Manchester Orchestra - Camden Barfly
The ability to play a show consisting of entirely new material and still come out with flying colours really tells you everything you need to know.
This has been a highly anticipated return for Manchester Orchestra. After a truly great debut album and some unforgettable live outings in ’08, all eyes are on the Atlanta five piece’s recent return to the stage.
This Barfly show is a part of a flying visit to the humble shores of the UK in between another extensive US tour. Predictably the set is dominated by new album material. So dominated in fact that not a single song from ‘I’m Like A Virgin...’ is played tonight.
Things start with ‘The Only One’ which will also start the new record and it’s a worthy introduction to any show or album. Lively, insistent and straight to the point, it’s got single written all over it. As have a number of other songs that will grace this album. ‘Shake It Out’ is similar, also basing itself around a rocking riff and a loud chorus whereas ‘I’ve Got Friends’ slows the pace without losing the likable flow that Manchester bring to all their songs. The later is reminiscent of an awe inspiring Jimmy Eat World.
Of course the anticipation for the next song is somewhat unbearable tonight especially early on but the ache is duly numbed as time progresses. Instead you find yourself being lulled into familiar sounds that turn into new songs that do everything but disappoint. With each break a respectful hush follows applause around the intimate Barfly which allows Manchester to continue with confidence.
It’s an atmosphere that this band can create both on record and live and it’s an atmosphere where they simultaneously come into there own. ‘100 Dollars’ shows off the bands ability to create the quiet/loud structure in a short one verse explosion. It’s a song writing skill that they can also build into longer, more absorbing tracks. ‘I Can Feel A Hot One’ looks set to be a melancholic masterpiece, while ‘My Friend Marcus’ holds similar epic qualities but with the volume turned up. It seems the band aren’t afraid to try some heavier sounds on the newer material, with ‘In My Teeth’ and ‘Pride’ standing out particularly, echoing the distorted beauty on Nirvana’s In Utero.
For all the excitement created within this near future preview however it is also a short lived experience tonight. When the band leave the stage in rushed and rather premature circumstances and the venue speakers start to play it's hard not to feel a tad short changed but no less overcome by what is in essence a superb band that play great songs. They play and write like men ten years their senior and it’s this maturity that Manchester behold that really sets them a part from anything else at the moment. The ability to play a show consisting of entirely new material and still come out with flying colours really tells you everything you need to know. Sam Tolley
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