Photo: Theodore Swaddling

Live Review: Boston Manor Live In Blackpool

Last night, Boston Manor took to the Empress Ballroom for their “first and only show of the year”, and also the first hometown show of their careers. The band originally planned the show to be at the Blackpool Tower ballroom, but due to “technical reasons” the band had to change venue last minute, this however did not throw them off with an excellent performance throughout the show.

Livestream shows will always lack that atmosphere of a in person live show, as you will always be taking something away, but as I sat there waiting for the show to start, I could just feel the anticipation coming from the YouTube chat with messages like “Let’s go!” and “hell yeaaaah”. The show started with a short video of the band expressing their love for growing up in Blackpool. The band explained why they started, saying there “was nothing to do in the winter because everything was shut” so everyone started bands. The band also expressed their disappointment that the original venue fell through, but compared it to their youth when they’d have to “scramble to find a new one” when venues would pull out.

The band wasted no time launching into the first song after the video, quickly saying “welcome to blackpool” before the guitars and drums kicked in for “Everything Is Ordinary”. The band fills the grand looking room with a mega feeling sound. It’s quite entertaining to start a show with a song with the lyrics “Everything is ordinary now”, in 2020.

It’s nice to see the band taking full advantage of not having a crowd in the room, setting up in a circle in the middle of the room. An amazing light set up surrounding them, lighting up every member but also throwing light round the amazing interior at the Empress Ballroom. The stream also has very good audio quality and nice camera angle throughout.

Fourth song in the setlist, ‘Flowers in Your Dustbin’ is where the band started to feel like they were owning the livestream. Feeling right at home, and really comfortable. Henry Cox jumping around like he owns the place. Moving into “England’s Dreaming”, we’re told to “sing it if we know it”. This song slows the stream down but keeps the energy.

We’re reminding why we’re watching a livestream when Henry stops to say “I’m used to [having] about 5 to 800 of you people right front of me, getting all sweaty, and not me talking to the abyss”, he then talks about world mental health day, and gives a big shout out to the samaritans in this tough time. And tells all to look after themselves meantaly while lockdown continues. It’s nice to see the band take some time out of their set to look after their fans. The band then fittingly moved into ‘On a High Ledge’.

The band of course closed the set with ‘Halo’, a great highlight to end on. Still sounding as on point as the start. Looking at the chat throughout the show it was great to see all of the fans making new friends and just being a great crowd, however it would have been nice to see a bit more interaction between the band and the chat, maybe reading out some of the messages or taking questions. Doing a livestream is one thing, but taking advantage of the format is a whole lot better. The band’s setlist for the night truly showed off their unique range of sound, mixing songs from both their newest album ‘Glue’ and 2018’s ‘Welcome to the Neighbourhood’. A great way to spend an hour of the evening.

Photos by Theodore Swaddling