It’s a cold Sunday night tonight in Manchester, so I was quite surprised to see a venue that was not only within a few tickets of being sold out but also full of people right from the start. This meant tonight’s support act, Kane’d, had a job to do to win over those audience members who weren’t familiar with them, and I have to say they did it rather well.
Read MoreI regularly dip my toe into Prog and my signed vinyl copy of ‘Misplaced Childhood’ would be the thing I would save in a fire, but tonight I may be out of my depth as I am in serious hardcore Prog devotee territory. This is top shelf, sold in a brown paper bag, hundred percent proof, not for lightweights full strength stuff and this is an audience of devotees and connoisseurs, very much not the ‘I heard one song on the radio I thought I would check them out’ crowd.
Read MoreIt’s getting to the busy time of year for gigs, Johann is out most nights. We agree 2018 is a year we could both forget. March onwards, 2019 beckons and omens are looking good. Transition is in the air. The countdown, the car & the traffic jams are all there. The European driving style is better suited to the city streets and tonight gets to the gig for the opening act. It’s dark all the time now, I see in perpetual orange and rain magnifies the colours in the windscreen. I’m a shit passenger, hanging on to the handrail on the passenger side for dear life.
Read MoreI am often struggling to comprehend if we will ever have decent motorways in the U.K. I had it all planned and set off earlier than most occasions but the gods of travel decided otherwise tonight. After having spent an hour stuck on the M57, it became quickly apparent that no matter what, I would be a no show for the supporting act, Kansas City based electro-deathcore fusion item The Browning. Being always on the look out for new bands and missing out on support acts makes my blood boil and must admit that screaming a few times in my car was more than therapeutic.
Eventually, I made it to the Academy Club in Manchester on a rather busy night for a Monday. The Student Union building reception is surrounded by over-emotional youth bringing drama to the scene as ambulance staff arrives for reasons unknown.
Read MoreOver the course of an hour and a half Evil Scarecrow provide one of the most enjoyable stage shows I have seen this year. There are more props and special effects than most Sci-fi movies and yes its more Plan 9 from Outer Space than Star Wars but that’s part of the charm. We get battling robots, drumming skeletons, aliens, UFO’s, massive slugs, NASA spacemen, robotic crabs, one of those huge inflatable men you get outside car showrooms and guest appearances from Link of Legends of Zelda and Chun-Li from Street Fighter 2. They may all have been lovingly created with Papier-Mache and sticky back plastic in someone’s garage but the effort that Evil Scarecrow go to make their show a riot of colourfulness and wackiness puts most other more ‘serious’ bands to shame.
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