Sports Team’s rhythms and lyrics lend themselves to being heard live in a sweaty basement room with beer flying and crowd surfing. And that is exactly what happened last night (14 November).
It has been two years since their last UK tour. But the six-person alt-rock band were back with a bang last night at Manchester’s Club Academy.
This tour comes after the band ended a two-year hiatus this summer with the release of their new single I’m In Love (Subaru) and a second single, Condensation, in September.
The band swaggered onto stage wearing sunglasses and towels on their heads, to the fitting sound of Thin Lizzy’s The Boys Are Back In Town – and boy were they back.
They kicked straight off with high-energy song The Game, from their second album Gulp, pausing after to ask the crowd ‘when was the last time you saw us?’
After asking crowd members a few questions and giving us journalists a run for our money, frontman Alex Rice gestured to part the crowd in a Moses-like fashion, ready for a mosh pit to Camel Crew, a classic from their first album, Deep Down Happy.
And mosh they did.
The set ended with a performance of Maybe When We’re 30, the unreleased final song from their upcoming album Boys These Days. A reflective and mellow piece about growing up was the perfect full stop at the end of a set celebrating both their old and new songs.
After mass chants of ‘one more song’, the band returned to the stage for a rendition of their biggest hit, Here’s The Thing- and the crowd went wild.
Rice’s engagement with the audience made the gig even more magical. He jumped into the crowd, sang among them, and crowd surfed his way back on stage.
Their performance wasn’t shy of witty comments either, with Rice cheekily asking the audience why they paid money to see his band, rather than other popular alt-rock bands Fontaines D.C. or Idles.
But for all its chaos, beer throwing and crowd surfing, the set did also offer moments of calmness and tranquility, with the crowd waving their lighters in the air.
The set list was truly well-crafted, with a welcome mix of older fan favourites like M5, Fishing and Kutcher, interspersed with newly released singles Subaru and Condensation.
The band’s expert pacing, with the perfect blend of mosh-pit inducing beats and more mellow songs, allowed them to hold the attention of the crowd for the entire gig, sending them on a journey through their discography.
The knowing smiles on the band members’ faces added to a feeling that this was a very special gig for them, just as it was for the crowd.
Featured image: Sports Team at Manchester Academy by Serena Murphy
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