Ventured over the Pennines for a 2nd helping of VLURE this week with them having successfully ripped the roof off at Oporto in Leeds last Monday night so it was a no brainer to see them again in the Norths capital, Manchester.
VLURE are one of several bands out or about to be out supporting The Music Venue Trust and The National Lottery’s campaign to help grassroots venues survive, some bands are bigger names, others those about to become big names and VLURE is one such band. Hailing from Glasgow where they have quite a decent following it’s plenty time for folks further south to be blown away by them.
Sugarstone
Wasn’t convinced at the start, some dodgy vocals going on but as they continued confidence grew both with the audience and band, bit of a New Romantic vibe kicking in especially when a decent cover of Duran Duran’s “All She Wants Is” gets covered but with a more harder punkish effort which changes the sets direction and folk start getting on board with the band. I’m not convinced they quite know which direction to go but I’d suggest listen to your audience, you absolutely had them on your side by the end.
Crimewave
If you’ve ever wondered what a collaboration between Tim Burgess and Aphex Twin would sound like then I’ll give you Crimewave. Not quite sure the world is quite ready for that and it would seem the Night & Day crowd feel the same strangeness. There’s something there that’s possibly intriguing and could work but in its current state requires considerable reinvention.
VLURE
Now no stranger to this band and I feel one of the most exciting on the grassroots circuit currently. Looking around it appears I’m not alone feeling this, there’s several familiar Manchester faces in here tonight who knew their music which is impressive but at the same time the overall lack of people here tonight is depressing, this is one of the best bands out of Glasgow since the 80’s but it seems other than those in the know, clearly Manchester hasn’t caught on yet and that’s a massive shame.
Now the amount tonight is better than the dozen of us that watch them at the Headrow House in Leeds 18 months ago and again tonight might be slightly higher than the audience at Oporto Leeds due to venue limits but I had hoped that even tho it was a Sunday, Manchester could have done better.
Not that it mattered to VLURE anyway, once again Hamish, Conor and everyone else gave everything and everyone in the venue responded. There’s an understanding that sometimes bands and audiences just connect together and what happens is magical and tonight it’s going to be one of those nights
From the opener Heartbeat the connection is electric and moving into Show Me How To Live it’s clear that everyone here tonight is here for the moment and going for it. V-Fucking-LURE aren’t taking prisoners tonight and recent singles This Fantasy and then Cut It gives us all their post punk dance action which in turn drives the crowd like very few established bands can nevermind this new one from Glasgow that so many are still currently unaware of!
I won’t Run comes next that is hard to tell for is slowness on its recorded version as live, there’s no relenting they’re here to hit the crowd hard and this is followed by possibly the greatest cover of a Faithless track, God Is A DJ, not only do they pull it apart but by reconstructing they make it better and the audience is lost in the moment.
Unusually for Hamish and Conor it takes…
This Is Not The End to get them into the crowd and it’s at this point the love and respect between band and crowd becomes so clear and it’s a magical moment where Hamish is holding Conor as they return to the edge of the stage before it’s all over..
Or is it, there’s one track remaining and it’s Euphoria, the 1st song they completed together but tonight the good folk of Manchester are a part of it and in fantastic voice. It might be only be a 45 min set but in that time they delivered so much more than more established bands struggle to deliver in twice that time!
So Sunday night was a high and a disappointment, N&D could have been busier but VLURE still gave 100%, the passion in what they believe in and the power they have to deliver it. Sometimes I wonder about the good folks of Manchester, I know you like great music and how to party but still you hold on to Oasis, Stone Roses etc and their members – join us and move on, there’s some incredible music coming through, spend a tenner and see the whites of their eyes rather than £50-100 to hear the same ole stuff from 20/30 or even more years ago in a soul-less shithole, try it – it’ll make you feel young again!!!
Please, just do it, you’ll not regret it – honestly!
For more information on VLURE click HERE.
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