A Tale of Sweat and The Subways

A Tale of Sweat and The Subways

I love live music. I really do. It doesn’t really matter what kind of Music really, I’ll more often or not have a great time. There’s jus t something about the performance of live Music that really appeals to me. This is obviously amplified when the live music in question is by a band that I’m wholeheartedly a fan off. 

Tuesday the 27^th of September I, my brother and my two friends took a trip to the big city. The big city in question was Manchester, a twenty minute train ride from where I live, so I do realise the trip wasn’t that epic. However, the night was. 

Our reason for this excursion? To go see Brit rockers The Subways perform at the Manchester Academy 2. We got there just as the first support was about to come on. With a male vocalist a male drummer and a female bassist you would be forgiven for thinking that they were a Subways tribute act. However, with their mixture of simple melodies and charming lyrics they were a pleasant little band. Nothing to write home about, but fun none the less. 

Next on were The Computers, who were a strange mix of talents. They looked like rock-a-billies, played music like hard rockers and sang like screamers. I’m personally not a fan of that kind of screamtastic vocals as I like to distinguish one song from another. 

That being said, what they lacked in musical prowess I thought they made up in stage presence. OK, the lead singer may have come across as arrogant, but this is a performance after all and you could tell he was passionate about his chosen profession. 

To cap off the set, The Computers lead singer leapt into the crowd and sang the last few songs among the rabble. If I wasn’t a fan of his performance then, he had definitely won me over. I think energy and fan interaction is a big deal and these guys had it in abundance. 

After The Computers left the stage, we had a lengthy wait until The Subways came on. At one point it felt like they were going to not show up at all, especially at quarter to ten with an eleven o clock curfew. 

However, my hesitations were misguided and at 9.50 the lights went out and The Subways graced us with their presence. Bloody Hell what a presence it was. I had seen The Subways on three previous occasions so I knew what to expect regarding energy levels. 

But, like a good film you haven’t watched in years, all expectations were surpassed. Hitting it straight out of the park with ‘Oh Yeah’ followed shortly followed by one of my personal favourites: ‘Young for Eternity’. To start the gig with this one-two combo was a stroke of genius and immediately got the whole academy bouncing. 

The good times certainly rolled for the first five songs of the set. Then atmosphere subdued a little when The Subways played a few new songs that the crowd were obviously unfamiliar with. Some good (We don’t need money to have a good time), some not so good (Pop Death). 

However, when Shake, Shake came on there was no looking back as the rest of the set was a mash of unbelievable energy and cracking music. This was capped off by an Academy wide circle pit to ‘Turn Around’. 

At 11 O clock, The Subways bid farewell to their loyal supporters and the sea of sweat they dropped throughout the night. Ok, a 70 minute performance is a bit short, but since an average song by the band is at under 3 minutes, it was still nearly a 20 song set and to be honest, if the set would have gone on for much longer, I would have probably collapsed. 

It’s better to leave your audience wanting more than to overstay your welcome and The Subways definitely dif the former. All in all, it was a great night of Music and physical excursion which ended with a Ginger Beer and a bag of Nick Nacks. Oh, and the offer of Pills and other narcotics. I refused. 

I implore any one that has the chance to see The Subways, to do so. Obviously, I’m a fan, but even if you’re not big on that kind of music, for 10 pounds you definitely get your monies worth. 

 

Until next time, enjoy the Show.

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Thanks for reading.

Daniel Morris.