SOPHIE WENBAN recommends a remarkable Italian quartet who revive Bluegrass on period instruments to give a taste of the communal spirit that first made it popular
Mad Dog Mcrea
Creative Scilly Festival, Isles of Scilly
IF you’re looking for a quiet night out, then best avoid Mad Dog Mcrea. Considered reflection is hardly their bag — at least not in a live setting.
Plymouth-based and West Country-proud, breakneck piratical folk is their stock in trade, and even the “slow ones” finish at a frenetic pace.
It’s drink-along, singalong music, with a ragbag of influences spanning everything from country rock to music hall and back.
BEN COWLES samples the many sonic and social therapies of Manchester Punk Festival 2026, and is ready again to smash capitalism
SUSAN DARLINGTON swoons in the presence of a magnetic frontman
WILL STONE is impressed by a tour de force rendition of three decades’ worth of orchestral chamber pop
WILL STONE takes a ticket to indie disco heaven, but misses the rarely performed tunes



