A chilly night on the edge of Salford Quays wasn’t enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the mass of people queuing to get the ideal spot to watch Royston Club for their biggest gig in Manchester to date.
The O2 Warehouse quickly filled up, with over a 1000 making it inside for the opening act, Permanent Joy, and a near full house for the main support slot, Overpass. It’s fair to say the now near capacity venue was well and truly ready for Royston Club. The light dimmed, the fever intensified, and so started the chants of Royston, Royston, Royston. Phones in the air, ready, and the first chords of Shimmer hit, resulting in plastic pint pots being hurled in the sky as confetti, and mass hysteria ensued.
The Royston Club were a finely tuned machine, showing that their years of gigging, writing and recording have not gone to waste. Not shy of playing lesser-known album tracks, new and old. The crowd hung on every word. And completely blew up when the soon-to-be classics rolled out. Shivers, Patch Where Nothing Grows, 52 and Mrs Narcissistic were received with gusto. The sold-out crowd was hurling every word back to the Royston Club.
If that wasn’t enough, after further chants of Royston, Royston, Royston; Royston Club came back to deliver an encore of all encores, Mariana, and I’m A Liar, ending with the exceptional song, Cariad.
It goes without saying that Royston Club know exactly what they are doing, hard work pays off, it isn’t a fluke. This sell-out tour showcases their greatest hits and showcases tracks from their latest album.
I wondered why the album was called Songs For The Spine, but on hearing the songs live with 3500 people singing along, I now get it.
