GIG: Faderhead (Manchester)

At the time of writing we do not yet know whether we saved ourselves £16 by parking in a back street or cost ourselves £50 in fines, but the truth is we had little choice. Manchester was in absolute chaos, with roads shut left right and centre and the sat-nav seemed to have no hope of directing us to where we wanted to be. After nearly parking up in an NCP about a mile and a half away from the gig, we somehow managed to find ourselves in a street near the venue, but with no idea of how to get any nearer and into the NCP opposite. So we dumped the car and hoped.

Arriving at the Ruby Lounge we were pleasantly surprised, the bar area was spacious and well lit while the stage was around the corner. Just after we got into the venue 'Dreams Divide' hit the stage and they were pretty good, albeit their style was a bit one-dimensional by the end of the 40 minute set they played. The singer had a huge beard and a shirt that looked like it might have been ironed sometime last year, or maybe not. His keyboard playing lady friend also contributed backing vocals (and sounded vaguely familiar from somewhere, a guest appearance maybe?).

But tonight was all about Faderhead and he did not disappoint. Shambolic it may have been at times, but live entertainment does not get any better than this and astonishingly we may already have witnessed our best gig of 2016.. From the start Faderhead is larger than life, with his Mohawk and ever present shades, he engages the crowd like no frontman I've ever seen and has them eating out of the palm of his hand within minutes.

The crowd sings along and dances relentlessly, while Faderhead himself skips singing some verses to pour Vodka into people's mouths. No one cares because the whole thing is just so much damn fun and so entertaining. Behind Faderhead, keyboard player Marco (The Lord) competes with the main man for the Vodka bottle, and after a few songs the bottle is empty so the Ruby Lounge management supply a bottle of Gin and the show continues. 

Highlight's of the set included: Join Us, Stand Up, Fistful of Fuck You, set opener This is the Way to Fuck God, Dirty Grrrls / Dirty Bois, Generation Black, When the Freaks Come Out, and Rose's favourite 'Dancers'.

During the massive 'Destroy Erase Rebuild' Faderhead tried to get Rose to sing the chorus, but she didn't know the words so she refused, much to Mr Faderhead's consternation. Absolutely funniest moment of the night though was his EPIC cover of Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy Back'. Oh Jesus did we laugh, it was awesome.

I picked up a copy of the new Faderhead album 'FH-X' at the gig, limited to just 1000 physical copies, but passed on the rather unexciting T-shirts. After 'Destroy Erase Improve', the inevitable set-closer was massive YouTube hit 'TZDV' (getting on for 2 million views now), and then it was back to the hotel for a drink and a sit down (once we'd navigated the crazy streets of Manchester).