HUMOUR the acclaimed Full Court Press cafe and Rough Trade East record store, then went to go see Heaven 17 at O2 Academy Bristol. Heaven 17’s founders had been in the original lineup of Human League, and the band was and is very left politically, with a charismatic live show that kept me engaged beginning to end. The following afternoon, I took a long coach ride to Manchester. It was in Manchester that the typical, drizzly fall weather of the UK settled in, perfect for the final two days. I went to a small club called YES and on the first night saw local groups pyncher, Tigers and Flies, and Holly Head. The second night I caught Humour from Glasgow with The Cutter from Manchester. All post-punk, all different. Across the street from where I stayed was the building that once housed Factory Records. I paid a visit to the ManCoCo Coffee Bar and Piccadilly Records as well as the wonderfully eccentric Paramount Books. The city felt comfortable, like a place that embraced the old and the new alike, aware of its cultural legacy. The latter is something you can feel in cities like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle, but not in Denver, and I returned home thinking maybe we ought to work toward cultivating that kind of awareness and consciousness. BIRMINGHAM MANCHESTER SEE MORE: QUEENCITYSOUNDS.ORG
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