" And the January man c omes round again in woollen clothes a nd boots of leather, t o take another turn and walk along the icy road h e knows so well. T he January man is here f or starting each and every year along the road forever." Dave Goulder, The January Man. The start of a New Year. The beginning of the annual cycle, captured so eloquently in Dave Goulder's beautiful song. Traditionally, January tends to be the most depressing month of the year, which this time around is playing out as even more miserable than ever as lockdown is carried over from 2020. Cold nights, dreary days, interspersed with shopping for essentials, visits to dependants, walks amid the gloom. This January man would love to be sat right now in a warm pub with friends and some excellent hand-pumped beer or a hazy, juicy NEIPA from the taps. But alas, in these troublesome times, we can't do that. In any normal year, January though would have seen me moaning, and exhorting people to suppor
We were unable to see much live music this year due to you-know-what but it did not mean that there wasn't any good music about, quite the opposite. Here is my annual round-up of the best of the year.... It could have been the year the music died. Starved of gigs, tours cancelled, venues closed. Income streams dried up, new releases delayed. The support structure that oils the wheels of the industry rendered silent. Furlough payments not applicable. Singing not allowed to reduce the spread. A vital part of our culture left to wilt. Government-funding and Arts Council grants eventually came to many venues, but not all, and as a result many are facing a very uncertain future. Close to me in Halifax, for example, the town's first purpose-built venue in decades, The Lantern, where I saw the only gig I paid for this year when Liverpool band She Drew The Gun came to town, was identified as being one of the 30 most at-risk sites in the country, and like many others, have launched a cr