Supported by ShadowParty
To start tonight we have a super group
called ShadowParty who consist of some of the members of Devo and New Order although
they are not the ‘big’ names from those bands.
The lead singer is Devo’s guitarist Josh
Hagar and originally he was joined by drummer Jeff Friedl but Friedl isn't
touring with them on this occasion. From New Order we have Tom Chapman who was
Bernard Sumner's bass player in Bad Lieutenant before Sumner invited him to
replace Peter Hook in New Order and we have
Phil Cunningham who has been their guitarist since 2002.
Phil Cunningham who has been their guitarist since 2002.
They released an album last year which only
really gives a cursory nod to both 'source' bands. That’s not to say it wasn’t
decent and it sounds good live but then with all that experience in the band you’d
assume they know what they are doing up on stage. American Hagar is quite
chatty frontman too even dedicating one song to ‘our horrible orange man'. I
wonder who he means.
They are joined on stage by Ellen Lewis,
who must be half the age of the rest of the fortysomething band, and she takes
lead vocals on one track 'Present Tense' while offering keyboards and backing
vocals on the others. Overall, they are pretty good.
Talking of fortysomethings, before the Slow
Readers Club come on stage I get chatting to the chap next to me who is a big
Readers fan and says he has seen them loads of times. He says the crowds at
their gigs are fantastic e.g. just like the old days e.g. lively. ‘The old days’
he says, are the ones that ‘fans like us in our late 30s and early 40s remember
fondly’. As he has totally misjudged my age, we are now best friends forever.
The Slow Readers Club have been slow
burning their way through the conscience of the nation over the last eight years.
Yes, there’s been nothing quick their rise and they have built the band up the
old way, the hard way, through gradually building a fanbase. They remained
unsigned, while still maintaining day jobs, until their third album was
released last year. Finally, now the band have managed to go full time as a
band.
They are about a third of the way through a
massive 48 date UK and European tour and tonight they have sold out the
Leadmill, making it their biggest gig so far outside of their homeland of
Manchester.
They open with ‘Lunatic’, the big
commercial moment from that third album ‘Build A Tower’. Everyone knows it and
singer Aaron Starkie has to raise his voice to be heard above the singing
crowd. From there, the only way could have been down but the Readers have too
many good songs for that.
‘Lives Never Known’ is followed by debut
single ‘Sirens’ but they have so many good songs in fact that mixing the set up
every night isn't a problem. The 17-song set is pulled in almost equal measure
from all three Readers albums with songs from different albums segueing faultlessly
into each other. Such as the excellent transition of ‘You Opened Up My Heart’ into
‘Plant The Seed’. In amongst all the old favourites is a brand new track ‘The
Wait’.
‘Forever In You Debt’ slow builds the start
of the finale from which ‘Feet on Fire’ and ‘I Saw a Ghost’ from the excellent ‘Cavalcade’
album follow. Then finally their latest single ‘On The TV’. There is no encore,
they have already left it all out there.