The Night I Lost My Head

Now, this took me back. Back, in fact, to Jabez Clegg, 2005, where I saw Maximo Park play for the first time. They were about to release their first album, and there was a palpable sense that they were on the cusp of something rather big.

This was despite the venue - which has to be the worst place to watch gigs in Manchester. The sound is terrible, it gets no passing trade and it smells. Fast forward to 2007, and all three of these things came together in a perfect storm. Yeasayer played in the bar room, they had to battle against a metal band practising next door, and there were literally six people there. Including me. They actually had the conversation (we could hear everything) about whether it was worth playing at all. So it was quite satisfying, in a perverse way, to see sold out signs when they returned to Manchester last week to play their rather good new album - which meant I couldn't get in.

But play they did, and it reminded me that for a lot of bands, touring to Manchester is still a big deal. They're often nervous, they sometimes naively mention Manchester United, they always mention The Smiths. Does this happen when bands tour to Norwich? Don't judge me for this, but the only time I can remember any kind of reference to the fine city is when, ahem, Ned's Atomic Dustbin moaned about Norwich beating Aston Villa 3-2 in 1992, hours before the gig.

While I digress, that was one of Norwich's best away performances of the 1990s. Daryl Sutch got the winner, it was great, and I wish it was on YouTube.

Anyway, back to some sort of point. She won't be nervous because she's from Manchester, but I'm looking forward to seeing Lonelady tomorrow. Like Maximo Park, her debut is on Warp. Unlike Maximo Park, there's not much buzz around her. Yet. But Nerve Up is really arresting - there are satisfying shades of early REM in its jangle, and there's a minimalism in the clattering drum machine which makes Lonelady really stand out.

Let's hope there are more than six people there.