Audio
Wunderhorse at Deaf Institute, Manchester – a band so good you’ll never see them on a stage this small again
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I think Wunderhorse took a wrong turn somewhere. Within about 30 seconds, it’s pretty clear that this group are destined for far larger stages than the 260-capacity Deaf Institute.
And that’s even without them firing on all cylinders.
Jacob Slater, the man who previously fronted punk rock outfit Dead Pretties before moving to Cornwall and rebranding himself as Wunderhorse, is sick. Sick as a dog, in fact.
He says his voice is ruined. But given the grunge and aggression laced through the music that’s to come, his slightly rougher voice sort of enhances the whole experience, much like Phoebe Buffay’s sexy sick voice.
Wunderhorse are touring their debut album Cub, with stand-out tracks aplenty.
There’s ‘Leader of the Pack’, an instantly sing-along-able stomper; ‘Purple’, the closest he comes to a heartbreak anthem; and ‘Teal’, a spit-spraying spoken word track where Slater’s voice takes on more than a passing resemblance to Bruce Springsteen.
The whole debut album and the entire set at Deaf Institute feels like Nirvana meets Sam Fender meets Radiohead, with a sprinkling of raw magic.
At one point, Slater reminds us that ‘you can move, you know’, as the tightly-packed venue has just been gently bobbing along. Within seconds, the crowd-surfing begins, beers are thrown, arms flail.
Wunderhorse are a band who move with such enthusiasm they knock over microphones and accidentally close the stage curtains with a spinning neck of a bass guitar (but politely put it all back again).
Thankfully, they’ll have a lot more room to play with when they’re back in Manchester next at least – they’ve already booked in a gig at the O2 Ritz in October, a venue five times the size of this one.
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It’s a short gig, over and done with in about 55 minutes, but with that much energy packed in it’s hard to feel short-changed. We’re here for a good time, not for a long time.
There’s no encore, no goodbye, no thank yous, they just put their instruments down and walk off, like a dissatisfied office employee leaving at 5pm on the dot, office chair slowly spinning behind them.
But rather than a pile of admin, they leave behind a small, sweaty room of people who feel like they’ve had their head inside a kick-drum for an hour. There’s not a complaint to be heard.
You can get tickets for Wunderhorse’s next Manchester gig at See Tickets.
Featured image: Publicity picture
Audio
Inspiring new 360° immersive David Bowie experience to open in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Music lovers will get a glimpse inside the mind of a creative genius when a new immersive experience opens later this year.
Factory International has this week announced its programme of events for the upcoming autumn-winter season, and by far one of the stand-outs on the list has to be the return of Lightroom for a new 360° experience called David Bowie: You’re Not Alone – which is set to immerse audiences in the iconic performances and creative mind of one of the world’s most visionary and influential artists.
Bringing together a wealth of visual material from a wide range of sources, the experience combines rare performance footage, photography, drawings, lyrics, personal notes, and audio recordings from the late Bowie himself.
You’re Not Alone will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mix of iconic, rarely seen, and even never-before-exhibited material.
Selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, you can expect to see everything from Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs, through to Heroes, Black Star, and more.
Each track has been newly reconfigured by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer, Gareth Fry, to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system.
The 360° experience is set to be both a multimedia spectacle and an intimate self-portrait in one, giving audiences a unique insight into Bowie’s perspective on the subjects that were most important to him, like theatricality, spirituality, songwriting, and the transformative power of creativity.
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David Bowie: You’re Not Alone is being made in close collaboration with, and has been authorised by, the David Bowie Estate.
It’ll run at Aviva Studios from 8 December 2026 through to 10 January 2027.
Featured Image – Supplied
Audio
Parklife has quietly added a major DJ set from Happy Mondays’ Bez
Daisy Jackson
Parklife has quietly added a DJ set from Bez this afternoon, joining an already stacked festival line-up.
Eagle-eyed users of the Parklife app (aka, us) have spotted that as the big weekend nears, a few new stages have popped up on the plans.
And that’s included a new Beatbox Stage, which on Saturday will host a mega set from the icon that is Bez, from Happy Mondays.
Bez isn’t the only nostalgic name who’s been added to the line-up for Saturday – the Beatbox Stage will also host a set from Artful Dodger.
The 2000s garage icons will be taking to the stage at 3pm for a set that will hopefully include their massive hits like Moving Too Fast, Re-Rewind (with Craig David), and Woman Trouble.
On Sunday, the newly-added Beatbox Stage will be hosting DJ Fat Tony, who you might know for getting stuck into the middle of the Beckham family feud – but he’s also one of the most in-demand A-list DJs, having spun for icons like Madonna, Prince, and Elton John.
Parklife has also quietly added a few secret sets to the bill, which we’ll be keeping a close eye on.
They join existing Parklife headliners including Calvin Harris, Zara Larsson, Chris Stussy, Sammy Virji, Skepta, and East End Dubs.
On Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June, thousands of music-lovers will be flocking to the fields of Heaton Park ready for this year’s instalment of Parklife.
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Featured image: The Manc Group
Daisy Jackson -
1st April 2023 
