LIVE FROM THE PIT: Joyce Manor, Hitmen and Fortitude Valley
Since the release of their 7th album ‘I Used To Go To This Bar’ it’s safe to say JOYCE MANOR have received an explosion in popularity, we have been fortunate to be at some of their tours over the last few years and the venues that the band have began to sell out has tripled in the past 4 years. Their show at Manchester Academy was no different, from The Brudenell in Leeds in 2023, the past few years has boasted two Outbreak performances and The Common Thread tour all of which have drawn massive crowds for them and increased their popularity on our shows tenfold. Draw all of these shows together, a cosign from MARK HOPPUS of BLINK 182, and a performance on Comedian JOHN MULANEY’s Netflix series ‘Everybody In La’ and it’s easy to see how the exposure has bolstered their popularity.
The evening began with the indie-rock stylings of FORTITUDE VALLEY, their performance sets the night off to an upbeat start with their summery songs and danceable riffs. Their song ‘SUNSHINE STATE’ does exactly what it says on the tin, and brings sunshine of its own to the whole venue. The next support act HITMEN is a dash on the other side of musical adjacence to JOYCE MANOR, fuzzy riffs and vocals give HITMEN a garage rock sound, while still hooking onto the same kind of catchy hooks and stylized riffage that made FORTITUDE VALLEY so apt as a support act. HITMEN’s on record music sounds so alike their live performance, it brings a certain image of confined, sweaty rooms with masses of people, all in league for the party.
As the wait between bands for our headliner begins, the room fills up even more so than it already was. Latecomers and smoke area dwellers begin to fill the room and it becomes even more evident just how big JOYCE MANOR has become since those Brudenell shows past. It’s an overwhelming exodus when you consider that they have played Brudenell and the smaller Academy rooms in Manchester 3 times a piece over the past decade. Another great example of lighting striking and propelling a band into the stratosphere. Even more interesting when you consider that their output is as incredible as it always has been. It just took the right ears to hear.
The lights begin to dim as the amazing Goosebumps TV theme song plays over the speakers, causing giggles and nudges between onlookers. The band takes the stage and dives straight into BEACH COMMUNITY, the room is immediately full on crooning and arms aloft. The excitement in the room is palpable as JOYCE MANOR take us through some of their best known tracks, from BEACH COMMUNITY to FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN to I KNOW WHERE MARK CHEN LIVES all the way into HEART TATTOO. They certainly know how to start strong, giving us four of their best known, well loved songs in the first 10 minutes of their performance.
Now that the pit has opened up and the crowd has begun to sweat the band bring things down to some of their slower, singalong tracks. Starting with the amazing, EIGHTEEN from the album CODY, into GREY GUITAR from their newest effort and then back to CODY with LAST YOU HEARD OF ME. The audience are now putty in their hands, the show has reached its pinnacle as drinks have toppled, the pit is bigger than some of the venues JOYCE MANOR used to play over here and the real party is in full swing.
They dive into some deep cuts before jumping into their biggest hits to close out CONSTANT HEADACHE is sung so loud by the audience that they drown out vocalist BARRY JOHNSON, and that volume doesn’t disappear as they dive into LEATHER JACKET another amazing song for a mass singalong from their first record OF ALL THINGS I WILL SOON GROW TIRED.
To close us out pre-encore they dive into one of their most upbeat songs CATALINA FIGHT SONG which musters out some of the final amounts of effort this crowd can muster as the room truly loses all of the fresh air.
In the encore the band returns and plays 4 more deep cuts that a lot of us haven’t heard in years with 21ST DEAD RATS and FIVE BEER PLAN being especially well received. As the band closes out and people search the room for lost shoes, phones and wallets during the dancing, the lights come up and a sea of exhausted, sweaty, smiling faces washes over the eyes of anyone with strength to look. This isn’t going to be the last time JOYCE MANOR has the audience asking WELL, DON’T IT SEEM LIKE YOU’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE?’ Words: Spencer Cunningham Photos: Jack Walsh
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