Gig Guide : Xfm Winter Wonderland

The Apollo isn't my favourite venue as I find it near impossible to see over anyone's head. Apparently there's a lot of tall people in Manchester and I'm not one of them.

I'm also repeatedly disgusted by the carpeted gangways which squelch when you happen to step on them. 

However, for such a small venue it doesn't half have a great line-up all year round. This Monday I went to Xfm's Winter Wonderland, which happens in Manchester and London every year. The Manchester line-up is always better though obvs. It started at 6pm which was a bit of a mad rush and we ended up missing the majority of Bear's Den which I was a bit gutted about. The rest of the line-up went as follows: Circa Waves, Jimi Goodwin of Doves, Liam Fray of Courteeners, Catfish and the Bottlemen, George Ezra, Wild Beasts, and, of course, headlining was Ben Howard.

George Ezra is one of my favourite people at the moment, his voice is timelessly brilliant and he's ever so talented. After seeing him on Radio 1's Introducing stage at Glastonbury this year it's kind of insane how popular he's become in a matter of months! 

In fact, everyone was incredibly good, even though they were each limited to a tiny 20 minute-ish slot. But of course, Ben Howard just topped off the night perfectly. I Forget Where We Were is probably my favourite album at the minute - it's so atmospheric and totally different from Every Kingdom in the best possible way. The stage looked like a set of ghosts as Ben and band picked their way through the new album and the stage lights lit the crowd.

All in all, for 30 quid, Winter Wonderland is one of the best mini festival types I've ever been, the line-up was ridiculously good and it was all in aid of such a good cause; War Child.

Gig Guide : Bombay Bicycle Club

So on a very hungover sunday travelling back from London after seeing Kasabian at Brixton Academy we rushed back to get ready to head back to Manchester to see Bombay at the Apollo.

Peace were the support act (we missed SiVU) and to be honest, I was a big fan of them a couple of years ago. But two years on and they've hardly released any new material and it just felt a bit like they were wasting time before Bombay could come out. Even though I was suffering immensely from a hangover from hell, and chugging Pepsi like I hadn't had a drink in a week, there's something so magical about Bombay Bicycle Club that makes everything OK again. 

I always think gigs go too quickly (probably cause I'm usually a bit drunk), but this spectacular hour and a half seemed to last an age! Probably because there was so much to take in - this is a band that always makes such an effort to show everyone a good time. There were fireworks and streamers and little paper tickets that were shot into the air - it was almost as if we were back at Glastonbury. 

In amongst all of this, the stage graphics that flickered through slides onto five circles behind the band as they played through So Long, See You Tomorrow, were just incredible. Big up to the designers that put those together. This is the first time I've seen Bombay at a gig, the previous three times were at Benicassim, Leeds and Glastonbury festivals. I've loved them every time, but I can't imagine any other gig would top this!