If there’s one artist we believe has never quite got the credit he deserves, it’s Francis Edward f***ing Turner – Frank to his loyal legions of followers around the world and the roughly 2,600 gig-goers inside Manchester Academy on Saturday, 5 April 2025.
Don’t get us wrong, Frank Turner and his long-standing touring band The Sleeping Souls are no minnow in the music industry: the 43-year-old is now two decades into his solo career and even during his time as the frontman of Million Dead, he had plenty of die hards right out of the gate.
What we mean is that for someone with the longevity, stamina, charisma, commitment to grassroots and such a rich back catalogue, he doesn’t get anywhere near enough the level of recognition he should.
It doesn’t matter which of the 10 albums he pulls from; the connection with those in the crowd is as strong as it’s ever been, if not even more powerful than the last time they saw him and the Souls, mainly because those lot up on the stage put in the same amount of energy as they always have.
Even the most avid fan would admit the Hampshire-born bard of the modern age has such an extensive back catalogue that you can be forgiven for not knowing every B-side and deep cut from back to front.
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The man himself joked, “You’ve had a whole year to learn these f***ing songs”, but in all seriousness, that’s not what a Frank Turner gig is about. As he has the audience repeat back to without any need for a prompt at this point, the rules are simple: “Don’t be a d***” and don’t be ashamed to dance around.
Just like he told his Manc congregation this past weekend, “If you’re at this show, you probably were never that cool to begin with”, so if he and his truly brilliant live band can put their “aging knees” through the ringer hundreds of times a year, those watching him best reciprocate in kind.
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And they did, from start to finish, as a Manchester Academy crowd or any venue in the city will always guarantee for that matter.
But more importantly, we suddenly realised something as he introduced the cult favourite track ‘Jinny Bingham’s Ghost’ from his eighth studio LP, Tales From No Man’s Land (2019), which was released with an accompanying podcast about historical female figures whose stories he wanted to shed light on.
It only took us seeing him for the fourth time to fully understand it, but we got there in the end…
We used that word ‘bard’ before – i.e. the old storytellers, musicians and orators, performers, comedians, historians, genealogists and so on that used to chronicle people’s lives, events taking place and the wider world around for centuries – but it felt like this most recent gig spoke to that oral tradition.
There have always been moments like this in his albums, in truth, and we only now realise that we had the same feeling the first time we heard ‘Balthazar, Impresario’ but Turner, we feel, is one of the few current artists truly keeping that almost time-travelling bard culture alive.
Be it conducting an orchestra of tipsy Northerners as they sing back in perfect harmony (just about), organising a crowd-surfing race between two mates who chose the concert as the stag do, teaching them literal historic tales of a young woman who drowned in the River Seine back in the 1800’s, he’s a rare breed of performer.
There’s plenty of call and response in Frank Turner’s music, but there’s also a real sense of history, politics and culture, not to mention a sense of proud Englishness that contemporary society can find difficult or at least a somewhat cumbersome topic these days.
Undefeated, underrated, criminally underappreciated and absolutely unbelievable live.
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Folk and old-school punk rock at its finest. Frank Turner can come back to Manchester Academy any time he likes. (Credit: Audio North)
Sterephonics frontman Kelly Jones reveals that Noel Gallagher is back in the studio
Danny Jones
Stereophonics lead singer Kelly Jones has graciously revealed to music fans that new Gallagher tunes could be on the way, as he confirmed that Noel has been back in the studio and working on new material.
The big question is, has Liam been in there with him?…
Broken rather nonchalantly in an interview with NME, Jones didn’t so much let the news slip as much as he seemingly just casually dropped it into conversation, mentioning that he bumped into the older Gallagher brother recently.
As he puts it – frustratingly briefly, might we add (sorry, fanaticism will do that to you) – the Oasis icon and High Flying Birds frontman has been doing some songwriting, but the details were scarce.
The 50-year-old ‘Phonics frontman, who was discussing the release of their 13th studio album as well as his own solo project last year, was asked his thoughts on the legendary Britpop band’s upcoming reunion shows and the impact they had on his own career.
“Funnily enough, I found some old pictures of me and Noel rehearsing when he used to have a studio down in Windsor recently, just before we toured America”, said Jones. “We were having a laugh about them and I asked him what he’d been up to and he said he’d been doing some writing in the studio.
The unmistakable Welsh vocalist went on to add: “I’m assuming he’s doing some writing for either his stuff or if they’re [Oasis] gonna bring out a couple songs, I don’t know.”
It seems the pair are still more than friendly, though he gave little away about his relationship with Liam Gallagher; the two British rock groups did share somewhat of a rivalry in the 90s and 2000s, with Stereophonics making no secret of Oasis inspiring their own music.
Describing the band in their heyday, Jones described the period “kind of chaotic and mayhem but it was all very joyous”, insisting that things are very different nowadays but that he is not the less excited than a whole new generations of fans are going to be able to see them live for the first time
As for whether he and his bandmates will be able to find the time, he revealed in a subsequent chat live on Radio X that their own tour clashes may mean they’ll miss out on the Live ’25 tour experience.
Further reflecting on the age of streaming, content overload and what some would argue is an overabundance of media, Kelly said of art and music in particular that “people need it now more than they’ve needed it in a long time.”
We don’t know whether or not Noel’s return to songwriting is for the next High Flying Birds record or whether the rumours are true and new Oasis music really is on the way.
As much as we love his solo stuff, PLEASE let it be the latter.
We do know that the siblings are said to be getting on swimmingly so far and even spent some of the Easter break together, according to LG himself. Here’s hoping they were throwing around ideas for another instant hit.
An old indie favourite is heading back to Manchester for a ‘Best Of Tour’ at a brilliant venue
Danny Jones
Time to roll back the years as old-school indie favourite The Pigeon Detectives are coming back to Manchester for a special show at one of the most stunning venues in the city.
We swear, if we could find our old iPod, their tracks would still be all over it.
Coming back to another part of the North that always showed them plenty of love, The Pigeon Detectives will be playing a special ‘The Best of Tour’ in line with their latest record, Still Not Sorry.
The Manc gig comes as the Yorkshire lads announced just six UK headline sets to support the album release, but let’s be honest, they were never going to skip 0161, were they?
UK TOUR! NEW RECORD! On Sale Friday 2nd May, but get pre-sale NOW when you buy a best of record (with 3 new tracks) or t-shirt from here: https://t.co/a1q44LYbD6 see you in Autumn! pic.twitter.com/HWA9ITS9Ii
— The Pigeon Detectives (@pigeonsofficial) April 25, 2025
With only half a dozen domestic dates confirmed so far, including the likes of Manchester, a homecoming night in Leeds and up in Glasgow, this really does feel like a return that long-standing fans won’t want to miss.
The new LP, which is a greatest hits compilation featuring the very best tracks from their discography that stretches over two decades, drops next month and we’re very ready to pump some adolescent nostalgia into our ears.
And best of all, they’ll be playing all the cult favourite Pigeon Detectives tracks at the simply stunning New Century Hall, marking just their second visit to the venue.
Boasting the food and beer hall downstairs as the ideal pre-gig location, not to mention a sprung dancefloor and those iconic, mesmerising lights, it’s a nigh on perfect space for live music.
We’re not exaggerating when we say we’ve had some of our best gigs in recent memory here.
Speaking in a lengthier statement on social media, the boys from Rothwell wrote: “If a band is lucky (and hardworking, and fairly decent at what they do!) there comes a time in their career when they realise that the journey they started as mates messing about on guitars has culminated in a hefty bunch of songs that people actually care about and connect with!
“At this point, the only logical next step is to take a breath, reflect back through the archives and assemble a ‘Best Of’ album. We’ve reached that point, Pigeon Heads!”
They describe the project as a collection of songs and memories that chart their career from their humble beginnings in Leeds to their “adventures around the globe”, where they have been fortunate enough to “some of the biggest stages on the planet.”
“As a band it’s always felt like we had to do things the hard way, even with an amazing set of supportive fans”, they go on to add, “but we just kept on writing songs, kept on playing gigs and kept on being The Pigeon Detectives. Us against the world. We weren’t sorry then, and we’re Still Not Sorry now!”
Maybe it’s our age showing but those last few lines alone have got us feeling all teary-eyed.
Danny Jones -
6th April 2025 
