The long awaited Everyone Loves You, Once You Leave Them tour has finally rolled into Manchester for its night at the O2 Ritz after a slight delay due to a postponement because of mental health issues within the band. It is clear to anyone who attended that their fans were more than understanding for the reasons behind delay and the reaction and energy from the crowd was amazing all evening.
Tonight was one of a few firsts for us. First gig of 2023 and the first time we’ve missed a support band at a gig! For this, I blame day the full-time job and a mad dash from Yorkshire to Manchester along the dreaded M62! We only managed to catch the last couple of songs from SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s set, but it looked like the definitely captivated the audience for an opening act.
A sizable crowd was now forming ready for Gideon from Alabama to take the stage. When lead singer Daniel McWhorter questioned the crowd: “Hands up if it’s your first time seeing us,” pretty much the entire room raised a hand. I’ll take a guess and say by the end of their set there were some new fans in the room by the time their set ended. Fairly early into their set, McWhorter instructed the crowd to split the room down the middle, and I don’t think I have ever seen such great participation for a non-headline act.
Their newest song “Take Me” saw the first crowd surfers of the night which then seemed to become a constant stream until the very last song of the night. When security have to warn the photographers going into the pit that it’s potentially about to get a bit rowdy for a support band, you know the nights is about to get a bit crazy! A sea of crowd surfers hurtling at you when you’ve got some very expensive equipment is undeniably something to make you feel slightly anxious!
With a quick pre-set huddle at the side of the stage, Fit for a King‘s time onstage began with a massive cheer from a very excitable crowd. The bands insane energy on stage didn’t falter once throughout their entire set, with bass player Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary constantly spinning not just themselves but also their guitar around them. “Annihilation” seemed to be a crowd favourite, with them easily following lead singer Ryan Kirby’s prompts during the chorus. Kirby introduced “Locked (In My Head)” stating: “This one is for the crowd surfers,” and this was all the encouragement needed. A few songs later Kirby thanked the crowd for sticking with them and supporting live music when it returned, and I know I’m not the only one who feels like gigs returning was the one of the best milestones of the easing of Covid restrictions.
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There was an electrifying sense of anticipation in the air before The Amity Affliction finally took the stage at 21:50 after what felt like a very long wait from when Fit for a King left the stage. Opening with arguably their biggest hit, “Pittsburgh”, from their Let the Ocean Take Me album (which is nearing its ten year anniversary), the room became alive once more and restarted the constant flow of crowd surfers seen earlier in the evening.
From the very first song, I was really impressed with Ahren Stringer’s clean vocals and how close they sounded to the recorded songs. You would never have guessed that “Like Love” was such a new song, released only a year ago as the crowd’s reaction was almost as strong as “Drag the Lake”, released several years earlier. The only mistake all evening was when Joel Birch was interacting with the crowd, and went to thank them for coming out on a Tuesday evening, followed by a “Tuesday, innit?” There was a few confused looks around us, as it was definitely Monday.
I don’t think either Birch or Stringer needed to sing a single word of “All Fucked Up” as the crowd were singing so loudly throughout the entire song. It definitely felt cathartic to be surrounded by people who seemed to understand the emotion behind the lyrics of this song. From my vantage point toward the back of the room, there was a very impressive light show throughout the band’s set with beams of lights constantly flashing and shining out above the audience, although our photographer tells me that this made getting photos of the individual band members a little tricky.
With the band leaving the stage before the encore, there were immediate chants of “One more song!” followed, for some reason, by the crowd singing the chorus of DJ Otzi’s “Hey Baby (If You’ll be My Girl)”. If anyone knows the reason for this, please get in touch. Was this just a random choice or is there a meaning to this? Returning to the stage for one last song they closed the evening with “Soak Me in Bleach”, which from the amount of people recording seems to be another popular track from the band’s most recent full length studio album.
We have started the year with The Amity Affliction. Up next, we are going to see Black Stone Cherry. What bands with names starting with the letter C are on tour soon? As we seem to be working our way through the alphabet.
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Pics by Jack Barker Photography
The Amity Affliction: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube
Fit For a King: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | youtube
