poppedmusic

The Amazons

Jimmy’s Manchester, 9th February 2019

Words: Daniel Burton
Photos: Fiona Carroll

The Amazons

Arriving at the venue well in time for the support act, I was expecting a standard local band to be opening, but to my surprise it was The Mysterines! As soon as I found this out, my anticipation of the night increased 10-fold.

Wearing all black, but rocking a silver tiara to just take the edge off of the full goth look, singer Lia, commanded the stage and lead a performance that absolutely kicked Jimmy’s ass.

Playing a bunch of unreleased tracks, The Mysterines showed that they have so much potential and are still at a very early stage in their career, despite being on the music scene for some years now, already supporting the likes of Miles Kane & recently featuring in a BBC Introducing Maide Vale live session.

As well as the new tracks, they played ‘Hormone’, leaving “youth isn’t my excuse” repeating in your head, and their latest release ‘Bet Your Pretty Face’, which, was met with huge support from the crowd. Finishing on another new track, ‘Gasoline’, The Mysterines absolutely fired up the crowd and teed it up perfectly for The Amazons to come on and knock it out of the park.

The Mysterines

After what already felt like a huge headline set from The Mysterines, it was time for the main event.

I’ve seen The Amazons on many an occasion, from small venues to big outdoor festival stages. Whilst it is evidentially clear they are made to be playing big outdoor stages, when they play the smaller venues it feels so much better, as the huge sound crashes out of the venue and the whole performance feels much more personable.

Entering the intimate venue Jimmy’s, there was a very similar vibe to their Brighton Patterns gig 2 years ago, except this time there was an added buzz in anticipation of the new, previously unheard music being played.

Kicking off the night with tremendous power was their latest track, ‘Mother’. Now this new tune from the Reading band is nothing short of brilliant. With a huge sounding beating drum beat build up and a soaring riff, as soon as this was released you just knew it was made for an opening song to their set. Even after being released for less than a week, they had the whole crowd in the palm of their hands singing along and bouncing around the room. And so, with ‘Mother’, The Amazons set Jimmy’s alive. 

After the first new tune, they treated Manchester to another new unreleased track ‘Fuzzy Tree’. This, along with ‘Mother’, has a much deeper rock sound than their first record, and sees a lot more classic rock riffs included which have added another element to the already developed Amazons sound heard on the self-titled first record. Playing ‘Little Something’, from said album, an intricately planned and executed Oasis classic ‘Helter Skelter’ interlude got the crowd even more involved with singing and moshing.

Once they had gotten the 5 new tunes they debuted out of the way, it was time for the big finish that Amazon fans have become accustom to. The penultimate song, ‘Black Magic’, another song from the debut record, once again saw the introduction of a deeper rock sound, which was met with another show of insane riffs form Chris. By now it is very clear that the second record, due to drop later this year, will see Chris channel his inner Hendrix on the guitar, Matt taking fashions hints from the Classic Rock Style Guide whilst Joe & Elliot continue to bring crashing drum sounds and groovy pulsating bass lines.

In what had felt like a lifetime of organised mayhem and banging rock music, it eventually came to the finale, ‘Junk Food Forever’, and boy it didn’t disappoint. For what has now become a staple indie banger, the crowd went absolutely mental. In such a cramped small venue, it seemed impossible for there to be a mosh pit, but Matt and the boys had the crowd fired up so much it somehow became reality.

Once the first chord had been played, Matt could’ve just stood and held the microphone to the crowd for the entire song and not had to sing a single word, and if it weren’t for the 11pm curfew, I think they would still be singing to this very moment. It is this reaction to a single song that epitomises the success the 4-piece has already had, and how important and influential they could be in the shaping the future of the industry as part of the next wave of huge indie rock bands.