bombay bicycle club. live.

who: bombay bicycle club

when: 7 october 2011

where: o2 apollo, manchester, uk

main support act: dry the river

extra support act: dog is dead

after booking tons of gig tickets during the last few weeks, concert number one was finally here last night – bombay bicycle club supported by dry the river and dog is dead.

thank god we had seats up in the circle because the queue was massive when we got to the apollo. although of course we would´ve queued a lot earlier if we bought standing tickets. the doors finally opened around 7 pm and ironically most people went straight to the bar. i guess british audiences are just a little different to the german ones.

the circle was still fairly empty when the guys from dog is dead came on stage around 7.30 pm. haven´t really checked them out prior to the gig, except for downloading their ep “confessions” which was ok but nothing that would totally blow my mind after the first listen. 

as expected though, it was rather different seeing them live. they were actually pretty good with a similar sound to bombay bicycle club. their stage time was only 30 minutes but they´ve managed to squeeze in 7 songs (don´t blame me if i counted wrong). especially their new single “hands down”, which will be released on halloween, and “younger” caught my attention. great tunes that are even better live. i hope they made the most out of their last night on tour with bombay bicycle club. the audience sure had fun, so hopefully they did too.

 dog is dead

up next were dry the river. i have to admit that i only got a ticket for the gig because i wanted to see them again. they were one of the best acts at the haldern pop festival in germany this year and after having to miss their gigs in manchester and london in september, i thought i might as well grab the chance to see them again now, even if it´s just a support slot for them. but of course it was more than worth it.

they also just had a 30 minute support slot but that actually just made their performance even more special for me and my friend. i was hoping to hear “shaker hymns” but obviously a 30 minute set doesn´t give you the chance to play too much.

their short set included (in order) “no rest”, “shield your eyes”, “new ceremony”, “bible belt” and “lion´s den”. 

 dry the river

besides the obviously amazing voice of lead singer peter, will´s wonderful violin sounds and jon´s awesome drum skills give their music this special something, that can´t be found anywhere else right now.  it´s pretty much the right mix of rock, indie and classic. “lion´s den” was simply the perfect song to end their set with because it just shows what they´re capable of from the first to the last second.

i was lucky enough to talk to them again after the gig and i can assure you, they´re pretty nice lads as well. their debut album is due in february but they´re going to release an ep in november, so keep your eyes peeled to their website for more info. if you wish to make up your own mind, try to catch them supporting the antlers in europe in november and maybe i´ll see you in st. gallen. 

  dry the river

as previously mentioned, i only bought a ticket for the gig because i wanted to see dry the river. but of course i did my best to educate myself and become at least a little familiar with bombay bicycle club´s sound.  after having a quick listen through their first two albums, i actually was really looking forward to seeing them live. and they certainly delivered a brilliant set.

apart from the amazing stage and the perfect lightning (which is definitely not a given at gigs and was crap during the support acts), the sound was pretty decent, so the audience was able to enjoy one of the best gigs i´ve been to so far. 

at one point i actually thought they were covering stornoway which would´ve been more than weird. for some reason this one song (and please excuse me for not knowing the title of the song) sounded strangely familiar but of course it was not stornoway after all. lucy rose gave the bbc sound a more or less nice female twist, although i think it wouldn´t have made much difference if she wouldn´t have been there.

 bombay bicycle club

besides the fact that they really got the crowd dancing, it was simply amazing to see everyone around me having such a great time. the people down in the stalls sure knew how to party and so did the people in the upper circle. only the people in the lower circle seemed to be a little reserved (and i still haven´t figured out why). they were even sitting during the encore.

my personal highlight was certainly the “the giantess” which was performed by bombay bicycle club and pete and scott of dry the river. sadly you couldn´t really make out their voices but it was great to see them all together on stage anyway. here is a rather crappy recording of the song from last night.

an ace venue, great support acts, a fabulous main act and tons of people who were willing to totally lose themselves in the music, sure made this gig a fabulous night out.

so what have we learned on friday night? all three acts are great live bands and highly recommended. 

 bombay bicycle club with lucy rose

**more gig reviews coming up in october: ben howard (ruby lounge, manchester), ahab (band on the wall, manchester), ash (hmv ritz, manchester) and other lives (deaf institute, manchester)**