Live in Manchester - Balancing Act
With support from Andy Goodwin and The Kites
A hot summer night upstairs at The Deaf Institute. Red lights, velvet curtains and a mirror ball. The acts walk through the crowd without an obvious care.
Andy Goodwin
Andy saunters from the floor to the stage in baggy jeans, white tee and a cap. With a strum of his guitar the vibe is set. Relaxed, with his breezy guitar and spoken lyrics. 90’s Polo starts his set off strong, he definitely isn’t just that guy from TikTok but a genuinely talented musician.
The crowd thickens as he begins to play his second song and people really start to listen. By the third, I’m thrown back to high school, he reminds me of early Jack Peñate or Jamie T.
Andy has a nice banter with the crowd, he’s at ease up there, so we can just enjoy it. He introduces Funemployed as his fifth song and I become a firm member of the fan club. The self-deprecating humour is endearing. Anyone able to write and perform a song fully taking the piss out of themself wins in my book.
As he starts to play Beer Fear, another relatable ditty, the crowd has fully warmed up, we’re free and enjoying the music. We sing the “La’s” at Andy’s request to “make it less awkward.”
Fred Perry Girl finishes his set. The phones come out; this is what we’ve been waiting for. It’s light and fun and we’re all loving it.
Andy is cool and doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks, which makes him so watchable, there’s not a hint of cringe or insecurity but also no sense of arrogance. He’s charismatic and sings everything like he means it, his songs are honest, amusing and are guaranteed to make you smile. I would absolutely love to see a full band behind him in the future, he’s a breathe of fresh air.
Unfortunately, other than an Amy Winehouse cover, there’s nowhere I can find to listen to his music other than clips on socials, but I’m pretty sure when he does release some music, I’ll be writing about it.
The Kites
A thumbs up followed by some feedback. The band walk on, one by one and the music builds. With a “Good evening, Manchester” the crowd buy in.
Sweater vests are the uniform of choice for the guitarists and this young band ooze the coolness of a much older group. Musically they’re tight, it sounds like they’ve been playing together for years. It’s slick and fierce.
With a fix of the mic the front man, Joe, introduces Living Room. He has a strong acrobatic voice and sings effortlessly as he grooves to the beat.
The bassist, Elodie, has a level of cool nonchalance that I still don’t possess in my mid-twenties.
Jake, on lead guitar, plays impressive licks like he’s breathing. It’s effortless. We’re two songs in and I’m excited about this band.
The next song is Emily Emily, where they sing about the cheap bottles of wine only 50% of them are old enough to drink, as if they’re world weary 20 somethings. I love it.
The tempo slows for Myself, the glow of the lights shifts to green, and I have to stop and listen. The vocal is piercing. As the song grows heavier the crowd sway and nod in synchronicity. This is an anthem for the insecure.
Jaded is the last song in the set and gives Ollie the chance to show off his prowess on the drums. His curl mop bounces around and after finding out he’s only 16 I feel persecuted, how can anybody 16 be that talented.
They’ve got it. The baby-faced band from Leeds have shown me not to judge a band by their youth but just watch and listen. In The Kites case, watch with your mouth agape. I’m excited to see what happens for them in years to come.
Balancing Act
The indie glitterati of Manchester are out in force for tonight. The lights flicker to find the perfect hue and on they come.
A vest, shirts and a crop top. They certainly look the part. The guitarist, Jackson, starts to play and grabs the crowd’s attention. Kai, the front man plays guitar and rocks with cool confidence. Strobe lights flash and a ripple runs across the crowd as the audience nod individually while the band play Cold.
The crowd cheer, bounce and point to the sky with one hand, a beer in the other. Kai pauses to test the crowd; they pass with flying colours as they sing the lyrics back. There’s nothing better than a room full of people singing together.
After the first two songs the stage gets darker as per Kai’s request. The beat is heavy, and the tempo slows for an intense rocky number. The music takes hold of the front man, and he starts to jolt like Jagger around the stage. With a kiss blown to the crowd the song ends and he start’s his banter before introducing the next.
Rabbit Hole may be slow, but the energy is high. David, the bassist, adds a stunning harmony over the vocal. Kai closes his eyes as he hits every high note.
They start to play Cool Shoes, a new song. Heavy guitar, strong beat and a soft vocal. Within the first ten seconds I’m sold, but preoccupied by the question “do I own cool shoes?” I settled on “probably”, so as not to ruin the rest of the set for myself.
“If you wanna have a little cry, this is the one” Gift Shop starts, and the mood becomes heavy. I feel my stomach drop in the way it does to any good ballad. The band play, heads hanging, feeling the song in its entirety.
Kai steps into audience and begins to whistle The Saddest Song I Ever Did Write. Like a preacher he takes an audience member’s head in his hand, he goes between his willing disciples and gestures to his mum when the lyrics call for it. I giggle to myself; he literally has the crowd in the palm of his hand and just when you could roll your eyes he jests “God he’s so full of himself” we’re all in on the joke together and he’s living his dream.
They play a couple of new songs, they’re faster, fun and have a familiarity. I can’t wait to hear them recorded.
“London were mint but let’s make this better” Cheshire Smile begins with Kai gesturing the audience to move forward to hear the song they brought out a month ago. He starts to sing, and the crowd take over. The band dance and play with effervescence. The room begins to shake with the kick drum played by George and we all dance.
There’s no sophisticated way to put this. The song’s a banger.
A Little More Time is next and the crowd sing along with every word. The guitar cuts through the noise, it’s worth noting that Jackson is without a doubt a brilliant musician and really shone to me for the entire set.
The whole band seem in their element and as Kai’s vocal shifts up an octave, he dominates.
Side note: the couple next to me passionately snogged for this entire song, which was both impressive and distracting, but hey I guess music moves people.
We’ve reached the last song of the set and Kai plays cat and mouse with the crowd. We eat it up and sing along with every word. Guitar back on, the crowd stay high and bounce around until the final chord of All Yours.
It’s all over… or is it? One of the most genuine encores I’ve ever heard starts, but the band are saved by Bowie, the house lights go up and it’s done.
Balancing Act had so much energy, it was infectious. Churning out songs like Cheshire Smile and Cold I’m eager to see what next from them. With the rare ability to get the crowd bopping from the first song it’s hard to deny that Balancing Act are even better live.
Summary
Hats off to the organiser; the combination of acts was brilliant. A lot of people at gigs turn up just for the headliner but this was well worth getting there early. Both Andy Goodwin and The Kites are great on their own and I’m glad I was able to enjoy their sets last night before seeing Balancing Act as the cherry on top.
Each act had something different to offer and all feel like they’re at the start of something special. They approached the gig with the energy and performance of seasoned professionals while still feeling fresh and exciting.
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