The Blinders — NJ Cartner

The Blinders Live at Academy 2, Manchester – 15/10/18

It may have been a typically drab Monday evening in October, but there was nothing dreary about the opening date of the hotly anticipated Blinders’ month-long UK tour, which kicked off at a sold-out Academy 2 in Manchester. With a series of mind-blowing gigs over the past eighteen months, audiences have been enthralled by The Blinders’ avant-garde and edgy approach to psych orientated rock ‘n’ roll, culminating in a rise that shows no signs of halting.

After two support acts, Calva Louise and White Room, suitably warmed the crowd, it wasn’t long before the room was plunged beneath the mercy of a prolonged, monotonously sinister echoed drone that created an illusion of uneasiness. The sense was that something spectacular was about to erupt. After several minutes of this, the mood turned even creepier as Gene Wilder’s voice percolated through the speakers and ‘Pure Imagination’, from the classic film, ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’, overlaid the dulcet murmured spell the crowd were under. The music and words, abruptly stopped, swiftly replaced by a poem being spoke in broad Mancunian tongue that told of an alternate world, ‘Columbia’, the name of The Blinders debut album released only a month ago. The album itself is a twelve-song slab of psych rock that assaults and deranges the senses, receiving much critical acclaim so far!

The three band members appeared onstage to huge cheers and screams as the poem reached its climax. They immediately hurled themselves into the menacing album opener, ‘Gotta Get Through’, possibly one of the most explosive ways to open a show I’ve ever witnessed. The track is unnerving, pulverising, and packed with fire and energy that’s unleashed as a spate of hedonistic rage. There are shades of a mid 90s Prodigy track about it with the way the vivacious guitar attacks in ferocious sprays like an uncontrollable sonic flame thrower.

There was no time for composure after the opening adrenaline rush as the hypnotic, ‘L’Etat C’est Moi’, was up next, carrying an ominous guitar and bass riff that oozes some sort of insanity and unrelenting eeriness. ‘Brave New World’ followed and is perhaps The Blinders’ most well-known concoction to date, featuring on the current William Hill advert. The crowd were again effervescent as this brilliantly philosophical and cynical track about the world we live in today almost incites a riot such is the power of the meaningful delivery. ‘ICB Blues’ and ‘Swine’ attain the same reaction, both electrifying songs that swell up the kind of energy fit for an internal and external revolution.

These songs, and most in The Blinders’ locker, have the innate ability to build spine-tingling suspense, often starting with a protracted period of thumping, trance-like, rhythmic drumbeats that strategically builds tension with the audience. The striking and snarling guitar, drenched in filth and smut then hammers in, which is then crowned by the screaming, wailing vocals of Thomas Haywood that sends the crowd into an abyss of warped frenzy.

Speaking of Haywood, his actions and mannerisms are like a reincarnated Jim Morrison. Onstage, black make-up is smeared down his face, stretching from his eyes, down his cheeks, and onto his neck. He gives his absolutely everything onstage, sometimes throwing himself to the floor to writhe around whilst screaming his potent and ingenious set of words which ruthlessly portray today’s world. In general, the lyrics combine savagely eloquent poetry with short, powerful bursts of repetitive profound statements, all fuelled by observations of political and social hardships, and the dark and uncertain times created off the back of them. It’s these honest themes that make up a typical Blinders track, and with the drums, bass, and guitar sitting formidably behind it, it makes for one hell of an exciting trip into the unknown.

Songs continue to bombard and keep the flow of energy meandering along at pace. ‘Et Tu’ is a short, sharp, shock of high tempo foot stomping rock poetry, and ‘Hate Song’ is another unsettling song motivated by the way the band see the world. ‘Rats in a Cage’, and ‘Ramona Flowers’ are just two of a few that make up the set finale, and both carry a different tone to the rest of the show. The former is quite an upbeat rocking track as far as usual Blinders’ songs go, yet the latter is more like their repertoire, but slower and more psychedelic in delivery.

The show ends, and with no need for an encore the crowd were suitably impressed with another compelling display from this highly rated band. At the show’s peak, the image was sheer hedonism as heads, hands, arms, and in some cases pairs of legs could be seen gyrating in the wake of the carnage being emitted by the band.

I’ve been saying for a while now that The Blinders are one of the most exciting bands since the millennium, and supporting my claim is the fact that next summer they are supporting Blossoms at Edgeley Park in Stockport along with The Coral and Cabbage. But before then, a full UK tour is currently still in effect with tickets still available in some places.