Brothers and Bones - Ruby Lounge, Manchester, 13/9/2015

  by Mary O'Meara

published: 23 / 10 / 2015

intro

Mary O’Meara gets washed to shore by the musical tidal wave that is Brother and Bones as they stop off in Manchester to promote new album 'Omaho'

Sunday night gigs in Manchester sadly often have a poor turn out and a vapour cloud of mild despondency as gig-goers try to ignore the Monday morning blues that loiter on the streets after dark. Somehow, the mood in the Ruby Lounge when we step out tonight is many miles from Monday mind-sets. A cheery crowd have gathered in the basement bar and tremors of excitement are tripping through the venue, building all the while until the band they've come to see manifest on the stage and dive straight into the boisterously beguiling 'Omaho' - the title track from their new album. From the start it's clear that whether it's Sunday night or Friday evening, Brother and Bones are going to give it everything and the crowd are happily going with them. Their debut album's been a long time coming, but now that it's here I get the feeling the band are catapulting themselves into the fire with complete abandon. Refreshingly, they give the impression they love being on the road, they have no qualms about busting a gut every night and managing to ride the storm their music blows up as if they're doing it for the first time. Tonight there's a cocktail of smiles, sweat and passion swilling about the Ruby Lounge, and it's a joy to witness a performance that demonstrates the sheer exhilaration of simply being alive as expressed so affirmatively in one of their songs. The set consists mainly of the track-listing on the new album as anyone would expect, though I was just a smidgen disappointed that they didn't play 'Everything to Lose' which is possibly my favourite track on the new record. But it would be hard to have been disappointed for more than a fraction of a minute as the set soared by. Just when I kept thinking they can't rock any harder, they can't peak any higher, they somehow did. They also did a very cool cover of Coldplay's 'God Put a Smile on Your Face' - heavier and grittier than the original with a stunning percussion segment from the dual drummers, impressing us all even further. As is often the case in the good old Ruby Lounge, copious amounts of dry ice accompanied the band on stage, leaving someone in the audience to yell for a cover of 'Smoke on the Water'. The track that maybe stood out for me tonight was 'If I Belong' where Richard Thomas's beautiful vocals pulled my heart wide open. Following this, they left the stage and the crowd called them back for a two song encore of 'Lost as One' and the tumultous closing number 'Back to Shore' and I think that’s where we ended up, having surfed some truly epic waves and rattled our collective bones along with clearly one of the best new(ish) bands I’ve seen for some time.

Also at Ruby Lounge, Manchester

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