This year so far has been nothing less than amazing both for album releases and for concerts. Something that Leeds band Caskets will be sure to agree with, after selling out one of the most popular grassroots venues in Manchester, Rebellion on what is their second ever gig in the city.
The tour, which started the night before in Newcastle would go on to a few more countries in Europe, but tonight was our turn, and that meant I had to travel back to Manchester from Madrid, making this one of the most stressful concert days I have ever experienced.
My flight to Manchester in complete Ryanair fashion was delayed to depart, but we somehow managed to land ahead of schedule. This gave me enough time to get to my accommodation for the night, get some food and still arrive to Rebellion on time.
Ahead of time, attendees of the gig were notified through the Caskets Instagram account that doors would be at Six, but for some reason I am still unsure of, Colorblind, the openers for this tour would not be on until half seven. By the time I get into the venue and get a pint from the bar, the wait is shortened out to around an hour and 15 minutes. This is the longest wait for an opener I have experienced up until now, and It is still unclear why the wait was this long.
Openers Colorblind kick things off just before half Seven to an absolutely packed Rebellion. ‘Motionless’ is the opener of choice tonight as frontman Travis William Moseley tells us that the band has flown in from Austin Texas to be with us. Not only that, but later on in the set, he tells us that this set is their first ever performance in Manchester.
The third track of the set, ‘God Complex’ is currently unreleased but is already a live set staple. The chorus is melodic, and sounds phenomenal tonight with Moseley giving the best performance of the night here. Guitarist Justin Ryan plays the best solo of the set here, and at this point the sold out crowd starts to really feel the music.
‘Ghosts’ is one of the only song that both bands play throughout the night that hits the brakes a tad. It is a mid paced ballad perfect for this point in the set, as the band dedicates the song to anyone who has lost someone in their lives, and Colorblind then follow this with their closing track ‘Way Out’.
As the band concludes their set, it is rather disappointing that they only get six songs after that hour and a half wait. Apart from that, both the attendees and the band feel ecstatic with how this set turned out. A successful debut for a band that will undoubtedly make their return soon enough.
The good news after this set is realising that the wait for Caskets would only be a short half hour, and it truly passes as if the changeover lasts 10 minutes.
At around half past eight the lights dim one last time as the intro tape for Caskets plays to orange mood lighting as one by one each of the Caskets members appear onstage ending with vocalist Matt Flood. Smiles all around as he kicks off opener ‘Guiding Light’.
Right off the bat the energy peaks as the band members jump non-stop encouraging the crowd to follow suit. The band sound incredible as once again Rebellion proves to have probably the best acoustics in any Manchester venue.
Nothing throughout tonight proves how good the acoustics are at this venue until ‘Drowned In Emotion’. This song is not only emotional, but practically tears the roof off of Rebellion. The band and crowd truly feel united throughout this track, and this helps elevate the energy onto a whole other level.
Throughout the set, Flood keeps on saying how on their second ever gig in Manchester, which was this very gig, they managed to sell it out, and it made them feel very special. This motivates the band to make this the very best gig they have ever played in the city, and it really could be felt. Especially through the last songs.
‘Sillhouttes’ and ‘By The Sound’ both had moshpits encouraged by Flood, in which the crowd happily obeyed, and a massive pit at the centre of the crowd erupted. While I did manage to escape the chaos, I somehow managed to get bumped into which puts into perspective how energetic this crowd is.
The final highlight of the set though, is ‘Glass Hearts’. Introduced by Flood as the “song that you all came to hear”, the song goes down as well as you would expect. Jumping and moshing were encouraged, but with the crowd singing every single word back to the band, this is really where the night peaks, and to be honest I have no idea why the set did not end with this banger. Instead we got the atmospheric ‘Better Way Out’ to close out the performance. This song could have fitted so much better with a mid set slot, but the crowd gave the band a raucous reaction afterwards, so perhaps it did go down well with the Rebellion audience.
For Caskets, this was as close to a hometown gig as they could have gotten, and it really felt like a hometown gig, with this show being a sellout further proving how special this show was both for the band and for the fans. If the band is this popular in the UK, next tour could easily be bigger and louder, and a sell out as well.
