O2 Ritz Manchester UK Friday 13TH August 2021
Friday 13th at Manchester O2 Ritz, and I’m here to check out iconic Brit pop bands, Sleeper and The Bluetones, both sharing the headlining spot. Tonight, it would be Sleeper on first and then The Bluetones, both playing their most iconic albums from the nineties from start to finish, with a few greatest hits thrown in for good measure. For Sleeper, it was the 25th anniversary of debut long player SMART and for The Bluetones a chance to bring back to life their brilliant EXPECTING TO FLY.
First up on the stage were Sleeper, and front woman Louis Wener look incredibly youthful and dazzling in a shimmering silver dress. Starting off playing SMART in track order, they launched into “Inbetweener” and the Ritz erupted, albeit in genteel fashion. It was an older crowd, as was to be expected, both of tonight’s bands having had their heyday in the 90’s, but the vibe, noise and singing along was almost as loud as any other gig I have been to.
Sleeper were a stand out in the mainly lad driven Brit Pop of the nineties and were a very underrated and overlooked band at the time. It must have been incredibly hard to stand out in a decade that produced such bands as Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, but Wener had a way with words, melody and classic song-writing. The songs still stand up today. Plus, Wener as a guitar playing front women was a breath of fresh air. She was a young woman singing about her own sexuality and experiences.
But it’s all about the music, and SMART was an exceptional debut album, brimming with layers of crunchy guitar squeaks and feedback, punky in parts, always indie, always innately British even with more than a healthy nod to the Pixies, wonderful stuff. Finishing the night with a mash up off Blondie’s “Atomic” and Joy Division’s “Love will Tear Us Apart” and then “Sale Of The Century”, Sleeper even managed to create a middle-aged mosh pit, not too bouncy but heart-warming, non the less.
Now it was The Bluetones turn, another band that were greatly overlooked in the Brit Pop of the nineties, different in a lot of ways to Sleeper, and to be fair a lot of other bands of that era, sweeter, smoother, lyrically more introspective, more of the La’s and less of the Pixies, but the song writing, and execution is still right up there.
EXPECTING TO FLY was a massive album, it went to number 1 in the UK charts and produced a plethora of greatly loved singles. All carried on Mark Morris’s passionate, sensitive and unique vocal stylings, layered of hooks and melody.
As with Sleeper The Bluetones played the album in track order from start to finish with the greatest hits tacked on at the end. All the big tunes “Bluetonic”, “Slight Return”, “Cut Some Rug” bring the house down, brilliant guitar pop, crammed full of melodies, catchy choruses and bittersweet lyrics.
At the end of the night I’m left to reflect on how great the songs I heard tonight are, it also saddens me that these two great bands were built and destroyed by the tag that was Brit Pop. Do yourself a favour, go and watch them, but if you can’t do that, go and buy the records, put them on and know that there was more to music in Nineties Britain than Oasis and Blur.
Sleeper Set List
Inbetweener
Swallow
Delicious
Hunch
Amuse
Bedhead
Lady Love Your Countryside
Vegas
Poor Flying Man
Alice In Vain
Twisted
Pyrotechnician
Cellophane
Nice Guy Eddie
Statuesque
The Sun Also Rises
Lie Detector
What Do I Do Now
You Got Me
Atomic/Love Will Tear Us Apart Mash Up
Sale Of The Century
Bluetones Set List
Talking To Clarry
Bluetonic
Cut Some Rug
Things Change
The Fountainhead
Carnt Be Trusted
Slight Return
Putting Out Fires
Vampire
A Parting Gesture
Time & Again
Are You Blur or Are You Blind
After Hours
Solomon Bites The Worm
Marblehead Johnson
Never Going Nowhere
Every Breath You Take (Police cover)
If
FOLLOW SLEEPER
FOLLOW THE BLUETONES
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
