ED OPINION: Two bands, one venue

Manchester’s Gorilla venue has played host to some spectacular gigs thus far this year; it hosted the fantastic Regrettes, Gothboiclique affiliate Bexey and the chewed-up pop of Peach Pit during Dot To Dot festival; the country songstress Lindi Ortega last night and even pop superstar Kylie Minogue back in March.

The venue itself is one of the best in Manchester, with a great viewing platform upstairs, easily accessible bars and toilets and good stage views from pretty much all around the venue. So how can two bands that - on paper, are fairly similar to each other - put on two such contrasting shows here?

Wavves played Gorilla last Wednesday, whilst The Blinders visited two days after, Friday the 15th.

Two bands that sit on the heavier end of indie-rock, one show spectacular, one spectacularly bad.

Wavves turned up late. The Blinders immediately followed support poet Patrick T Davies onto the stage, after he performed a suitably political and rabble rousing (not to mention shouty) set of spoken word to rival punk-poet master Cooper Clarke.

One show was slick, aggressive but pin pointed. The other was bland and passive, inoffensive in all the places it should have made a mark. The lighting was the same, the sound was the same. It doesn’t come down to the songs, either – Wavves have a much larger, more varied and arguably better discography than The Blinders meagre handful of EP and loosie tracks.

Neither band can play their instruments more impressively than the other. It comes down to professionalism, still at the beginning of their career, The Blinders played a set that was designed precisely to make even non-fans sit up and take notice. Wavves played to a crowd that had followed them for years, fairly content in the 600 cap venue.

And there’s nothing wrong with content. Yet when the shows from younger, hungrier bands are that much stronger, you wonder how long fans will continue to stick around for middling shows.

#theblinders #wavves #indie #opep #gorilla