As a man who, throughout my teens and student years in Manchester, argued passionately that The Who were simply the best live ...

A dreamy window in a dreary January: Northern Soul's Nancy Collantine chills out at Crewe Hall in Cheshire.

Book Review: Precipitation by Ailsa CoxWhen the city’s fluorescence, its frenetic denial of night, has started to lose its fascination, there will always be those who take flight to the imagined ...

If you should see Count Arthur Strong live on stage – and you definitely should – Stockport Plaza is the perfect place to do so. OK, so the sound system might not quite be up to the standards of a ...

The landscape of Manchester city centre is filled with reminders of the industrial revolution, of Arkwright and cotton, of trading and trains, of the spoils of empire. But peer closer and there are ...

Music Review: Bonnie Raitt, 02 Apollo ManchesterWhen Bonnie Raitt was a young girl, she was enthralled by the power and charisma of such blues and folk greats as John Lee Hooker and Sippie Wallace, ...

She was lauded as an exceptional painter. Now a new exhibition highlights something entirely different: rag rugs. Tullie House in Carlisle is hosting Winifred Nicholson: Cumbrian Rag Rugs. Revealing ...

Beyond its spotlight on the first person, autobiography has the power to illuminate more widely, extending in the process an invitation to empathy. Sarah Roberts’ meticulous installation SICK presents ...

The Holly Johnson Story at the Museum of Liverpool: Northern Soul's Steve Slack enjoys a new exhibition.

This book won’t change your life. It probably knows a book that says it can, though. Or an evening class. Or a retreat. Zena Barrie’s terrain is dotted with the illusory pyramids of self-improvement ...

This month, Lincoln has been treated to Scarborough Macabre, an off-season sojourn to the seaside in which artist Melody Phelan-Clark “regurgitates the strange and sinister nature of the British coast ...

When Northern Soul puts it to Alasdair Beckett-King that he doesn’t seem to be a man who likes being bored, he laughs and replies, “I wonder what you mean by that?” Well, let’s look at the evidence.