NME
Awards Tour 2015
The Ritz Manchester, 26th February 2015
Performers: The Wytches, Slaves, Fat White Family, Palma Violets
The tour returns for its twenty-first year with a killer pick of bands.
A late change to the line-up following the original bill’s The Amazing Snakeheads’ recent split doesn’t seem to dampen spirits too much. Kicking off the night, The Wytches break into a thrashing set to a welcome reception, recalling tracks from their 2014 debut Annabel Dream Reader. Singer Kristian Bell calls out the dark imagery of set-highlight Gravedweller (“Gravedweller / You’re feeling at home / Pressed up on the stones / And the soils alone”). Heavy riffs are teamed with forceful play, and despite being the first to grace tonight’s stage, a few dwellers of the crowd seems as if they would have been satisfied enough leaving it there.
Up next are Kent garage-punk duo Slaves. From their launch straight into the angsty White Knuckle Ride, fans scream the words and initiate a riotous reaction, a reaction which peaks with the unleash of Where’s Your Car Debbie?. The catchy track is introduced with a slow-reveal tale of its origins (surprise surprise, a tale of a time when they were trying to locate a car belonging to a woman named Debbie), and one teenage spectator is overheard stating (perhaps in exaggeration) that this is her favourite song of all time; not bad for a band who formed less than three years ago.
The word ‘intense’ has been tossed around when describing the performance methods of Fat White Family (Is it due to the lyrics that border on controversial? The act of putting a hand down the trousers on stage for the duration of Touch the Leather?), but tonight proved that the London five-piece certainly know how to put on a show, whether to everyone’s tastes or not. The band waltz on stage in mismatched attire, ranging from sweaty-and-shirtless to nineteenth century farmer, several cans of lager in hands, and start with the slower croons of Auto Neutron, the opener of 2013 album Champagne Holocaust, before upping the ante for what turns into an energetic set. Anomalous frontman Lias Saoudi seems to spend almost as much time off stage as he is on, delving into the crowd for enthusiastic outbursts of Is It Raining In Your Mouth? and the explicit version of Bomb Disneyland.
And at last it is the turn of headliners Palma Violets ahead of their forth-coming album Danger in the Club, with the song of the same name being one of the number of new tracks played this evening. Rattlesnake Highway sparks an immediate response, along with a showcase of old favourites including the upbeat episodic Johnny Bagga’ Donuts and the somewhat melancholic All the Garden Birds, but it’s Best of Friends and We Found Love that bring the feel-good highs of the set, inevitably. The quartet appear to have as much fun on stage as the crowd, smashing tambourines, hip-thrusting flamenco-style to Matador, and at one point hushing the crowd into sitting on the floor - a demand to which a large gaggle of fans oblige - before a sudden ignition back into action.
The NME Awards tour has been renowned since its 1995 beginnings in bringing the best of British rock to all corners of the country, and this year’s spectacle is no excpetion.
The Ritz Manchester, 26th February 2015
Performers: The Wytches, Slaves, Fat White Family, Palma Violets
The tour returns for its twenty-first year with a killer pick of bands.
A late change to the line-up following the original bill’s The Amazing Snakeheads’ recent split doesn’t seem to dampen spirits too much. Kicking off the night, The Wytches break into a thrashing set to a welcome reception, recalling tracks from their 2014 debut Annabel Dream Reader. Singer Kristian Bell calls out the dark imagery of set-highlight Gravedweller (“Gravedweller / You’re feeling at home / Pressed up on the stones / And the soils alone”). Heavy riffs are teamed with forceful play, and despite being the first to grace tonight’s stage, a few dwellers of the crowd seems as if they would have been satisfied enough leaving it there.
Up next are Kent garage-punk duo Slaves. From their launch straight into the angsty White Knuckle Ride, fans scream the words and initiate a riotous reaction, a reaction which peaks with the unleash of Where’s Your Car Debbie?. The catchy track is introduced with a slow-reveal tale of its origins (surprise surprise, a tale of a time when they were trying to locate a car belonging to a woman named Debbie), and one teenage spectator is overheard stating (perhaps in exaggeration) that this is her favourite song of all time; not bad for a band who formed less than three years ago.
The word ‘intense’ has been tossed around when describing the performance methods of Fat White Family (Is it due to the lyrics that border on controversial? The act of putting a hand down the trousers on stage for the duration of Touch the Leather?), but tonight proved that the London five-piece certainly know how to put on a show, whether to everyone’s tastes or not. The band waltz on stage in mismatched attire, ranging from sweaty-and-shirtless to nineteenth century farmer, several cans of lager in hands, and start with the slower croons of Auto Neutron, the opener of 2013 album Champagne Holocaust, before upping the ante for what turns into an energetic set. Anomalous frontman Lias Saoudi seems to spend almost as much time off stage as he is on, delving into the crowd for enthusiastic outbursts of Is It Raining In Your Mouth? and the explicit version of Bomb Disneyland.
And at last it is the turn of headliners Palma Violets ahead of their forth-coming album Danger in the Club, with the song of the same name being one of the number of new tracks played this evening. Rattlesnake Highway sparks an immediate response, along with a showcase of old favourites including the upbeat episodic Johnny Bagga’ Donuts and the somewhat melancholic All the Garden Birds, but it’s Best of Friends and We Found Love that bring the feel-good highs of the set, inevitably. The quartet appear to have as much fun on stage as the crowd, smashing tambourines, hip-thrusting flamenco-style to Matador, and at one point hushing the crowd into sitting on the floor - a demand to which a large gaggle of fans oblige - before a sudden ignition back into action.
The NME Awards tour has been renowned since its 1995 beginnings in bringing the best of British rock to all corners of the country, and this year’s spectacle is no excpetion.
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