Taking over Manchester's o2 Ritz, indie rock legends, The Twang celebrate 15 years of their seminal record, 'Jewellery Quarter' with incredible support acts in tow.
To warm up the night Andy Goodwin takes the stage with his incredible band performing some new songs before moving onto his more popular tracks like ‘Cheap Wine’. His Indie music vibe got the crowd grooving along, with some fans screaming the lyrics without a care in the world, to one woman in particular having a dance party of her own in the centre of the floor, the lights coming over to highlight her in the crowd. To close the set Andy introduces his highest streamed song on Spotify, ‘Fred Perry Girl’ which is met to an eruption of cheers, followed by everyone singing along with him.
As the room began to fill up even more, next to take the stage was five piece band, Pastel, made up of Mancunian cousins, Jack Yates and James Yates and Aaron Tormey, Liam Oshea and Rhys Wheeler.
Starting the night with one of their biggest songs ‘Your Day’, the stage was immediately filled with character, from the call and response element between lead singer Jack and James infused with unique guitar riffs, this was the perfect song to get the crowd hooked on their music. With influences of the Beastie Boys throughout their own songs, it only made sense for them to cover ‘Fight for Your Right’, instantly bringing the crowd alive.
Between songs they talk about tour life, particularly with The Twang and how “rock and roll is not dead with them”, joking about how hard it is to keep up with them sometimes. In February 2025 they’re coming back to Manchester on their own tour to showcase their debut album ‘SOULS IN MOTION’ which comes out on the 17th that month. To encourage people in the audience to pre order the album James jokes how Jack can’t afford a haircut so they’d appreciate the support, Jack responding with how he feels like the Dulux Dog.
To draw their set to a close, Pastel played ‘Isaiah’, a single released back in 2022, a dreamy sounding track with emotional lyrics. For the final chorus Jack and James both belt out the lyrics with no instrumental, leaving the crowd with a euphoric feeling.
The venue begins to flood with even more people, from front to back the room is packed, even along the balcony fans had started to create tiers of people behind the front row so that everyone could see the stage. The anticipation built as the crowd got their drinks ready and claimed their spots, waiting patiently for the main act themselves The Twang. ‘Took The Fun’ is what opens the Jewellery Quarter 15th Anniversary Tour, as they plan to play the whole album in full and in order. Immediately lead singer Phil Etheridge brought the energy into the room, his stage presence is unlike no other as he paraded around the stage, completely making it his own.
The instantly recognisable ‘Barney Rubble’ is the second track on the album, fans began to scream the lyrics along with the band, beginning to create this sense of unity between everyone in the room. Phil thanks the fans for spending the night with them on multiple occasions throughout the show, declaring his appreciation and love for anyone that turned up to see them. He even expresses he was nervous for that night but that all the fans had made him feel so much better about himself. As The Twang progress through their album, their fans dance the night away, fully engrossed in the performance.
‘Put It on the Dancefloor’ only encouraged this, with Etheridge telling everyone in the room to bounce, the floor began to shake underneath to the beat of the song. His overall performance had the crowd under his control despite their chaos, almost like an out of body experience for them.
Fan favourite ‘Encouraging Sign’ then produced the most heart warming atmosphere throughout the whole show, fans with arms around each other, others dancing together and singing the lyrics to one another. Some with beers raised and hands in the air, there was a sense of community amongst fans and a mutual love between them and The Twang. Suddenly some were up on top of shoulders, all spread throughout the crowd to get a better view. It created a domino effect of fans trying to gain the same sight - some more successfully than others, but all joining together to help one another. Its much sweeter lyrics summed up the room as a whole in that moment “It’s my heart that you’re stealing and that sounds appealing to me now” being part of the chorus.
The track that ends the album is ‘Another Bus’, a slower paced song to close out this section of the performance. Once the song finishes the band exits the stage. The lights turn off in the meantime whilst fans wait for them to return, knowing that what’s to come is a set of classics and surprises from the band.
The following set consists mainly of their top streamed songs on Spotify and after hearing them live you can absolutely see why this is the case. Starting strong with their first ever single ’Wide Awake’, smiles from hard core fans accumulate around the room. ‘You On My Shoulders’ sparked a similar environment as ‘Encouraging Sign’, but this time with flying jackets and drinks of all kinds, followed shortly after by their cups. The Twang really brought an insane party to the O2 ritz on Saturday night, catering for the celebration of their album ‘Jewellery Quarter’ whilst still mixing in a segment of their previous work.
The last song they play is ‘Cloudy Room’ a reference to a club the band used to go to, and they sure did inspire a club like atmosphere with this rendition. The whole performance was coated in a bright green light, strobing throughout the chorus to hype up the Manchester crowd one last time. An amazing finish to the celebration of their work, leaving the entire place on a high.
Emma Turner
Images: Emma Turner
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