Magnum in Manchester
Manchester Academy 2 - Wednesday 28th October 2009
This was night of two halves really. Read on...
This night was supposed to be a bit of a date for me and the missus and she told me that I should get us a couple of tickets and we could have a nice night out. But on the day, she couldn't go due to having problems with the pregnancy, so I was told to go anyway, which was a big downer. I sold the ticket to the ever-ready Mr Tindall though, so that was OK, although he's not as pretty a date as Kez is.
Anyways, I trundled off and picked up the man and we ran into town and got to the gig. Pete was not exactly sparkling with enthusiasm for the gig as Magnum were never his favourite band and I was a bit down in the mouth about the whole thing, so we probably looked like a right pair as we sat about waiting for John, Brad and Danni to turn up and for the gig to start. The support band were called Decadenze, but we sat them out and opted to catch up in the bar for a while, which was good. The others turned up and we hung out for a while before going in to the gig.
The gig had been moved from the Academy 3 to the Academy 2 which was fine as it meant that the hall itself wouldn't be absolutely rammed full, which is never nice in the A2 room. As we walked into the room, it was clear that they hadn't filled the room, but this was good as we could relax a little and not feel like we were shoe-horned in. We took our place on the stage-right side reasonably near the front and waited for the band to amble on.
Their set was due to start at 9pm, but it was more like 9.15pm when the lights when down and the intro tape started. The band strolled on and went straight into the opening number. The chorus was a bit of a sing-a-long affair with some wag holding up a quickly written sign with a "YEAH-EAH!" held up at the appropriate moment. The set rattled along with a lot of stuff that I wasn't that familiar with, being someone who's only heard the last couple of albums a few times. Still, it all sounded good and was really tightly played by those involved. A few of the songs merged into each other at times since they all sounded a bit samey. That said, there were great bits of each tune that got the attention. It was a relief when the band kicked into "Les Mort Dansant" about forty-five minutes in though. After this, they put in a huge new ballad which had a coda that was very reminiscent of Journey's "Faithfully", which was entertaining. Then it was oldies from then on and the crowd woke up a little more as the gig raced towards the end.
The band were on form though. Bob Catley was looking even more like Bilbo Baggins after too much sugar, with his arms waving about the place as we've all come to expect. His voice sounded good too and he did his best to get the room up and at 'em. Tony Clarkin kept the whole thing moving nicely, although his guitar did seem to get lost in the mix. The bass player (sorry old bean, I've forgot your name) was all smiles and really did a great job on the backing harmonies. It's a shame that Wally Lowe still isn't there but the other chap did a fine job. Mark Stanway was present at the back looking more and more like John Sykes' mum. Then there was Harry holding down the band at the band with some mighty beefy sounding drums. His sound was massive and the desk had obviously got the drums set to "rattle teeth" setting. Thankfully, he kept his Thunder-era onstage japes to a minimum and made his presence felt with his playing. I tell you, you can tell his playing a mile off with those thunderous (no pun intended) fills going off during the songs. The sound never quite found a good balance where we were, but it was generally fine through the gig.
The audience seemed a little subdued. There was a lot of enthusiasm and everyone was bobbing about and showing plenty of appreciation for the band, but the energy seemed a bit low. Maybe it was the setlist and the emphasis on the new record, which I suppose is fair enough since the last tour was all about "Wings of Heaven" and all that. Whatever wsa wrong, the last twenty minute made up for the it. Brad alone made enough noise singing along to make up for the whole crowd! I couldn't help but contribute some harmonies on "Don't Wake The Lion"... as you do.
So, the whole thing finished at about 10.45pm and we were left to file out into the night after a rousing "Kingdom of Madness". I drove Pete home and I got in in nice time and went to my pit.. It was a pretty good gig, although I think I should have made the effort to go to the last tour instead when I would have known more of the tunes. Then again, the mood was put down a bit by the lack of the Better Half, but that's not anyone's fault really, just bad luck. But here's to next time, let's hope. You can't keep a band like Magnum down for long and I think they've proved that!
Set List
This is cobbled together, so it may not be 100% correct. The last bit is though :)
- Main Set
- Cry to Yourself
- Take Me To The Edge
- Brand New Morning
- The Moonking
- When We Were Younger
- No One Knows His Name
- Dragons are Real
- Face in the Crowd
- We All Run
- Les Morts Dansant
- All My Bridges
- All England's Eyes
- Vigilante
- Encores
- Don't Wake the Lion
- Kingdom of Madness
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© 2006 Graham T. Ebbrell