Monday evening as the rain continued to pour over the city, the warm glow of New Century Hall was more than welcoming. Tonight was the turn of collective Dirty Three, currently midway thought a UK tour and tonight it was Manchester’s turn to witness their greatness.
The three piece made up of Bad Seeds and Grinderman multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis, former Sick Things guitarist Mick Turner, and on drums, Jim White who only recently played Gulliver’s with The Hard Quartet. Together they have an epic musical history, and combined we knew we were in for something memorable.
From the get go Ellis’s stage presence was electric. Coming on stage, or should I say dancing onto the stage to a delighted audience, The band were in. no hurry to start, allowing the intro music to play in it’s entirety which allow them to settle in, and gave Ellis the chance to complete his full dance routine.
Having only seen Ellis on stage with Cave, it was a real treat to see him take centre stage. Ellis is witty, making intelligent observations about his surroundings, and ensuring that he made sure the audience knew he loved our city. Dedications were made to Mani, which emitted a round of applause from the crowd. At one point Ellis gave a shout out to The Fall, asking if Steve Hanley was in attendance and proclaiming him to be the best bassist in the world.
The music was sublime, chaotic, a frenzy of all three musicians, making it feel like you had invaded their private rehearsal room, it did not feel like we were amongst eight hundred people.
Highlights from the beautifully paced set, which was intertwined with Ellis’s exceptional anecdotes, was the track ‘Ocean Songs’ and the gorgeous ‘Sea Above, Sky Below’. The audience were completely mesmerised by the sheer musicianship on stage, these three have the most magnificent chemistry and it was a total privilege to see the set unfold as the generous two hour plus set played out.
FOR MORE INFO ON DIRTY THREE HEAD HERE – FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM
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