live review
PURE LOVE LIVE Where? Manchester Deaf Institute When? February 6th
On the 6th February 2013, Manchester was hit by Frank Carter, Jim Carroll and co, to perform, without a doubt, one of the best shows that I’ve seen. To kick off the show, The Vestals, from Wales, played what would have been a decent set, had it not been in the dark, and thankfully this was sorted out for the next support, Turbogeist; who put on quite an energetic show, despite the vocalist’s broken arm. Then, after two very good bands, came a performance that had everyone talking. Pure Love had stolen their own show. There was much talk between us of what they would open with, and then they appeared on the stage and did a rousing performance of ‘She’, and what I had previously thought to be a good standing position turned out to be not so good. Sensing a feeling of nervousness in the room, Frank Carter stepped onto the bar, encouraging the crowd to lose their inhibitions and join in the rock’n’roll. The setlist was good, but had they played ANYTHING, I’m sure that this crowd would have responded well. The people seemed up for it, and when the band played ‘Beach Of Diamonds’ followed by ‘Bury My Bones’ everybody about the place was singing. Even people who didn’t know
the words at the start of the night, suddenly burst into song, as if the Holy Spirit had come to them: a ginger Holy Spirit who was manoeuvring about the crowd as he tends to. As it turns out, there wasn’t a bad place to stand, with Frank and Jim moving from on the bar, onto the crowd and back to the stage. After an unbelievable set, Pure Love finally powered into the final song of the evening, ‘Riot Song’, opting to move the drum kit, microphones and themselves into the centre of the audience. After a wall of spectators formed around the band and the familiar opening chords were played, all hell broke loose. Fans, in fits of enthusiasm pushed forward, striving to touch their heroes. Friends and girlfriends sat atop shoulders. Yet none of this seemed to phase the final performance. Everybody had joined in with the “wo-oaoahing”. With an air of disappointment, Carter declared the gig over, expressing an emotional debt of gratitude to his admirers, a sense that everything he and Jim Carroll had worked towards had been accomplished. It was a night destined to go down in history, forever engraved in each member of the audience’s memory. By James Rebello & Tom Mooney
Photo: Tom Mooney