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In York:
Malcolm Middleton [City Screen Basement – 8/12 – £12.50]
The former Arab Strap man has been prolific in his solo career since his long-term band split in 2006, with his outside-bet for last year’s Christmas No. 1, ‘We’re All Going to Die’, just missing the Top 30. His latest album, June’s Waxing Gibbous, will be his last for a while. With his touring career taking a break too, you don’t want to miss this farewell show at the City Screen.
Electric Six [The Duchess – 9/12 – £11/£13otd]
Since they broke through in the early part of the decade, the Detroit genre-blurrers have garnered all the positive acclaim going for their wild music videos and dangerously high voltage live shows. Their sixth album, KILL, came out last month, and to be going out on tour with an album title like that in tow, the sextet seems unlikely to be mellowing just yet.
Thomas Truax [City Screen Basement – 12/12 – £5/£6.50otd]
After his wild debut in York last year, the steampunk oddball returns to the Basement Bar for a seasonal show. Guaranteed to back his outsider vocals with a menagerie of homemade instruments (including the modified gramophone Hornicator and the spoked drum machine Cadillac Beatspinner Wheel), the Truax Christmas Party is sure to be strangely brilliant like no other.
Tragedy: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees [The Duchess – 13/12 – £6/£7.50]
There’s probably not a lot to say about this one that isn’t implied by the title. In one of those grand occasions set to break down the barriers between society’s marginalised groups, metal and Bee Gees fans alike are welcomed to come together, discuss life experiences and listen to an 8-piece band play the classics. Unmissable? Oh yes.
Around York:
In Leeds, the O2 Academy hosts Ian Brown [10/12 & 11/12, £24], David Gray [13/12, £29.50], The Pogues [14/12, £29.50] and Echo & the Bunnymen [15/12, £22.50]. On December 12, Leeds Uni hosts The Mars Volta [Refectory, £20] and Little Boots [Stylus, £10]. Elsewhere, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas tours his latest album at Leeds Met [10/12, £18] and purveyor of indietronica Casiotone for the Painfully Alone stops by Nation of Shopkeepers [19/12, £5].
Sheffield’s O2 Academy hosts Yeah Yeah Yeahs [7/12, £20], Babyshambles [10/12, £21] and The Horrors [16/12, £10]. Veterans playing pre-Christmas shows in the city include local favourite Richard Hawley [Crucible, 5/12, £20] and a joint gig by psychedelic legends Hawkwind and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown [The Plug, 12/12, £20].
In Manchester, the Academy venues host the Christmas shows by Warp, headlined by Battles [7/12, £17.50] and Soulwax, featuring sets by Soulwax and 2ManyDJs [16/12, £17.50]. Doves play a homecoming show at Manchester Central [18/12, £25], Silversun Pickups support Placebo [Manchester Central, 12/12, £25] and ATP presents Spiritualized playing career highlight Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space in its entirety [Apollo, 14/12, £25].
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