PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
With a boxing event and a gig at each of Manchester’s arenas, as well as City had just finishing their football game, and a major road closure, the result could only end up being epic gridlock in Manchester’s City Centre which in turn meant that the final mile of my journey takes 40 mins rather than less than 5 and I am now very late.
Once I’m parked I’m finding it is a mild evening for late October in Manchester, and many who are out are either wearing very little, or are dressed up for Halloween, or both. Skilfully weaving between pissheads and druggies I eventually I made it to Gullivers where I was able to interview BERRIES and you can watch that interview HERE
Opening this evenings show are Mancunians Mere Amore creating a party atmosphere by wearing Halloween makeup and I have to admit it is really well done.
I wasn’t previously aware of them and it looks like they have only been playing gigs a few months, and it also seems that they are (or were) students of BIMM. The band have a punky, new wave approach to their music (although the band call themselves queer alt rock) which generates an exciting sound demonstrated by Spiral which is about addiction and has appealing hooks (the song, not the drugs).
Isola is a very visual and dynamic singer, the centre of attention whilst the rest of the band concentrate on playing their instruments and she makes this a very engaging and memorable performance.
A broken guitar string in the penultimate song requires a short stoppage for it to be changed, so members of the band tell some bad jokes, yeah, really bad jokes. Fortunately that string change is remarkably fast and the band closes their set with LSD (love sex drugs), a catchy pop punk tune with more than a touch of sleaze, Isola seemingly spending more time in the audience than onstage. Being at the very front I even ended up catching her (badly) when she lost her footing and fell off the stage, she promptly got back on stage and took a running jump back into the audience – why did I bother?
I thoroughly enjoyed Mere Amore’s set, would definitely make the effort to see them again.
You can find Mere Amore on Facebook but they mainly use Instagram
You can find more photos of Mere Amore here
With their second album only having been released last week there is much anticipation for BERRIES Manchester show, having laid waste to Nottingham and Leeds it is now Manchester’s turn.
The band have opted for a black and white theme for their stage attire, the chess board trousers are most striking. Once on stage they waste no time in delivering their music with Barricade and Creature giving us a quick one two and setting the tone for their set.
We Are Machines seems more brutal and urgent than on record contrasted by a mathrock motif that underpins a thoroughly enjoyable Blurry Shapes which then blends into Watching Wax. It is 6 years since I last saw them and it is striking how much more assertive and confident they are.
The band have added an acoustic song to their repertoire and as guitarist Holly quips “we can now say we have gone through our folk stage”. Balance is definitely a bit different but everyone was absorbed by it and remained respectfully silent.
Wall Of None has the band back on full steam with the drums laying down a great groove, probably my favourite song of the night.
With a cheer of acknowledgment Jagged Routine is hitting the spot before they smash their mathy side with This Space which races along at a somewhat frantic pace. The band are flying through their set… Narrow Tracks is dedicated to all those suffering with OCD, maybe this is my favourite song of the night.
Control is heavy with a thunderous beat, Crumpled Clothes… my favourite? Sod it, they are all my favourite songs! I can also see Holly’s Hendrix influence coming through with the way she is moving the guitar around, she is an impressive guitarist and all three of them are great musicians.
Finishing with Spiral their encore, kinda, because leaving the stage to come back on again is a bit of a waste of a few minutes, and it is another song with a mathy riff running through it.
At the end BERRIES rush to the merch table where a crowd of people are eagerly waiting to meet the band.
It has been a great evening and on the way home I ponder on the fact that of the eight musicians playing at Gullivers this evening, seven were female with both bands playing great sets. Hopefully this gender redress will continue as the music industry, to quote a friend, “is still too much of a sausage fest”.
You can find more photos of BERRIES here
And on the internet you can find BERRIES on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as well as Twitter/X
And they also have their own website!
BERRIES are:
Holly Carter – guitar and vocals
Lauren Cooper – bass and backing vocals
Lexi Clark – drums and backing vocals
Setlist:
Barricade
Creature
We Are Machines
Blurry Shapes
Watching Wax
Balance
Wall of Noise
Jagged Routine
This Space
Narrow Tracks
Control
Crumpled Clothes
Spiral
