I enter Manchester’s Gorilla later than I anticipated, life gets in the way of live music sometimes and it upsets me. I walk in and the room is already totally packed out ready for the long-awaited return of American Football. This band are legend, with only one full-length album to their name, Mike Kinsella’s 20 year old studio project reunited out of the blue to play some live shows in the US last year. They have been all over the world since then. Gorilla is a small venue for a band with such cultural and critical acclaim to play, although a matinee show was also put on earlier in the day.
TTNG (formerly known as This Town Needs Guns) are the only support band tonight. Despite the Oxford math-rockers multiple changes of line up over the years, you would never know – TTNG are ultimately effortless. Every note, riff or rhythm is exactly where it needs to be to make such intricate and thrilling music. The members are positioned in a straight line, bass – drums – guitar, a perfect power trio. There are clearly lots of fans in the audience – hooked on every word – who appreciate the mix of old and new songs, despite Henry Tremain saying “this tour sold out before we got asked to be on it, so we know absolutely no one is here to see us, so thanks for being so nice”. Henry is clearly a lovely guy, thanking the sound engineers, lighting guy, venue and of course American Football for everything – which gets a huge round of applause.
‘Adventure, Stamina and Anger’ is a highlight of the set – Tim Collis’ guitar skills are out of this world, the track has such an infectious energy to it, created by the combination of the Collis brothers drum and guitar exciting rhythmic interaction. I’ve never witnessed a tighter or more impressive set, even Mike Kinsella makes a sarcastic comment later in the night: “hey TTNG, they really need to practice more right?”
There is a clear and conscious buzz in the room, an aura of excitement impossible to be contained. No one in this room ever expected to be seeing American Football live, it’s a big deal. Their iconic album artwork is projected onto the stage’s backdrop as Kinsella and co. take to the stage. The band begin with what they do best: a beautiful instrumental in the form of EP track ‘Five Silent Miles’. A repetitive, shimmering and hypnotic guitar line rings out across the room and the entire audience are lulled into a silent trance, eyes fixed. Light cymbals and snare drum soon join the mix to create a heavenly wave of unison rhythms. The slow bass melody contrasted with the swiftness of the guitar’s chord progressions is ultimately breath-taking, and I’m soon brought into this trance-like state.
Despite being now all in their mid to late 30s, American Football look like they’ve barely aged a day. Kinsella states in the middle of the night “Am I older than everyone here? …I’m so old” in a joking but also seemingly disheartened manner. Whatever Mike thinks about his age, it’s only a number: American Football play their classic songs as though it was still 1999.
‘I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional’ and ‘For Sure’ are absolutely heart-wrenching, melancholic trumpet interludes performed by drummer of all trades Steve Lamos, setting the tone for a rollercoaster of emotion. Kinsella’s vocal portrays the perfect balance between a rich, sweet tone and straining his voice so you can almost feel the raw pain ripping through into your own eardrums. Although the “emo” genre has been somewhat stereotyped in the last 20 years, this is true emo. Deep and meaningful lyrics causing an entire audience trying to hold back their tears – “we’re relatively stable and tentatively able, to say for certain whether this uncertainty is for sure.”
Each song is more enticing than the last, American Football mastered their genre long ago and I doubt they’ll ever let that title go. A bright light bounces off the venue’s disco ball to create thousands of glimmering golden flecks that dart and dash across the room in time with a wildly uncontrollable snare drum. I’ve never been so mesmerised by an instrumental, almost 10 minutes pass as I’m thrown into a whirlwind of light key changes and minor notes and drum fills, or just added layers that you didn’t even think were possible to add with four men already playing. Their roadie runs on stage with perfect timing to play a short burst of maracas then leaps off again. The texture then thins, melodies and harmonies drop out to allow a burst of trumpet as the drums subtly drop out. A beautiful yet raspy solo follows, as the harmonies all mould back together seamlessly for a ferocious ending to the set.
Screams and cheers ensure an inevitable encore – we’ve not yet had ‘This Summer Ends’ or ‘Never Meant’, so no one’s going anywhere. A slow, quiet and almost tribal drum rhythm sits below a beautifully haunting trumpet solo, interrupted by a supportive shout of “GO ON LADS” – oh how I love Manchester. The rest of the audience then proceed to all sing in unison with Kinsella “I’ve been thinking about leaving…” and wonderfully altering the last lyric to “let’s just see what happens when this tour ends”. The atmosphere in the room is almost impossible to replicate in simple words on a page: nostalgia mixed with disbelief with extreme happiness and also sadness. ‘Never Meant’ ends and I turn around to see more than one grown man with red eyes or tears flowing down his cheek. Tonight I witnessed an incredible band that mean so much to so many people, and it was a privilege.
Elli Brazzill
@littlelionelli
Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez
Elli Brazzill
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