By DJ Astrocreep
Another sweltering day leads to a too-warm train journey and an even sweatier venue in a formerly regular haunt of mine in Manchester in Rebellion. On arrival, I’m pretty horrified to find they’ve removed a lot of their seating to increase capacity and change the location of the merch desk. I’m luckily able to find a seat, though I can’t see the stage from it, but am then left with the quandary of relying on others to watch the seat for me to even rehydrate. Nevertheless, I soldier on, relying solely on my ears, bar a couple of snatched pictures.
Tejon Street Corner Thieves are completely unknown to me prior to the gig but get straight down to it, when they finally come on stage. A nice mix of bluegrass and Amigo’s own brand of more adult-orientated folk, they come straight on talking about drinking songs, especially whiskey, and garner some quick, raucous support from quite a busy crowd.
They prove quite funny between songs, even telling a joke about the now-dead monarch, while the subjects of sex and drinking keep popping up in their lyrical content, earning some well-deserved loud support for each track. There is a definite crossover with the likes of Hayseed Dixie, so it’s no real surprise to see them do so well with the crowd, earning loud support and singalongs by the end of their set. A great opening act.
Amigo The Devil takes to the stage and the crowd erupts, completely up for it from the off. Whether it’s the solo parts or when the full band joins in, Amigo has plenty of friends in the venue tonight. At each possible point, the crowd are loud and rambunctious, singing back and appreciating everything we get. Whether it’s on the funnier end of his repertoire, his funny and often relatable stories between songs or even the more downbeat parts of the evening, there is genuine love all around the room for everything. The fact the Outbreak Festival is on the same weekend shows even better quite how much pull Amigo has achieved over his various visits to the UK, especially when you hear the wall of noise that the audience also brings.
The set contains such songs as ‘I Hope Your Husband Dies’, ‘Hungover In Jonestown’ – which is completed with a new, untitled Stray Dog song in the middle – ‘Crying At The Orgy’ and ‘Quiet As A Rat’.
As mentioned above, the crowd are up for singing to almost every single song, regardless of subject matter and the genuine vibe of adoration around the room is absolutely palpable. ‘Hell And You’ closed the main set before the non stage leave to provoke the encore (and almost feels like it brings the ceiling down), which gains us an extra song in ‘Murder At The Bingo Hall’, even with Amigo’s guitar sound muddying as it started to fail.
A glorious night full of laughter, dark fun and full crowd interaction.
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