WORDS JANET HARDING / IMAGES WARREN MILLAR
It’s an unusually mild October night in Manchester, not what we’re used to in the north west of the UK at all at this time of year, but I’m prepared for temperatures to be even more raised later, as tonight it’s one blistering headline. Tonight, in their first Manchester show since before the pandemic, it’s the incredible Winachi. With a line-up of special guests, equally hot, it’s certain to be a scorcher of a night. Our venue tonight ain’t too shabby either, the Blues Kitchen in Manchester. It’s a stunning, orange brick, Victorian era building. Once inside it’s like stepping into a New Orleans jazz club in prohibition times. Of course the bar tonight is well stocked, but we really do get that ‘speak-easy’ feel. Such a cool and retro vibe runs throughout – original art deco stained glass from New York is hugely featured, along with graffiti style stairwells. It’s retro meets cool and a real must to visit if you’re a fan of art deco, not only housing a 500 capacity, live music venue but also a bar and restaurant. It’s a great space.
1st Support SilverFinger Singh
First out of the blocks tonight is the incredibly cool hip hop artist, SilverFinger Singh. Performing to backing tracks, this set tonight starts with one huge sound explosion! We start with a real Eastern vibe, bhangra feeling sounds with up-tempo beats, rhythmical and spiritual, both fizzing and hard hitting in equal measures. This guy owns his stage! Too cool for school and has the ability to fill this entire room with his captivating presence. Confidently striding about on stage, dancing and ‘horsing’ in that hip hop style, it’s fast paced and one hell of a performance. The style/sounds change as the set continues, I’m getting more R&B feels. Waving an arm in the air and encouraging us all to join in and clap, SilverFinger interacts genuinely and enthusiastically with the crowd.
Moving on in sound again, we have a more UK grime scene feel; it’s mesmerising, think So Solid Crew sounds. Vocal is fast spoken dialogue mixed with hip hop rap, SilverFinger has a very distinctive voice, smooth and even with a Northern British accent, which hammers home that UK stamp as opposed to American rap.
For our last song we have a guest performer. ‘Oova’ collaborates on ‘EKTA’. It’s an enigmatic dual performance, really complementing each other’s vocals and the energy is amazing! This set well and truly got the party started and has been super entertaining. Very original, banging tunes and an energetic, cool and epic performance!
SET LIST
1/ SilverFinger Singh – Punjabi I.D
2/ Singh & Tasia – Touch the Sky
3/ SilverFinger Singh & Winachi – Realign
4/ SilverFinger Singh – EKTA
2nd Support San Pedro Collective
Nathalie Haley – vocal
Jeff Black – guitar
Keith Higgins – bass
Simon Wolstencroft – drums
Rick Burrows – trumpet
John Montague – keys
Mike Powell -keys
Matt Rigby – backing vocals
This 7 piece, Manchester based band promise an exciting set. It’s a real hybrid sound: so many influences, sounds and genres are fused to bring one power house of a vibe. Our set tonight starts off mellow with somewhat dreamy vocals from our captivating front woman, Nathalie. The sound is fine tuned, refined and performed with excellent musicianship. Powerful beats drive the sound and are fired at us like machine gunning. The feels build and become more upbeat and intense and we journey into a real retro sound, very piano led 90s house music sounds, epic keyboard solos! It’s real dance making, we get itchy feet, we can’t stand still! Then electro and synth bring real new wave electro vibes. We honestly have such a brilliantly varied set. Very atmospheric, from New York rock n roll feeling and 70s punk (think Blondie) then a Mexicana effect with the trumpet, that afore mentioned house vibe always at its roots, then I’m getting blues/jazz undertones – so diverse indeed! Nathalie’s vocal range is impressive – we go from soft and dreamy to loud and full, then grungy, then a real punk rock growl and angry screams. It all works perfectly. It’s a musical menu of absolute delights! Shimmery guitars, mellow then forceful bass lines, it’s blues fiesta meets house in a rock n roll rave. A nonstop set, a musical frenzy has been whipped up on stage and the fiesta did get brought here tonight! Very accomplished performance, encapsulating sounds, so many styles rolled into one hell of an identity! San Pedro Collective, you blew the roof off tonight! Totally different and totally addictive!
SET LIST
1/ Time
2/ The things you see
3/ Darker days
4/ Good so bad
5/ Rapture (cover)
6/ Remember my name
7/ You
8/ Superheavy
3rd The Shed Project
Roy – vocals.
John – rhythm guitar
Tim – bass
Olly – lead guitar
Shane – drums
In one utter fury of blazing guitars The Shed Project spontaneously combust into their set! Immediately it moves us, it’s seismic. I get real 90s feels, it’s anthemic, it’s loud and it’s got the Manchester vibe running right through it. It’s ‘mad for it’, massively, crashingly indie. It’s immense…and one of my favourite musical genres. I’m happy. Superb, strong drumming, sequences often with a military style; extended instrumentals feature the powerful drumming and it’s technically brilliant. Bass lines are fantastic, epic -complex, hard hitting but also melodic. Crashing, juddering guitar lines, soaring sounds, wahwah, distortion then shimmering and light. It’s all here – real hard core, old school indie and it’s got a life force all of its own, and it’s ignited something within us…it’s positively banging in here now! Think Oasis meets Stone Roses meets Happy Mondays.
Our front man, Roy, is very ‘madchester’ in style, shaking his tambourine over us like it’s casting a spell. Swaggering about on stage, I’m really reminded of Sean Ryder with the vocals, that famously Mancunian accent at the forefront… it’s a sound that feels huge, of festival crowds en masse chanting songs back whilst setting off coloured flares – this really does sound that big! The stage presence is more than enough to swallow up this stage. As a band these guys have immense energy and boundless enthusiasm and all very well rehearsed, well written and tightly performed. Massive, shining but complex original tracks with so much nostalgia, a real feeling of back in the days of when indie music ruled the air waves! Banging Knebworth type feels in the Blues Kitchen tonight, what more could I ask for on a Thursday night? Completely blown away by this performance! Chatting later it’s explained that they’re just 5 Manchester mates playing what they love for the love of music. Keep on playing, guys, I for one can feel that love!
SET LIST
1/ If you know you know
2/ One Shot
3/ Don’t wait for No-one
4/ Lucky Number
5/ A Day in the Dam
6/ Feel my Love
7/ Friend
Winachi – Headliner
Liam Croker – lead vocal
Antony Egerton – keys/programming
Inder Goldfinger – percussion/tabla
Andy McKay – guitar
Paul Lawrence – drums
A different genre again now – dance funk, with real mesmeric club like feels. It’s no secret I love Winachi, and live these guys really bring a huge gift to the table. Tonight’s headline set begins with glistening, atmospheric feels, luminous and far reaching. Pulsating beats, electronica, sound effects, backing tracks set the tone, then up-tempo, club style drumbeats, the bass beats pound; fluorescent guitar lines, that steady even vocal, then the goose bump inducing percussion sounds. It’s a very rich, very layered, multi dimensional sound. Lyrics are witty and satirical. Inder on percussion provides a real tribal and rhythmic sound, which is quite something to witness live. Liam’s vocal is low in tone, steady and has a cheeriness to it, but a characterful huskiness which works well as it suits the grittiness of the lyrics. This is another band who just fill a venue with their presence – very slick, very stylish and uber cool; charisma and attitude drip from our front man, he really plays up to photographers, crouching down to sing directly into cameras, dancing around nonstop and delivering a nonstop performance.
Some tracks are hypnotic, trippy, very spiritual feeling, dance/club genres but with a hippie trip feel and often a real Middle Eastern vibe, ancient, Persian sounding delights all mixed into funky, bang up to date tracks. I get a real Los Angeles influence in some songs; the place these guys spend so much time in clearly has a huge impact. The trippy, high vibe feels make way for a more hazy, sunny, laid back feel, but with a murkiness, a grimness underneath the sun-fuelled, idealistic vision. All binding together seamlessly, this band are genius at setting scenes and giving a whole feeling along with bursting sounds. Real ‘get on your feet’ stuff makes us want to move our feet. It’s going off in here now! Another set, epic in sound, style and performance. Winachi’s s latest release ‘Heaven in HelLA’ is out now and well worth a listen…those hazy, murky sounds are abundant in this one!
Winachi have it in the bag again tonight. Very well done, guys! That cross over of laid back and up there dance style is exquisite.
SET LIST
1/ Starfighter
2/ Pedestrian Falls
3/ African Shaker
4/ Acclimatise
5/ Transition
6/ Everybody Everyone
7/ For you I’d Kill
8/ Heaven in HelLA
9/ Sympathy for the Future
10/ Funky but Chic
11/ Time for Love
12/ Yeah Fool
All in all tonight has been out of this world! Such a varied line up, it’s been a nonstop musical journey and I truly hope I get to see each and every artist again very soon!
FOLLOW WINACHI
FOLLOW THE SHED PROJECT
FOLLOW SAN PEDRO COLLECTIVE
FOLLOW SILVERFINGER SINGH
Warren is a live music and festival photographer based in Cheshire and covers gigs/festivals mostly in the North West of England. He has been photographing live music for over 10 years and has covered major artists and festivals
