Cherry Ghost is fresh to Manchester’s circuit, but it won’t be long before he’s one of the city’s hot tickets. With a screwed up Dave Gahan face and a sweet gravel voice, he delivers the sort of solid Jim White-esque new country tunes, all grumpy and filled with manly hurt, which dreams are made of.
 | | Cherry Ghost |
"I’m Cherry Ghost… that’s Mr Ghost to non-family members," he smirked into the microphone before releasing several cuts of acoustica that were, from the clap-along joy of Wrecking Ball to a finale of a version of Ce Ce Peniston’s Finally, laid bare and transformed into a trailer-home drama, nothing short of stunning. Beats For Beginners made an admirable job of following him. Splitting the set between an acoustic set and a beefed up section, thanks in no small part to their bass player and drummer being away on the continent, frontman Mike TV and keyboards and beats specialist Spencer produced an interesting new take on their sound. Opening with the delicious new track White Rabbit, the selection took in a sublime stroll through the Rolling Stones’ No Expectations, a half-stripped Death Of A C-List Celebrity and bass ’n’ beats only takes on When Robots Attack and Kill All DJ’s that filled them with enough retro dirt chic to knock over a New York punk. The basement of the Rampant Lion is about as intimate an atmosphere as you’re ever going to find in Manchester and, despite a few ignorant onlookers who insisted on chatting through the sets, it suited the pairing of Beats For Beginners and Cherry Ghost perfectly. | 
