The Man From Delmonte… probably the most un-Mancunian of bands the city has ever produced, took to the stage in front of a packed Manchester Ritz last night for their final reunion show of 2025.
Earlier this year, the band returned decades after calling it a day and carried on exactly where they left off. No polish, no backing tracks, no hype – just great songs, a ridiculously charismatic frontman, and an adoring audience. A reminder of a time when the city produced bands to be proud of.
From the night’s opening chords, it was clear this was going to be a special evening, a very special evening for a very special band. It may well have been Manchester Ritz, but the intimate, overtly relaxed nature of the show gave a sense of the band playing in someone’s front room. In a time when even the smallest gigs can seem impersonal and over-produced, it was refreshing to see the band meander on stage a few minutes early to tune up, at full volume… close your eyes for a minute and you may well have been back at The Boardwalk in 1988.
The old classics have the place in uproar, ‘Australia Fairs’ with its iconic line ‘I Wish I was born in Lancashire’ booms around the room, and then it’s straight into ‘Good Things in Life’. Mike West can barely contain both his delight and surprise at the enthusiasm and the volume of the crowd.
‘Will Nobody Save Louise’, ‘Take Me To The Country’, ‘Big Noise’, ‘Drive Drive Drive’, ‘Like A Millionaire’, ‘Water in My Eyes’, ‘Sun Serious’, ‘Bored By You’ are all there and sound as wonderful as they did thirty-five years ago. The new material complements the classics. As Mike introduces one of the latest tunes, ‘The International’ he talks about his days living in Gorton, walking to The International and being inspired by the bands he saw there.
A number of songs were noticeable by their absence, which tells you all you need to know about the band’s catalogue of material and as the band closed with an encore of ‘M.I.C.H.A.E.L.’ followed by the stupendously superb ‘Love Is Like A Gift You Can’t Return’ there was an overwhelming feeling of delight that the band had stayed true to their chaotic almost ramshackle nature.
Lets hope there’s much much more from The Man From Delmonte.
PHOTO CREDIT – HELS MILLINGTON
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