Watching these two bands co-headline at Manchester’s Gorilla proved to be quite an occasion, and on first glance it appeared to be the ideal intimate setting. There was a communal feel to the crowd before the main acts appeared, as fans of each band eagerly waited their entrance, creating a pleasant yet somewhat subdued air of anticipation, which changed to a giddy undercurrent after a brief sound-check by Hidden Charms, who were to be the forerunners of the night.

Hidden Charms, a four-piece (yet displaying a fifth to contribute to some percussion, most notably maracas) who formed in London in 2013, were the first to take to Gorilla’s stage. The sound of maracas silenced the crowd and the drone of harmonica created an ambient Western sound, which dropped into the bluesy groove of ‘Left Hand Man’. These pentatonic scale grooves would become a recurring theme throughout the night, and it proved to be infectious with the audience nodding in sync with the rhythms. After a more relaxed ‘Long Way Down’, Hidden Charms turned their blues rock up to 11 on ‘Love You Because You’re There’, opening with a powerful bassline coated in fuzz before lead guitarist and vocalist Vincent Davies displayed some serious guitar chops, producing some real sleazy licks resulting in one of the best performances of the night, which the crowd appreciated.

 Hidden Charms never strayed too far from their blues roots, treating the audience to a hard-hitting cover of The White Stripes’ ‘Party Of Special Things’, a nod to the pioneers of the garage-blues sound that came before them, followed by ‘Rise Up’ which contained a more psychedelic sound not too dissimilar to that of a Humbug-Era Arctic Monkeys.

The boys kept their performances fresh, constantly swapping instrument duties between them to spice things up a bit until another bombastic highlight came nearer the end of their performance in the form of an instrumental jam, further displaying their aptness and grasp of their bluesy-rock formula. The music falls back to a lone metronomic cymbal before Vincent addresses the crowd on a rare occasion; “How we doing?” he shouts, trying to inject more energy into the crowd before the jam kicks back in full octane, certainly setting the standard for the night and making it a tough act to beat for co-headliners The Vryll Society. 

(Big respect to the man on the maracas.)

After the half-time smoke break, the crowd returned for the next act yet seemed a tad lethargic, almost immune to the harder groove riffage of The Vryll Society. Within seconds of the bands opener, ‘Beautiful Faces’, it was clear that this band was on the other side of the rock spectrum to that of their co-headliners. A more spacey sound with guitars drenched in delay and reverb that soared combined with the androgynous voice of lead vocalist Michael Ellis that was much different to the more gravelly-sounding voice of Davies’, showed a band that cared more about the subtler textures rather than crunch, yet the driving bass playing (kudos to the choice of the 4003 Rick) was a necessity in keeping the band grounded.

Many of the songs seemed to melt together in a pot of psychedelic jams, with Ellis’ nasally vocals hard to make lyrically, yet the intricate soaring guitar solos and groovy rhythm section made sure it stayed interesting for the most part. “It’s called Coshh,” declared the frontman as a Hook-esque bass introduced us to the track, with some spider-like guitar work from the lead player – his fingers ascending and descending down the fretboard. Much of their music was akin to a dream, very surreal and it showed with minimal movement from the crowd (apart from an animated fan or two near the front) which seemed to dampen the atmosphere somewhat.

As the performance reached its twilight, the crowd began to click more with the grooves as the more straight-forward drum beats shuffled into bossa nova esque patterns, resulting in some highly questionable dance moves from some of the public. The final song of the set, titled ‘Deep Blue Skies’, encompassed all the things which The Vryll Society were best at; creating colourful backdrops perfect for Ellis’ almost feminine moans.

Hidden Charms were certainly the stars of this show, with the more in-your-face rock approach bringing a better reception from the Manchester crowd, and would definitely be a band I’d watch again. Davies’ vocals were also easier on the ear, with Ellis’ nasal approach didn’t quite fit right with the acoustics of the venue. However The Vryll Society were by no means sloppy, with some great grooves and great performances from the instrumentalists especially, and they proved to be an interesting contrast to the harder sound of their predecessors.

Words: Josh Flynn

Images: Trust A Fox
@TrustFox