Support: Jools, Movements
Date: 15/02/22
It’s been some months since Slam Dunk Festival, the last time I was able to watch Boston Manor take to the stage and since then, they’ve dropped their latest effort, the EP ‘Desperate Times, Desperate Pleasures’ which has some absolutely insane tracks on there and ended up being some people’s favourites of the year. We caught the show with amazing supports from up and comers Jools, the utterly fantastic Movements and the headliners themselves, Boston Manor.
First up were UK based Jools. It was hard to pin them into a corner, genre wise. That’s what I love about some bands, you never know who’ll just intrigue you or make them obsessed on a first time listen and I have to say they’re quite mesmerising. With only a handful of single release under their belts, they’re certainly making strides to be on this tour but it also meant they have a lot to prove. With some great clear vocals and crashing melodies, they’re a band whom I expect to blow up in a massive way on the touring and festival circuits soon. With their tracks being such genre bending curiosities full of political and social issues, it’s no wonder they’re becoming more relevant as well as a band that the audience warmed to over the course of their set.
Movements were just so special to watch. I’d been listening to them for a while now nand certainly wasn’t disappointed by the Post-Hardcore outfit. With their older material off ‘Feel Something’, it was a very energetic and atmospheric set at the same time, which is something that seems impossible for most, but childs play for this band. It was a strange combination I have to point out but they were clearly winning over everyone tonight as the room filled to near capacity where it was an emotional rollercoaster by the time they were finished. Frontman Patrick Miranda got the crowd going again and again, egging them on to become a little more involved than they’d like which kept everyone roused and summoning the energy to have some pits open up. The bar was set by them and needed the headliners to smash through it entirely.
Now Boston Manor were as mental as you might expect from the videos and images you may have seen from some social media. With their set just beaming with massive energy and even bigger mosh pits, not to mention more crowd surfers than this place is usually used to. Being in Yorkshire and them being a Lancashire band did stir a little bit of controversy but they’ve been playing over in Leeds for so long I think the crowd just decided we’ll claim them as our own.
What filled the night was just utter and total carnage, with track such as ‘England’s Dreaming’, ‘You Me & The Class War’ just opening all the wounds in the aggression for the pits to open up in a way we’ve not experienced in a while, with every track gaining more traction on par with every studio version with the scorching melodies of the crowd joining in to keep the unrelenting energy going.
As things start to climax, one of their more recent tracks in ‘Carbon Mono’ hits in a way the others just don’t. The pounding electricity drives the audience into a frenzy before they even take their leave and now we just want more from them. Now that the tour is complete it’s just a matter of imagining what will come next from this band.
Rating: 8/10
Almost Anything Music 