This weekend with the Pride celebrations the city of Manchester was awash with all colours of the rainbow and for this regular gig goer it was quite surreal seeing so many other queer people out in Manchester.
It was also one of the hottest weekends of the year and so the weather and colours were just perfect for an evening of psychedelic rock n roll. I did have other plans for this evening which fell through last minute and so being a fan of the Ventrelles already for seven quid I decided to give the other bands a listen and as most last minute nights out it turned out to be a blinder!
With so much going on in town the crowd couldn't have been many more than twenty but that didn't deter any of tonights performers.
Chameleon Soul were up first and played a great set. They have no Spotify (that I can find) and so you'll have take my word for it. They describe themselves as a psychedelic ambient jazz band and on this hot summers evening they definitely lived up to this. I actually said to them when they came off of the stage that they were, "Far Out"! Looking back that comment is a bit cringeworthy but an apt summation of how they sounded. Their bass player especially was really funky, topped off with 60's inspired guitars and jazz fuzed drum licks and you had a great start to the evening.
Next up Ventrelles who as I've said have been on my radar and playlists for a while now. Live their music sounded even better. They remind me a little of a cross between Stone Roses and Lightning Seeds. Gorgeous guitars, sic beats and a bass line that Mani would be proud of, make this Manchester band a band that any fan of great music should go and see. I managed to take a few videos of this lads so you can see what I mean. Definitely worth going to see if you get the chance.
Next up were Fauna. I had no expectations as I'd not listened to these guys before, but they were bloody brilliant. Another great psychedelic singing band who also hail from Manchester who honestly blew me away. The singer said he had a sore throat so he was having to take Covonia during his set but I think his sore throat added a rather wonderful grizzly ness to his vocals. That combined with conscious expanding guitars, hip bass lines and a Charlie Watts/John Densmore infused drum beat and you have the makings of a really great band.
You can check them out in the video below, but they left this blogger with a smile on my face and I can't wait for them to actually start sharing their music.
Spotify:
As always all pictures and videos are my own.
Comments