Busk Your Heart Out For The Lads

Manchester City are inviting buskers to showcase their talents before the Arsenal game on September 12th - and why not? When it comes to music, Manchester is the cradle of civilisation and there should be several talented minstrels out there who are willing to serenade the arriving hordes.

Busking in England normally conjures up an image of a badly groomed desperado singing 'Streets of London', whilst plucking the basic chords on a worn out guitar and those who give money do so out of sympathy for the accompanying dog, rather than in recognition of musical talent. This may seem a bit harsh coming from someone who regards the triangle as a challenging piece of musical apparatus, but at least I know my limitations.

If you say the words 'busking' and 'Man City' in the same sentence or even the same room, the first name that would spring to mind would be Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, vocal City fan and all-round good sort. This gig has his name written all over it. On a more wishful note, the vision of Johnny Marr strumming 'How Soon Is Now' on an acoustic guitar somewhere near the hot-dog stands would mean I would be a happy and fulfilled man when I go to heaven, or wherever else us ageing Smiths fans are destined.

Whilst Johnny Marr has been defending City's transfer policy on obscure Radio 4 programmes, the Gallagher Brothers have decided that City are worth watching again. In their current thirst for publicity, a few favourites from the Burnage mopheads is a possibility. A duet seems out of the question but maybe a couple of solo stanzas from opposite ends of the stadium might get them on our screens again.

So, if you’re an acoustic act, guitarist, singer, violinist... anything musical, get in touch by emailing an mp3 of you playing or a link to a MySpace page etc to mcfc@mcfc.co.uk with ‘MCFC Buskers’ as the subject.


Any money collected through busking will be given to one of the clubs’ associated charities.