Laura Veirs + Karl Blau

Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Laura Veirs blends the poetic sensibilities of folk with the rough edges of indie rock. Her career has seen her collaborate with luminaries such as kd lang, Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens, Jim James, The Decemberists, Bill Frisell and many more.

2026 sees Laura return with her new album, Temple Songs— her first in four years and the first she has written, recorded, arranged, produced and performed entirely on her own. It captures a songwriter in peak form. The album is intimate, dreamy, brave and quietly defiant, built around Veirs’ intricate fingerstyle nylon-string guitar, vulnerable vocals and bold electric guitar embellishments. The new songs lend themselves perfectly to being performed live in a stripped-back form, with Laura accompanied only by Karl Blau on electric guitar.

Karl Blau will also support. The croon of Karl Blau’s voice hits the ear like baritone Hazelwood, Cohen or Cave, especially in his albums since he found his “country voice” in the past 10 years. Blau’s staggering number of solo albums added up to 54 for the ironically entitled Introducing album, his first on London’s Bella Union in 2016, and his first foray into singing country. Not afraid to keep expanding his frontier, 2025 saw Blau’s Vultures of Love – a loose homage to psychedelia – come out on eccentric Los Angeles label Otherly Love.

Presented by Hey! Manchester.

This is a 14+ event. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult