A return to Manchester’s Northern Quarter, and somehow my first visit to the Castle Hotel, and something of a showcase for three happening singer-songwriters at different stages in their… well, I’ll say careers, because they all deserve them.

It’s a venue I’ve noted on the circuit many times but had never previously frequented. Another winner too. And at the risk of repeating myself, an intimate one at that.

I’m not known for turning up before the first act plugs in, but when I stepped into the back room of the Castle, opening act John Denton was already raring to get up there, among barely half a dozen punters lurking near the back at that point. He’s 13 years old, so arguably shouldn’t have even been in this pub venue. If ever a Salford Lads club t-shirt was more apt. And yet the confidence of youth spoke volumes.

He’s mainly all about his own songs, but there were a few choice covers, Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Mardy Bum’ something of a pointer towards his Northern primary influences, while The Smiths’ ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’ and ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ were coolly dealt with and neatly tackled, as you might expect from the recipient of 2023’s Salford Foundation Trust Johnny Marr Award (with photographic evidence online, including John getting fretboard pointers from Johnny).

He leads his own band too, three-piece The Height. And while I begrudge plugging owt that further lines Daniel Ek’s pockets, there are a fair few of his quality songs on Spotify. Cracking voice, faultless playing, big future. John talked at 110mph between songs, nervously buzzing, but what a talent. At that age I felt further advanced than most of my contemporaries, with three gigs ‘in the crowd’ under my elastic snake belt. But performing live? Get out of here. Oh, for his confidence then… and yet there’s no hint of arrogance. I went to have a word, pass on my best, but he was off upstairs and presumably soon away on a school night, an appreciative audience having increased by the song.

Next up was Common Hall, aka Robert Williams, for a first show in 15 or so years, I understand. Originally from Clitheroe, Lancashire – and a Milltown Brothers fan as a lad, I’m told – Robert’s an award-winning, acclaimed author beyond the day job, and in this case a gifted singer-songwriter nudged out of self-imposed performing retirement (he’s 10 years younger than me, I might add) by the headliner, another fan.

Again, a great set. And while I felt I was a bit ‘in his face’ in that audience, up front and central (rather than hanging on to the wall, as I was for the opening act), he later told me I was ‘a reassuring presence’. I’ll take that. Opening number ‘We Were There’ gave off a Robert Forster vibe, but I soon changed my mind and felt within a few songs he was closer to his namesake’s Go-Betweens accomplice, Grant McLennan. Either way, there was an understated yet sharp story song element, highlights including ‘My Town on TV’ and ‘As Broken as you Think’, first delivered with past act The Library Trust, while ‘The Meeting’ and ‘Golden Island’ – the latter more barbed wire folk – were maybe more where he’s at now, seemingly fragile yet increasingly acerbic, his songs stripped to the bare bones. Prime examples were the bitter yet measured ‘Hope This Hurts’ and ‘They Don’t Sing for Me’. 

There’s someone else there I can’t quite place, a little ‘60s rootsy perhaps, but Stephen Jones (Babybird), John Bramwell (I Am Kloot) and Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) spring to mind. Maybe even an in-key Dan Treacy (Television Personalities), and Robert can certainly hold a tune. Entice him out again, get him to step into the wind and release more songs, then judge for yourself.    

With the first two performers it was just them and guitars, but then came a five-piece led by Alan Wilkes, aka Vinny Peculiar, in full band LP launch get-up to celebrate How I Learned to Love the Freaks, one of my 2023 albums of the year. And despite his Worcestershire roots, this was something of a Manchester homecoming for an artiste who cut his performing teeth in these parts, not least in past side-projects alongside Paul ‘Bonehead’ Arthurs, Craig Gannon, Mike Joyce, and the sadly departed Andy Rourke.

Vinny had tackled this one-step cramped stage a few times before. Could a five-piece fit on there? Would it end up like an early Elvis Presley TV appearance, the band unable to swivel hips, in fear of knocking each other off, so to speak? Well, it worked, Viiny’s combo the third act to capture the Castle, although my admittedly not great photos largely lacked evidence of the presence of keyboard player (and backing vocalist) Rob Steadman and drummer Paul Tsanos, tucked away respectively behind guitarists Adam Webb and Vinny.

They were certainly a sight to see, even if – as Vinny pointed out – there was a marked lack of dressing up in his decreed flower power theme, the lead singer – resplendent in beads and trademark straggly hair – looking to Rob and Adam. That said, I got the feeling the others hadn’t delved that deep into their wardrobes, this being something of their standard stage gear – Vinny, Paul and bass player Jim Gee looking the part on a more natural basis.

They started with the opening three songs of the new LP, a scene-setting ‘Death of the Counterculture’ and ‘Going to San Francisco’ followed by Vinny repeating the last line of that second song, over-explaining (rather charmingly) how it had indeed ‘all got out of hand, man,’ labouring the point of how the ‘hippies made love to strangers’ and the dream was soon over.

With that, they moved on to the more reflective ‘Peace and Love’ and the LP’s work of art title track, before giving us four songs by way of a potted history of past VP endeavours, starting with the rather splendid Go-Betweens-like ‘Everyone Has Something to Say’ from the (sadly) lesser known Silver Meadows (Fables from the Institution) album followed by ‘Malvern Winter Gardener’ from nostalgic coming-of-age collection Return of the Native. They then reached further back for ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend’ from 2002’s Ironing the Soul before ‘I Only Stole What I Needed’ added further food for thought from 2015’s Down the Bright Stream, the quality of songwriting there for all to hear and witness.

The band rocked out again with super-catchy glam stomper, ‘Hippy Kids’, threats of audience clap-along participation coming to nowt, bass player Jim’s half-beat suggestion deemed too complicated by the frontman, with no alternative put forward, us making do with the odd impassioned ‘hey!’ instead.

The evening was already running away from us, a befitting ‘Man Out of Time’ from pre-pandemic long player While You Still Can taking us to the finish line. Well, kind of. The pantomime of rock ‘n’ roll encores seems increasingly exposed as ludicrous as years roll on, Vinny having none of it, suggesting they might just stick around just in case. Inevitably, fully deserved applause followed, and we were royally rewarded, our headliners launching into an impassioned take on Talking Heads’ ‘Life During Wartime’.

Our leading light sang, ‘This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around. No time for dancing, or lovey-dovey, I ain’t got time for that now.’ But he wasn’t fooling anyone, the floor certainly moving. How could it not be? Vinny suggested their version was more shambolic each time they played it. Not from where I was grooving, it wasn’t. That said, shambolic works for me. Heard about Houston? Heard about Detroit? Heard about Manchester M4, more like. Glorious.

There was time for one more, our Love Freaks quintet bringing the ‘Ashram Curtains’ down on a grand night out. There are still a couple of Vinny Peculiar duo dates in the diary this year, and a few full band shows lined up for May 2024. Hopefully I’ll catch this five-piece line-up again soon enough. Maybe even back in Manchester. And if that’s the case, as the man himself put it on the finale, ‘I’ll be waiting right here.’

For this website’s feature-interviews with Vinny Peculiar from November 2019 and January 2022, a July 2019 review of Vinny supporting The Wedding Present in Blackpool, and the WriteWyattUK consensus on How I Learned to Love the Freaks, follow the highlighted links.

Vinny Peculiar appears (alongside Rob Steadman) at Kitchen Garden Café, Kings Heath, Birmingham on Thursday, November 23rd, and Green Note, Parkway, Camden, London NW1 on Friday, November 24th. For more details and tickets, plus information about Vinny’s releases and 2024 band dates, head here.

For more about Common Hall, head here. You can also check out Robert Williams’ website and find him on Twitter. And for details of John Denton and his band, The Height, check out his Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.