By Hannah Ross
With bands like You Me at Six recently running through farewell tours and calling it a day it’s nice to see a 2000’s band that are instead making a bit of a revival. Elliot Minor have so far this year managed to release a new single, host a sold out ÜK tour and have confirmed a slot for Download festival. Not too shabby.
The night starts with Manchester’s own pop punk offering, Stay Safe. They’re a lot of fun, with both guitarists having a tonne of chemistry and bouncing around the stage and goofing off together. By the time they launched into Avril Lavigne’s ‘Complicated’ I was sold. A very fun way to begin the evening.
Next up we have Call Me Amour. I saw them support Set It Off at the Ritz back in Feb, and already anticipated a high octane set.
But they were somehow even more on their game tonight, whipping the crowd into shape with favourites ‘Good Day’, ‘Bloom’ and ‘Where’s The Chemistry’.
Vocalist Harry Radford is an absolute demon, jumping around the stage and delivering moves surely only a kangaroo could do. At one point he leaps from the stage to the barrier, and then jumps into the crowd – grinning like a maniac the whole time. I’m still in the photo pit shooting the band when he jumps to return back to the stage, using my shoulder to give him a bit of extra air.
These guys clearly have a lot of chemistry too, as Harry jokes about the bassist Arran Lomax losing a go kart race earlier in the day, making him take to the mic to declare he sucks at go karting. The whole set is just pure fun and the perfect warm-up for Elliot Minor.
We’ll be seeing a lot more of Call Me Amour, with Harry announcing a ÜK headline tour at the end of this year.
After a decade break for Elliot Minor, it’s pretty impressive to witness the packed out room and front row barrier of screaming people; the anticipation clearly sky-high. The room was intensely sweaty and packed by this point, and when the set started you could see the pure emotion on each fan’s face, getting to see one of the most nostalgic bands from the emo-era return to the stage. I remember first hearing Elliot Minor on now defunct TV channels Scuzz and Kerrang! while I donned black eyeliner, arm warmers and a studded belt (my additions to my school uniform now make me cringe, but at the time I promise it was cool. I promise.)
They kicked off with ‘Jessica’, and the people in the crowd were fucking elated – singing back every word to them in a show of pure dedication. It felt like a bit of a rush to begin with, while the band found their feet. I got the impression that they were nervous to see how they’d be received after so much time off, but once they’d warmed up enough they loosened up and took control of the room. They ran through ‘I Believe’, ‘Solaris’ and ‘Time After Time’ with the confidence of a newly matured band. They also played ‘Lucky Star’, which holds a lot of sentimental weight for both the band and the fans.
They also shared their latest single ‘How Does It Feel’, which seemed to fit in perfectly with the more classic Elliot Minor songs. I like that they’re showing off new material, as it shows they’re not just relying on pure nostalgia – instead seeming committed to making somewhat of a comeback. This track oozes with their signature symphonic and theatrical sound, and it’s very heartfelt.
There was no way fans were letting Elliot Minor leave without playing their biggest song ‘Parallel Worlds’, and they didn’t disappoint and launched into it as part of the encore. The song seemed to renew the energy in the room, and it honestly felt like they could have gone on to play a second set with how passionately they delivered this song. It’s a pretty damn good way to go out, and singer Alex Davies says that he hopes it isn’t ten years before they’re playing to crowds again. I bloody hope so too, and I have a feeling they’ll be back sooner than we think.
- All photos © Hannah Ross/Über Rock.
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