By Returning for the first time since their sold-out 2013 headline show, The Strypes now on their third album ‘Spitting Image’, the young Irish boys came along to make some noise. Boy did they not disappoint.
Local band The Gurus were supporting the Irish quartet even though they are currently taking a break from gigging to lock themselves away and write some new material. But in all honesty, would you turn down supporting The Strypes?
It is an exciting time for The Gurus, with a strong local following and a small catalogue of small, but strong songs behind them the only way they can go is up.
Warrington quartet Man & The Echo – Gaz (vocals/guitar), Fush (Bass), Joe Bennett, (Drums) and Chris (Keys) – are one weird bunch of blokes but strangely made themselves look really cool. The crowd was treated to a story about how they played a wedding one time where half the people were normal and the other half were fucking Tories. Clearly we have some hate for Theresa May over here.
Being the first time I’ve seen Man and the Echo live, lead singer Gaz Roberts reminds me a little of Get Inuit’s lead singer Jamie Gloss. Both equally crazy, bonkers and love to make funny faces whilst playing their tunes. ‘Operation Margarine’ and ‘Distance Runner’ have sweet guitar riffs and upbeat keys like from a merry-go-round ride, which sound incredible live.
They also played a new song titled ‘Life On An Island’ following similar suit in the jangly indie pop and electrifying keys. They’ve gained a new fan in my view! But like their track ‘I Don’t Give a Fuck What You Reckon’, they literally don’t give a shit if you like them or not.
The Strypes in burst out onto the stage in their typical energetic fashion with Ross and Evan bringing out the classic shades and smartly dressed in suits and waistcoats. They must have been boiling under the lights.
Mid-way through their set they played my favourite track from the album, ‘Great Expectations‘ with the revival of guitar rock and blues is upbeat and groovy. One disappointment was they didn’t have anyone to play the sax solo instead they played a striking guitar solo.
It was just a shame that the crowd was a bit shit. You could tell from the reactions from the band when they did a huge pause, frozen to the spot to try and get a reaction from the crowd which didn’t go to plan with a very lame effort from the crowd which killed their vibe a little. Still, in The Strypes fashion, they put on a great display of energy and skill with bassist Peter jumping around like a lunatic and performing a few rock ‘n’ roll splits in the air was amazing to witness. Another band ticked off my bucket list!
