Gig #11: KRAAK, Manchester 22 April 2014

As a German music journalist, I have spent some considerable time in the clubs and bars of Berlin watching and writing about many different bands and musicians. As Big Dave edges the tour bus down a narrow alley to an unmarked door leading into an old manufactory, I could be at any one of a hundred different venues in Berlin. The impression is only strengthened as we carry the equipment up a narrow concrete staircase to a first-floor industrial space, all red-brick and exposed girders. At one end is a makeshift bar, and at the other is the stage at the side of which is a curtained-off area which serves as a storage space and impromptu dressing room.

The soundcheck is conducted with the band’s customary ruthless efficiency, and as support band Politburo arrive for their own soundcheck, the Nightingales depart the venue for the short walk to the Travelodge. Tonight, the band has the rare luxury of being able to relax for an hour or so at the hotel before the venue’s doors open. I check in, and head to my own room where, to my surprise, I find Alan ‘Roots’ Apperley – trademark Marigold gloves protecting his delicate guitar-playing fingers – polishing the mirror with a chamois leather. He packs away his various polishes, his feather duster and his chamois leather before removing his apron and taking his leave.

The venue is almost full when we return later, and Politburo are already onstage delivering their particular brand of operatic psychedelia, poncho-wearing singer Nick Alexander looking like a cross between a less-crazed Charles Manson and a svelte Demis Roussos. His voice, filtered through layers of reverb, is haunting and ethereal, and the band clearly fit the classic template of austere yet danceable guitar-based, lyrically-driven slices of existentialist angst, shot through with dark humour established all those years ago by Lloyd and Apperley’s Prefects.

Chippington and the Nightingales both play to a capacity crowd tonight, a crowd which includes ex-Membrane and author of several respected books on punk rock and the manchester music scene – Jonathan ‘John’ Robb. Robb is currently lead singer with Goldblade, and also present is former Nightingale and guitarist with Goldblade, Pete ‘Gorgeous’ Byrchemore. I spy Mark ‘E’ Smith lurking at the back of the venue, and Ian 'Brownie' Brown, former lead singer of The Stone Roses, sipping at a cup of tea. Peter ‘Pete’ Shelley of Buzzcocks is there, as is former Buzzcock and founder of Magazine, Howerd 'Howie' Devoto. I glimpse Peter ‘Hooky’ Hook hovering on Andi ‘Smokie’ Schmid’s side of the stage, no doubt picking up a few tips on bass playing from the talented Nightingale.

The audience is like an A to Z of Manchester’s musical great and good, and the Nightingales do not let them down. The applause is so deafening and prolonged that the band return for a rare encore, Lloyd managing to find that extra 10% to bring the evening’s total to the mythical 110% effort. As the Nightingales launch into “Don’tcha Rock”, one can almost feel the spirits of Ian ‘Joy Division’ Curtis and Tony ‘Factory Records’ Wilson nodding with approval.