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Babybird are a British indie band formed in 1995. The band is fronted by Stephen Jones, who has also released records as a solo artist, using his own name.

Jones had begun writing songs and recording home demos as part of an experimental theatre group in Sheffield. A collection of these demos, I Was Born a Man, was released in July 1995, under the name Babybird. He recruited a band made up of Huw Chadbourn (keyboards), Robert Gregory (drums), John Pedder (bass) and Luke Scott (guitar), in order to tour and promote his work.

During 1995, two further albums of demo recordings were released under the name Babybird (Bad Shave and Fatherhood) and two in 1996 (The Happiest Man Alive and Dying Happy). Babybird were signed to Echo Records (a division of the Chrysalis Group), and the first authentic single, a full-band recording of "Goodnight", which had appeared in demo form on Fatherhood, was released in July 1996, becoming a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart. The group's second single, "You're Gorgeous", reached number 3 in the UK in October 1996, and was one of the biggest selling singles of the year, going on to chart around the world.

Stephen can laugh about it on tour, but "You're Gorgeous" set a difficult precident to follow. It hurts so much that it rarely gets played nowadays, more a millstone around his and Babybirds neck. Arguably, the commercial sound and success of "You're Gorgeous", which received massive exposure by comparison, made it hard for many to take Jones seriously as an indie artist. Essentially, what he was best at was no longer what he was best known for, after it.

Stephen Jones has produced two works of fiction, The Bad Book in 2000 and Harry and Ida Swop Teeth (also the title of a Babybird b-side) in 2003. He also collaborated with DED Associates, who have designed many of his CD covers, on a 2000 art book Travel Sickness.

The tracks on the set list to play on the night were as follows:

Black Flowers
The Life
Can't Love You Anymore
Like Them
FSC
www . song
Out of sight
Cornershop
Goodnight
Drugtime
I live her
Back Together
The way You Are
Not Love
Unloveable
Bad Old Man

Encore:

Send me back my dreams
If You'll be mine
Take me back

Extra's

Goodnight
Gorgeous
All men are evil
dead bird sings

Stephen chatted so much he only got about 3/4's the way through it, and through a couple of brandies, without the coke!

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

The Verve - "A Northern Soul" - Play this track here.

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A Northern Soul is the second studio album by English alternative rock band The Verve. The album was released in the United States on 20 June 1995 on the Hut label and in the United Kingdom on 3 July 1995 on Vernon Yard Records. The title is a reference to Northern Soul, an integral part of Wigans history in the 1960's and early 1970's, popular dance/music movement.

Following their performance at Lollapalooza in 1994, The Verve returned to their Wigan-based practice room to begin writing and recording songs for their second studio album. Commenting on the effect that working in the "dank rehearsal room" had on the band's songwriting process, frontman Richard Ashcroft stated: “Practising in a dungeon in Wigan for this record, you're devoid of any kind of fashion, or thought of 'This is what we should be doing'. Like a band that goes into the studio and plays the music they hear in their heads rather than what they read in magazines.”

Initially, the band tried to record the LP inside the rehearsal room itself, so that "they could record as they had been rehearsing", but, when this approach proved to be impossible, they relocated the recording sessions to rural Wales with producer Owen Morris. Tom Hiney, writing for The Guardian in September 1997, claimed that the band's experience of recording during this period was "intense and morose, but it produced an album that will still be listened to in 30 years' time. In my opinion, he was right on that one.

The band thought highly of the album, with drummer Peter Salisbury declaring it to be "one of the best albums in the last 10 or 15 years. As good as Nirvana's or the Roses", and McCabe claiming it contained "some of the best music I have ever heard by anyone". The album was a moderate success upon its release, reaching no 13 on the UK album chart. However, in later years the album saw more acclaim, with readers of Q Magazine voting it the 53rd best album of all time in 1998, and NME ranking it as the 28th best album of all time in 2003 and the 13th best British album in 2006.

Locals will recognise this reflection in a road puddle, just down Tib Street Manchester. The Northern Quarter (N4 or NQ) is an area of Manchester City Centre, England, UK, generally marked out between Piccadilly, Victoria and Ancoats, and centred around Oldham Street, just off Piccadilly Gardens.

A centre of alternative and bohemian culture, the area is usually considered to be contained within Newton Street (borders with Piccadilly Basin), Great Ancoats Street (borders with Ancoats), Back Piccadilly (borders with Piccadilly Gardens) and Swan Street/High Street (borders with Shudehill/Arndale). Popular streets include Oldham Street, Tib Street, Newton Street, Lever Street, Dale Street, Hilton Street and Thomas Street.

The Northern Quarter is part of a larger area of Greater Manchester that is on a tentative list of nominated sites for UNESCO World Heritage Site Status, a position held since 1999. Its a great place to grab some vintage clothing at Aflecks Palace, some Belgian beer, chorizo burgers at Trof or a brilliant piece of cake with custard in 1950's surroundings at Sugar Junction. Did I mention the Night & Day?

In my youth it was a street of XXX Sex Shops and pet shops. A funny mix. Its a lot less menacing than it was, fewer pet and sex shops, more trendy places & eateries.

For Dave Haslam (I can read his music books all day if I can), the Northern Quarter became the last refuge of the Manchester music scene in the 1990s: "A community, of sorts, had developed around music-makers wedded to experimentalism, from Andy Votel to Waiwan, nurtured at club nights such as Graham Massey's Toolshed and Mark Rae's Counter Culture ... In 1992, Frank Schofield and Martin Price (of 808 State) had lamented the fate of the independent record shop, yet within five years there were several new record shops in the Northern Quarter".

When you next visit Manchester, checkout the Northern Quarter. Proper Manchestor!

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

Sarah. Birkenhead, Wirral with Mersey ferry behind. Mild winter late afternoon sun already dupped below the horizon.

Another gothic portrait later in the night - www.flickr.com/photos/hotpixuk/3875568806/in/photostream/

(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

The Runaways - "Cherry Bomb" - Play this track here.

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"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.

Singer/guitarist Joan Jett composed the song with the band's then-manager, Kim Fowley, and would later go on to re-record it with her band the Blackhearts for the 1984 album Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth.

The Runaways' version of the song was used in the cult classic film Dazed and Confused, and was featured on its soundtrack album. It can also be heard as a partial cover song by JoJo in the movie RV and was covered by Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, who played Runaways frontwoman Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, for the 2010 biopic film The Runaways.

The song has been re-recorded by Jett and Currie to be featured in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock as a playable song.

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Pink Military - "Back On The London Stage" - Play this track here.

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Pink Military (originally Pink Military Stand Alone) were a post-punk band from Liverpool. Led by former Big in Japan singer Jayne Casey, other band members included former Deaf School drummer Tim Whitaker, guitarist Martin Dempsey who also played in Yachts and It's Immaterial and drummers Chris Joyce (who also played in The Durutti Column and Simply Red) and Budgie (who went on to The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees).

John Peel gave the band his support and they recorded two sessions for his BBC Radio 1 show, the first in November 1979, featuring Budgie on drums, the second in May 1980. The band's only album, Do Animals Believe In God? was released in June 1980, with the band having signed a deal with Virgin Records who acted as distributors.

A further single was released the next month, and proved to be the final release before the band split up in 1981. Casey went on to form Pink Industry, while Dempsey joined It's Immaterial and later the Mel-o-Tones. Joyce joined The Durutti Column and later played in Simply Red.

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.

It was also the name of a repertory company that was based at the theatre. The company formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank, opening in 1976. It underwent complete refurbishment in 1985 and in 2003, American actor Kevin Spacey was appointed as new artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre Company which received considerable media attention.

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC