Working Mens Club, The White Hotel, 11th September 2021

Have I said how pleased I am that gigs are back? This is now my 4th in the last three days! The White Hotel also do late shows, so I’m back again not long after Lebanon Hanover have finished, now in the early hours of Saturday morning to witness Working Mens Club take the stage once more after a triumphant slot supporting New Order in Heaton Park (don’t know, wasn’t there, but heard good things). It’s a very different looking crowd I’ll say that right off the bat. Judging by the amount of cagoules tied round waists, I’m guessing a few have come from the park. It’s a lot different from earlier, it’s a lot busier, a bit more colour and the volume has found an extra couple of notches. It’s also hotter than hell! This place suits WMC perfectly. They’ve morphed into a world class club band. It’s a set full of dance-floor fillers charged with guitars and Liam’s brutal bass. Sydney is still surly and snarly, but the crowd of faithful fans, New Order converts and coked up kids that don’t know where they are give him the energy his performance clearly craves. It feels a bit like the arse end of the Hacienda. Still brilliant, but with a sense of possible danger. The sound is impeccable, I mean absolutely flawless. It almost doesn’t sound live. With stuff as low end heavy as this, the mix can get muddy but whoever’s running the board has got it spotless. John Cooper Clark and Teeth sound bigger and bigger every time I hear them live and the latter whips the sold out crowd into a frenzy as the strobes kick in and Sydney stalks the lip of the stage, sweat dripping, blurring the lines between band and audience. We only get the usual 40 minute, but it’s magnificent and as the clock strikes 2am I’m thankful to go grab some mouthfuls of air. A few nights in now I think.