I have been going through a bit of a challenge lately – to see the bands I love without spending money via Ticketmaster or at O2 venues – not just to support those smaller, less corporate venues (as the second gig on my little tour of the North absolutely didn’t achieve that) but also as a bit of a protest against the nonsense of surge pricing and corporate gouging that seems to be going on with the TM/O2 arrangement of late.
With Vola I had two choices – stay in my hometown and see them at SWX (an amazing venue, with amazing sound) or head up to Manchester and visit their Academy (the only non-O2 Academy left in the UK), and since the SWX gig clashed with the second show I wanted to see this week, I hopped on a (very delayed) train to Manchester and landed just in time to see the first band on the bill who were:
The Intersphere (7), a band I have never come across before but one I would gladly see live again. Musically they’re a very unique blend of progressive alt-metal and alt-emo-pop, which probably shouldn’t work but strangely makes for really enjoyable listening. They did also help me coin the term “Don Progo” to describe them (geddit? A cross between Don Broco and Prog? I’ll be here all week). Sadly I didn’t catch any song titles, but Manchester Academy did them proud with a great balanced sound and the crowd really enjoyed them. Recommended as the perfect support to any tour.
Next up was an artist whom many were very excited to have as main support for Vola (and with good cause) in Charlotte Wessels (8), the former vocalist of Delain, touring in support of her great recent release The Obsession. Apparently Charlotte dropped Vola a hopeful email some time ago in the hope she could join them on tour and Vola, obviously having a great ear for wonderful music, absolutely agreed.
Indeed every track of Charlotte’s setlist tonight is from The Obsession, opening with Chasing Sunsets and ending with The Exorcism, with absolutely plenty of (very charming) stage banter between songs. It is very clear that Charlotte and her band are very, very pleased to be on this tour and the setlist is delivered with a great amount of passion, something which the crowd eats up. As this blog has made highlight of before – Delain have seemed to lack a certain spark since Charlotte left the band, and this live performance really does show why.
Finally, the main event of the evening as Vola (8) took to Manchester’s stage to considerable applause to close the evening out. Musically Vola could not be any more tight – they have live performance down to an absolute art and they never have anything less than a perfect sound, couple that with having some of the most powerful progressive songs in their armoury and it should be impossible for them to score anything less than a perfect 10 at every live set they deliver (indeed last time I reviewed them at the Fleece a few years back that is exactly what they got).
However this time I regret that despite playing perfectly, with amazing sound, great visuals and a tremendous stage presence, they simply haven’t earned that mantle and it relates to something I noticed at their festival sets before now as well – the structure of their setlists – something which a hardcore fan (which I am) shouldn’t matter, but I noticed specifically at the Manchester show did harm their live performance and may be hindering their growth as a band.
A lot of Vola’s more casual fans (people who have heard a few songs and decide to drop £20 to go see what they’re like live) have got into them through a few specific tracks. The most prominent being These Black Claws, which is an absolute banger of a song and features a very rare rap break in the middle of the track delivered by SHAHMEN (which is done live via a sample), and for whatever reason Vola seem to choose to never celebrate this as their ‘biggest’ song, indeed relegating it to the 4th song in the setlist tonight. It is very, very clear that a big chunk of the audience have come to hear this song in particular as the crowd (rightfully) starts really moving and excitement peaks.
And therein lies the issue, a chunk of the audience has peaked at this point and for the next few songs (Glass Mannequin, Alien Shivers and Gutter Moon – all great songs but without the “punch” of their biggest song) the audience is almost lifeless. There’s a bit of respite when the second single off their most recent release Break My Lying Tongue is played next, but following this I got to witness a pretty substantial chunk of people begin to leave the gig (I didn’t keep count but I would say at least 30 made their way out of the venue and didn’t come back), and unfortunately I think the pacing of the show is the issue here.
Maybe I am splitting hairs but Vola are genuinely one of my favourite bands on the planet right now and I (like so many others) would love to see them garner the biggest level of success possible after 18 years of hard graft. Looking over setlists from the rest of the tour they didn’t vary the song order at all so perhaps if a tour manager had a quiet word and got them to move a few songs into other slots to keep the energy levels high they could truly cash in on this.
With all the above being said, the night was a truly great one for Vola aficionados and Manchester Academy was an ideal location for such a night.
With all the above being said, the night was a truly great one for Vola aficionados and Manchester Academy was an ideal location for such a night.
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