We had the pleasure of going along to see Hello Cosmos play a special one-off show at none other than St Mary’s Church in Stockport town centre on Friday night, just the gig the building has ever seen and given how incredible an experience it was, we hope there’ll be many more.
Picture the scene: it’s a frosty Foodie Friday night in Stockport with people wearing beer jackets and sharing hot street food to keep warm as the tunes ring around the marketplace; then you spot some light off in the background and notice the windows of the old town centre church glowing.
Not only was that our signal to get a move on, finish our scran and head over to the intimate gig, but it was also a beacon of light for other punters to go and check out as they looked for any excuse to come in from the cold.
And that’s pretty much how it happened. Our three-man party was full of SK natives who wanted to see what it would be like to have a church we grew up with turned into a gig venue, so we were always on board, but plenty of other locals had the pleasure of simply stumbling upon tickets at the door.
We don’t think we’d be putting words in their mouths to say they will have been glad they did, as within a few seconds of walking into the oldest parish church in Stockport, we had never seen the already ornate and historical site look so stunning.
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This wasn’t just a case of plonking some speakers and some drums near the altar like some half-arsed church fête, the roof, windows, pillars and various arches were all lit up by various multi-coloured projectors and strobes and it all felt pretty surreal.
If you’ve ever watched any kind of performance at Manchester Cathedral or a similar venue, you’ll know this kind of set-up is nothing new per se, but it did feel like something different for Stockport, especially when one of our party’s last memories was standing at the pulpit to read the Christmas story.
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Then the music kicked off and we have to start by saying we were pretty impressed by the two support acts, Fondabath — fellow Stopfordians who were probably just as surprised to be in St Mary’s as we were — and Big Society, also local lads, both of which gave plenty of reason to go away and listen to more.
Then came the main event, Hello Cosmos, spearheaded by frontman and bass player Ben Robinson, who along with his jumpsuited bandmates wasted no time in transporting the crowd to what felt like a little pocket of space in some alternate reality.
Having had a few drinks and being given kaleidoscope glasses on arrival certainly helped, but it really was a truly audio-visual experience, from the various coloured jumpsuits and neon hula-hooping to the truly mesmerising light show that lit up the church throughout the set.
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It all felt rather fittingly though when you take into account that Robinson is not just a musician but the founder of both Kendal Calling and bluedot Festival — I mean, even their sophomore album Golden Dirt has a glowing spaceman walking through a sea of sunflowers.
If you’ve never heard them before, think post-punk spoken word and almost Yard Act vibes, only if Christopher Ecclestone was on vocals instead. But their sound is truly sprawling, with ‘Fuse’ from their debut record giving the harder-hitting sounds and ‘Loud is Beautiful’ showing how they best intertwine electronics, keys and those oh-so-good horns from sax player Elara.
Be it jumping up and down in unison as the electric violinist played or Ben dropping to his knees to scream his head off, hopping off stage to walk around the crowd with a megaphone or releasing a sea of balloons from above for the big finish, this ‘Live at St Mary’s’ one-off special had a bit of everything.
It went from a little gig on a random winter evening in Stockport to an unforgettable one that SK-born gig-goers like us never thought we’d see in this particular borough of Greater Manchester whose culture and music scene are clearly thriving.
We really hope this is among the first of many — Hello Cosmos helped make it a success and we can seriously see the Live at St Mary’s series taking off if it continues to get the backing.
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 -
24th February 2024 
