After releasing a promising debut album ‘Forever Whatever’ at the end of January and hearing many a recommendation I was excited to see if October Drift would live up to the hype last Monday night at Yes in Manchester, let’s just say they did not disappoint.
The fuzzy smoke machine clouded air was matched with a wave of guitars from Bards the first support act of the night. Bards ran the gamut of musical genres from soft melodic shoegaze to heavy rock complete with crunching bass lines, raw vocals and angry crescendo’s. The tone of the performance was held together by clear keys that rang throughout the set. For a cold Monday night in February, I was surprised to find the venue half full by the time the band finished their set which is always a bonus for support acts who all too often play to near-empty venues.
Up next was New Luna a dream-pop four-piece reminiscent of Blossoms and The Strokes, who had a few interesting tunes but for me didn’t particularly do enough to stand out above the rest of the Manchester Indie scene. I would be interested to see if they develop into a more unique style with a little more experience.
As October Drift took to the stage the crowd surged forward and the first three rows remained there throughout crammed in as close as they could get singing, clapping and bouncing along to every track. This was matched by an energetic dynamic performance from October Drift despite the brooding dark tone of the songs.
Their anthemic rock inspired by Interpol, Editors and Bloc Party would not be out of place on some of this summer’s larger festival stages and they performed at YES at Monday with an intensity as though they were already there performing to a crowd of thousands, not the hundred or so that were packed into YES.
October Drift – https://www.octoberdrift.com/
Bards – https://www.facebook.com/BardsBandUK/
New Luna – https://www.facebook.com/newlunaband/
Organised by Scruff Of The Neck – https://www.scruffoftheneck.com/
