With aforementioned critical claims as ‘Manchester’s answer to Jake Bugg’, Jordan Allen packs more affirmative bite than his dreary indie-pop comparison. Jordan Allen injects an invigorating spirit into classic rock and roll. Allen’s words illustrate the venture and disarray of contemporary youth, with tales of romance to aspiring fame and ambition.

Opener ‘Holding Fast’ tells the tale of the girl ‘that wants to meet you in half an hour’, with an account of adolescent amour meeting un-gracious climax… ‘All I wanted was a little bit more than a night throwing up on your bathroom floor.’ The singer bounces his anecdotes with an alluring northen-twang. Allen’s relatable narratives and tell-it-like-it is humour see embellishment in dynamic instrumentation.

As the forefront track of Allen’s same-titled EP ‘Remembered’ beholds an impressive live swagger. ‘I wanna be remembered, I wanna be seen, not just another coulda, would shoulda been…’ growls Allen, with a determined attitude worth noticing. Not taken back by a brief interlude for a technical hitch, Allen pelts into mocking the ‘Rich & Famous’. ‘Socially inferior, it’s plain to see that a Jordan with big breasts is worth more than me,’ barks Allen with an astute head on shoulders, commenting on the absurdity of fame in the modern world.

With his own authentic and originally penned poem ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’ Allen ruts punk-enthused spoken word, which resembles the summit of John Cooper-Clarke. Allen’s ‘like a scab you refuse to pick…’ verse likens to the cool-aggression of Cooper-Clarke’s stanza of ‘like a sucked and spat out Smartie’. Allen propels bold and stirring fervent verses, enthralling the Night & Day audience.

‘Set In Stone’ concludes Allen’s set with a cool and calculated tone. His voice climbs in seductive aversion, ‘I’m on my own, I’m set in stone tonight!’ over a commotion of securing bass driven verve.

Despite being the first act on the bill tonight, Jordan Allen does not hold back in assertive charisma. He certainly knows how to captivate a crowd as an impassioned front man. As a big Eminem fan, Allen spits the angst of his muse into animated rock. Combing spoken-word poems into his set, the songwriter proves an expressive and genuine wordsmith. Allen’s lyrics hurtle in a rapid perplex over guitar-driven energy. Think Jamie T – but with less tweed indie-pop beats and more forceful guitar clamor.

Following in the former light of now major-label Virgin EMI friends Blossoms, The Vryll Society shine in a similar shimmering psychedelic caliber. Signed to the Liverpool label Deltasonic Records (home to The Coral, The Zutons), the experimental rock and roll group dives into layers of illusive pondering sound. With a growing reputation on the Liverpool scene, supporting the likes of Peace and Ariel Pink, The Vryll Society are well on their way to great recognition across the UK. Tonight the previously described “rock meets electronic realms of Krautrock” band sees a plentiful turn out for their Manchester set.

Kicking off the Liverpool group’s enchanting and textured resonance, ‘Beautiful Faces’ sees a building wall of exerting guitar. Lead singer Micheal Ellis provides an entrancing watch. Ellis dances like a stoned Ian Curtis, with less aggression and more graciousness. Swishing and failing his arms, committed to an alluring full-body performance, Ellis immerses himself in the band’s pools of soothing sound.

The Vyrll Society’s blissed-out debut single ‘Deep Blue Skies’ reaches it’s full Pink Floyd-esque elevating climax in its live format. ‘We always keep you away from pain, we’re looking into a private eye, to help us find a deep blue sky…’ spools Ellis’ nurturing lyrics, in a pacifying and cool comfort. The singers voice breezes over carefully crafted layers of bewildering instrumentation. Guitars circle in a soft saunter, before kaleidoscoping into a Stone Roses meets Tame Impala whirl. Ellis leaves the stage as the song veers into its culmination, leaving a deserved attention on the talented waves of elevating composition.

Deep and resounding in exploration of sound, The Vyrll Society already create a cosmic fascination with their live presence, despite their early stages. With yet only one single released, The Vyrll Society add a certain alluding saunter to the gentle realms of psych. Who knows how far this innovatively apt group may stretch their mystifying flare?

It’s easy to see why the subjective psych of The Vyrll Society was placed on the same bill as The Watchmakers. For fans of The Beatles to Primal Scream, The Watchmakers implode a confident Mancunian attitude into wielding psychedellia. Adding a punching enigma into glistening realms, the Manchester band splurge a brass personality into a genre The Temples have made commercially anemic.

A refreshing power is injected into psychedellia with The Watchmakers first track, ‘Illumination’. Plummeting bass bounds a vigor beneath spirals of guitar. Gallagher-esque vocals add a rock and roll swagger to the bands presence. The group seems to propel rock and roll through a hazy psych filter. The 90s Brit-pop mod meets the 60s hippy and they shake hands in a charming friendship.

With the shake of a moon shaped tambourine, we elevate into a Primal Scream themed grooving rock with ‘Carpe Diem’. A dancing funkadelic bass beat collides with intricate floats of guitar. ‘You’ll go far…’ call endearing vocals that reaches out to the positivity of the soul, in a seize-life mantra.

‘Stairway To Your Mind’ continues in spiritually and element exploring lyrics, ‘universe, universe start beating…’ A strut of bass brandishes against the softer graces of guitar. The collision of guitar work almost entwines in a mesmerizing tribal dance.

Feeling very The Beatles enthused; ‘Before Questions Became’ spins like Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Indian sounds tinker across a pounding development. The Watchmakers leave us with an encompassing message, ‘You could be anything you like…’

Pushing the boundaries of expanding experimentation, with a slice of Manchester’s iconic groove, The Watchmakers hail as the psych band with the most commendable defiance. This is the band to bring the 60s acid induced trance up to speed with the charisma of modernity. And The Watchmakers’ spiritualistic words behold an inspirational temper upon humanity in doing so.

@EmSchofield94

PHOTO: Hayley Taylor