When: 7.30pm on Friday 19 June 2026
Where: The Strines Nightingale, 105 Strines Rd, Strines, Marple, Stockport SK6 7GE

PLEASE NOTE: This show has now sold out! But Toria Wooff plays a special Halloween show in Manchester in October – plus watch this space for future Jim Ghedi shows.

We’re excited to welcome Jim Ghedi and Toria Wooff to The Strines Nightingale!

Jim Ghedi hails from Sheffield, South Yorkshire and although clearly well versed in the history of folk music, he stands out as a potential torch bearer for a new generation of respectful yet experimental performers.

Ghedi’s acclaimed new album Wasteland (2025) sees his music develop away from previous records A Hymn for Ancient Land (2018) and In the Furrows of Common Place (2021). Released on the Basin Rock record label, his sound emulates a more brooding, dark and electronic world which is mirrored in his piercing lyrics and singing. He draws from social observations, contemporary songwriting, historical and traditional material.

This year, Ghedi will also release his first film soundtrack for A24’s thriller The Death of Robin Hood, after being approached by director Michael Sarnoski. A dark adaptation of the 17th Century folk-tale Robin Hood’s Death, the film is out in June 2026, and stars Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård and more.

Over the years, Ghedi has performed headline tours and festivals across the UK, Ireland and Europe, as well as supporting and touring with bands such as Lankum, Stick in the Wheel, Richard Dawson, Martin Carthy and Shirley Collins.

He has also released collaborative duo records with Welsh guitarist Toby Hay via Topic Records.

‘Wasteland is a folk renaissance masterpiece’- The Line Of Best Fit

‘Tim-Buckley-meets-Richard-Thompson-at-the-end-of-the-universe vibe. Colossal’ – MOJO

Finding splendour in shadows, Toria Wooff (Tor-ee-a Woo-f) sings tales of the beautifully strange.

A painter, poet, songwriter and storyteller, music is just one facet of Toria’s wildly creative imagination which metamorphoses in many forms. Steeped in gothic romanticism, pagan and Germanic tradition, Toria’s unique view of the world is enchanted by an alchemy of ‘70s sound and vision where she magically blends the raw power of Led Zeppelin with Alice Cooper’s raven hues to forge her own spellbinding folk-rock concoction.

‘Potent Gothic-Folk’ – Clash Magazine

‘Darkly seductive’ – Uncut

This show takes place at the Strines Nightingale – a lovely country pub, formerly called the Sportsman, which re-opened in autumn 2022. Strines is on the Piccadilly-Sheffield train line, and on the 358 bus route from Stockport to Hayfield. This show will run until 10.30pm at the latest.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7pm on Friday 17 July 2026
Where: The woodland stage at The Strines Nightingale, 105 Strines Rd, Strines, Marple, Stockport SK6 7GE

We’re excited to welcome Rachel Sermanni to the woodland stage at The Strines Nightingale – plus guest Maz O’Connor!

Join Rachel Sermanni on an enchanting tour of the outdoors this summer, performing in settings that celebrate the beauty of nature and community. From vibrant festival stages to docklands and piers, woodland tranquility, unique urban gardens, and sustainable Earthship spaces, each stop offers an intimate listening experience in unforgettable surroundings.

NOTE: For most events there will be some wet-weather cover, but we recommend you bring waterproofs/umbrellas if it looks like rain. These are all-weather events and will go ahead unless the forecast is severe.

Rachel Sermanni is a Scottish based singer/songwriter that makes the mundane moments mystical: shock-positive pregnancy tests in train-station toilets, coffee machine breakages, cold river swims, the regret of not saying ‘I love You’, the moon & how it pulls, bare feet on wood floors, the soft glow of a house plant, ‘what even is consciousness?’, strange dreams lingering in quiet mornings…

She brims with dreamy indie-folk pop that speaks of the struggle and desire to Flow, to love, to live, to feel. Sometimes, her songs speak of the rare moments of quiet-still, found in the midst of this struggle & desire.

Rachel’s most recent offering is her fourth studio album: Dreamer Awake. An in depth assortment of playful and candid vignettes, peeping into life: after birth, after separation and in the wake of recognising the internalised conditionings of patriarchy. She seeks to be honest with herself and her environment. She seeks to express from this raw place. She seeks to speak from the descent, the plateaus, the dream-catchings and contemplations of womanhood. There are no conclusions to be drawn. It is a call to arms, of sorts, to wake up and dream the future, to dismiss the external for a minute and tend to the inner landscape of heart and mind. To not be distracted. To focus on the light and the shadow in equal measure.

Since the release of Dreamer Awake, Rachel has become a mother for the second time and continues to explore this experience while offering her songs and also her insights into creativity.

Special guest is Maz O’Connor. Described by The Observer as ‘a highly individual singer-songwriter’, Maz O’Connor is a truly unique artist. Known for her haunting, emotive vocals and her poetic lyricism, her songs are most often short stories inspired by her love of literature, folklore and mythology. She wrote her first song aged four, whilst making a ‘radio show’ with a cassette player, and grew up singing old folk songs in her local Cumbrian venues. She went onto study Literature at Jesus College, Cambridge, where she dove deep into the history of folk song. It was during this time that she started to write her own songs.

Winning a BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship in 2014 (once won by Adele) brought Maz to wider attention, and later that year she was nominated for a BBC Folk Award for her first album, ‘This Willowed Light’. Maz has since released three further albums, toured the UK, Europe and Canada, played live sessions on BBC Radio 2 and 3, and appeared at major U.K. festivals, including Glastonbury and WOMAD. She has also written book, music & lyrics for the folk musical ‘The Wife of Michael Cleary’, which won the Stiles + Drewe Prize 2023 and is currently in development with West End producers.

After taking a few years out of recording and performing to have her son and work on her musical, Maz recorded her new album, Love it is a Killing Thing, in April 2025. Recorded live to tape in Spring 2025, this record is a collection of ancient songs about the perils of love, reimagined and in some cases re-composed by Maz. It marks a triumphant return to her folk roots.

This show takes place at the Strines Nightingale – a lovely country pub, formerly called the Sportsman, which re-opened in autumn 2022. Strines is on the Piccadilly-Sheffield train line, and on the 358 bus route from Stockport to Hayfield. This show will run until 10pm at the latest.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Friday 31 July 2026
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to welcome The Loft back to Gullivers!

Creation Records originals The Loft release a brand new single, Campervan, on 5 March, followed by the new album, Badges, on 8 May. The record features 10 new songs, recorded at producer Sean Read’s (Dexys, Edwyn Collins, Iggy) Famous Times studio in Hackney and is released on the Tapete Records label.

Campervan – a poignant tale of unfulfilled wanderlust – reveals a leaner, poppier side to the band’s material.

The Loft notoriously split up mid-set at the Hammersmith Palais 40 years ago after climbing to the top of the indie charts and are now releasing their second album of new material, following on from the Top 20 vinyl chart success of last year’s debut, Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same.

The original four members – Pete Astor, Dave Morgan, Bill Prince and Andy Strickland – have produced an album that continues, and moves forward, the story of The Loft – the band that helped define the sound of the Creation label and the emerging Indie genre. Badges has a sound that comes from a band who’ve been together, touring and playing consistently over the past two years – relaxed, vibey, assured.

‘It feels good to be in a real band again, and for the first time I’m co-writing songs with Andy, learning to manage and negotiate all the things that split the band apart all those years ago,’ says singer and songwriter Pete Astor.

‘We just naturally started writing the new album as soon as we finished touring last year,’ says guitarist Andy Strickland, ‘It feels more organic – it’s a real privilege to still be able to get together and do this.’

‘The long game is one the Loft have played rather well’ – MOJO

‘An unassuming masterpiece’ – Louder Than War

Support comes from Alta Zuma. Sometimes it takes a move to another city to make things happen. When a meeting between two old mates in an Urmston pub led to Emma Stockwell and Paula Farr deciding it was time to dust off the guitars and start making music, Alta Zuma was born. They were swiftly joined by John Rowland (The Bodines, Rainkings) on drums and James Knox (The Waltones) on bass.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Saturday 15 August 2026
Where: Kamera at Lloyd & Platt, 617 Wilbraham Road, Chorlton, Manchester, M219AN

We’re delighted to welcome Jeffrey Silverstein and Bobby Lee to Kamera – with Black Brunswicker!

Jeffrey Silverstein is a songwriter from Portland, Oregon. His music lives at the intersection of the loner-folk, cosmic country and kraut-laden choogle. He’s just signed with Full Time Hobby. Having played shows throughout the US with such names as Steve Gunn, William Tyler, Rose City Band, Widowspeak and more, Silverstein is now turning his attention back across the Atlantic for co-headline shows with Bobby Lee in the UK and Sweden this summer.

Bobby Lee trades in a wide screen brand of cosmic country-folk, full of space and pawn shop guitars. There are touches of JJ Cale’s analogue Americana, the swampy groove of Tony Joe White and Richard Thompson’s sinewy, modal guitar work. Amps hum in the warm afternoon sun, kids and dogs snooze on the grass and broken drum machines keep time with the universe.

Bobby released his debut album, Shakedown in Slabtown, in August 2020, on his own Natural Histories imprint, which Mojo Magazine described as a ‘word of mouth sensation amongst discerning heads’.  It was swiftly followed by Origin Myths in March 2021, released on the legendary Tompkins Square Records, becoming album of the week on Huey Morgan’s 6 Music show and gaining support from BBC’s Late Junction, No Depression, the Guardian, NTS and WFMU. His third album Endless Skyways, also Tompkins Square, landed in June 2023, with a return to the full band sound of his debut.

2025 saw the release of Last Ride – a collaboration with ambient pedal steel explorer Joe Harvey-Whyte on LA’s Curation Records (Beachwood Sparks, Pacific Range, Triptides). Taking in Paris, Texas-esque dusty instrumentals, west coast canyon-rock, brit-folk pastoralism, kosmische choogle and new-age mellowness. The UK pair bonded over their broad church approach to cosmic country, where Eno and Arthur Russell stand shoulder to shoulder with Gram and JJ Cale.

Opening this special triple bill is Black Brunswicker. Black Brunswicker is the solo project of Etta Helfrich. Originally from Indiana, USA, Etta moved to Manchester in 2020 and has been based there since. Self-described as ambient folk melancholia, Black Brunswicker is a synthesis of Etta’s musical interests: American primitive and new age guitar, ambient drones and tape-based experimentation, and ecological field recordings.

Drifting guitar melodies, awash in a sea of reverb, are anchored by the soft movements of tape loops and field recordings, creating an immersive listening experience. It’s music with no place to be, encouraging introspection.

Kamera is the brand new venue upstairs at Lloyd & Platt (formerly The Lloyd’s) in Chorlton – by the team behind the Castle Hotel and Gullivers. The pub downstairs offers Indian street food by Chapati Cafe.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Thursday 3 September 2026
Where: YES Basement, 38 Charles Street, Manchester, M1 7DB

We’re excited to welcome The Courettes to YES!

The Courettes is an explosive Wall of Sound group from Denmark and Brazil! Flavia Couri on vocals and guitar, Martin on loud drums and together they are the perfect blend of Wall of Sound, Girl Group Heartbreaks, Motown and R&B. Imagine The Ronettes meeting The Ramones at a wild party at the Hitsville echo chamber!

The latest album, The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes, is out on legendary Damaged Goods Records, London and Rough Trade, London.

Book tickets now.

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When: 7.30pm on Sunday 6 September 2026
Where: Gullivers, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LW

We’re delighted to be working with Wild Pink for the first time!

Still Coming Down is Wild Pink’s sixth studio album, and their most refined offering to-date. Continuing along the shredded and steely path forged by 2024’s Dulling The Horns — named one of the year’s best albums by Vogue, Consequence, Paste and more — Still Coming Down doubles down on Wild Pink’s ‘proper Rock’ (Stereogum, Best Albums of 2024) and sticks every landing.

Dulling The Horns saw Wild Pink reach new levels of critical acclaim and live success, performing alongside the likes of indie torchbearers Dr. Dog, Crumb and MJ Lenderman (who lends his guitar skills on Still Coming Down).

Still Coming Down finishes out the ride of those highs, settling into a life on the road and reflecting these experiences across a warped and encyclopedic vision of America. Led by John Ross, ‘one of the best lyricists in indie music’ (the Guardian), Wild Pink hunkered down in Asheville’s storied Drop of Sun Studios to record Still Coming Down with virtuosic producer Alex Farrar (Bnny, Wednesday, Samia). At once strange and familiar, Wild Pink’s Still Coming Down is a product of modern times that only John Ross could pen.

Tickets go on sale at 3pm on Friday 29 May via Seetickets.com

Attend on: Facebook

When: 7.30pm on Monday 14 September 2025
Where: Hallé at St Michael’s, 36-38 George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DG

We’re delighted to working with Laura Veirs plus Karl Blau!

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs blends the poetic sensibilities of folk with the rough edges of indie rock. Her career has seen her collaborate with luminaries such as kd lang, Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens, Jim James, The Decemberists, Bill Frisell and many more.

2026 sees Laura return with her new album, Temple Songs— her first in four years and the first she has written, recorded, arranged, produced and performed entirely on her own. It captures a songwriter in peak form. The album is intimate, dreamy, brave and quietly defiant, built around Veirs’ intricate fingerstyle nylon-string guitar, vulnerable vocals and bold electric guitar embellishments. The new songs lend themselves perfectly to being performed live in a stripped-back form, with Laura accompanied only by Karl Blau on electric guitar.

Karl Blau will also support. The croon of Karl Blau’s voice hits the ear like baritone Hazelwood, Cohen or Cave, especially in his albums since he found his “country voice” in the past 10 years. Blau’s staggering number of solo albums added up to 54 for the ironically entitled Introducing album, his first on London’s Bella Union in 2016, and his first foray into singing country. Not afraid to keep expanding his frontier, 2025 saw Blau’s Vultures of Love – a loose homage to psychedelia – come out on eccentric Los Angeles label Otherly Love. With thirty years of songwriting, recording and touring behind him, Karl Blau hits the road with long time collaborator and friend, Laura Veirs. As they celebrate Laura’s Temple Songs album they also mark over twenty years of making music together.

This concert takes place in Hallé at St Michael’s – a former Roman Catholic church, which was founded in 1859 and became the heart of the Little Italy Community in Ancoats.

This is a 14+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Book tickets now.

Attend on: Facebook

When: 7.30pm on Thursday 17 September 2026
Where: Hallé at St Michael’s, 36-38 George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DG

We’re excited to present an evening with Mull Historical Society at St Michael’s!

Following on from the critical and commercial success of the previous record, In My Mind There’s A Room, Colin MacIntyre – aka Mull Historical Society – will return this year with another literary inspired marvel.

Due for release on 29 May via the LNFG label, this brand new collection of songs (his 10th) will feature lyrical contributions from a panoply of world-leading authors, all of whom were asked to reflect on a single significant photo to them. Amongst the collaborators on In My Mind There’s A Photograph are best-sellers, Pulitzer, Booker, Costa, Women’s Prize and Saltire Award-winners including Irvine Welsh, Ali Smith, Len Pennie, Jehan Bseiso, Louise Welsh, Irenosen Okojie, Paul Lynch, Colum McCann, Yiyun Lee, Alan Johnson, Dan Richards and Sir Alexander McCall Smith.

With Colin playing the ‘Elton to their Bernie’, coupling his musical idiosyncrasies to their affecting words, together they have created 12 songs of vivid photographic realisation and a very real emotional resonance. The first of these collaborations is Cattle Bells, which features words from Sir Alexander McCall Smith, acclaimed author of the No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series among countless other feats.

Set in Botswana, Cattle Bells finds the veteran writer reflecting on a photo of him sitting on the top of a hill overlooking the beautiful surrounds of the Kalahari (pictured on the single artwork), contemplating on life, time, being in the moment, and reacquainting with his younger self.

A rumination on what home really means to us, Colin explains of the track: ‘I have loved working with Sandy; he is such a generous and inspirational writer and man, and I am honoured to have this personal story from him of connection with ourselves and where we feel at home as the lead single off the album. The opening line, “This must be me…”, with the intriguing use of the word “must”, strikes me as a line only a novelist could summon. I have always been inspired by Paul Simon and his Gracelands album, and this song allowed me to achieve an ambition of working with the glorious London African Gospel Choir.’

Speaking about the finished recording of Cattle Bells, Sir Alexander says: ‘Colin has made a lovely job of capturing my words and photograph. Cattle Bells is a beautiful, rather haunting piece.’

Cattle Bells was recorded and mixed during Summer/Autumn 2025 at Tobermory’s Bb Studios on the Isle of Mull, produced by MacIntyre alongside the 12 tracks that comprise upcoming album In My Mind There’s A Photograph, and engineered by Gordon Maclean.

Alongside the album’s release on 29 May, 2026 finds Colin in the most creative and prolific form of his career. An established author in his own right, MacIntyre’s fifth book, and the second in his Mull Mysteries Crime series, An Island Burning, is also out in April on Black & White Publishing/Bonnier Books. Elsewhere, his multi-genre musical, Culloden, for which he has written the script, book and music, also goes into pre-production in the first half of this year. Plus, with the 25th anniversary of his Gold-selling, album-of-the-year-polls-topper Loss coming around, expect further news on some special anniversary plans in due course.

Accompanying the upcoming release of In My Mind There’s A Photograph, fans can also expect a run of brand new live shows featuring appearances from some of his collaborating authors – standby for further details on those imminently.

This concert takes place in Hallé at St Michael’s – a former Roman Catholic church, which was founded in 1859 and became the heart of the Little Italy Community in Ancoats.

This is a 14+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Book tickets now.

Attend on: Facebook

When: 7.30pm on Thursday 24 September 2026
Where: YES Basement, 38 Charles Street, Manchester, M1 7DB

We’re delighted to welcome Francis of Delirium back – this time, to YES Basement!

Francis of Delirium, AKA Luxembourg’s breakout indie star Jana Bahrich, makes a triumphant return with new single “Little Black Dress”, out now via Dalliance Recordings. The new track is Francis of Delirium’s first new music since critically acclaimed debut album Lighthouse. The release of “Little Black Dress” coincides with the final night of a seven date EU tour with Blondshell.

“Little Black Dress” is a soaring slice of power pop that’s as catchy as it is cathartic. In singular Francis of Delirium style, guitars and drums crescendo with sugar-rush vocal melodies. A sting of Gen-Z melancholy reminds why Jana’s heart-on-sleeve, emotionally intelligent songwriting forms such a strong connection with her fans.

Speaking on “Little Black Dress” Jana says: “’Coming home fresh off a tour opening for bôa, playing to all these kids excited about guitar music, and heading into the Blondshell dates, I wanted to put out a song that captures the energy and messiness of playing live and being on stage. It’s a song about the anticipation of going out, the hope, the desperation, and the ultimate disappointment.”

It’s been a whirlwind 18 months for Francis of Delirium since their debut album Lighthouse was released in March 2024. Named as one the Guardian’s Readers Favourite Albums of 2024, proclaimed “Luxembourg’s first Indie Queen” by Uncut, whilst NME lauded the band for “putting Luxembourg on the map”.

Without stopping to catch a breath, Francis of Delirium undertook an extensive EU and UK tour, followed by 11 headline dates in the US and Canada, during which time she stopped in for an electric KEXP live session of single “Give It Back To Me” as well as winning over the team at NPR.

After a summer of festivals including a huge set at Primavera Sound, Francis of Delirium was back in the UK this June supporting bôa, the band having reformed following an incredible TikTok renaissance for their track “Duvet”. Soon after was a bucket-list support slot with no other than Alanis Morissette on home turf in Luxembourg, Francis of Delirium now play the final night a seven day run with US alt-rock icon Blondshell, having played to fans in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and finishing tonight in Cologne.

In July 2025 the opening track from Lighthouse – “Ballet Dancers (Never Love Again)” – was featured in Lena Dunham’s hit Netflix series Too Much.

‘Capturing a similar melancholy sparkle to indie favourites such as Japanese Breakfast and Snail Mail, its 11 tracks encapsulate both bittersweet, desperate yearning and a breathless new romance’ – NME

‘Jana Bahrich showcases a remarkably contemporary approach to songwriter-rock on her debut, reflecting a sensibility akin to the music of Boygenius, Wolf Alice, or Soccer Mommy’ – Rolling Stone Germany

Book tickets now.

Attend on: Facebook

When: 7.30pm on Saturday 26 September 2026
Where: Hallé at St Michael’s, 36-38 George Leigh Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 5DG

We’re delighted to welcome Robyn Hitchcock back to Manchester!

With a career now spanning six decades, Robyn Hitchcock remains a truly one-of-a-kind artist – surrealist rock ‘n’ roller, iconic troubadour, guitarist, poet, painter, and performer. An unparalleled, deeply individualistic songwriter and stylist, Hitchcock has traversed many genres with humor, intelligence and originality over 30 albums and seemingly infinite live performances.

From The Soft Boys’ proto-psych-punk and The Egyptians’ Dadaist pop to solo masterpieces like 1984’s milestone I Often Dream of Trains and 1990’s Eye, Hitchcock has crafted a strikingly original oeuvre rife with sagacious observation, astringent wit, recurring marine life, mechanised rail services, cheese, Clint Eastwood, and innumerable finely drawn characters, real and imagined.

Tour support comes from Emma Swift. Emma Swift is an Australian-born songwriter, currently residing in Nashville, TN. A gifted singer inspired by Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell, Marianne Faithfull and a plethora of dead poets, her sound is a blend of classic folk, Americana and indie rock.

In August 2020, she released the critically acclaimed Blonde on the Tracks, a Laurel Canyon-inspired reimagining of some of her favourite Bob Dylan tunes on Tiny Ghost Records. The album received Best of 2020 accolades from Rolling Stone, Nashville Scene, No Depression, The Guardian and more. Her new album The Resurrection Game was released on Tiny Ghost Records in September 2025.

This concert takes place in Hallé at St Michael’s – a former Roman Catholic church, which was founded in 1859 and became the heart of the Little Italy Community in Ancoats.

This is a 14+ show. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Book tickets now.

Attend on: Facebook