The Devil Wears Prada stop off at Club Academy in Manchester for one of the last shows on their sixteen stop Europe and UK tour. Bringing SENNA, Ocean Grove and Kingdom of Giants along for the ride, It’s a real cultural melting pot of bands, with artists coming from Germany, Australia, and the United States.
SENNA get us started nice and early, beginning their set with ‘Lavender’, off their first EP ‘A Moment Of Quiet’. ‘High Note’ is another incredible live track, bringing a bit more of a heavy grunge vibe to the basement venue. Despite being the first bang to play on a pretty full bill, SENNA bring total headliner energy to the stage, and it’s a real treat for the people who chose to show up early for these guys.
The second band on the bill tonight is Melbourne based nu metal group Ocean Grove. Having released their fifth studio album, ‘ODDWORLD’, in November of last year, the majority of the setlist is their new material. Bassist Twiggy Hunter takes the microphone to perform ‘RAINDROP’, one of their standout new tracks. Despite their short setlist, we’re still treated to a few Ocean Grove classics, including ‘Stratosphere Love’ off their second album, and ‘Junkie$’, an OG all timer. The band are long due some UK headline shows, and we can only hope they’ll be back over the pond soon enough.
Kingdom of Giants are up next. Hailing from Northern Carolina, this post-hardcore six piece aren’t playing around. Recently releasing their latest EP, ‘Bleeding Star’, we’re treated to a setlist mostly of new hits. ‘Wasted Space’ is a clear standout track, and it’s clear how much the band’s sound has changed and evolved over the years after hearing them play some of their older tracks. The future of metalcore is looking bright.
It’s time for the main event, and the room is packed at this point. The Devil Wears Prada jump right in with ‘Mammoth’, slamming the crowd with a fat hit of nostalgia. We’re already off to an amazing start. It’s really worth noting how gorgeous their harmonies sound in this venue, it’s a testament to how well seasoned they are as a band, but also to their incredible live sound tech. They follow Mammoth with ‘Watchtower’, taking us from 2011 all the way to 2022. Like with the previous band, their evolution as a band is so apparent when hearing these old and newer songs together.
They have to restart ‘Noise’ three times, frontman Jeremy DePoyster saying “One of these six people fucked up the song!”, before eventually admitting it was him forgetting the lyrics, much to the amusement of the audience. The band finish up with ‘Sacrifice’ and ‘Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?’. The pits have already been pretty brutal up to this point, but Jeremy shouts out “Manchester, I wanna see someone fucking die!”, and I’m sure you can imagine the energy in the room got turned up way past eleven for these last couple songs.
The Devil Wears Prada haven’t had a headline tour in the UK in over twelve years, and its amazing to see their Manchester show fully sold out, and it looks like the band are more than welcome back over here soon.
Words: Izzy Scott
Photos: Kieran Atkinson
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