By Jase Walker
After a brief spell of sickness which left me panicking that I might not be alright for the absolutely stacked gig lineup I have this week, I’m back on form and about to start February off with a massive show at Victoria Warehouse.
You Me At Six, who blew me away at 2000 Trees last yea,r have set out on a tour through some of the UKs premier venues prior to the launch of their new album, ‘Truth Decay’. Bringing along three support acts for this run and having Victoria Warehouse open its doors at the early time of 6pm, we have Bears In Trees, The Maine and finally Waterparks. To say that this run is loaded is quite a bit of an understatement but given the size of the queue, I’m a bit worried I’m going to miss the start of Bears In Trees because it’s bloody massive!
Sadly I’ve missed about five minutes of Bears In Trees by the time I get into the venue and found my perch, what immediately stands out to me is how fun these lot sound. All of the band with the exception of the drummer of course are bouncing around the stage and clearly just having a great time playing their stuff. Often the opener act for shows with this many bands usually seems to try and play it safe but that is absolutely not the case with Bears In Trees, their singer (well what appears to be the main one) jumps off the stage to get stuck into the crowd when he’s not diving around the stage and the rest playfully divvy up singing segments with each other.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ukulele used in this sort of pop rock context either, this is genuinely super playful music that’s surprised me a lot, it’s just good fun! They’ve clearly got the attention of the audience that’s here so far as well, they barely need to make any effort to get everyone clapping along or dancing with them. Definitely glad I got in early doors because this has been a real fun set to watch, I’ve spent the whole thing with a wry grin on my face, what a lovely show.
Next up tonight is The Maine, a name I’ve seen around a lot but never actually got round to listening to. Walking on to a bit of an unusual number, ‘Sweet Caroline’, that everyone enthusiastically joins in with, and with that being done they’re off into it! Dressed in (almost) identical outfits, all white but slight variations with different shirts and trousers, they’ve certainly got an interesting stage look. They’ve got a real funky edge to them with the sort of guitar style they’re rocking, lots of palm muted playing or that sort of quick chord change playing that John Frusciante is well known for. Early on they get a circle opened up, but not for what you’d ordinarily think, instead to let a parent and daughter dance together with each other, that’s quite sweet.
The funky side of them is evidently just one facet of their sound, following up with “heavier” numbers that are much closer to pop punk does a great job of accelerating the show, great pacing. Can’t fault them at all on sound or general performance, they’ve been massively entertaining to watch, great to listen to and their singer does a fantastic job of keeping the audience engaged and pays extremely close attention to how people are reacting. One of the weirder moments was the crowd spontaneously bursting into a chant of Smashmouth’s ‘All Star’ and the band kinda joining in… never change Manchester!
Alongside getting someone to chug their megapint and pulling some random dude on stage to sing the chorus to their last song (poor sod was terrified!) so far this show has been absolutely everything I needed to be a pick up on a Monday, especially after the weekend I’ve had. I can’t wait to see what Waterparks and You Me At Six have in store tonight!
Noticing the two large tennis(?) balls that have inflated on either side of the stage, Waterparks begin their show and I notice that there seems to be an absent live bass player, not that it’s particularly uncommon though! As I’ve seen with many bands that I listen to regularly though, this often leaves very little room for improvising sections or anything outside of a tightly controlled live show. Sounds great either way though. Waterparks clearly have this show planned down to fine detail and know exactly what they’re doing any any moment, it takes a lot of concentration to pull that off properly. By this point in the evening the room is absolutely heaving and I can clearly hear the crowd singing the words back to Waterparks, a solid sign they’ve been a good pick for the direct support for this tour. Says a lot as well when the band asks what the names of each of the members out and they scream it back clear as day, it even seems to surprise them a bit!
The light production they’ve got working for them on this set compliments the music brilliantly also, it’s every bit as vivid and active as the band’s set. A myriad of vivid colours that rarely seem to stay still for very long while the singer and guitarist stomp around the stage like they own it. It’s nice that the bands so far tonight have paid a bit of attention to us up on the balcony as well, despite this being my favourite spot it’s often left out of any crowd participation bits. As with the other bands so far tonight, this set continues the fun by winning over the audience and continually getting them involved either by dancing, clapping or singing along. Just by seeing this set, even if it’s short due to the number of acts on tonight, it’s pretty obvious why Waterparks have done as well as they have. Their performance comes across fantastically well, they connect with their audience effortlessly and above all it’s just easy to get lost in the music. I don’t doubt it’ll be long before they’re headlining this venue themselves.
You Me At Six walk on to one of the most intensely red lighting productions I think I’ve ever seen, a massive chunk of which flick back and forth to strobes periodically, pretty intense start! Just as much as I found it striking at 2000 Trees, the eventual change from their UK emo roots to maturation as one of the slickest pop rock bands around has been quite the journey. Just looking down at the literal army of people in Victoria Warehouse that all have their arms in the air bouncing in unison to every single song is awe inspiring. Their lighting production is being used to fantastic effect, often hypnotic at points where the LED strips switch between solid lighting and patterns that accentuate the larger lights.
The band barely has to try to get the audience to sing along as well, everyone here understands the brief, they know every word to every song and they’re letting the band know with every ounce of energy they have. At some points the chorus of voices from the crowd seems to be matching the band’s volume, almost as if the audience are just as much a part of the band as the members themselves. After a brief break, they say in no uncertain terms, “This is part 2 of the set, the moshpit”, clearly saving all their massive bangers for the second half of the set to ensure the crowd goes wild and keeps it going for the rest of the set. Seeing the performance they’re putting across backed by this sort of production is one of the reasons I enjoy Victoria Warehouse so much for a lot of shows, it’s got just the right amount of space to put on this level of show to this many people.
Every time they explicitly instruct the audience to sing along it blows me away just how loud and how unbelievably clear they are. I’ve seen some shows where audience response is immense such as Pale Waves but this is definitely one of the louder ones. The audience’s singing definitely has its greatest impact during an acoustic number though, almost drowning them out completely during the chorus. These sorts of shows are a real treasure to be a part of, I feed off the energy that everyone else has and it really adds to my overall enjoyment when it ends up being a massive feedback loop. Towards the end I definitely had a Danny Glover moment where they’ve asked the crowd to kneel down before jumping back up and the thought of my knees creaking doing that genuinely gives me sympathy pains.
One thing that’s amused me throughout this set though is the crowd repeatedly chanting “Yorkshire! Yorkshire!” when they aren’t in Yorkshire and neither is the band from Yorkshire? Bizarre. Fantastic show from You Me At Six though, I genuinely wish I could attend the show at Ally Pally, I bet it’ll be bloody excellent. What a way to spend a Monday night.
- ‘Truth Decay‘ is released on Friday (10 February).
- The tour continues at the Nottingham Motorpoint Arena tomorrow (Thursday 9 February) and the Cardiff International Arena on Friday (10 February), finishing at London’s Alexandra Palace on Saturday (11 February).
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