The K’s, Manchester Academy 2, 22nd October 2021

The K’s play bouncy indie pop with singalong choruses. The singing from the crowd starts immediately, first chorus, bang! As a band surely you can’t ask for more and they lap it up. The ginger lad on lead is great with a fondness for standing on the monitors and letting his guitar squeal. They’re all fresh faced clean cut lads, which also describes half the audience throwing limbs around and bouncing enough to make the floor shake and we’re not on the ground floor. The debut album is coming and I suspect all these kids will buy a copy, if kids still buy records. I don’t really know this band well, having only seen them once before, but this is where good live music excels. Even without knowing the songs that well you can get swept up in the collective euphoria. The guitar solos come from the Noel Gallagher school, but there’s a shit ton of energy coming off them as songs extend and things get chaotic. Shout out to the drummer, who really does hold everything together brilliantly. A point comes off for a mini Roses bass tribute, but the crowd predictably love it. Devotion is high. One lad even smuggles in a flare to set off on his mates shoulders. Daft bastard. This is clearly a big show for them, but it’s nuts that they're pulling this sort of noise without a record yet. Fist throwing indie rock is alive and well.