Live Review: Boston Manor – December Weekends 2022 – O2 Academy Leicester

Often bands find themselves missing the same cities on every tour, so when Boston Manor announced a string of dates in places they haven’t played in a while, I’m sure residents of these often forgotten towns were overjoyed. On Top of that they would be treated to a full playthrough of the band’s latest album Datura! We headed down to the opening night of the tour in Leicester and here’s what went down!

Opening the show was an exciting local band called Next Year who offered up a fast paced, groovy track to get the muscles warm for the rest of the event. The band seemed to win over the crowd with a mixture of the music they were laying down as well as their witty and whimsical stage presence. Cracking jokes between songs and encouraging fans to get moving at their earliest convenience is exactly what any band could hope for from their opener and thankfully the crowd really got into them as the set went on.

Following them was Heriot who appeared to be everywhere as of late! Their unique and eccentric style took the majority of the crowd by surprise as inhale screaming and a much more raw tone was probably not what most had in mind for this kind of show. Regardless, as the set moved on, the more fans opened up to the idea of a more blackened sound. Part of Heriot’s appeal has to be the sheer energy they produce and tonight was no different. You could visibly see the band putting their all into each and every track and the result was a room full of energy and excitement for what lay ahead of them.

Just before Boston Manor would take to the stage, they would invite a representative of Women’s Aid Leicester to talk about their cause – which the band had kindly encouraged fans to donate what they could. This was a heartwarming gesture and each and every fan in attendance seemed moved by the words of the representative.

The lights would go out one final time and Boston Manor would take to the stage. Opening with `Datura (Dusk)’ before transitioning seamlessly into ‘Floodlights On The Square’ marked both of these songs live debuts, and to say they went down well would be an understatement! ‘Foxglove’ would start getting the crowd closer to boiling point, before ‘Passenger’ completely shattered the floodgates. As expected ‘Crocus’ brought a certain kind of swagger to the evening, before the soothing sound of ‘Shelter From The Rain’ set the tone for an emotional performance of ‘Inertia’ to close out the Album portion of the set.

What followed from this point was an extremely varied set spanning the band’s discography. ‘Flowers In Your Dustbin’ was met with a roar of approval while ‘England’s Dreaming’ revitalized the mosh pit crew and singers alike. For those of you after a bit more chaos, ‘Stop Trying, Be Nothing’ would accommodate you as the majority of the venue broke out into a pit which was only amplified by the angsty beats of ‘Lead Feet’. Not wanting to let up at all, ‘Bad Machine’ added Kerosene to the inferno allowing the crowd to give maximum energy during both ‘You, Me & The Class War’ and ‘Carbon Mono’. Drawing the set to a close was an emphatic performance of ‘Laika’ followed by ‘Halo’ featuring the choir of Boston Manor’s Leicester faithful.

Seeing a band like Boston Manor in an environment like this is probably something that won’t happen very often and the band did an amazing job of making the night feel like one for the history books. The album playthrough was near perfection and their choice in set after had something for both old and new fans of the group. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for these guys!