Ritzy coming home to play the Ritz, the scene was set for a raucous evening.
The Ritzy in question is Ritzy Bryan, pixie-like front-woman of Welsh three-piece The Joy Formidable.
The band have their roots in Manchester after childhood friends Ritzy and bassist Rhydian Dafydd first started playing together in Manchester band Sidecar Kisses.
That didn’t end too well and they returned to their North Wales hometown of Mold to form The Joy Formidable.
Eight-track EP A Balloon Called Moaning set the scene for 2011’s debut album The Big Roar, and now they’re back with their second extended effort Wolf’s Law.
Taking to the stage accompanied by a howling wolf and illuminated wolf’s head backdrop, this was going to be no run-of-the-mill show.
Cholla, Wolf’s Law’s debut single, got the night started with its heavy riff and pounding drums that would be a feature of the set.
The Joy Formidable last played Manchester as support for Muse on their November arena tour.
Then they managed to fill a half-empty Manchester Arena with their wall of noise, so they had no problem commanding the attention of those at the rather more intimate Ritz.
Live favourite Austere was followed by the full-on This Ladder Is Ours before the band brought things down a little with The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade.
And the toe-tapping bass introduction to Little Blimp did little to prepare for the sonic assault that followed, as the bouncy Ritz floor burst into life.
Not afraid to pluck songs from their past, While The Flies appeared on their debut EP and brought a rousing cheer from the adoring crowd.
That was nothing compared to the reaction to Cradle though, one of the band’s first songs and still one of their best.
Ritzy’s punchy lyrics were accentuated by Matt Thomas’ precision drum work and the closing line “my vicious tongue cradles just one” has never sounded so threatening.
The front-woman can’t stay aggressive for long though, her effortless charm and command of the stage in evidence as she regaled the crowd with stories from her past.
Her grandmother ‘Granny Fieldhouse’ had just moved to a care home earlier that day, having spent her entire life in Wythenshawe and her early years ballroom dancing on that very same Ritz dance-floor.
Playing on the sympathetic crowd, the band turned the volume down with the enchanting Silent Treatment.
A highlight of the gig, it beggared belief that some of the audience chose to have a chat over Rhydian’s acoustic guitar and Ritzy’s lilting vocals.
The main set was brought to a close by the power trio of Maw Maw Song, I Don’t Want To See You Like This and The Ever Changing Spectrum Of A Lie.
Having taken a well-earned breather, both crowd and band were energised to finish the show in style as the encore opened with Forest Serenade.
Parting tracks Wolf’s Law and Whirring were worth the price of admission on their own.
The former building from its humble piano-led opening to a spine-tingling crescendo evoking images of the snow-covered Maine landscape in which it was recorded.
And the latter a seven-minute epic that finished with Ritzy in the crowd and Thomas standing atop his drum kit lapping up the audience’s roar.
The Joy Formidable may hail from Wales, but Manchester appears more than happy to lay claim to their spiritual home.
Picture courtesy of Man Alive!, via Flickr, with thanks.
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