Now, Bryan Glancy. Was there ever a time when Bryan Glancy wasn't plying his trade around town? Those who only know of him through his past collaborations with John Bramwell (The Mouth) and Mark Burgess (Sons Of God) may be missing the fact that he's a talent to match either of them, he just never got round to doing a lot with it. Tonight he looks like he's just woken up. It's a short set, accompanied capably by a violinist.

Glancy's is a world of afternoon drinking in the smoky pubs in the less done-up bits of the Northern Quarter; of cheap drugs and of not-quite-there relationships. Sex ("Five O'Clock") and drugs ("Morphine") are depicted as just something to do, and his sublime voice draws you inside. Finally he takes on the city itself. "This is a new one, it's called Manchester, and it's about... um, Manchester". A tale of people and places, drifting between Night & Day and the Roadhouse, seeing Elbow in Big Hands, it's a bittersweet anthem to a world that's his and mine and probably yours too, and captures the spirit of our city more than a million glossy Commonwealth games pamphlets or Student Guides ever could. I'd have liked a few more songs, but I think the bar was calling him.

Now, Bryan Glancy. Was there ever a time when Bryan Glancy wasn't plying his trade around town? Those who only know of him through his past collaborations with John Bramwell (The Mouth) and Mark Burgess (Sons Of God) may be missing the fact that he's a talent to match either of them, he just never got round to doing a lot with it. Tonight he looks like he's just woken up.

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