The Wildhearts, Manchester Academy & The Slow Readers Club, Manchester Cathedral. 5th May 2018

I was completely overwhelmed by last nights gigs. Kicking off ridiculously early with The Wildhearts on stage at 18:30, the night started with a bang! Seriously, this band should’ve been huge! Playing for an hour (each band got an hour each on this revolving headline tour), they could easily have played for three hours straight and still smashed it. I Wanna Go, Suckerpunch, Caffeine Bomb, Nita Nitro, TV Tan, an absolutely outstanding version of Everlone, the punk rock power pop onslaught was immense. Ginger leading the line, once more flanked by Danny and CJ for the first time in years, this was so much more than a nostalgia act. This was The Wildhearts reunited and ready to tear the place up once more. Ginger is a Rock n Roll treasure, his performance alone is superb, effortlessly belting out riffs and dizzyingly fast vocals. Roll on July when they support Levellers at Castlefield Bowl.

So, about that revolving headline. We’d of course bought tickets for The Wildhearts, but also on the bill were Reef and Terrovision. I can’t say that either did anything for me back in the 90s. We managed 4 songs from Reef, including that “Put your hand on” one, before we could stand no more. Seriously, Wildhearts should be on last every night, no one can follow them. However it did give us chance to escape the Academy, hot foot it across town to The Cathedral and grab last minute tickets on the door to watch The Slow Readers Club!

Now I’ve gushed about this band a lot (and will be doing again in a few weeks), but bloody hell were they fantastic last night! Readers are made for gigs like this. The sound in the Cathedral is as epic as the Readers synth heavy, pounding rhythms demand. Add Aaron’s soaring vocals onto that, not to mention an adoring crowd and you’ve got a spine tingling combination. Drawing on songs from the new album released just yesterday, many songs sound like instant classics, especially Distant Memory that threatened to loosen the masonry in this spectacular building. Every song is greeted with a roar of approval, the Cathedrals rafters filled with drifting smoke, peppered with frenetic strobes, the whole atmosphere wrapping you in a dark euphoria. The Wildhearts should’ve been huge, The Slow Readers Club will be!!

Last night was made all the more special by the surprise of witnessing not one, but two incredible sets. No one does live music like Manchester.