legend.

Best thing about it, we drove, arrived at 8.45pm and back in the local by 10.45, love 53 degrees!

Best venue around the northwest in my opinion,worth checking out the pub across the road as well Gav.Decent beer at reasonable prices and they will usually have a DJ on playing the same sort of music as the band that's playing at 53 Degrees.Plus they have some decent pub meals too if you fancy a bite to eat before you go in.

The band pal.. I prefer Slaughter and The Dogs myself mind

Would have been up your street pal,there was a band on before them who did 'slaughter and the dogs' covers..

Wow that's going back a bit!

The pub or the band?

I'm still aching now....

Well i have to say The food at Greens was fantastic! Very good indeed and a great relaxed service too.Was a little bit pricey but worth it for the quality,highly recommended indeed...

"Peter and the Test tube babies" for me tonight at the Star and Garter in Manchester! should be a good 'un!

None of this is root veg!

BLACK PUDDING CAKE with poached egg, creamed leeks and peas

JAPANESE ENOKI MUSHROOM SPRING ROLL with a warm coconut broth and noodle laksa

SPINACH, PISTACHIO AND FETA FILO PIE with tomato, chick pea and saffron stew

GNOCCHI WITH TAPENADE SAUCE AND A BLUE CHEESE CRUMB served with a bean and crouton salad and salsa verde dressing

Knowing how good their pies and bean stews are, I'd go with the spinach, pistachio and feta pie (the stews are usually wonderfully smokey).

Still not much of a choice......Do you know if they have a specials board at all? Thanks!

Thanks with regards to Greens.Unfortunately it's my mate that's the veggie and it's for his birthday.With me being a full bloodied carnivore and not liking root vegetables,i've struggled to find something that i can eat.The cheese and basil sausages are my only hope...

Meh. Okay, I'll rephrase that: Pulp Fiction was the last GREAT movie he's made, whereas the others were passable at best, and he even almost ruined that by sticking his unwanted face in it.

I don't know,i thought Inglorious Basterds was brilliant entertainment.D'jango unchained was very good as well.Christoph Waltz is brilliantly over the top in both of them.

Going to Greens at Didsbury on Sunday has anybody been there? any good?

Anybody else going to see MUSE tomorrow?

Yeah, Err, Right ?? After London Calling then what ?

I take it you haven't listened to much of their music then? Ignore the commercial hits,the lesser known tunes were far better.

A superb band with plenty of varying styles coupled with fantastic songwriting that influenced bands such as R.E.M, U2, Greenday,Foo fighters Arctic Monkeys etc.

The reference of them being the "only band that mattered" was a promotional slogan by their record label at the time as opposed to Nelsta's personal opinion.They certainly wipe the floor with any of the X-Factor type kean that's peddled out theses days that's for sure!

http://www.festwich.com/

Not sure if anybody has seen this but being as there are quite a few rock fans on here,I thought it might be worth posting.

Tickets cost £2 for the booking fee....

I've seen the guns or Roses tribute band and they are very good indeed.

Can't wait.....has anyone seen Ted or the new Spider Man film?

I saw the new spiderman film last week,far better than I expected to be honest.Certainly better than the Tobey Maguire version.Well worth a watch.

Prometheus, in spite of the lukewarm reviews, is actually good. It's not a prequel to Alien per se (though it exists in the same universe and is set prior to that film) but it is an interesting story nonetheless. Fassbender is mesmerising.

My thoughts too.Fassbender is rapidly becoming one of my favourite actors and will sooner rather than later be a major player in hollywood.

Going to see 'Brit Floyd' tonight at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester.

Should be good stuff!

Just got tickets to see Orbital - seen them before and they're great live - at 53 Degrees in Preston. Cracking venue, shame they seem to struggle to attract bands. Guess its because Manchester gets first pick.

Totally agree with that.I saw The Stranglers there last year,there were about 10 of us went and everyone of us said what a great place it was.Pub priced beer,plenty of bar staff and because the floor is tiered,it`s also a superb view as well.

There is also a good pub across the road that had a disco playing loads of punk stuff,obviously playing for the punters that were going to the gig.They also had reasonably priced beer and food as well.

All in all it`s the best venue i`ve been to in the north west and would be our first choice every time despite us having further to travel.

www.gigsandtours.com has them available at face value for all three Heaton Park gigs. Seems quite legit as it links from both the official site and Facebook page.

Got two for the Sunday last night.

Also only one booking fee applied for both tickets so one up on Ticketmaster.

Saw Joan Baez at Bridgewater Hall a few weeks back. I thought she was excellent but I know another MBer felt differently.

Really pleased to get tickets to see Bellowhead at the Lowry in November. Wanted a standing gig, not really a sit down band, but all the other gigs were too far away. Check them on YouTube.

......... and then the small matter of Mr Springsteen in Manchester this June. Can't wait for that one. We're thinking about flying to Barcelona for the gig there, not sure about that yet.

if you want to try something new Cineworld in Bolton now shows live streams of opera from around the world. Good night but take a picnic ..... usually long and the food is the usual very expensive junk!

I must admit I never understood the appeal with Bruce,he sounds like a cross between Sylvester Stallone and somebody who`s been on a 5 hour bender drinking nothing but whisky..

My mate says he`s brilliant live though.

Took my youngest lad to watch the stranglers at Manchester Academy last night, great support bands, Mike Marlin and band and also the Popes. Managed to get there early, and get right to the front centre, about 6ft away from the bands. My son and I came out at the end feeling like we'd been in a tumble dryer for 3 hours, my knees, ribs and vocal chords are in tatters this morning.

It was great to see loads of dads my age with their kids. I'm gonna do this more often, £23 each for so much enjoyment!

Cracking gig and a great atmosphere as well,I was at the front and slightly to the left (Basically slap bang in the middle of the pit! ).

Just a shame Jet Black couldn`t be there,hope he gets better soon.

If ever a post needed captioning then this is the one....

One on the left: "Please don`t let that thing drop on me!"

One on the right: "Damn! Those sideburns are just nasty!"

Kylie - I should be so lucky..

The Verve-Lucky man

Funnily enough I thought about starting a similar thread myself but with reviews of the Artists and venues thrown in as well as i`m sure there are some people who wonder what a particular venue is like for views,sound and beer etc.So here goes with my first review:

Went to watch the Australian Pink Floyd show last Friday in Liverpool who were absolutely fantastic.

The venue

The only bad thing was the fact it was at the Echo arena.The stage and views were great but the running of the venue itself leaves a lot to be desired.First of all we were searched on the way in which I was not happy about.The cost of refreshments is extortionate,although we kind of guessed it would be anyway.£3.80 for a bottle of Carling and £2 for a bottle of diet Coke was ridiculous (and yes a-la Ewood style they took the tops off the diet Coke! ).

The sound and views from our seats though were excellent.

Verdict:I wish somebody would come up with similar sized venues that are better run to put these clowns out of business

The Band

As near to the Floyd as we will see these days,all in all there were 11 musicians/singers on stage who were all absolutely brilliant.We had a full laser and lights show that were incredible along with a 30 foot inflatable Kangaroo on stage as well as a 20-25 foot (ish) inflatable flying pig at the side of the stage! All the hits came thick and fast with classics such as "The Wall","comfortably Numb","Time","Us and Them" and many more.

Verdict:If you like Pink Floyd You wouldn`t be disappointed with watching these

Merchandise

Ridiculously overpriced at £20 for a T-shirt bearing in mind the fact they are a tribute band (albeit a very good one!) I can buy an original Floyd shirt for £15-16 delivered!

All in all though a cracking night out but next time I might be tempted to catch them at a different venue. 8/10

Next up for me are The Stranglers on the 24th March at the Manchester Academy and Stiff Little Fingers at the HMV Ritz Manchester on the 31st March.

Long train running-the Doobie brothers

The Easybeats-Friday on my mind

Followed by

Gary Moore-Friday on my mind...

Stiff little fingers-Johnny was