The joys of public transport mean that I arrive at the venue tonight having missed the opening act Jools and just as Movements, a band i`ve been looking forward to seeing, arrive on stage and start an impromptu tune up. They open the set with what is probably my favourite track `Skin To Skin` a wonderfully captivating earworm of a song where Patrick`s vocal has such emotion. The quite anthemic `Tunnel Vision` follows with its questioning lyrics, quickly followed by the pounding `Full Circle` where the lines are nearly rapped they are shared that rapidly. After a brief engagement with this packed audience where we gather a fair amount of them have previously seen the band we head into `Third Degree` another enthralling number that has the crowd jumping and clapping along. Tonight`s set has an almost equal share of tracks from both of the band`s albums `Feel Something` and `No Good Left To Give` with `Moonlight Lines` and the hypnotic `Seneca` coming from the latest. `Seneca` is a word that offers a warning on how we squander our time only to regret it and this number relates to a relationship that should have or could have been,
`Colorblind` is delightfully noisy and yeah the spelling is American which we can forgive as the guys dedicate this number to the opening act Jools. The band say that they are so happy to be touring the UK with Boston Manor who they`ve toured with in the States and share that they enjoyed beans for breakfast!! Maybe it`s a rare treat for these Southern Californians. They close out this forty minute set with the heart wrenching `Suffer Through` dedicated to Boston Manor and `Daylily` as they promise that they`ll be back again in the UK in June. I`ve wanted to see Movements for a while and they didn`t disappoint. The group offer some deeply raw, personal, and emotive lyrics against a quite captivating musical backdrop with a singer who has a slight inflection in his vocal delivery which makes them really interesting and engrossing. If the guys do return in June, I encourage you to get to see them, if not keep an eye out as this band seems to be on the cusp of something really big.
Blackpool`s finest pop punk quintet Boston Manor take to the stage and blast into the blistering `Everything Is Ordinary` and pumping `Flowers in Your Dustbin` which has this rammed crowd bouncing up and down and screaming the lyrics back at the band. A new number, the futuristic `Desperate Pleasures` from the band`s last EP is shared before the intense `England’s Dreaming`, thoughtful `Plasticine Dreams` and vulnerable and personal `On A High Ledge`. The emotive and anthemic `Bad Machine` is offered before the polar opposite `Burn You Up` races along at 100 mph, followed quickly by the scorching `Lead Feet`.
Singer Henry tells the audience that he was born in Small Heath in Birmingham and his family left when he was five years old and shouts “Up the Blues” which has a fair few cheers and as many boos. He tries to say he doesn`t follow football but we know at heart he`s a Bluenose. The home stretch is a mix of numbers from all three albums and also a new track with the blazing `You, Me & The Class War`, `Let The Right One In` which was referred to as a love song, the shimmering `Liquid` and `Laika` which sends the faithful into a frenzy. Henry tells us that they find encores really cheesy so finish with the pounding grinding `Carbon Mono` and `Halo` which drives the audience into even greater hysteria before they take their leave. This show according to Live Nation was the most rescheduled event of their roster but tonight it finally happened.
Boston Manor and Movements ate both bands that wear their hearts on their sleeves and have grown their loyal fan base by constant touring and on the strength of tonight`s performances it`s hard not to see them both taking it up to another level next time in a much bigger venue.
